Fighting games are a relatively new addition to the games Boise State Esports supports. Fighting games were first introduced to the program through Smash Bros. a few years ago. From there, Boise State Esports has gradually expanded its lineup, with forays into Street Fighter 6, and Guilty Gear Strive. It’s among these latter games where you’ll find student Sabastian Leeper, also known by his gamertag “Yata”, picking up victories left and right for Boise State.
Starting Out
Leeper first got involved with Boise State Esports playing Guilty Gear Strive in the Collegiate Fighting Games Conference (CFGC). In an interview, Leeper described Guilty Gear Strive as one of his favorite games.
“It’s the game I have the most time in by far for a reason,” said Leeper. “It’s a mix of the playerbases, community, and mechanics of the game. The mechanics are faster, stronger, and deeper in my opinion…overall giving me much more satisfaction than, for example, Street Fighter gives.”
With fighting games being mostly single player, a lot of responsibility rested solely with Leeper to perform well. Despite the singular pressure, Leeper excelled in competition, winning two consecutive CFGC championships in Guilty Gear Strive for Boise State.
At the beginning of the Fall 2024, Boise State Esports held tournaments in College Football 25 and Street Fighter 6. Both of these games were new additions to Boise State’s varsity lineup. Top performing players in these tournaments were offered places on the varsity team as well as scholarships. With a strong second place showing in Street Fighter 6, Leeper further expanded his footprint in the esports program. Soon, Leeper was competing in Super Smash Bros, Street Fighter 6, and Guilty Gear for Boise State.
Continuing Success
Leeper has also found professional success partnering with BadMoon, an apparel company founded by and catered to fighting game players.
“I got into BadMoon mostly by entering a lot of online tournaments,” said Leeper. “They are an apparel company built by other fighting game players that wanted to see me (and a couple others) go to major events. Therefore, I show off their brand and they fly me to events.”
Both Boise State and Badmoon gave Leeper the resources to travel across the country to various fighting game competitions, where he found even more competitive success. Some of his most notable achievements include winning the Spring 2024 CECC West Regionals and finishing top 32 in Guilty Gear Strive at Evo 2024. In addition to these new achievements, Leeper has continued winning championships in the CFGC, winning again in Guilty Gear for a total of 3 championships.
Leeper has shown himself to be just as driven in his academic pursuits. Leeper enrolled in Boise State with an associate’s degree earned in high school and immediately started pursuing a Bachelor’s in Computer Science in the College of Engineering. He is currently set to graduate in Fall 2025.
“I like looking/sorting through/understanding data, which is a lot of CS. And the degree can lead me towards that type of profession,” said Leeper. “Boise State’s CS program is pretty fine. Most professors are great and they give a lot of resources to learn both in lecture and out.”
Looking Ahead
Once graduated, Leeper looks to continue his competitive career thanks to his partnership with BadMoon. While many people in his position might feel anxious about their competitive future, Leeper looks to continue his journey with the same mindset that has earned him much success up to this point, have fun above all else.
“The most fundamental aspect to ‘performing well’ is just to understand what you enjoy about the games in the first place,” said Leeper. “I feel like plenty of people take away that aspect in pursuit of simply winning for the sake of winning, which means they are more sour to results where they lose. Having fun while competing, then checking the VOD’s to see what could’ve been played better and labbing it out is the main/only way I have improved, to be honest.”
Written by Jacob Palmer