UNT LoL Varsity Continues Their Dominance in Week 2

On January 29th, the UNT Esports League of Legends varsity team continued their 2022 Collegiate League of Legends Championship season with another sweep over the 30th ranked SMU Mustangs. Despite SMU being significantly better than Roanoke, the result was almost the same.

Despite the level 1 invade in game 1 going wrong and granting SMU first blood, the Mean Green quickly took over the game thanks to great pathing from Flick, great play from the bot lane, and Lil Nate putting on an absolute clinic in the mid lane. SMU had little chance to push their early lead because Flick’s Xin Zhao and Lil Nate’s Syndra roamed up to the top lane. Thanks to some great plays from the trio and some blunders from SMU, UNT got 3 kills, 3 flashes, and 2 teleports from SMU before the game had even hit 5 minutes. The bot lane shook off an early 2v2 kill to become a menace in the mid game. Rainy landed a majority of his hooks, and the sheer amount of pressure he exerted meant that SMU almost never got a straight fight. Meanwhile, PuertoJew on the newest champion Zeri was almost untouchable and shredded through SMU’s relatively fragile composition, even picking up a quadrakill at one point. Everyone barring Rainy finished at least over 2k gold ahead of their counterparts. SMU didn’t get a single tower or dragon as UNT steamrolled their way to a 21-minute victory.

Much like last week, game 2 saw the game end almost as soon as draft phase ended. PuertoJew got the Zeri back and SMU had almost no way to threaten him. Lil Nate got a Twisted Fate, and incredibly powerful pick in coordinated play. Rainy got his Leona, helping swing the one potentially good matchup for SMU into UNT’s favor. Flick picked up a Trundle into a Xin Zhao and Galio, and Arsenals got a carry top lane champion in the Gwen. A Graves top, Diana mid, and Ziggs bot rounded out SMU’s comp. All of this meant that UNT had many paths to victory, while SMU couldn’t do much if they fell behind even a little.

UNT decided to make it 4 for 4 on aggressive level 1 plays as they caught out the SMU support, blew his flash, and secured 1st blood. This all but made it a free laning phase for PuertoJew and Rainy. Meanwhile, Lil Nate made frequent visits to the top lane with his ultimate and Arsenals benefitted heavily. The Graves pick was quickly made almost useless thanks to the constant attention. All of UNT’s carries jumped out to big leads. Lil Nate was always where he needed to be with a gold card at the ready. Arsenals was unstoppable on a side lane. Flick secured Dragons and key objectives without issue. Rainy was a massive source of playmaking. And PuertoJew was once again untouchable and tearing up SMU. Arsenals and PuertoJew went deathless. All 3 carries finished a full item ahead of their counterparts. The game was a stomp from start to finish and ended before the 20-minute mark. It was total domination of an inferior opponent.

While it shouldn’t be expected that the Mean Green can keep this level of dominance up against the higher tier competition, it is a very good sign that they have shown multiple ways of winning a game. All 5 players have had their moments to shine so far. There really doesn’t appear to be a weak link. According to PuertoJew the postgame interview, UNT hasn’t even had to bust out the style of League they are really good at. The team has shown a strong grasp of fundamentals, unparalleled aggression, and cleanly close out opponents. These are very good signs indeed.

The UNT LoL Varsity team will take to the rift again this coming Saturday at 3pm CST against the SMU Mustangs. Their opponent is currently unknown. You can catch all of the action on UNT Esports’ very own Twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/untesports. You can also get updates on all things UNT Esports on the twitter page https://twitter.com/UNTEsports. Make sure to cheer on your Mean Green as they look to conquer the South Division of the Collegiate League of Legends Championship!