While playing video games is a popular activity for many students, a team of players from Illini Esports has taken it to another level as the students made it to the final round of the Intel Extreme Masters Chicago 2018 competition.

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team won against Michigan State and will compete in the IEM Chicago finals on Nov. 11 in front of a live audience.

Eric Lee, coordinator for the team and junior in Engineering, said there are four new players on the team of six this season. He said the team is already doing great despite the fairly new roster.

The players on the team are Lee, Danny Yoo, Tai Scocos, Yunhyuk Kang, Daniel Fuentes and Vincent Tai.

“We only practice around a couple hours each week, but I’m confident that we’re getting better after each training session, and we’ll be one of the best collegiate teams once again,” Lee said in an email.

Illini Esports is divided into two groups: the community side and the competitive side. The community side aims to create an environment in which gamers can come together and play games or watch others play, said David Koruna, president of Illini Esports and senior in LAS.

Anyone can participate in competitions such as IEM, but higher-level teams require more experience and skill.

“A lot of people think Illini Esports is all competitive, but it’s not,” said Eileen Feng, vice president of community affairs for the organization and senior in LAS. “It accommodates everyone in every field.”

The competitive side has different teams for various games, which are formed based on interest and skill level. Players on the competitive teams compete in tournaments throughout the year, often working to win scholarship money.

“On the competitive side, I want to start to get a little more recognition and acknowledgement from not only the University, but also from students,” Koruna said.

Lee said he thought his team was bound to win the tournament versus Michigan State. The team easily won the first game but lost the second 16-14.

“Usually, losing 14-16 is the most demoralizing thing a team can go through in a series, but we were all just having a good time,” Lee said.

The team won the third and final game of the series. Lee said Michigan State is a powerhouse in the division, so winning against it was a big accomplishment for the team.

At the IEM finals, Lee and his team will compete against Robert Morris University. Lee said the esports teams at RMU are sponsored by the school, which attracts the most talent out of the schools in the collegiate scene.

Although Lee said the Illini Esports team may be outmatched, he still has hope the team will win.

Koruna said one of his goals for this year is to push Illini Esports to become a bigger organization on campus. He said he hopes more people will get into esports since it is a growing industry.  

“Esports is popping up a lot now everywhere,” Koruna said. “It’s been here for a little while, but it’s going to stay.”

Feng said esports is an industry that requires a good amount of time and work.

“What people don’t know is that people in Esports do a lot of work behind-the-scenes,” Feng said. “We’re constantly talking to people and creating connections.”

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