Results of MSSA's 30th South African National Championships

Wolfpack in action at the 2016 SA National Championships.

MSSA's 30^th National Championships once again hosted by HTS Witbank was indeed a success.

Thanks must be extended to HTS Witbank, Morizane Boyes and the Mpumulanga Provincial Director, Mr. Louis Brown.

The championship attracted players from the majority of provinces. Players attended from 6 provinces.

More importantly the number of female participation grew exponentially with women competing in 10 out of the 12 games offered. The SA Nationals is thus now the championship that has more female participation than any other championship held in South Africa, and ranks among the top championships in the world for such.

Players thus battled it out to not only to earn the title of South African Champion, but also to earn National Federation Colours and the right to fight for a place in the 2017 National Team Trials that will ultimately deliver a team to IeSF's 2017 9^th World Championships.

The championship delivered a number of surprises. Most notable of the surprise results were to be found in the CounterStrike, FIFA, and HearthStone titles.

In CounterStrike, the newly formed VexxedPhoenix team smashed the opposition to take first place.

The all female team, Team Wolfpack, too delivered outstanding performances  to take 1st place in the women's division.

A challenger from Fakkel School in Sasolburg, by the name of Khahliso Malape, emerged as the winner. However, Jolene Bico maintained her position as the female South African champion. 

HearthStone too showed a new challenger coming to the fore. Kelvin Yang (Northcliff High School) waltzed home to take the title of South African champion and earn himself a position in the 2017 National Team Trials.

The winners are:

Title	Name of player/team	Club	Colours awarded
Ancients wargames	Colin Webster	Old Edwardian Wargames Club
Ancients wargames – Handicaps	Terence Allwright	Old Edwardian Wargames Club
Checkers	Khahliso Malape	Fakkel School
Checkers - female	Lucille Brown	All Stars
CounterStrike: GO	VxP Knights	VexxedPhoenix	National Colours
CounterStrike: GO – female	Wolfpack	Knights Mind Sports Club	National Colours
CounterStrike: GO – High School	K1IIJOYS	BNKR
DotA 2	Titans	VexxedPhoenix	National Colours
FIFA ‘16	Khahliso Malape	Fakkel School	National Colours
FIFA ‘16 – female	Jolene Bico	BNKR	National Colours
FIFA ‘16 – High Schooll	Kamohelo Tladi	Fakkel School
Hearthstone	Kelvin Yang	Northcliff High School	National Colours
League of Legends	Fuzz Logic	VexxedPhoenix	National Colours
League of Legends – High School	K1IIJOYS	Hoerskool Generaal Hertzog
Morabaraba	Johannes Mokua	All Stars	National Colours
Morabaraba (female)	Nombulelo Gavin	Fakkel School	National Colours
Morabaraba – High School	Mukha Masheleni	Fakkel School
Mortal Kombat X	Kyle Chan Some	Northcliff High School	National Colours
Mortal Kombat X (female)	Leone Loftus	Fakkel	National Colours
	Robyn Gertzer	Teutonic Knights	National Colours
PES 2016	Richard Ferreira	Fakkel School	National Colours
PES 2016 (female)	Leone Loftus	Fakkel School
Street Fighter V	Leonard Loftus	Masters of Mind Sports	National Colours
Street Fighter V (female)	Sune Van Der Merwe	HTS Witbank	National Colours
Tekken Tag Tournament II	Gawie Fick	Fakkel School	National Colours
Tekken Tag Tournament II (female)	Nadine Swart	HTS Witbank	National Colours
Tekken Tag Tournament II – High School	Waldo Joubert	BNKR
	Jan-Hendrik Van Aswegen	BNKR
StarCraft II	Aidan Smale	Old Edwardian Wargames Club	National Colours

Photographs of the event may be found on: https://www.facebook.com/pg/mindsportssa/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10155465022184008

MSSA elections: Morizane Boyes contests the Presidency

Morizane Boyes in action at IeSF's 6th World Championships - Baku

Morizane Boyes has announced that she is going to contest MSSA's presidency.

Morizane first started as an athlete, but such was her belief in how eSports could benefit her learners, Morizane quickly established a club at the school at which she is an educator, HTS Witbank.

Wanting to do more, and not shying away from work, Morizane stood for the position of 'Women's Desk' on MSSA's Management Board.

With a perfect attendance, and not ever having missed a single vote, Morizane has fought for the rights of women within MSSA and has spearheaded most of the motions that have made MSSA's championships more gender friendly.

