Sangmin “eeeyak” Lim took home the championship in a four game series, while Botany Downs Secondary School’s Tony “FireBlaze010” Tran finished second in a close series.
The championship had representatives from high schools across Australia and New Zealand compete over two days, with the winner being crowned on Saturday the 19th of June.
The tournament champion, Sangmin spoke about the pride he felt participating and representing his school and showing the positives esports can offer.
“I felt proud of representing my school and the wider community in esports. I was glad as winning this competition showed the bright side of esports, especially to people around me.”
For Sangmin, the competition offers the opportunity for him to self-reflect and learn more about his strengths and weaknesses which he intends to build on as looks to continue competing in TFT.
“I was extremely happy about my result and noticed that I have placed first in the competition. I think it was a great experience as I was able to find out my strengths and weaknesses that I possess, which could be improved in future TFT competitions.”
For Sangmin the strategy for first place was simple; aim for a top 4 finish every game and build a platform for first place.
“I think it is important to figure out the meta for each patch when playing TFT. However, when playing the tournament, I played for top 4 for every game. I slammed whatever items I get, using any 2-star carries to build up to get to level 8. This helped me to safely earn points and allowed me to be top 4 every game and come first place.”
While for second placed Tony, the competition offered him a different opportunity. The New Zealand student is actively involved in esports at his school, helping run the Esports club and is a part of the Esports Council.
“I really enjoyed representing my school and hope it encourages students to join our e-sports club and represent our school too. With the wider community in e-sports, it felt like this was my first stepping stone to be a fellow member of the wider community and doing my part to up the level of skill.”
For Tony, it’s not just the thrill of competition that’s on offer, competing in META gives him the opportunity to build his brand and refine his craft to help build his streaming that he does outside of school
“I came into the tournament to solidify and make myself a name within the TFT community. I have a burning passion for TFT and streaming, and so I really wanted to place high so I can reach out to more people who felt the same.”
If your school is interested in registering for META high school esports competitions find out more at https://metahse.gg/
You can also check out second placed “Fireblaze010” stream TFT on his channel here
