FUEL 2023 semester kickoff

CREDIT: FUEL CONTENT TEAM
FUEL's Valorant team has brought on Gurinder Mahey (Sworns) who recently represented Canada at the Red Bull Campus Clutch in Brazil.

Teams have started to get in order and games are underway for the 2023 semester for FUEL.

The FUEL Rocket League teams are starting to spring into action with some new changes in this season. They will only have two teams this semester coming from three teams in the Fall semester. The Rocket League manager, Shadow8P said that even though they have less players trying out this year, both teams are looking to be strong this season.

“This is the closest both teams have been for tryouts in skill level,” he said.

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The teams recently had some preseason matches in the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) but the league matches started up Feb. 1 for the Eastern College Athletics Conference (ECAC). National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) FUEL started Jan 30., Fuel Academy will start Feb 6., and for NECC, both teams will be starting on Feb 10.

Call of Duty (CoD) is getting a lot of hype this year, with 14 people coming to tryout this semester. This has been the most players FUEL has seen to come out for tryouts. The big turnout also came with some new talent that is coming to the teams. Bonk, the captain of the FUEL team, was in charge of putting both teams in order from the tryouts.

“We feel that we can develop on the academy roster very quickly and make lots of noise in the league,” Bonk said. In College CoD League, qualifiers action, the FUEL team started off hot with a 3-0 win against Army West Point in a best of five match. Unfortunately, within their next game, they lost 3-0 against Farmingdale State College. In their latest match, they fought well but were not able to walk away with the win against York University and lost 3-1.

The Rainbow 6 Siege team is looking to be strong this semester. Purzaa, the Captain and manager for R6 said that the team is introducing a couple new players this semester; Jack Tremblay (MAYKIT) and Jaden Bigos (KENNISIS). With one championship under their belt, they are looking to keep that momentum going.

“We are not letting any team to try and take the championship away from us!” Purzaa said.

With other great successes, they were able to make an Academy team this year for R6. The roster includes: Jaden Bigos (KENNISIS) as their captain, Hayden Johnson (DALRD), Rachel Billion (ANGLEGRIME), Ashton Caston-Box (MAI), Thor McKenzie (UGNAKNYAK) and Zachary Eugenio (SIMPLY). The R6 main team recently won their pre-season match against Lancer Gaming.

Tryouts were a great success this semester for League of Legends. Sutekh, the captain for FUEL mentioned that they almost had double the amount of players trying out this semester. There will be two teams this semester for League of Legends and with a new amount of players coming onto the roster, both teams are already getting started with scrimmages before their first league games.

“The main roster is looking to improve on more advanced things such as forcing dives in side lanes and translating those leads into mid or late game objectives,” Sutekh said. The first game for the College League of Legends began Jan. 30. The Fuel Academy team will be played on Feb 1.

The FUEL Valorant team has already started off a few matches already with a 2-0 win from a best of three match against Western Kentucky in College Valorant (CVAL) action. The Fuel Academy team played strong and fought well but were not able to take the win and lost 1-0 against Florida Poly Purple in NECC Action. Boyc3 from the FUEL Valorant team said that most of the players from the Fuel Academy team played together from Fuel Rising.

“They all have good chemistry and I am excited to see what they do,” Boyc3 said. The FUEL Valorant team was unsuccessful in NECC, losing to the Nova Nighthawks 1-0.

FUEL Valorant team welcomes strong newcomer

The 2022 Fall semester for Fanshawe’s Ultimate Esports League (FUEL) came with some great victories. The teams are hoping to carry this out for the 2023 winter semester. The FUEL Valorant team has brought on a strong newcomer Gurinder Mahey or also known as his gamer tag Sworns. He represented Canada at the Red Bull Campus Clutch in Brazil.

“It’s such a big achievement that I’ve accomplished, knowing that out of hundreds of teams competing for a spot I was one of them to make it,” Sworns said.

They faced over 50 other countries at the Campus Clutch in Brazil. He mentioned that their team didn’t make it as far as they did but it was still an amazing experience.

Gurinder Mahey took a gap year after high school to focus on work and saving money. He recently moved to the London area and started to consider coming back to school.

“I was doing my research and I found Fanshawe is one of the best colleges and I applied,” he said. Sworns is currently enrolled in the Police Foundations program.

Sworns played on multiple teams in the tier 2 Valorant scene.

“I can tell when players want to win and the team this semester is giving me those vibes,” he said. The roster for the FUEL Valorant team this semester has Adam Boyce (Boyc3), Gurinder Mahey (Sworns), Fernando Shamoon (Alqo), Alec Marcovici (Mvicii), and Ethan Jutila (Akimbo). The team played their first game in CVAL and just won 2-0 in a best of three series match against Western Kentucky.

“Honestly, I have a strong feeling we will go far in CVAL,” Sworns said.

Boyce (Boyc3) mentioned that he is feeling very confident with the new addition to the FUEL Valorant starting roster. Boyce also brought up the fact that Toasty will be a backup player to the FUEL Valorant team. Boyce didn’t play on the FUEL Valorant team last semester but took on the coaching role for all of the Fanshawe’s teams.

“I think that my time I’ve spent as a coach will help me get this team performing to the best of their ability,” he said.

There will be three teams competing in Valorant for Fanshawe this 2023 semester. Boyce said that the FUEL academy team has a lot of potential for growth with the main core team from the rising roster that won the Emergents division last semester.

“They all have good chemistry and I am excited to see how they will do,” he said.

As of right now, the FUEL rising roster is still in the process of setting their starting five. More updates are soon to come on other teams for Fanshawe FUEL.