About Us
Who Are We?
The College Merthyr Tydfil
We are the Esports team for The College Merthyr Tydfil, a tertiary college based in the heart of Merthyr Tydfil, with the team being run and managed by the tutors of the Digital Industries department. Our various teams feature learners from across all areas of the college.
Games and Competitions
The British Esports Student Championships
Our teams compete against other college teams from around the United Kingdom, in the British Esports Student Championships. We play every Wednesday from 16:00 on-wards.
The games that we currently compete in are below:
Rocket League
Rocket League (developed by Psyonix) is just like regular football... except you replace the players with rocket-powered cars! In this game, teams of three will compete against each other to try and score the most goals over a 5 minute period. The team who wins the best out of three matches, wins the game!
Valorant
Valorant (developed by Riot) is a tactical, first-person, hero shooter. In this game, there are both attackers and defenders, with each team of 5 taking a role. The attackers must plant a device (known as a spike) at designated areas, while the defenders must attempt to stop the attackers from succeeding in their goal. Each player only has one life per round, so communication is very important!
Overwatch
Overwatch (developed by Blizzard) is a team-based, first-person shooter. In Overwatch, teams of 5 must compete over a variety of objectives, ranging from site control to moving payloads. Overwatch has many different characters (known as heroes) for players to choose from, each having their strengths and weaknesses.
Management
The Tydfil Tytans are run by some of the tutors from the Digital Industries department at The College Merthyr Tydfil.
Modgii
Nathan James
College Role: Esports Lead-IV and Esports Personal Tutor
Teaches: Esports, Games Development, IT and Computing
Team Role: Team Manager
Bio: Nathan is the Lead-IV for Esports at The College, as well as the personal tutor for the first-year Esports cohort. In addition to these duties, he teaches on a variety of areas, including, but not limited to; Games Design and Events Management in Esports, Unreal Engine in Games Development and, Cyber Security and Software Development in IT and Computing. Outside of his roles at The College, Nathan enjoys being involved with gaming, both playing them, as well as making them! He enjoys playing competitive games like Fortnite and Rainbow Six: Siege as well as more relaxing games like Elite Dangerous and No Man's Sky. Alongside playing games, Nathan is also in the process of making his own game, although nothing has been released... yet!
Skies
Oliver Cooper
Team Role: Content Manager
Currently: Studying at Swansea University
Bio: Oli started studying the level 3 esports back in 2021 at The College, completing the course in the summer of 2023. While here with us, Oli was the IGL for our Rocket League team, taking us all the way to the semi-finals of the British Esports Student Champs! Skies has played Rocket League since 2019, but has managed to play a huge 3000 hours and achieve a rank of Grand Champion 2! After leaving The College, Oli went on to study Business Management in Swansea University. Luckily for them, he also took his Rocket League talent with him, almost immediately making it onto their Rocket League team, helping them make it into the national league! When he's not dominating in Rocket League, Oli is the Content Manager for the Tydfil Tytans.
LANKi
Ethan Edwards
Team Role: Social Media Manager
Currently: Studying at Cardiff Metropolitan University
Bio: Ethan also started with us in 2021, studying the level 3 esports, with him also completing the course in the summer of 2023. While at The College, Ethan helped us run many of our F1 events, an area that he is extremely passionate about! Not only does Ethan love watching F1, he also is an avid racer in F1 esports too! He has been racing for 10 years, first picking up F1 back in 2012 when he was just 7 years old, since then amassing over 2000 hours behind the wheel. After finishing with us, Ethan went on to study Digital Media Marketing at Cardiff Metropolitan University, starting his journey to become an expert in social media - making him the perfect person to by the Tydfil Tytan's Social Media manager.