Arena Clash is a National grassroots Esports competition ran by Game across 5 titles and 22 arenas. Each week, teams compete at their local stores to battle it out with the hopes of winning this years prizes of game points, peripherals and those all-important LAN final spots at Insomnia 64. I first got involved in Arena Clash in around the September of last year, when it was my responsibility within the gaming society at Swansea University to create a League of Legends team. We took the long trip down to the game store in Cardiff for at least the 5 weeks of group stage matches.
Our first split was hampered by the client dying due to the release of clash by riot. This led to us playing two games back to back to make it out of our group, a task that proved to be too difficult to overcome, as the tilt and fatigue took its toll, losing both games 2-1. However, progress has been made this year. After going unbeaten in groups with a 4-0 record, the team were positive and confident in being able to reach at least the final 4 of the competition. The curse of the 2-1 it seems would not leave us as we lost by the same scoreline to Clyde Claymores which left us out of the competition. We then also proceeded to lose our prize deciding game the next week again in a close 2-1 match.
Overall though it was an enjoyable experience and definite progress was made by everyone involved, hopefully, we are able to build on the start that was made this year to come back with a vengeance and finally show what we are really made of. I would like to thank all of the team for their time, especially our support Joe, who made it possible for us to have a team by subbing in at the last minute as well as the staff at the Cardiff Game store for having us.
If you’re interested in playing League of Legends and are looking for a squad, join the Esports Wales Discord to find a team!
