Following a six-week online split playing off against schools across Aotearoa, members of the Waitākere College eSports club were personally invited by NZ eSports to compete in person at the annual LAN Clash - an exclusive in-person tournament held at Armageddon Expo over three days on ANZAC weekend. Playing off against the top eight kura (out of the original 170 competing schools) in Marvel Rivals and VALORANT, our players overcame the odds and took their first win on-stage in front of a live audience to kick off the weekend.

Our two teams battled against other Auckland schools like Lynfield, Sacred Heart, and Rangitoto College - as well as competitors that had travelled all the way from Ōtoutahi and Pōneke, like Wellington College and St. Bedes. Live commentators lauded Jacob Powell and David Hok as our star players on Day One, with impressive reflexes and aim tracking that would see us place high at the end of the heats.

During the double-elimination brackets, our teams suffered a few hard-fought losses against Rotorua’s Digital Natives Academy as well as Westlake Boys, knocking them into the losers' bracket. Playing out the rest of our games over the next two days, we secured a solid 6th place in VALORANT and 7th in Marvel Rivals. Overall, the Armageddon LAN Clash was an awesome experience for our club - and has them hyped for NZ eSports’ Spring Clash taking place in Term 3.