IUEC’22 got off to a fantastic start as two university gaming titans, ESOFT Black Catss and University of Moratuwa Mora Hunters, faced off in the inaugural Arena of Valor semi-finals.
After two tight games in a best-of-three series, Black Catss defeated IUEC ’21 overall champions UoM. Despite the UoM team’s tenacity and resilience, game 1 came down to the wire in the last 18 minutes with a nail-biting conclusion in which ESOFT was able to turn the game around to win 20-25 after falling behind on the scorecard mid-game.
In contrast, ESOFT Black Catss comfortably won the second game, building on a strong early game to finish fast, dominating the competion.
They will face the winners of semi-finals 2, who will also be two ESOFT teams, setting the stage of the grand finals to be an ESOFT derby.