Jessie Joubert to shout-cast SA's official IeSF test match against Switzerland.

Jessie Joubert at IeSF's 8th World championships - Jakarta.

On 6 Septemberr 2017 MSSA announced that the official IeSF test match against Switzerland shall be streamed on MSSA's channel on TULUNTULU.

The test match forms part of the Protea CounterStrike: GO Esports Team's preparations for IeSF's 9th World Championships - Busan.

The South African Protea CounterStrike: GO Esports Team shall play from Roedean College at the following times:

• Counter Strike GO (Game 1) - 15H00 to 16H00
• Counter Strike GO (Game 2) - 16H00 to 17H00

Jessie Joubert has established himself as a  well respected CounterStrike: GO player.

Having earned National Federation Colours in 2016, Jessie went on to earn Protea Colours in in 2017 and captained the Protea CounterStrike: GO Esports Team at IeSF's 8th World championships - Jakarta.
With the wealth of knowledge that Jessie Joubert has in both the local and international scene, Jessie's shout-casting should be most enjoyable.

Online test match between SA and Switzerland: Tekken 7

Alasdair Donaldson.

On 5 July 2017, MSSA advised its membership that Alasdair Donaldson was selected as the Team Captain for the esports title of Tekken 7 and shall  represent South Africa's hopes and dreams at IeSF's 9th World Championships - Busan in November 2017.
Alasdair Donaldson will be able to get his first taste of international competition in official Protea livery on Saturday, 9 September 2017 at 17H00 to 17H45.

On Saturday, 9 September 2017. Alasdair Donaldson will face none other Mathieu Nguyen aka “KiraKira”.

Mathieu is the Swiss (SESF) representative in the discipline “Tekken 7” for the International e-Sports Federation’s 9^th e-Sports World championship, coming up November 8-12 in Busan (Korea).

At 24-years old Swiss-French Mathieu Nguyen aka “KiraKira”. KiraKira is on the roster of the well-known Swiss esports team “mYinsanity” and currently not only dominates the Swiss Tekken scene, but also scores respectable results in international competition.

Mathieu has finished in the top-8 in the European Qualifier of the Tekken World Tour 2017, and made the top-50 in EVO 2017.

As such, Mathieu is a worthy opponent for Alasdair in this exciting test match.

Test match schedule for SA vs Switzerland - 9 September 2017.

On 3 September 2017, Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) announced its team for the official online esports test match that is to take place on 9 September 2017.

The Swiss national team will take on the official South African National Protea Esports Team in an exciting test match which MSSA considers to be a vital step in MSSA's preparation of Team Esports South Africa for IeSF's 9th World Championships - BUSAN.

As loyal readers will note, MSSA has its own channel on TULUNTULU.

TULUNTULU is one of the largest mobile content platforms targeting audiences in Africa, and globally, with African focused content. The app can be downloaded for free from the Google Play and iOS App stores; usage is free (no subscriptions), 100% free on Wi-Fi - with data costs only if connected via a mobile network (the low data setting consumes +-50MB/hr.). The “FREE” business model is designed to maximize audience reach and engagement.

TULUNTULU continues to grow and is approaching 500,000 app installs.

MSSA shall be streaming the official test match on its channel.
The schedule for 9 September 2017 is as follows:

• Award Ceremony shall be from 12H00 till 13H00.
• League of Legends (Game 1) - 13H00 to 14H00
• League of Legends (Game 2) - 14H00 to 15H00
• Counter Strike GO (Game 1) - 15H00 to 16H00
• Counter Strike GO (Game 2) - 16H00 to 17H00
• Tekken 7 (Game 1 and 2) - 17H00 to 17H45

Only the League of Legends and CounterStrike: GO games shall be streamed live.

Should you wish to watch any of the above, please download the free TULUNTULU app, and enjoy the games on MSSA's channel.

MSSA announces its Protea League of Legends team to battle against Switzerland.

Top (left to right): Brandon Fester (Captain), Simone Beck, Jade Klein
Bottom (left to right): Connor Cryans, Brett Whitehead

A number of dramatic changes have occurred  in 2017 in Mind Sports South Africa to make MSSA a better and more representative national federation..

Such changes include the election of Morizane Boyes as President, making her the first female to ever hold such office, as well as true gender equity being attained on MSSA's Management Board.

2017 too sees the National Squad for League of Legends also having gender equity. As a result it only stands to reason that Protea teams selected such squad will further reflect the massive changes occurring within MSSA - and the country as a whole.

Thus the League of Legends team selected to do battle against Switzerland (as represented by SESF) in an official IeSF test match on 9 September 2017 sees, for the first time, twice as many females included than ever before.

Such inclusion of both Simone Beck and Jade Klein is largely due to the efforts of Maryke Kennard who broke through many of the preconceived notions and was a valuable asset to both the 2015 and 2016 Protea Teams that participated in both Seoul and Jakarta.

