Marvel Rivals is a six vs. six game that is similar to Overwatch, which P-T has been competing for years. The difference in Marvel Rivals is that the players compete as their favorite Marvel characters, such as Spider-Man and the Hulk.
“I am not a big Marvel movie person but I want to be. I want to get into those movies now because of this game,” stated Carlise, who also teaches social studies. “It is really cool that you can play as some of those characters in the game.”
Marvel Rivals premiered for all gamers on Dec 6, 2024.
The game has two available objectives. The first is to push a cart all the way to the end of a track while defending it from your opponents and attempting to attack their cart. The second is to claim checkpoints that are within the game and get two out of the available three.
The newness of the game had attracted many gamers including junior Elijah Pecorari, a first-year member of esports. He stated that Marvel Rivals is his favorite video game, crediting the competitive aspect of the game along with the sheer amount of characters that are available to play as.
With many kids yearning for a spot Carlise makes week-by-week decisions on who will compete during competitions.
“We have close to a dozen [students] who are trying to make the [Marvel Rivals] team each week,” stated Carlise. “It is not a full season yet so we do not have a locked-in roster. I am just trying to motivate them by rank, and each week whoever is the top six kids gets to start.”
Currently, the team is undefeated with wins over Ferndale, Boyertown and Forest Hills. The group is preparing for their next match against Franklin Regional and the Spring Fling tournament.
While this season is pretty relaxed in terms of a playoff due to the newness of the game, Carlisle anticipates that next season will be much more intense with a state championship.
Marvel Rivals joins the P-T esports line-up which already includes the games Rocket League, Valorant, Super Smash Bros. and Overwatch.
With the wide variety of video games offered, esports brings in many different gamers who would likely agree that esports is a beneficial class to offer at P-T.
Pecorari stated, “Esports is a good class to have at school because it is much more relaxing compared to your main classes and it can help with hand-eye coordination and problem-solving, which is commonplace in the real world.”
Mia Williams, Managing Editor