By Lexie Shezifi — Reporter
San Jose State Esports Club member Rainier de Fort-Menares took home first place in a collegiate Teamfight Tactics (TFT) tournament sponsored by SoFi over the weekend.
Developed by Riot Games, Teamfight Tactics allows players to compete against seven other individuals in a round-based strategy game where the last one standing wins.
The tournament featured around 100 participants and a prize pool for first through fourth place, with de Fort-Menares taking home $1,750 in scholarship prize money.
“I’m pretty good at the game, so I expected to do well, I expected to at least get something,” de Fort-Menares said. “I signed up the day before kind of at the last minute.”
Teamfight Tactics matches feature eight players, with first through fourth place being considered a win in each game.
Players pick their team of characters and position them in the best position at the beginning of each round.
The tournament was single elimination, so if any player were to finish below fourth place in a match they would be out of the tournament.
On Saturday de Fort-Menares played two matches in which he finished second and fourth.
He played two more matches on Sunday in which he placed first and fourth to qualify for the finals game later in the day.
After a hard fought match, de Fort-Menares ended up winning the finals match and the first place prize money.
Teamfight Tactics is a game about both skill and luck according to de Fort-Menares, who said he was pleasantly surprised about the outcome of the tournament.
“I didn’t expect to win money, but I expected to progress far into the tournament,” de Fort-Menares said. “If you get unlucky one game it can really impact you in the long run.”
Typically, really good players can place in the top four in a match based on their skill alone.
De Fort-Menares said that in some of his matches he had to switch up his usual strategy to adapt to the circumstances.
“You have to change it on the spot sometimes,” de Fort-Menares said. “Some games I had to improvise and step out of my comfort zone just to place in the top four.”
SoFi is sponsoring another Teamfight Tactics Tournament Dec. 5 and 6, which will feature $10,000 in prize pool money, but de Fort-Menares said he’s not sure yet whether or not he’s planning on signing up.
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