Photo Courtesy of Jackson Daughters
Eric Le, manager of Mason’s Smash Bros. team, reflects on his journey in Esports
BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Editor’s note: Some players will be referred to by their gamertag.
Eric “Trile & Error” Le serves as the Super Smash Bros. manager for George Mason University Esports; however, when coming to Mason in 2021, Le didn’t want to be involved with anything. Three years later, Le’s attitude changed when he deeply considered joining the team, asking himself, “It can’t be that bad, right?
In the fall of 2024, Le became the Super Smash Bros. manager for Mason Esports. Now, Le decides which players make the team.
Trying out for the Super Smash Bros. team can be different from other Esport tryouts at Mason by putting players against three “testers”. These “testers” are people that are skilled Super Smash Bros. players, who play against prospective players to test their skills.
“For example, one of my players, ‘Ripcord,’ [a] really good R.O.B. player.. plays a meta-relevant character,” Le said. “He was analyzing, how do [prospective team members] approach a meta-relevant character? How would they approach him as a player? And will they adapt fast enough?”
The three “testers” relay information and their opinion of the prospective players skills to Le, who then decides where to place the player on a team. If the player does really well, they’re part of the main team. If the player isn’t main-team material, they still have a shot of being placed on the B team.
When it comes to tournaments, Le says that his team brings the heat.
Le recalled a major tournament in Ohio during the fall semester. “Our team got top eight out of 32 schools, upsetting one of the bigger schools there…” Le said. At another tournament, the team went to Virginia Tech and won the tournament.
Being the Smash Bros. manager has allowed Le to get connected in the GMU Esports community. “You can talk with the CSGO folks, the Valorant folks, the Rocket League folks. they’re all good people,” Le said. “They all want to just play games, just [with] different games.”
Le’s favorite hobby besides video games is biking. “I love trail making, basically I love to explore my whole area,” Le said.
As Le continues to grow as a manager, he advises other players and future leaders of Esports teams to remain hard workers in the midst of all the fun. “Just understand, do your work first. Play hard. Work hard,” Le said.