The only talent of OW I actually interacted with in-game (way back in early 2017, when I was still "trying"), he's been around for such a long time.
It's a pity to lose him, but I'm happy his activity is going well, GL Deza!!

To be fair imo Poko is a sick Zarya

One of the Korean teams will be the bottom one, I'd say Florida, the issues weren't just the players, were way deeper and they didn't really address them (at least looking at it from the outside).

Paris will end up top 4, they have lots of EU talent, if they jell... (again these have to be unpopular opinions so :D ).

Pro OW (OWL) has managed to "kill" the Korean scene, after the EU one, even if for different reasons, I watched this last Contenders, and this version of Runaway is nowhere as good as the previous one, still they steamrolled everyone.

EDIT for an extra one.

At the moment I don't see Korean contenders teams being stronger than NA or EU ones.

Then I'd say yes, not such a great move, thanks mate.

Dammit you got me! :D

Judging by the downvotes someone loves his exlusive chance to view a match. :)
Now I'm going to fall asleep on the sofa while trying to watch the rest of the match, so far so good thou.

B... but why not on Saturday?
I can understand (to a point) having the EU finals during the week, but since you wait the weekend for the NA ones, why not making accessible for non US viewers with a work schedule? :(

Damn duplicate post -.-

Is he from NY area?

GG Runaway, but damn is starting to look like way too many KR players left for OWL.

Is so good to see Kaiser again at this level.
Also, have a great Doomfist player and GOATS is dead.

Haven't been able to watch any Philly match unfortunately, what is Snillo playing in these tank heavy comps? The Zarya?

OniPOG... I mean also on the 2 maps lost so far the guy is popping off.

As long as it doesn't turn out to be as onesided as the 2 semis I'll enjoy this one quite a lot!

Anyway... Stay Angry 😠

And there it is, another unexpected match!
GG Angry Titans!

Oof and this one looks like another onesided affair...

Well no idea about him, but I do am surprised!
Expected Gigantti to win, but not this easily.

Really a close and good game.
That's what happens thous when all teams are more or less on the same level, each match could be a potential final.

GG SMS, was a bit onesided, but still interesting picks on both sides!

MIstery women are hot, but ehi also mistery men!
GL with your experience mate!

Haha I'm just a gold scrub so unless it's a pro (and even there...) no way for me to know names.
Not even curious about his name, just found it funny considering what just happened. ;)

Well this was a damn close and fun match!
Ashe, McCree, Doomfist, Tracer...
GG both!

Holy whatever Dannedd's Doomfist on the first map... :O

Oh another player with no name? :O

Close, very close, love our Irish bros btw.

Pff you TBD2 fanboys, it's clear as a summer sky that TBD1 will win!!

Oof talking about turning page. :/
GL to the guys who got dropped some very good players in that list.

The stylish analyst of Over.gg (loved his videos)!!!
Gratz CommanderX!

Also, a rare Irish flag!

Hope it's an holiday journey!

Well yes and no, the players (unless I'm wrong, which I often am lol) have also a contract with the league, which sets the standards.

I'm not arguing that 50k is solid money (heck I barely get those and I'm a manager where I work at), but it all has to be related to the money that circles in the environment, which in this case is show business and (e)sport.

How much do an investor pay for his/her slot?
How much are the sponsorship deals worth?
How much are the TV rights worth?

Are we really sure that in this environment 50k is enough?

Is my comment really misplaced?
The more responsabilities and restrictions a worker has the higher his/her salary usually becomes.

Here we are speaking of setting some pretty strict rules (with which I agree btw) to prevent some acts (boosting, account sharing, etc...) to happen and to punish the ones that should commit these acts.

Since I don't have any kind of insight in the OWL, I have no idea, but are the salaries/compensations of the players going to increase to reflect the increased rules, the matches on the road, etc?

Hmm I don't know how I feel about this, while on a side I'm happy that people who cheat and/or are toxic get some sort of punishment, on the other side...

OWL shouldn't you pay the players a bit more (not even starting, again, the T2/T3 scene argument)? I get it that you are a toy for rich people to get some pubblicity, but what makes you running are the players, without them.... there's no OWL.

On the specific suspensions, really 1-2 matches for boosting and account sharing and 5 for being toxic? I get it probably Ripa did it in the past few days and the other months ago, but still...

