Inland Empire Mayors Cup of the 2025-2026 School Year – 04/25/26
The Inland Empire Mayors Cup of the 2025-2026 school year has concluded. The competition was held on MetaCTF instead of Cyber Skyline this year, with three competing teams from Oak Hills. Taking place from 9 AM through 12 PM, excluding the entrance and exit ceremony.
Unfortunately, out of our three teams none of them secured a first place, but we were close with DogBytes securing second. DogBytes consisted of Aaryan, Santos, Paige, Jacob, Ethan, and Daniel. They only had 1 question left by the end of the competition, so it was a well fought effort.
Following DogBytes was OHHSTech, which got sixth place. This team consisted of Zavien, Jonathan, Cali, Caleb, Ananya, and James. This team was only 4 questions short by the end of the competition. This team I was personally a part of, and I can say it was good fun.
Finally, our third team was WatchDogs, composed of all beginners and only four members. This team’s members were Daniel, Abraham, Jonathan, and Jack. They placed 14th and were 11 questions short by the end of the competition. A very respectable position in a team of all beginners.
The Changed Aspects of the Mayors Cup competition
This year’s Mayors Cup was not held on Cyber Skyline like previous years, instead they decided to host it on MetaCTF. A website that should be fairly familiar if you participated in any of the monthly Flash CTF’s they provided. Along with the platform change came a new point system, which was a dynamic point system that would give the most points to the teams that answered questions first, but punished teams that answered after many teams by giving reduced points for the same questions. With a total of 32 teams, the rush to answer the questions quickly was a good motivator.
Debriefing
Placements were reasonable for all of our teams, however it could have been possible to place higher if time management was better. Communication was key during competition, which was displayed well most of the time. However, tunnel vision and lack of communication should be addressed if you saw or experienced it yourself.
Some teams brought their own tools, such as personal VMs. However, most tools could be found online with the right knowledge, but having tools ready prior to competition would save time. As stated before, time was vital during this competition, even more so now that points were reliant on it.
Overall, the competition was still as good as previous years, with our teams placing in their respective spots, and the new competition platform was a good refresher. It should be reasonable to say “expect the unexpected,” but if not maybe just adapt quickly before your team gets left in the dust! High regard to all 32 teams that completed, and good luck to them all in future competitions. Now as we close off, SoCal Cyber is around the corner and I hope you’re all prepared, see you next week!