Moreover, under Morizane's watch, there have been more opportunities for women to qualify for national teams.

Morizane has a list of achievements that would make most people envious of her, such as:

• Becoming South Africa's first female national umpire, 
• Becoming South Africa's first internationally recognised umpire,
• Being awarded Protea Colours for eSports in 2014, 
• Officiated at three online international test matches (Austria, Zimbabwe, and Ghana), 
• Won the 2013 SPAR Volunteer of the Year Award,
• Won MSSA's Mind Sports Person of the Year Award in 2014,
• Won MSSA's Volunteer of the Year Awards in 2015, and
• Having served a full term on MSSA's Management Board.

There is no doubt that Morizane Boyes is more than capable of heading MSSA, and has a proven track record of being a hard negotiator when dealing with SRSA.

Morizane Boyes has been nominated by BNKR.

White Rabbit leads MSSA's CounterStrike: GO Ladder

The White Rabbit Team that played in MSSA's 2015 S A National Championships

White Rabbit Gaming currently leads both MSSA's ranking and MSSA's Ladder for the CounterStrike:GO eSports title.

According to  the rules for the Ladder, teams are listed in accordance of ranking and may be challenged by teams that are ranked within five places of themselves. New teams enter at the bottom of the table and have to work their way to the top.

It is really quite encouraging to see so many school teams making their way up the table which bodes well for the future of gaming in South Africa.

Ranking	Name of Player	year	Club	Points
1	WRG	15	White Rabbit Gaming	410.6
2	PORAXYSM	16	All Stars	285
3	VIGILANTES	15	TV	270
4	PAROXYSM	15	All Stars	235.7
5	VOID	15	St John's	204.5
6	DELTA	15	All Stars	200.7
7	Rondebosch Boys High	15	RBHS	200
8	QUANTM	16	STC	150
9	Fairmont High School	15	FHS	125
10	SPEARR	15	STJ	120
11	PBHS red	15	PBHS	112.5
12	HGH	16	HGH	100
13	All Stars	16	All Stars	100
14	PRONHS	15	NCLF	97
15	LAGSTEPS	15	BNKR	85
16	VGR146	16	Lofdal	75
17	PG – 18	15	Parklands	75
18	PBHS white	15	PBHS	56.3

Results of MSSA's 29th National Championships

White Rabbit Gaming with their National Federation Colours

MSSA's 29^th National Championships (sponsored by MWEB) hosted by HTS Witbank was indeed a success.

Thanks must be extended to MWEB, HTS Witbank, Morizane Boyes and the Mpumulanga Provincial Director, Mr. Louis Brown.

The championship attracted players from the majority of provinces, and players battled it out to not only to earn the title of South African Champion, but also to earn National Federation Colours and the right to fight for a place in the 2016 National Team Trials that will ultimately deliver a team to the IeSF's 2016 8^th World Championships.

The championship delivered a number of surprises. Most notable of the surprise results were to be found in the CounterStrike, FIFA, and HearthStone titles.

In CounterStrike, the newly formed Whit Rabbit Gaming team smashed the opposition. Only the St John's team offered any sort of resistance as White Rabbit surged forward to take first place, and by winning all ttheir games, earned National Colours in the process.

In FIFA, it has been held for the past couple of years that Kyle Turnbull is without doubt the best player in South Africa. However, a challenger from Fairmont High School, by the name of Andrew Reeve, emerged and in the championship, held Kyle to a draw. Kyle was physically shocked! The final position was thus decided on tie-break which Kyle won on goal average!

HearthStone too showed a new challenger coming to the fore. While Maryke romped home in the females section, Brandon Horn waltzed home to take the title of South African champion and earn himself a position in the 2016 National Team Trials.

