In an unprecedented partnership, world-famous author Brandon Sanderson, and his company Dragonsteel, are partnering with Maryville University to field a team in the League of Legends North American Challengers League (NACL) 2024 Summer Season. This partnership will see the Maryville Esports team compete under the name Dragonsteel (DSTL) at least for this summer split.
Despite being a collegiate team, the Maryville Esports League of Legends team has proven that they can square up with the very best teams in North America. They placed 2nd in both the regular season and the playoffs of the Spring season of NACL and are looking to carry that momentum into the summer season.
Maryville Partners with Brandon Sanderson
In an announcement that’s already garnered over one-thousand likes on X, Maryville Esports announces their partnership with an incredible student-produced video and the famous Brandon Sanderson quote: “Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.”
According to independent content creator and interviewer Travis Gafford, seeds for the partnership between Maryville and Brandon Sanderson began when he interviewed new LCS commissioner Mark Zimmerman and, after the interview, Mark asked Travis to put him in touch with Brandon Sanderson and his company, Dragonsteel. Travis already had an existing relationship with Sanderson through previous interviews and was able to set up communications between the two parties.
In Travis’ video regarding the announcement, he said: “Riot wants to help facilitate partnerships between cool companies and individuals, and the teams that compete in the NACL.”
Travis clarified in his video that the partnership is between Maryville and Dragonsteel, with Riot Games only helping to facilitate talks between them.
Maryville wasn’t the only NACL team to make a major partnership deal heading into the Summer season. On the same day that Maryville partnered with Brandon Sanderson and Dragonsteel, the Cincinnati Fear partnered with Starforge, a creator-owned company specializing in pre-build PCs.
Collegiate Looks to Make Impact in NACL
This season of the North American Challengers League will see two collegiate teams competing, as Winthrop University joins Maryville University in NACL. Winthrop gained entry after placing fourth in the NACL 2024 Summer Promotion Tournament.
Both teams have had incredible success recently on the collegiate level. Maryville recently won the College League of Legends North Conference Playoffs to qualify for the CLOL Championship. They also won the NACE Starleague Grand Finals 2024.
Meanwhile, Winthrop ensured their bid into the CLOL Championship through a second place finish in the NECC playoffs, only falling short to the University of Mississippi. Winthrop has not announced a partnership of their own going into the upcoming NACL season.
It appears that the partnership between Maryville University and Dragonsteel only extends to the NACL and not the rest of their collegiate competitions. Hopefully this collaboration is the start of more diverse and creative partnerships within collegiate esports in the coming years.
