When asked to describe the season in one word, Brenden Kuester, also known as Zythers, described his season as, “The most fun I have had since the release of the game.”
The Wayne State College Valorant team, which Zythers played for, went undefeated for the entire semester. Including the post season, WSCV had a record of 9-0, with only a single map lost during the duration of the semester.
Zythers attributes most of his enjoyment to his teammates and the competitive environment.
“We played a lot of big-name schools like Kansas University, Cornnell, and Texas A&M,” Zythers said. “For the one map we dropped against Cornell, there wasn’t much frustration despite losing an unlosable 1v3. Many unfortunate timings and situations happened. We kept falling short on Corrode, the lost map, even though we were 1 round away from winning. We brushed ourselves off and won map 3.”
Not all teams at WSC were as fortunate as Valorant. Wayne State College Marvel Rivals player Carlyle Young, also known as Blades, said, “Last season I would say was probably not the best for us because we ended up having to forfeit during the regular season halfway through. We definitely have a lot of good players, but we weren’t able to play some games because we didn’t have everyone and unfortunately ran out of the allowed forfeits before we were done with regular season.”
“There’s a reason a cat’s eyes are in the front of its head, so it’s hard to look back,” Drew Kurtenbach said.
Blades is carrying the mindset of his former coach into the next season.
“I am looking forward to seeing how much the team has improved from last season,” he said. “During tryouts there was noticeable improvement among players.”
For context, the National Esports Collegiate Conference only allows each team to forfeit two games per season before automatically disqualifying them from the post season. Blades is refusing to let that hold him back.
“I do certainly hope that we can make it to the playoffs and not have to [forfeit] anytime this season,” Blades said. “We do have the players to pull it off so I am positive that we can make it.”
Wildcat Call of Duty had a successful season, capping off their post season run with a 3-1 victory, pushing them to an 8-2 record.
“I’m not happy about last semester, not winning is never what I want to see,” Jackson Peabody, who’s in-game name is Vexxprr, said. “At the same time, playing with a new team this last semester is always a challenge, not to mention me having to play the third-place match from a hotel. I’m not unhappy with third place.”
Despite his unease with the past season, Vexxprr is looking forward to the coming season.
As WSC Esports has continued to thrive, more teams have joined the roster, though some old teams still pay respect to the classics.
