Esports South Africa, and other games : April 2018

Monday, 30 April 2018

StarCraft II: The full list of qualifiers.

Chis Cronjé (Fragcon) - Limpopo Provincial Champion for StarCraft II.

Unfortunately the International Esports Federation (IESF) has not held StarCraft II at its World Championships since 2015 (Seoul). Nevertheless, Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) remains ever hopeful, and in that hope, still offers the StarCraft II esports title as a competitive period.Thus with only 1 senior Provincial esports championships left before MSSA's 2018 National Team Trials (NTT) which are to be held on 2 & 3 June 2018, the race is on to see who will be selected.

According to Mind Sports South Africa's Esports Representative, Ryan Boyes, no fewer than 65 registered players have so far qualified to participate in MSSA's 2018 National Team Trials even though there are still two more championships to be played.

The names below represent the registered players that have qualified in the period from 1 May 2017 to 31 March 2018 and are considered for determining the process in which province such National Team Trials shall be held.

There is one remaining event in which registered players may qualify, being:

17th Mpumulanga Championships - 26 & 27 May 2018.

Already,the International Esports Federation (IESF) has announced the various esports titles to be played, being:

However, IESF may add a fourth title for the 10th World Championships to be played in Kaohsuing City. Until the fourth title is announced, MSSA will treat all the other titles as prospective titles.

The list for the esports title of StarCraft II is:

#	Name of player	Club	Period/title	Province
1	Pieter Piek	Blue Dragon	Star Craft II	Gauteng
2	Aiden Smale	ZAG	Star Craft II	Gauteng
3	Carl van Staden	Blue Dragon	Star Craft II	Gauteng
4	Chis Cronjé	Fragcon	Star Craft II	Limpopo
5	Brendan Botma	Fragcon	Star Craft II	Limpopo
6	Riaan van Staden	Fragcon	Star Craft II	Limpopo
7	Kaira Gabrielle Pinard	Valhalla	Star Craft II	Gauteng
8	Beon Bronkhorst	Masters of Mind Sports	Star Craft II	Free State
9	Joshua Goldin	Blue Dragon	Star Craft II	Gauteng
10	Devon Morris	Blue Dragon	Star Craft II	Gauteng
11	Bernd Pfander	Blue Dragon	Star Craft II	Gauteng
12	Cleveland Crossling	Northcliff High School	Star Craft II	Gauteng

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

The final lists are:

HearthStone: The full list of qualifiers.

Kaira Gabrielle Pinard (Valhalla) - South African National Champion.

According to Mind Sports South Africa's Esports Representative, Ryan Boyes, no fewer than 65 registered players have so far qualified to participate in MSSA's 2018 National Team Trials even though there are still two more championships to be played.

The names below represent the registered players that have qualified in the period from 1 May 2017 to 31 March 2018 and are considered for determining the process in which province such National Team Trials shall be held.

There is one remaining event in which registered players may qualify, being:

17th Mpumulanga Championships - 26 & 27 May 2018.

Already,the International Esports Federation (IESF) has announced the various esports titles to be played, being:

#	Name of player	Club	Period/title	Province
1	Adele Janse van Rensburg	Generation X	HearthStone	Gauteng
2	Pieter Lourens	Höerskool Generaal Hertzog	HearthStone	Mpumalanga
3	George Griffiths	HTS Witbank	HearthStone	Mpumalanga
4	Beon Bronkhorst	JCS Academy	HearthStone	Free State
5	Gawie Fick	Fakkel School of Skills	HearthStone	Free State
6	Kaira Gabrielle Pinard	Valhalla	HearthStone	Gauteng
7	Orlando Crossling	NorthCliff High School	HearthStone	Gauteng
8	Cobus van der Wath	Fakkel School of Skills	HearthStone	Free State
9	Linda Swanepoel	Fakkel School of Skills	HearthStone	Free State
10	Eugene Pieterse	Generation X	HearthStone	Gauteng

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

The final lists are:

Sunday, 29 April 2018

Vereeniging Gimnasium dominates MSSA's Gauteng Provincial School Championships.

Pierce van der Merwe, William Cronje, and Cayden Naudé - all of Vereeniging Gimnasium.

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) saw its 19th Annual Gauteng School Provincial Championships for Board gaming and Wargames hosted byVereeniging Gimnasium on Saturday, 28 April 2018.

Vereeniging Gimnasium proved to be a perfect host, and demonstrated just why it offered to host MSSA's National Team Trials for Esports.

The championships proved to be an exciting affair with learners from Vereeniging Gimnasium dominating the entire event.

It should be noted that MSSA's school provincial championships for Board gaming and Wargames are free to anyy and all learners who go to any school in South Africa.

Thus, even if a school is not affiliated to MSSA, the school is still able to enter teams into such championships.

