By
Sports Editor
The Pickaxes — Cameron’s collegiate Esports team — brought on talented players in Fall 2019 that press towards success in their practice sessions, and are preparing for the start of their legacy.
One player for the League of Legends team, Anton Pickens, will to make their start in the esports collegiate scene this semester.
Pickens found interest in Esports through his journey of playing League competitively — a hobby of his since 2014.
“I like the game,” Pickens said. “I found improvement through climbing the competitive rank ladders.”
League features both a leveling system and a seasonal rank system that display the level of the player and their activity in the current season.
Changes to the League of Legends meta encouraged growth for Pickens as a player, forcing him to adapt to the changes.
“I enjoy all meta changes since it always makes me have to relearn old and new things to better myself,” Pickens said.
Meta changes translate to balance updates for the game — for example, changes to character speed or attack ranges.
Pickens said players and viewers alike should research ways to improve their mentality and understand how balancing is done for the game.
“League can be both beneficial to the mental state and harmful if players are not careful,” Pickens said.
His method of dealing with negative emotions is through gaming, which has provided him with many friends over the year.
Pickens has an interest in other genres of esports as well, but education is their main focus.
“I play a lot of game genres,” Pickens said. ”Fighting, role playing games, massive multiplayer online games, racing games, and more. I wanted to try a fighting game Esport, but I wouldn’t have the time to learn another Esport, since I’m not a hundred percent focused on games — but my education.”
Pickens hopes to see more diversity in the future changes to League of Legends’ meta, from both developers and players alike.
“I want to see more love towards creating more unique builds,” Pickens said. “That way, it will force players to really think of unique counter builds.”
Pickens hopes that the future of esports provides more visibility to smaller organizations that take part in the competitive scenes and more local tournaments to sprout up.
For now though, he likes improving match after match and hanging out with friends after stressful games.
“My favorite part of the game is both winning and losing,” Pickens said. “I like the game even in the worst of matches. I can always learn from all of my games.”
Due to playing strong opponents and participating as part of the Pickaxes with his friends, Pickens can accomplish his goal of participating in Esports — growing as a person.
League of Legends is one of four games that the Pickaxes are dipping their toes into – the Overwatch, Smash Bros. Ultimate and Rocket League teams at Cameron also boast driven players like Pickens who are going to be starting their first season this semester as well.
For information about the Pickaxe esports teams and upcoming participation, Contact Esports Coach John Cunningham at 580–581–7944, or at jocunnin@cameron.edu.