DotA 2: Sinister5 ranked #1 in the country.

The Edenvale based team, Sinister5, with their provincial colours.

With teams fervently getting ready for MSSA's 2017 National Team Trials to be held on 3 & 4 June 2017, MSSA is working hard to ensure that all the admin is up to date.

Thus the rankings are being generated as a result of MSSA's Online Provincial Championships which were held on 22 April 2017.

At such Online Provincial Championships, all were astounded by the improved standard of play as teams thrashed it out for first place.

However, none shone as much  as the Edenvale based club, Sinister5, which dominated the championship from start to finish.

It is thus without any surprise that Sinister5 is now the top ranked team in the country.

However, there is always someone working harder, sleeping less, and yapping on your heels...

That team seems to be the Durban based team from Northwood High School, which after just one tournament, has forced its way into being the team ranked as the second best team in the country.

The full list of officially DotA 2 ranked teams are:

Pos	Name of Player	year	Club	Points
1	Sinister5	17	Sinister5	389.5
2	Northwood DOTA	17	Northwood High School	297.1
3	TMSC|DropZone	15	Tuks Mind Sports Club	254.5
4	Sp4rt4ns	17	SAHETI	248.5
5	BeZerK	15	BzK	226.8
6	Maritzburg College	16	Maritzburg College	220.9
7	PotM Bottom	17	PotM Bottom	218.2
8	POPOS (Parklands College)	15	Parklands College	191
9	TMSC 1st team	15	Tuks Mind Sports Club	187.5
10	Some Random Slackers	15	Knights Mind Sports Club	186.4
11	TribalGaming	16	Fairmont High School	171.6
12	Fish Hoek High School	15	Fish Hoek High School	170.7
13	Parklands	16	Parklands College	163.5
14	KWAKKIE DOTES	16	Tuks Mind Sports Club	163.5
15	We Took a Tower!	16	Wits Wargames Club	162.8
16	WYSIWYG	17	Jeppe Boys High School	159.8
17	Broken alliance	16	Fairmont High School	154.9
18	Psyduck	15	St John's College	151.3
19	PR0NHS	17	Northcliff High School	147
20	Mr Project	16	Oakhill College	146.8
21	MX (Parklands College)	15	Parklands College	145.7
22	WBHS/DOTA	17	Westville Boys	142.1
23	Tango	15	BNKR	140
24	MC DOTA	17	Maritzburg College	135.7
25	BBC	15	Tuks Mind Sports Club	134
26	PBHS RED	15	Pretoria Boys High School	132.9
27	PBHS WHITE	15	Pretoria Boys High School	128.8
28	Kronos Spectrum	15	Fairmont High School	125
29	DUC	15	Knights Mind Sports Club	124.2
30	PIXELS	15	HTS Witbank	123.4
31	Makeshift	15	Fairmont High School	120.9
32	Grey High Gaming	17	Grey Highschool	120
33	Rondebosch	15	Rondebosch Boys High School	117.4
34	ITZ	15	BNKR	113.1
35	OAK$	15	Oakhill College	112.6
36	Kappa Knights	16	Fairmont High School	111.6
37	Titans	17	VexxedPhoenix	110.7
38	APTWE	16	Tuks Mind Sports Club	105
39	Team Craig	16	Northcliff High School	97.1
40	Flaming Bunnies	16	Fairmont High School	95
41	[PRIDE]	17	Parktown Boys' High School	92.5
42	PORAXYSM	16	All Stars	90
43	Quantum	17	Curro Klerksdorp	85
44	SPS	15	HTS Witbank	80
45	HELION	17	Uplands College	75.5
46	TMSC 2nd team	15	Tuks Mind Sports Club	75
47	PR0NHS TML	15	Northcliff High School	71
48	Raven Gaming	15	Fairmont High School	69.9

Other rankings published by MSSA are:

• Senior Ancients Wargames
• Senior CounterStrike: GO
• Senior DotA 2
• Senior League of Legends
• Senior StarCraft II
• Schools CounterStrike: GO
• Schools DotA 2
• Schools League of Legends

Results: 21st North West Provincial Championships

Sinister5 with their Provincial Colours certificates.

As the year continues with its relentless march forward, players frantically scramble for a place in MSSA's National Team Trials.

Thus MSSA's 21st North West Championships is the third last championship in which players may qualify for such Trials.

For those teams that have qualified, the work has begun in earnest in order to hone their skills for Trials, while some players are still desperately trying to qualify.

