Esports: Can Mt Roskill Grammar go back-to-back at LoL High School Championships?

The reigning champion Mount Roskill Grammar team.

Mt Roskill Grammar School have two chances at earning another LoL High School Championship title this weekend.

The Auckland college has two teams in Saturday's semifinals of the championship's second split of the year.

Their No 1 side will meet defending champions Rangitoto College in one semifinal, while Mt Roskill No 2 will meet Mt Albert Grammar School in the other.

Mt Roskill have been one of the dominant forces in the league since its inception last year and they've won two of the three previous splits.

Danny Chang is the teacher in charge of esports at Mt Roskill and he said their ongoing success in the League of Legends competition was a great source of pride.

They also have a side in the semifinals of the second-tier Casual league - formerly known as the Challenger division - this week.

"Here at Mt Roskill Grammar School, we believe there many forms of "student success" and we support our students in achieving their pursuits," Chang said.

"It is very pleasing to see three of our esport teams making it into the semifinals, as this testifies the amount of support in our school community and the positive effect it has on the students.

"The effort from our students and their performance continues to promote a positive image of esports and it's gaining more recognition in the community."

The semifinals will take place on Saturday and the grand final will get underway on Sunday at 10am and people can catch the final online via twitch.tv/highschoolleague. Both the semis and grand final will be played under a best-of-three format.

Chang said this weekend served as another great opportunity for his school to create more history.

"I hope they can remain calm and not be affected by the pressure. But if they can enjoy the experience and not lose their cool, they can learn a lot more from this opportunity regardless of the outcome."

Mt Albert Grammar have been to the grand final before but they're yet to claim a national champion LoL title.

"This split, we put a bigger focus on the fundamentals, making sure we are strong at the basic game," captain Ryan Zhang said.

"Because of this we can focus on executing our team composition to its fullest potential without worrying about where to be on the map because we have already sorted out the fundamentals such as map and lane rotations."

Zhang said they were going to bring a simple game plan to the knockout stages of the competition.

"To win this weekend, we just need to remain calm and believe in each other's ability. As long as we do this while not getting tilted and ruining our mentality, the weekend should be fine."

Mt Albert Grammar is another school that has enjoyed continued success during the HSL era in New Zealand and Zhang said that had flowed through to interest in gaming at the school.

"Yes, since the inception of the HSL at MAGS, esports in the form of League of Legends has only grown in popularity. There have been more and more teams participating in both the Premier and Casual division tiers and I see no signs of it slowing down."

In this week's Casual division semifinals, Mt Roskill will play Northcote College 1 and Wellington College will play Whangaparaoa College Blue.