The winners are:

Title	Name of player/team	Club	Colours awarded
Ancients wargames	Garth Schoeman	Knights Mind Sports	National Federation
Checkers (female)	Sharné Nortjé	Tuks Mind Sports
Checkers	Francois Mouton	Tuks Mind Sports	National Federation
COD: Advanced Warfare (PS4)	PR0NHS	Northcliff High	National Federation
COD: Advanced Warfare (XBOX)	Apex gaming	BNKR gaming	National Federation
CounterStrike: GO	VOID	White Rabbit Gaming	National Federation
DotA 2	PHBS Red	Pretoria Boys High	National Federation
FIFA '15 (female)	Joline Bico	HTS Witbank	National Federation
FIFA '15	Kyle Turnbull	HTS Witbank
HearthStone (female)	Maryke Kennard	Tuks Mind Sports	National Federation
HearthStone	Brandon Horn	Pretoria Boys High
League of Legends	Tuks Mind Sports	Tuks Mind Sports	National Federation
Morabaraba (female)	Lucille Brown	HGH	National Federation
Morabaraba	Johannes Makua	All Stars	National Federation
OSU (female)	Lucille Brown	HGH	National Federation
StarCraft II (female)	Morizane Boyes	HTS Witbank	National Federation
StarCraft II	Gideon Hefer	Knights Mind Sports	National Federation
Tekken (female)	Morizane Boyes	HTS Witbank	National Federation
Tekken	Filipe Batista	HTS Witbank
Ultimate Street Fighter	Armand Eicker	HTS Witbank	National Federation

Photographs of the event may be found on https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154362165554008.1073741933.146018324007&type=3

MSSA announces MWEB Protea eSports Team for Seoul World Championships

Maryke 'Ykie' Kennard Captain of the MWEB Protea eSports Team for the 7th IeSF World Championships - Seoul

Through hard work, dedication and sheer perseverance, Mind Sports South Africa has carved a solid reputation for eSports both internationally and at home in South Africa.

eSports in South Africa has grown from being a mere activity to being a fully-fledged-accredited-sport for which players may earn Regional, Provincial, and/or Protea Colours.

MSSA, as a member of the International eSports Federation (IeSF) has been party to seeing eSports being accepted by the Olympic Committee of Asia and TAFISA.

Thus eSports is now accredited at every level as a sport.

Wynand 'ViViD'

And, at this time of the year, MSSA once again selects its team that will sally forth to do battle on foreign fields and represent South Africa against the best that other nations have to offer.

This year the IeSF's World Championships is being hosted in the heart of eSports, that is, Seoul, South Korea.

The game titles in which the MWEB South African Protea eSports Team will compete are League of Legends®, StarCraft II®, and HearthStone®.

MSSA is glad to have Wynand 'ViViD' Meiring represent South Africa for HearthStone®. Wynand has proved himself at the 2014 S A National Championships, Gauteng Provincial Championships, and National Team Trials to be a very tough competitor. MSSA is confident that Wynand will deliver solid results in Seoul.

Nathan 'StatiC' Anderson

Nathan 'StatiC' Anderson has once again been selected to represent South Africa in StarCraft II®. Nathan is now a seasoned warhorse when it comes to international competition having represented South Africa in Bucharest in 2013 and in Baku in 2014. This selection is the third year that Nathan has been included in the Protea team, and has thus earned himself 9 'caps' making him second only to Robert 'PandaTank' Botha.

MSSA is particularly proud of its League of Legends (LoL) Team. The team is well known in South African competitive circles, and the members of the team have all been in the various winning teams that have won at the various Provincial and National Championships as held by MSSA.

The team, captained by the ever efficient Maryke 'Ykie' Kennard is bound to make the other teams sit up and take notice as once again South Africa builds on its solid reputation.

The full team is as follows:

Name	Position	Club	Residence
Maryke 'Ykie' Kennard	Team Captain & LoL	Tuks Mindsports	Pretoria
Nathan 'StatiC' Anderson	StarCraft player	Knights Mind Sports	Betty's Bay
Wynand ' ViViD' Meiring	HearthStone Player	BerZerK Gaming	Pretoria
Taylor 'elis' Rose	LoL player	Knights Mind Sports	Cape Town
Matthew 'Feno' Smith	LoL player	Knights Mind Sports	Cape Town
Vasudev 'Paga' Stringer	LoL player	Tuks Mindsports	Centurion
Cameron 'SexyB' Tilley	LoL player	Tuks Mindsports	Hatfield
Johan Uys	Coach	Tuks Mindsports	Pretoria
Ryan Boyes	Manager	BNKR Gaming	Witbank

As manager, Ryan Boyes lead the team to a very credible finish into 13^th place overall among some very tough competition at the 6^th World Championships which were held in Baku, Azerbijan. When one considers the handicaps, in terms of connectivity and the likes, the position that South Africa holds shows that South Africa is punching far above its weight.

The MWEB Protea eSports Team shall officially be awarded their colours at the official award ceremony that shall be done just prior to departure.