MSSA's 21st North West Provincial Championships were hosted by Curro Klerksdorp.

Thanks must be extended to Curro Klerksdorp and especially Hannes Esterhuizen.

The championship attracted players from the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, North West, and Mpumulanga.

Players battled it out to earn the various titles of North West Champion, and the right to fight for a place in the 2017 National Team Trials that will ultimately deliver a team to the IeSF's 2017 9^th World Championships later in 2017.

The  standard at MSSA's north west Championships has certainly improved, and the championship was  characterised by some very fierce competition.

DotA 2 was dominated by Sinister5. The newly affiliated team dominated their opponents in order to take first place and secure their berth in the National Team Trials.

The winners are:

Title	Name of player/team	Club	Colours awarded
Ancients (DBM) (female)	Elishia Retief	North West University	Provincial
Ancients (DBM)	Jason Batzofin	Old Edwardian Wargames Club
Counterstrike: GO	Soviet UZ	Midstream College	Provincial
Counterstrike: GO (High School)	Quantum	Curro Klerksdorp
DotA 2	Sinister5	Sinister5	Provincial
FIFA '17	Jade Appels	Curro Klerksdorp	Provincial
FIFA '17 (High School)	Lesedi Motale	Curro Klerksdorp
Mortal Kombat X (female)	Doreen Els	Teutonic Knights Mind Sports Club
Mortal Kombat X	Theunis van der Merwe	Curro Klerksdorp	Provincial
Mortal Kombat X (High School)	Tumelo Sesinyi	Curro Klerksdorp
PES 2017	Ryan Gathita & Mpumi Madeou	Curro Klerksdorp	Provincial – Mpumi Madeou
PES 2017 (High School)	Alessandro Sacca	Curro Klerksdorp
StarCraft II (female)	Dominique Magon	Blue Dragon	Provincial
StarCraft II	Stefan Morris	Blue Dragon	Provincial
Street Fighter V (female)	Doreen Els	Teutonic Knights Mind Sports Club
Street Fighter V	Theunis van der Merwe	Curro Klerksdorp
Tekken Tag Tournament II (female)	Doreen Els	Teutonic Knights Mind Sports Club
Tekken Tag Tournament II	Mark Morobane	Curro Klerksdorp	Provincial
VainGlory	Pr0NHS	Northcliff High School

In total 17 players earned the right to wear provincial colours.

Photographs of the event may be found on: https://www.facebook.com/146018324007/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10155891702889008

Bumper entries expected for MSSA's 2017 North West Provincial Championships

Registrations are open for MSSA's 2017 North West Provincial Championships to be hosted by Curro Klerksdorp.

MSSA's 2017 North West Provincial Championships is part of the process of selecting the 2017 Protea teams that will attend the various World Championships.

With a number of new clubs having been accepted into membership over the past couple of months, MSSA officials are bracing themselves for a bumper entry. Top female wargamer, Elishia Retief has already expressed her intention to enter, while it is strongly believed that the newest affiliate Sinister5 will be there to qualify for the upcoming National Team Trials.

All gamers are reminded that MSSA's 2017 North West Provincial Championships are an open championship. In other words any registered player is entitled to enter the championship – no matter where they live, or their category of membership. 

You may contact MSSA at mindsportssa@gmail.com

Details are as follows:

• Board gaming:http://esportscommentator.blogspot.co.za/2017/03/mssas-21st-north-west-board-gaming.html 
• eSports: http://esportscommentator.blogspot.co.za/2017/02/21st-north-west-championships-25-26.html
• Wargaming: http://esportscommentator.blogspot.co.za/2017/03/21st-mssa-north-west-wargaming.html

Member clubs may enter their teams/players on their Google Drive page.

The 2017 Calendar of Events may be viewed here.

The schedule for the championship remains:

Saturday – 25 March 2017
Discipline	Period	Start time
Board games	Checkers	10H00
	Morabaraba	10H00
eSports	StarCraft II	9H00
	PES (Pro Evolution Soccer)	9H00
	League of Legends (LoL)	9H00
	Hearthstone	9H00
	Ultimate Street Fighter V	9H00
	Counter Strike GO	9H00
	TEKKEN TTII	14H00
Wargames	Ancients	9H00
Sunday – 26 March 2017
eSports	DotA 2	9H00
	VainGlory	9H00
	FIFA '17	9H00
	Mortal Kombat X	9H00