At the start of March, the Raiders entered the Spring 2026 Overwatch Tournament to compete against 14 other schools. The final placement match occurred on April 16, and the Raiders took home fourth place. 

After a long selection process consisting of a round-robin-style initial placement followed by an elimination-style final placement, they remain undefeated and fight for their spot on the podium. With a close game last week, they lost their first match, then squared up to fight the Cyberhounds for third last Tuesday.

For the first round, the Raiders queued up for a Control match — a game mode in which two teams of five fight to control a series of objective areas, and the first team to control two areas wins. Choosing to play Lijiang Tower for the arena, the Raiders set up a brawl-style team composition to get close-up and maximize damage to conquer the objective areas.

Lijiang Tower is a modern city map with three main arenas — Control Centre, Garden and Night Market. In the fight to capture the first objective in the Control Centre, the Cyberdogs took control of the objective area, successfully fending off the Raiders to maintain their hold and nearly win the objective. The Raiders contested the hold at the last second, forcing the round into overtime. The Raiders held on to the objective, keeping their claim alive until a neck-and-neck fight leads the Cyberhounds to win the first point. The Cyberhounds then used the open space of the Garden arena to their advantage to secure the second point, winning the round.

The second round was revealed to be a Push match — a game mode in which the two teams fight to gain control of a robot that pushes a barrier into the opposing team’s territory, and the first team to get its barrier to the opposing team’s base wins. To take advantage of the unique nature of the game mode, the Raiders built a hybrid dive-and-brawl style team composition to dive into the enemy’s backline and take control of the robot, as well as being able to brawl anyone trying to take back control.

The Cyberhounds chose Runasapi to be the map for this round — a long, boulevard-like urban terrain for the teams to go toe-to-toe. Both teams rushed in to be the first to control the robot, but the Cyberhounds got there first. They kept control, moving the barrier halfway through the Raiders' territory before getting overthrown. The Raiders got the robot back to the start and got it to the Cyberhounds base with little contest, winning the second round.

With the score tied, the third round is an Escort match — a game mode in which one team is defending a payload to advance it to its final destination before the timer runs out, while the other team tries to stop them. Each team takes a turn escorting and attacking the payload. At each checkpoint, the team reaches earns them a point, and the team with the most points wins. For their turn escorting the payload, the Raiders built a poke-style team composition to maximize long-range damage to stop the opposing team from getting close.

The Raiders started the round strong in Rialto, easily defending against the Cyberhounds’s attacks and reaching the first checkpoint with ease. Getting to the second checkpoint posed a bigger challenge for the Raiders, as the Cyberhounds picked up the pace, sending the round into overtime as a contest for control of the payload took place. In the end, the Cyberhounds won the contest, giving the Raiders one point.

Using time to restructure their team around attacking the payload, the Raiders built their team around a brawl-style team composition. The Cyberhounds began with a rough start, as the Raiders' attacks sent their escort progress to a grinding halt, but the Cyberhounds broke through the onslaught to get the first checkpoint. The Raiders seized the payload as the Cyberhounds drew near to the second checkpoint; at the last second, the Cyberhounds took back the payload, scoring two points and winning the round.

To start the fourth round, the Raiders chose Kings Row as the map for the hybrid match — a game mode in which one team captures the opposing team’s objective point, then the opposing team attacks the team’s payload as they escort it. The team gets one point for successfully capturing the objective area and one point for each checkpoint reached. The team with the most points wins.

During their turn attacking, the Raiders built a brawl-style team composition to get in close for the objective area and to keep a steady line when escorting the payload. When the round started, the Raiders easily captured the objective area and the first checkpoint, facing little pushback from the Cyberhounds. However, the Cyberhounds attacked the Raiders, stopping them from reaching the second checkpoint by the skin of their teeth, earning the Raiders two points.

When it was the Cyberhounds’s turn to attack, the Raiders took up a poke-and-brawl style of team composition to defend the objective area efficiently in close range, as well as taking out the brawling escort from long range. Losing steam, the Raiders lost the objective area, and the Cyberhounds successfully escorted the payload to the second checkpoint, earning three points and winning the round.

To finish off the match, Round 5 took place in Suravasa as a Flashpoint match — a game mode in which five control areas are scattered across a larger map, and the team to capture three areas wins. The Raiders chose a poke-and-brawl-style composition to give themselves a long-range advantage over brawling team compositions and a close-range advantage over dive team compositions.

Starting the round, both teams came in strong on the first control area, having a neck-to-neck fight until the Cyberhounds pushed the Raiders out in overtime. Moving on to the next control area, the Cyberhounds got an early jump on building their claim and successfully captured it despite pushback from the Raiders. The Cyberhounds then went on to capture the third control area, winning the round.

Despite the tough loss in the playoffs, the Raiders wrapped up the season with a remarkable 7-0 undefeated run in the regular season, and a well-earned fourth-place finish among the 15 schools in the competition. Their adaptability, consistency and teamwork across every match made this one of the strongest runs yet. Everyone played a crucial role in the team's success — Alford Irons, Ayden Oliver, Brecken Strickland, Carlos Nunez, Kassidy Walker, Luna Calcagni and Narayan Norwood — bringing their own strengths and pushing the Raiders to new heights. The team’s performance this season gives great anticipation for what is to come.

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