The Protea team to play against Switzerland shall consist of the following players:

• Brandon Fester (Captain), 
• Simone Beck, 
• Jade Klein, 
• Connor Cryans, and 
• Brett Whitehead 

MSSA is convinced that the Protea Team will do South Africa proud as they play from MWEB's MCAVE on 9 September 2017.

IeSF co-opts Vinzenz Koegler to Board.

Vinzenz Koegler.

With Eddie Lim having had to resign from the Board, due to work issues, a vacancy opened up on IeSF’s Board. 

Immediately the existing Board started to examine the many valid possibilities for a replacement.

The problem was that there were so many good upstanding candidates from which to choose. As the deliberations raged on, one person stood out as the popular choice.

That man was the 30 year old Vinzenz Koegler!

Vinzenz has an impressive involvement in esports.

Vinzenz has been involved in esports ever since he laid his hands on a Commodore 64. His involvement did not stop at playing, but went on to try and make a better world for gamers. Thus in 2011 Vinzenz joined the Swiss E-Sports Federation, and shortly thereafter was elected as president of such body in 2012.

It was not surprising that Vinzenz was re-elected to the position of president of the Swiss E-Sports Federation in October 2016. His dedication, commitment and attention to detail made him an obvious choice.

Having earned a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and Master's in Biomedical Engineering, Vinzenz applies such knowledge of both his formal qualifications to the passion that he has for esports.

One of the main focusses that Vinzenz has is to ensure that players, teams and event organizers have close relations in order to grow the sport. Such focus ties in perfectly with IeSF’s policy of “Protect the Player”.

There is no doubt that Vinzenz will be a veritable asset to IeSF and will help drive IeSF forward to meet its goals.

Welcome aboard Vinzenz!

Report on day 1 of the 2015 IeSF world championship: League of Legends

                          South Africa getting ready for the match against Thailand
   

Day 1 saw team South Africa take on Switzerland, Thailand and Iran in a best of 1 format for League of Legends. Game 1 against Switzerland was highly competitive as the  MWEB Protea eSports Team South Africa got off to a flying start with an early gold lead and turret advantage. The game saw first blood go to South African mid laner Matthew "Feno" Smith on Lulu when Dennis "koala with a hat" made a risky invade. The game remained close up until the 17 minute mark when Swiss jungler Dennis "koala with a hat" Berg started to snowball bottom and mid lane with some mechanically skilled Lee Sin plays. The Swiss team capitalized off of the mid game and saw them win at 28 minutes.

In the second game South Africa took on Thailand on the main stage which was broadcast live to thousands of viewers around the world. Cameron "SexyB" Tilley said the game was especially exciting as they got to play in one of the famous "gaming booths" commonly used here in Korea. Everyone who watched the game live here in the arena and those watching on line commented that this particular match was the closest and most competitive game they had seen up til then. First blood went to Taylor "Elis" Rose at 4 minutes with a level 3 gank on Lee Sin when Charoen "Argonaut" Limprasert overextended on Lulu against Vasudev "TagaBearClaw" Stringer on Pantheon in the top lane. The South African team drafted a strong early and mid game composition with a Lee Sin Jungle pick and Pantheon top lane pick, the down side to this composition however is that it had a time limit to close out the game before the late game started. The casters mentioned that the game was particularly fun to watch due to the aggressive and unusual current meta top lane Pantheon pick with Ignite/Flash as summoner spells.

                             South African and Thailand League of Legends teams

The undoubted star performance of the second game came from the South African mid laner Matthew "Feno" Smith on Ahri. Feno applied a lot of pressure in the mid lane which spilled over in to the side lanes as the jungler from Thailand had to constantly visit the mid lane to try and relieve some of the lane pressure after the level 6 mark. He also flourished in the mid game with some spectacular Ahri mechanics and flash-charm plays in the jungle skirmishes. At the 30 minute mark Feno had accomplished a 4.0 KDA with a score of 9/5/11. He had also completed his Zhonyas Hourglass, Luden's Echo and Morellonomicon with the eye on mitigating some of the life steal the Thai AD carry Panthakan "Murphyy" Kukham was building up on Vayne. The Thai team was running a protect the AD carry composition with Lullu in the top lane buffing up Vayne who was starting to snowball off some mid game kills. This proved effective as a late game team fight around the Baron pit swung the game in the favor of Thailand. The Thai team managed to capitalise off of this late game fight and saw them drive home a win in a nail biting finish.

South Africa faced off against Iran in the final game of the day. The South African bottom lane shined in this match with Cameron "SexyB" Tilley on Vayne and Maryke "Ykie" Kennard on Janna. The bottom lane synergy of South Africa proved to be too much for Iranian bottom lane of Iman "iman" Delaram on AD carry and Mohammad "mohammad" Nejati on support as Cameron and Maryke expertly navigated the early and mid game to create a massive gold and objective lead for South Africa. South Africa ran with this lead with an overwhelming victory at 37 minutes.

The team is looking forward to day 2 of the 2015 IeSF championship with some test matches against Australia and Serbia

- Johan Uys