George Mason, Arcadia University win MACS tournaments at Localhost

George Mason University and Arcadia University were the victors in the inaugural edition of Nerd Street’s Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Series (MACS), which took place last weekend at Localhost Philadelphia. GMU emerged victorious in the VALORANT tournament, while Arcadia got first in the Overwatch 2 competition.

The inaugural MACS weekend kicked off with VALORANT on Saturday with 12 teams competing. George Mason University, the University of Pennsylvania, St. John’s University, Saint Joseph’s University, Rutgers University, Kutztown University, Rowan University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Montgomery County Community College all participated with some schools fielding multiple teams. The 12-team field was divided into two groups that looked like this:

Group A

• GMU Patriots (George Mason)
• Scarlet Knights (Rutgers)
• NJIT Highlanders White (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
• SJU Esports (Saint Joseph's)
• Scarlet Tempest Blue (St. John's)
• KU Maroon (Kutztown) 

Group B

• UPenn Val (University of Pennsylvania)
• Scarlet Tempest Red (St. John's)
• KU Gold (Kutztown)
• Montco Mustangs (Montgomery County Community College)
• NJIT Highlanders Red (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
• Rowan Valorant (Rowan)

Photo credit: Nerd Street

GMU, Rutgers’ Scarlet Knights, St. John’s Scarlet Tempest Blue and UPenn did well enough in group play to advance to a four-team single elimination bracket.

In Group A, GMU won one more round than the Scarlet Knights, which gave them first place in the group despite both teams ending with 4-1 records.

In Group B, UPenn’s decisive 13-2 win over NJIT Highlanders Red in their fifth group play match was just enough for them to advance. Both teams ended group play with 4-1 records, but UPenn advanced because they accumulated five more round wins.

In the playoffs, GMU beat UPenn 13-5 and then won a best-of-three series 2-1 over the Scarlet Knights to be crowned champions. It was a rematch of their group play matchup, which GMU also won. GMU’s only loss in the tournament was to NJIT White. Incidentally, George Mason University, which is located in Virginia, was the team that traveled farthest to this tournament which otherwise was composed of teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

Photo credit: Nerd Street

MACS continued on Sunday with the Overwatch 2 competition. This 10-team tournament included five schools that competed in VALORANT: the University of Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph’s University, Rowan University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Montgomery County Community College. Arcadia University and two teams from both Alvernia University and Temple University rounded out the 10-team field. The two five-team groups looked like this:

Group A

• Arcadia Knights (Arcadia)
• Alvernia University Gold (Alvernia)
• NJIT Kantonians (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
• Rowan Overwatch (Rowan)
• Temple University OW2 White (Temple)

Group B

• Penn Esports (University of Pennsylvania)
• Montco Mustangs (Montgomery County Community College)
• Alvernia University Maroon (Alvernia)
• Temple University OW2 Cherry (Temple)
• SJU Esports (Saint Joseph's University)

Arcadia, Montgomery County, Alvernia Gold and Temple’s Cherry team advanced to the four-team single-elimination bracket. Arcadia won 2-0 in both the semifinals and the final to win the Overwatch 2 championship. The final was a rematch of Arcadia and Alvernia’s opening group play matchup, with Arcadia winning both. Arcadia went 6-0 across the entire tournament and didn’t lose any maps.

MACS is an ongoing collegiate esports LAN tournament series for teams located across the Mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast. The next MACS tournament at Localhost Philly will be Nov. 16 and will include competitions in League of Legends and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Localhost Rowan also is set to host a MACS tournament on Nov. 9 featuring Rocket League and Rainbow Six Siege.

The Rocky Mountain Collegiate Series (RMCS) is a similar tournament series involving collegiate teams and based out of Localhost Denver. RMCS VALORANT and Counter-Strike 2 already took place, and there will be RMCS Overwatch 2 and Rainbow Six Siege competitions on Nov. 16, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Rocket League tournaments on Dec. 6.

Lead photo credit: George Mason