MSSA/MWEB 2015 National Team Trials

Nathan Anderson in 2014 Protea kit

The MSSA/MWEB 2015 National Team Trials held on 26 September 2015 at THE HIVE in Montecasino went off without a hitch.

Yet, even before the doors were open, players had already assembled outside of the venue in the quaint reconstruction of a Italian town - complete with police car...?

The team from Fish Hoek all looked terribly dapper in their provincial colours. Nathan Anderson was also among the early arrivals resplendent in his 2014 kit.

Maryke Kennard - captain on the Tuks League of Legends

Nathan has represented South Africa in 2013 (Bucharest) and in 2014 (Baku) and was chomping at the bit in order to be selected to once again represent South Africa in Seoul.

The next group to arrive was a League of Legends team comprised mainly of Tuks students and lead by Maryke Kennard. The team arrived almost in wedge-formation with Maryke at the front and the rest in tow.

Gamers are encouraged to select their own teams from all the players who have qualified for Trials. Thus teams that play at Trials are not always the same as the teams that qualify. Team captains are thus able to fine-tune their teams by using players who have qualified for such Trials.

Players also turned up from six other clubs, and in total 4 provinces were represented at the Trials.

Ryan Boyes, eSports Chairman, immediately took charge of the Trials, and as soon as the mandatory welcome was given the administration of the event was finalised.

The trials were hotly contested with surprising results in most games which drew gasps from officials and players alike.

Thus at the end of day, exhausted gamers and officials departed from the venue.

The process now begins for the committee to analyse the results, select the team, submit the entry to the IeSF, and award Protea Colours.

As soon as the MSSA is able, the selection shall be made public.

Official South African National eSports Teams - 2013

All photographs are taken from the MSSAs facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa/photos_albums

The BATTLEFIELD 3 TEAM:

Captain: Barry 'Anthrax' Louzada

Photo on the left shows members from the team from the Gauteng area.

The photo on the right shows members of the team from Cape Town.

StarCraft II Test Match between South Africa and Romania:

Robert 'PandaTank' Botha (South Africa) in action against Silviu 'NightEnd' Lazar (Romania)

Gabriella 'GabyBear' Isaacs at a film shoot on gaming:

Dota 2 Protea Team:

Team captain: Anthony 'Scant' Hodgson

StarCraft 2 - Dreamhack, Bucharest:

Nathan Anderson

Team eSports South Africa - 2013 IeSF World Championships:

Team captain: Lyrene Kuhn

The team participated in League of Legends, Tekken Tag Tournament II, and StarCraft 2.

From the MSSA facebook page

I see that the MSSA has been busy of late.

Obviously the sponsorship that the MSSA receives from MWEB is an important factor to their level of activity.

It is interesting that the MWEB Protea Dota 2 team whitewashed the Mexican team on the 7^th of September 2013. South Africa’s strength as opposed to the Mexicans was totally phenomenal.

Of course there are the critics. They are not happy when South Africa loses, and they are not happy when South Africa wins. They are just never happy!

I spoke to Colin Webster (President of the MSSA) and he said to me. “The MSSA is very proud of the MWEB Dota 2 team. The team played well and had a good recovery after having been defeated by Romania.”

I too asked Webster if there was any truth to the Mexican team being weaker than what it should be. Webster replied by saying, “The Mexican team was selected by eSports Mexico. I cannot believe that any other federation would willingly field a weaker team than what they could unless they did it for other reasons that are only known to themselves.”

So that is it.... according to Webster the MWEB Protea Dota 2 Team won fair and square.

Of course there are the critics. They are not happy when South Africa loses, and they are not happy when South Africa wins. They are just never happy!
However, I have a bone to pick with the MSSA. I have not seen the results for the Online League of Legends Championships.

But it was a busy weekend. The same weekend saw the MSSA holding its 1^st Nkangala Regional Championships in Mpumalanga for COD 4. The winners were, not surprisingly, D5g of the All Stars Club.

Of course the highlight of the month for me was the fact that Veneration eSports gamer, Nathan 'StatiC' Anderson is selected to be the newest member of the MWEB Protea Team.

What a star!


And he is living the dream! Imagine to be sent across to play at DreamHack Bucharest. I would give my left b*** for that.

And to get Protea Colours to boot. What an honour!

Everyone here in Zola is rooting for you.

Go 'StatiC' go!



Amandla.