esports
At the age of 16 Yvng Savage surprised and delighted the crowd at the VS Gaming FIFA eWorld Cup Qualifiers a few months ago.
The relative unknown beat 2018 PS4 FIFA winner Zuhair Ebrahim to take home R400 000 in prize money. While the prize money was impressive, more so was Yvng Savage’s ability to beat more than 512 players and claim glory.
He currently attends Hoerskoel Die Fakkel and before winning the competition had to deal with parents who didn’t really understand why he was always on his Playstation:
“In the beginning my parents had a problem with me playing. They were always shouting at me because I would play on my console all day and all night. But they’ve got used to it and now really support me.”
The VS Gaming qualifiers were Yvng Savage’s first ever competitive esports tournament. Up until now he didn’t even buy the FIFA game each year!
“I play on a PlayStation 4 but I don’t buy the game each year. Usually I get it from someone or borrow friends’ copies. But since my win, I’m going to start buying it from now on. I’d never entered a tournament before. I always wanted to but would only find out about the competition after they had taken place. However, for the eWorld Cup Qualifiers, VS Gaming was promoted everywhere. I also qualified online for the tournament which also made it a bit easier.”
Despite it being Yvng Savage’s first foray into South African Esports he made sure he was prepared for the competition. Even with his school commitments he kept up a busy training regime:
“I play online every single day of my life. I usually buy data for the week so I can play. It does add up quite a bit but it’s worth it. Leading up to the VS Gaming tournament I trained with my good friend Ubaid. He used to be really good at the game so we would play and I’d beat him. Once I started beating him consistently I decided I was ready to try and compete. I also watch tutorials online to help me improve.”
The preparation worked and now the 16 year old is R400 000 richer. Though he says he never entered expecting to bag the big prize:
“Honestly, I didn’t expect to win the tournament. I was just hoping to get some prize money for something. The games were very challenging, especially my first game against Nicholas. I knew he was in my group and I was hoping I didn’t have to play him first because I thought I would lose to him. He is a really good player, one of the best, in my opinion.”
While his gaming career may have started with his parents shouting at him, Yvng Savage now has their support and also plans to spoil them with some of his winnings. He says he will buy some clothes for himself, gifts for them and invest the rest of his prize money. While he plans on being an IT Specialist when he leaves school, the young esports star is also taking steps to further his FIFA passion - recently announcing that he has signed with South African Multi-Gaming Organsation, Goliath Gaming. The organisation recently signed Julio “Beast” Bianchi and travelled with him to Amsterdam for the EA SPORTS FIFA eWorld Cup Global Series Playoffs. Yvng Savage says he decided to join the organisation because he considers them one of the best teams in South Africa:
“Goliath Gaming is still young in FIFA but I wanted to be one of the first players to represent them before they grow massively.”
