Marvel Rivals overcomes resistance to down Purdue-Fort Wayne

By Balen Allain

Cedarville’s Marvel Rivals team won 3-1 Thursday night against their toughest opponent yet, Purdue University-Fort Wayne, facing fierce resistance in the Convoy matches. 

“I’m excited to play Purdue,“ team captain Ben “Fysx” Jones said. “I think we’re gonna beat them, but it’s going to be a lot closer than our other matches.“ 

The team has been practicing using and countering a powerful character, Gambit, who has a powerful ultimate ability that makes a fight one-sided. 

Because Cedarville’s team won three consecutive placement games, the rules of their division dictate that they have to fight another 3-0 team. 

“I think that we can definitely win,“ Cooper “Disciple_91” Brackney said. “I haven’t done extensive scouting, but as long as we’re playing we need to remember what we learned and worked on, playing as a team and for God.“ 

During the banning phase, Cedarville kept Gambit while banning it from Purdue. 

The first round of Domination started in Purdue’s favor. They captured the point first and held it until Cedarville chased them away at 38%. Purdue launched into a long assault of the point, but the Yellow Jackets held. At the end, in overtime, Purdue nearly overwhelmed them and prevented victory, but a well-timed ultimate from Jared “Sphinx” Toyer held them off. 

Purdue came back with a vengeance in the second round, keeping the point nearly to completion, but Cedarville took a precarious hold. One significant loss against Purdue would lose the point, and they battered the Yellow Jackets a few times without taking the point. In overtime, Cedarville staved off Purdue, making the game 1-0. 

“They didn’t ban right,” Logan “log_hoffman” Hoffman said. “Gambit’s the most broken character in the game. Allows us to play faster, have better ults.” 

Convoy had Cedarville tasked with advancing the payload. Their control slipped twice in the first couple minutes, and Purdue stopped them at 78 meters, just before they reached the first checkpoint. 

Their early loss made the second round tough for the Yellow Jackets. Purdue didn’t need long to keep them off the payload, putting the game at 1-1. 

Not only was Gambit banned for both Cedarville and Purdue, but Cedarville didn’t choose the best team composition to face Purdue’s. Both teams continued to ban Gambit for the rest of the game. 

“We should have played a better comp,” Toyer said. “We didn’t recognize it until it was a little too late, and then we were playing on the backfoot.” 

He was optimistic for the third match, though. 

“We’re not going to be playing an awful comp two games in a row,” he added. “We figured out what didn’t work, and then we won’t do it again.” 

Toyer’s prophecy came true. The Yellow Jackets earned a strong start in Convergence, taking the first point and escorting the payload to the second with little successful resistance. In no time, they captured the second and annihilated the second leg of the escort journey. 

“Every team fight, we just had better coordination,” Philip “Lazr boy453” Parker said over loud celebration and laughter from the rest of the team. “It’s that simple.” 

Purdue had to tie with Cedarville or lose the match. Unfortunately for them, Cedarville didn’t let them capture even the first point. 

Going 2-1 into another match of Convoy, the team was feeling good. 

“Second game was a fluke,” Jones said. “We’re gonna watch it back after. We’re just better than them, and we should beat them up every day.” 

The start of the round mirrored the first Convoy game. Cedarville nearly got the payload to the first checkpoint, but Purdue pushed back. However, Cedarville reclaimed it and kept the steamroll going. Purdue nearly took it again at halfway, but they were rebuffed. Cedarville took the second point with continual tough fighting from Purdue and set to claim the final point. 

Purdue broke their defense at the last moment, killing both of Cedarville’s damage players before they reached the end. Control of the payload fluctuated between the teams as overtime stretched on. 

Now Cedarville just had to prevent Purdue from replicating those results. Purdue steadily pushed to the first point, but Cedarville took control just after, keeping it into and through overtime a minute later to take home the 3-1 victory. 

“It’s always nice to win on a long overtime fight,” Hoffman said. “I’m a little disappointed we didn’t win 3-0.” 

Brackney echoed the sentiment. 

“That second map – well, obviously we know what went wrong, but it was just weird to lose that,” he said. “Other than that, we played well enough to win. We’ll probably find stuff when we watch it back, if we do.” 

Cedarville Esports normally streams Rivals every Thursday at 8:30 p.m. on YouTube and Twitch, at Cedarville Esports Team. Old streams are viewable as VODs. 

Balen Allain is a senior Broadcasting, Digital Media and Journalism major focusing on Audio and Journalism. He enjoys gaming, writing fiction, and making music.