The Ashland University Hearthstone eSports team has made its case as one of the top teams in the collegiate scene.

After starting the season off strong, the team has not slowed down an ounce as they sit at a record of 5-0.

Hearthstone is a free-to-play online digital card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Players in-game battle against one another with their cards using different powers, attacks and abilities to take away health from each player’s main character.

“Our Hearthstone team has been performing extremely well. The team consists of senior Tyler Sprankle, senior Nick Stupka, and graduate student Isaac Osterfeld,” said eSports Head Coach Alec Mueller. “This team has a ton of experience competing in the collegiate masters league.”

The Eagles, with a fresh fall season, progressed exponentially in the offseason and worked on team chemistry.

“I was actually expecting this season to be very casual,” said Hearthstone team member Nick Stupka. “I knew my trio this year has some incredible players on it; Tyler and Isaac are amazing at the game and have played it for a long time. But I’d consider myself to be relatively new, so there’s still much for me to learn.”

With the season continuing, the Eagles look to continue to gain experience in both practices and matches.

“Hearthstone is a game that requires many difficult decisions,” said senior team member Isaac Osterfeld. “This often leaves us having many options during each turn of competitive play. Having teammates we trust and have faith in has allowed for many excellent plays that allowed us to overcome some great teams.”

Alyhough it may just be a video game to some, to the AU team, its a time to be competitive with your friends.

Stupka, who continues to learn more each week, has enjoyed this season and is excited for the future.

“After seeing how we’re performing however, I’m so excited to see where we go. I expect us to do well, but there are some very threatening teams out there,” said Stupka. “If we lose, I personally will feel okay. Because the experience I’ve had so far has been incredible. I’ve been blessed with a great team and I enjoy the time I have with them.”

While the team has been extactic about their performance up until this point, they still have three games remaining in the season.

“With 3 games left in the regular season I hope they can finish undefeated,” said Mueller. “And continue their run during playoffs!”

Their next matchup comes Thursday, Oct. 27, where they look to extend their win streak to six games.