Warwick University’s League of Legends team defeated last year’s NUEL Live winners Aston University in an unusual 2017 final, with a 3-0 scoreline that didn’t reflect the match.
As winners of the UK’s National University Esports League LoL tournament, Grey Warwick win an all-expenses paid visit to the EU LCS studio in Berlin, while Aston win tickets to Multiplay Insomnia in April.
The rosters
Grey Warwick
- Kerberos – top
- Vidoktor – jungle
- iivan leung – mid
- RedamnTion – ADC
- princephilip – support
Aston Yellowtails
- Matty Triceps – top
- J3T – jungle
- Wood League – mid
- M S R – ADC
- Mexy – support
Match report
In each game, the Aston Yellowtails dominated the early game, with players such as ADC MSR and jungler J3T picking up kills with ease.
They established a solid gold lead, kill lead and were in the driving seat.
But in each game, around the mid portion, Grey Warwick grew in strength. They were allowed to pick Jax and Ivern in all three games, who started off slow but became late-game beasts.
Kerberos (former Cyclone player in the ESL Prem) was, in particular, a nuisance as top-laner Jax throughout the entire series to Aston. It’s fair to say he carried Warwick at points, and is our MVP without doubt.
“Grey Warwick – the xPeke-style backdoor specialist of the UK scene.”
In game one and two, he split-pushed while Aston were trying to take Warwick’s nexus, managing to take inhibitor turrets, inhibitors and eventually allowing Warwick to take a surprise win.
Grey Warwick – the xPeke-style backdoor specialist of the UK League of Legends scene.
Then, in game three, late on he returned to defend his base, picked up a few kills before dying, but allowed Warwick to swiftly counter through the mid-lane and take another quick surprise victory from behind.
It was a hugely entertaining series to watch (you can view the VoD here), and an example of how coming into a final with a game plan can make such a difference. Being honest, Aston were probably the better side across the board, with good early game and dueling potential, but their lack of respect towards Kerberos, at times poor macro decisions, teamplay and potential picks and bans allowed Warwick to make a big impact on the match.
Kerberos was left alone to split-push heavily in games one and two, and he absolutely punished Aston for it.
All in all, it was a deserved victory for Grey Warwick.
Highlights
Grey Warwick fights back with a split-pushing @kerberos_lol to take a surprise game 1 win against Aston in NUEL Live https://t.co/9p85GlaKLe
— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) March 25, 2017
Warwick almost take game two against Aston with the same tactic – a split-push base race #whatisthisgame https://t.co/OnhmmOsaIF @theNUEL
— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) March 25, 2017
Warwick beat Aston 3-0 in @theNUEL live League of Legends university final: another surprise game to win from behind https://t.co/X0u5k7ckFU
— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) March 25, 2017
The casters
The casters Peter Hartnell and Stuart “Cyn” McLeod provided some great commentary and entertaining moments.
When there’s technical difficulties but the camera is focused on you @srcCyn https://t.co/cIqapWhDOv
— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) March 25, 2017
‘They had 1 way out of that game, they took it & took it HARD’ – @theNUEL Live casters excited after Warwick’s win https://t.co/y0FIwHe6tQ
— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) March 25, 2017
Post-match reaction
Last year’s NUEL Live final match report: Aston beat Cambridge 3-1
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
