Esports: NZ Team Tectonic Shaking up the OPL

Kiwi Ari “Shok” Greene-Young

Tectonic have made a promising start to the second split of this year's OPL and will be fighting for second place on the ladder tonight.

Having experienced a difficult first split earlier this year it has been a great beginning for Tectonic as they dispatched Order 2-0 last week to take three valuable competition points.

The OPL is the premier League of Legends competition in Australasia and features a high standard of play with imports from across the globe as well as homegrown talents.
Tectonic have overhauled their roster for this split with three new players, including an import from Canada and the US.

Less than five per cent of fans predicated the comfortable 2-0 victory against Order last week and Tectonic will look to take that form in to tonight's clash with Dire Wolves, one of the top sides in the competition.

Lawrence "Trance" Amador, a Canadian import who plays as a support, said the team had made improvements recently.

"The first two weeks were a struggle with the lack of practice, but I'm happy my team was able to pull through during the second week," he said.

"Right as the nexus was falling down during the last match on Saturday, I felt relieved that even through our adversity, my team put the little practice we had to work. I'm still not happy with how we made so many mistakes during that set but now we have a standard of play we can improve on for the rest of the split."

The victory against Order was made more remarkable by the fact Tectonic had to call on sub Vincent "Gunkrab" Lin who produced one of the best individual performances of the win.
Ari "Shok" Greene-Young is the longest-tenured player on the roster and was elated after the victory.

He said coach Jonny "Saiclone" Weatherley's drafting had improved for this split, which put the team in a better position to start their matches.

Amador predicted last week's win would be the start of a promising run for Tectonic.
"What I see that in store for us for the rest of the split with Value being in Oceania now is good practice and a top four split finish."

Value is Ross Lupino, an American import who has played alongside Amador in previous teams and operates as an AD carry.

The Dire Wolves represent a stern test for Tectonic this week but with their full roster available for selection and a new-found confidence, the team is heading in the right direction.
The Chiefs Esports Club leads the OPL after an undefeated start to the split.

Fans can watch tonight's game at 7pm on www.twitch.tv/opl