Just another way that MSSA puts its money where its mouth is in order to further develop the periods for which it is the custodian.

Many of South Africa's top players were first introduced through such provincial championships.

However, never before has the Gauteng School Provincial Championships been so dominated by just one school.

From start to finish Vereeniging Gimnasium dominated the event with all of their participants showing incredible sportsmanship.

With all three winners having won all their games, three winners not only walked away with the gold, but also High School Provincial Colours.

The winners of the various periods are:

Period	Name	School	Colours
Ancients	William Cronje	Vereeniging Gimnasium	Gauteng School Provincial
Checkers	Pierce van der Merwe	Vereeniging Gimnasium	Gauteng School Provincial
Morabaraba	Cayden Naudé	Vereeniging Gimnasium	Gauteng School Provincial

Thursday, 26 April 2018

To host, or not to host!

'Loda' and his team members at the Old Edwardian Society before attending the ACER African Continental Championships

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) has a long tradition of hosting international events.

Of all the events hosted by MSSA, MSSA has done South Africa proud in each and every event.

The events hosted by MSsA are:

2013 - Silviu 'NightEnd' Lazar's visit to South Africa - Johannesburg
2013 - IWF World Championships - Pretoria
2012 - IWF World Championships - Durban
2008 - ACER African Continental Championships - Johannesburg
2007 - IWF World Championships - Port Elizabeth
2002 - IWF World Championships - Durban
1999 - IWF World Championships - Cape Town
1997 - IWF World Championships - Johannesburg

Anyone involved in getting teams overseas who has been around for a long time will understand how government works and the impact that international events have on increasing membership as well as the burden that such an event puts on the organizers. Often those involved in running an international event exhibit all the signs of burn-out after the event and are sometimes physically ill from the stress and work-load.

The people who do the work are often volunteers who do both their normal jobs as well as other MSSA activities.

Thus to effectively host an event, there needs to be a local team that is going to do most of the work as well as get approval from the Ministry of Sport as well as to get the necessary buy-in from the municipality and the provincial government and/or the provincial sports council.

Thus, with IESF releasing its bidding documents to all member federations, the question has once again been raised, does South Africa want to host the World Championships for esports?

If MSSA took the decision to put in a bid to host the event, there would also have to be the buy-in from corporate South Africa. Without the buy-in of corporate South Africa, few would have the resources to effectively host a top-of-the-line championships.

Certainly it would be nice to welcome all those foreign players to South Africa, but to do so, there needs to also be a committed local organizing committee prepared to meet all of government's requirements and to meet all the criteria as set down in the bid document.

Hudson Park is on the rise.

Coverage received by the school.

Mind Sports South Africa's (MSSA's) Ladders provide all teams with the opportunity to improve their abilities in between official Regional, Provincial, and National Championships.

Any school club affiliated to MSSA is allowed to participate in the Ladder at times that suit the club.

Thus the Ladder runs parallel with MSSA to ensure as many schools take part in competitive esports.

Just another way that MSSA provides the greatest level of assistance at grassroot level.

The Ladder forms part of the basic infrastructure to further promote esports as an official school sport.

It is thus particularly pleasing to see Hudson Park shooting up the ladder. The young teams from East London are certainly making waves.

The Ladder for the esports title of DotA 2 for schools is:

MSSA's National DotA 2 Ladder
DotA 2 – Schools
Pos	Name of Player	year	Club
1	PC DOTA (17)	17	Parklands College
2	Maritzburg College A	17	Maritzburg College
3	Oakhill [Mr Project]	17	Oakhill College
4	SAHETI DotA2	17	SAHETI
5	WBHS/DotA	17	Westville Boys
6	Immortal Forces	18	Hudson Park
7	Grey High Gaming	17	Grey High School
8	[Eagles] MrFancy	17	St John's
9	Team Theory	17	Oakhill College
10	WYSIWYG	17	Jeppe High School for Boys
11	e-Squad	18	Hudson Park
12	Sacred Heart 1	17	SACRED HEART
13	HTS Witbank	17	HTS Witbank
14	PRIDE	17	Parktown Boys
15	Northwood DOTA	17	Northwood High
16	MC DOTA	17	Maritzburg College
17	PR0NHS	17	Northcliff High School
18	An Skeletons	16	Parklands
19	Maritzburg College B	16	Maritzburg College
20	SSES DOTA	16	St Stithians
21	SJC Outdoor Decorator	16	St John's
22	Grey High Seconds	17	Grey High
23	Sacred Heart 2	17	SACRED HEART
24	HTS Blue	16	HTS Witbank
25	HTS Yellow	16	HTS Witbank

Other National ladders are:

Senior CounterStrike: GO
Senior Tekken 7
Schools Tekken 7