Street Fighter V: Players who have qualified for National Team Trials at SA Nationals.

Mxolisi Lukhele (left) and Alasdair Donaldson (right) fighting over the spoils at MSSA's 31st South African National Championships.

It seems as though the same names keep on cropping up as players eligible to participate in MSSA's National Team Trials to be held on 2 & 3 June 2018.

Only those who have qualified at an official Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) Regional, Provincial, and/or National Championship are eligible to participate in such National Team Trials.
So is this what many gamers refer to as 'gatekeeping'?

As all Registered Players already know, any player duly registered to an affiliated club, may participate in any provincial or national championship (unless specifically stated otherwise), which allows the top players in the country to attend any/all such championships.

This affords MSSA's top players the opportunity of playing a number  of diverse opponents as well as getting in a suitable amount of competition games in order to 'up' their standard of play.

However, some gamers allude to the practice as 'gatekeeping' and of being unfair. 

But is it?

No less than 5 players qualified at MSSA's 31st South African National Championships for the annual National Team Trials. What with the much improved standard of play, the Trials should, no doubt, render some very interesting results.

The criteria to qualify for such trials all Registered Players that win a Regional Championship shall earn an invitation to National Team Trials.

Also, all Registered Players that score within the top 20% or top three places, whichever is greater, in a specific Period at a Provincial or National Championship shall earn an invitation to National Team Trials.

It should be remembered that members of the current Protea Squad automatically earn a berth at the National Team Trials (NTT) should they have met their obligations in terms of participation at MSSA events.

The Registered Players that earned such an invite for the Street Fighter V esports title are:

Name of player	Club	Period	Province
Mxolisi Lukhele	Amplified Rebellion	Street Fighter V	Gauteng
Alistair Donaldson	VexxedPhoenix	Street Fighter V	Gauteng
Leone Loftus	Fakkel School of Skills	Street Fighter V	Free State
Armand Botha	Höerskool Generaal Hertzog	Street Fighter V	Mpumulanga
Yu-Hsien Lin	North West University - Vaal	Street Fighter V	Gauteng

Other Registered Players that have earned a berth at MSSA's 2018 National Team Trials (NTT) are:

• CounterStrike: GO - 8th Online Inter-School Championships
• CounterStrike: GO - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• DotA 2 - 8th Online Inter-School Championships
• DotA 2 - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• FIFA - 8th Online Inter-School Championships
• FIFA - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• Hearthstone - 8th Online Inter-School Championships
• Hearthstone - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• League of Legends - 8th Online Inter-School Championships
• League of Legends - 31st South African National Championships
• League of Legends - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships

• Pro Evolution Soccer - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships

• Rocket League - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• StarCraft II - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• Street Fighter V - 31st South African National Championships
• Street Fighter V - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• Tekken - 8th Online Inter-School Championships
• Tekken - 31st South African National Championships
• Tekken - 36th Gauteng Provincial Championships
• Vainglory - 8th Online Inter-School Championships