Game within the game
This week in Houston eSports: Updating the league of legends and overwatch
Matthew Jefferson
Jan 29, 2018, 1:06 pm
The concept of eSports is one that makes many sports fans cringe at the term. After all, they’re just playing video games. But like the term or not, eSports are here to stay and its following is growing on a daily basis. Games being played include squad-based shooters like Counterstrike and Overwatch, multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA) such as League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients (DOTA2), fighting games like Super Smash Brothers and Street Fighter, and card games like Hearthstone and Magic. There are even those that speed run or play modified versions of console games including old Super Nintendo and NES games. Twitch.tv is the primary broadcast home for most of these events and viewership is rapidly rising. On Sunday afternoon, the Counterstrike Major tournament in Boston had in excess of one million people simultaneously watching the final match where Cloud 9 (a North American team) defeated FAZE Clan (Europe) for North America’s first win at a major Counterstrike tournament.
This column is going to focus on e-sports teams that are Houston based; the Houston Outlaws from the Overwatch League (owned by OpTic Gaming), and Clutch Gaming from League of Legends, owned by the Houston Rockets. Without further ado, let’s see how things currently stand from the initial few weeks of competition and preview the week ahead.
For the 2018 season, League of Legends switched to a franchise model for their North American competition. Along with the Cavaliers (100 Thieves) and Warriors (Golden Guardians), the Houston Rockets were one of three NBA franchises to be accepted as one of the 10 teams in the North American League Championship Series (NALCS). Clutch Gaming (clutchlcs.com) is the Rockets new e-sports venture with League of Legends being their first game. To build their team, they signed 3/5 of team EnVyUs to get their jungler and bottom lane (Lira, Apollo, and Hakuho). They also signed Solo from Gold Coin United as their top laner, and in probably their most significant roster move, signed Febiven from Europe’s H2k-Gaming after his contract expired. The team intends to use statistics and analytics to help the team develop and improve similar to how it has shaped the NBA franchise.
After the first two weeks of competition, Clutch Gaming sits in 5th place with a 2-2 record. In week one they defeated the Golden Guardians (0-4) and lost to Echo Fox (4-0). Last week they defeated CLG (1-3) and lost to Team Liquid (3-1). They have defeated the teams that started weak, but lost to teams that have had a strong start. The next few weeks will shore up their standing in the League.
Against the Golden Guardians the team had a methodical win with a 7-2 advantage in kills and a strong and steady push after taking a gold lead when Febiven on Malzahar killed Hai after a successful gank from Lira on Evelyn.
Echo Fox focused on the top lane, getting Solo behind early before having a steady push themselves to close out a 33 minute victory over Clutch Gaming.
Against CLG, Febiven got the first Pentakill of the 2018 season in the NALCS as part of a dominating 12/0/3 performance in their 31 minute victory.
Unfortunately, Team Liquid got ahead early with a kill on Lira and easily dispatched Clutch Gaming with a 27 minute victory punctuated by a 12 to 2 advantage in kills.
Saturday at approximately 6 p.m. versus 100 Thieves (3-1) – Last week 100 Thieves defeated Team Liquid but lost to Cloud 9. Prediction – 100 Thieves uses their top lane advantage to take a victory over CG.
Sunday at approximately 7 p.m. versus Cloud 9 (3-1) – Febiven outduels Jensen and CG gets the upset win over C9.
Each weekend the NALCS airs on twitch.tv starting at 3:30 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. For more information visit lolesports.com
The Houston Outlaws are playing extremely well. After going 0-2 in the first week against the Philadelphia Fusion and New York Excelsior, they are 4-0 since and have not lost a single map, sweeping each of those matches 4-0 against the Shanghai Dragons, Florida Mayhem, the Los Angeles Gladiators, and most importantly, the Dallas Fusion. Any time a Houston team defeats a Dallas team, it’s a good day.
Their 4-2 record has them sitting tied for third in the Atlantic Division with Philadelphia and behind New York and London who are both 5-1.
Last week, the Outlaws took on the Mayhem and the Gladiators.
Linkzr and Jake combined for over 50 kills and only 15 deaths on Numbani as Tracer and Genji respectively. On Horizon, Linkzr had 21 kills and no deaths as Widowmaker while Rawkus had a great game on Zenyatta. The Mayhem got to 99% on both capture points on Ilios, but the Outlaws stopped them and scored wins on both. Coolmatt was 26/5 on D.Va in the final map, Junkertown, the Outlaws had a dominating performance with Linkzr going 50/7. Overall, Linkzr was awarded player of the match.
Coolmatt had a 32/3 score as D.Va on Numbani. On Temple of Anubis, the Outlaws held the Gladiators to a score of zero while defending then scored their first point on offense extraordinarily fast to win the match. Bani also had a strong match on Mercy. Third was Ilios where the Outlaws won 2-0, highlighted by Boink’s string support play on Lucian. On the final map, Dorado, the Outlaws had another dominant defensive performance and won easily once they went on offense, needing to only get to the first checkpoint to win. Linkzr again won player of the match.
Each match is available for restreaming on the website or through the Overwatch League app.
This week’s schedule pits the Outlaws and their 16 map win streak against the San Francisco Shock (2-4) on Wednesday at approximately 10 PM, and the Seoul Dynasty (5-1) at around 8 PM on Friday. Like any sport, if the Outlaws want to do well on the season, they should defeat San Francisco, and have a good showing against Seoul. Predictions – Outlaws 3 – 1 over the Shock. The Pacific Division leading Dynasty 3 – Outlaws 2.
Overwatch League has 3 matches per day from Wednesday through Saturday, starting at 6 PM on Wednesday and Friday, 4 PM on Thursday and 1 PM on Saturday. For more information visit overwatchleague.com.
Tune in next week for results and previews and an explanation of each game’s formatting/schedule.
The Houston Texans have a big challenge in store as they look to start the season with a win against the Colts this Sunday. When these two teams met in Week 2 last year, the Colts dominated the Texans, despite losing their QB Anthony Richardson to a concussion after the first quarter.
Keeping Richardson contained on Sunday will go a long way in increasing the Texans' chances of coming home with a win. The Texans defense will have their hands full containing the Colts backs and tight ends in the passing game.
Scoring touchdowns with their wide receivers could prove difficult, as the Texans allowed the second-fewest TDs (10) to the receiver position in 2023.
Limiting running back Jonathan Taylor will also be a top priority. While the Texans had an elite defense against the run last season, they struggled with Taylor in Week 18 as he almost rushed for 200 yards.
Houston's D allowed only four carries to running backs in 2023 that went for 20 or more yards. Two of which were to Taylor in the final game of the regular season.
Finally, DeMeco Ryans and company have to find a way to get pressure on the QB. They only had one QB hit and zero sacks on Richardson and Garner Minshew the first time they faced off last year.
On offense, the Texans have two big x-factors to watch for on Sunday. The offensive line that suited up to play the Colts in Week 2 last season is completely different from this year.
The o-line was ravaged with injuries to start the 2023 campaign, so we expect a big jump in productivity in the trenches this year.
Another big addition in 2024 is the presence of running back Joe Mixon. The running game only produced 2 yards per rush in Week 2 against Indy last year, so there's clearly room for improvement.
Be sure to watch the video above for our in-depth preview of Texans-Colts!
And catch Texans on Tap (a Texans podcast) live on our SportsMapTexans YouTube channel following every game this season!