"Improving the tier two scene will help players so much with their financial situation. New OWL talent will show up instantly,"

Well TwollzZ it might also help for players to actually stand by eachother, if the company organizing the scene isn't doing enough, you either quit or create bonds to endure the shitstorm.

Except WHO is the (non)Org who switched most players, of course quite a few left on their own for "greener pastures", but the others got dropped.

I'm not saying that if you are not winning you should stick with the same team for years, but in this case we are literally speaking of changing the entire roster (except for TwollzZ) 3 times across the end and the start of a Contenders season.

All for? Nothing since they achieved the same they achieved in the previous season (slightly worse actually).

What I'm trying to say is, many of us agree it should be Blizzard's job to make the T2 (and T3) scenes more "profitable" for players and orgs, but what are the orgs or non-orgs (like WHO) doing to weather the storm?

Have again to agre e with poi!
Biggest "surprise" of the year were HSL and One.Point, the latter being clearly a title contender, but (and there's a bit of fanboyism here), I think SMS will bring it all home.

Well we can thank Blizzard for people believing there's nothing outside of OWL.

Blizzard and of course the "herd" of players complaining about GOATS, even when there's no goat to be seen.

I myself tried to watch as many Contenders matches as possible, but eh work is a bi..h, even more so under Autumn/Winter/Christams sales, that'w when many games hit the shelves.

In fact, there are no Japanese players competing in the current season of Contenders Pacific.

:(
Let's go Jupiter bring back JP to Contenders!

DragonEddy eating ulties like cookies. :O

Well this was close, GG both!
Always love watching Winstrike and Kensi's Mei :D

Pog serie! GG both.

Midna was the issue. Kappa

Jokes asides, this is sadly what happens to teams that for one reason or another can't keep a stable roster, and I don't mean to keep the whole roster, but WHO has changed the roster completely, twice since last Contenders. :(

Just wish the T2 scene was a bit more stable alltogether.

The "funny" part is that the system was working before they started announcing OWL.
Each region had plenty of "major" tournaments, monthly and weekly ones too.

I didn't like some decisions Blizzard took back there, but have to admit made sense, to hype up their main product (OWL) so that investors would actually get into it, the issue is that they didn't change their direction once OWL started kicking off.

Now? I believe is way too late, how many major esport orgs have joined the scene in the past 12 months? How many Contenders teams are orgless or still owned by OWL franchises?

Simply put, check what happened in NA with Toronto Esports, not even getting under the umbrella of an OWL team makes you sure you'll be able to keep your "branding" (and yes I know made no sense to be Boston's academy team and being based in Toronto, but still...)

Worst kept secret, but still POG reveal, excited to see the Runaways fighting in the top league!

Also, love the floating hair on the logo :)

It would be silly tbh, Angry Titans is not Titans, and they are not even in the same league and region.

Man are the little touches that make an article good, imo you are getting better, and were already starting from a good standard, gratz!

On anoter note, yep adapting to a full Chinese environment ain't easy, gl to SIlkthread for his future.

ZP casting, Asking, Snillo, Alarm and frigging Klaus POG!
Coldn't watch it live, going to watch it now.

Also, total conFusion(s)

God WHO can't really find stability... -.-

No idea who's calling the shots in WHO, but has to step up his game.
The match was relatively close, but loads of mistakes when it most matters for WHO (e.g. Primal Rage 1 Vs 5)

Hmm interesting this after all the new Chinese OWL franchises speaks volumes on where the focus of Blizzard as a company is, and it makes sense.

Not so sure it's good for the western players (and I mean gamers, not OWL pros), but can't blame a corporation to go for the money and a mostly untapped gigantic market.

Realy really curious to see him at OWL level, still remember his crazy Genji plays back in 2016/17.

And as others I'm wondering which language they'll be using, in theory should be English, as I doubt the 2 western players and the 2 Chinese ones will learn Korean fast enough, but eh.

Agree the same goes for Logix thou, out of Florida he and Manneten were the 2 still deserving a spot in OWL, instead let's say of TviQ, but eh nvm this roster is stacked.

Honestly an amazing team and able to display how good the Japanese scene could be.
A real shame they had to end so early. :(

GL to all the players for their future, I hope still in OW, but if not, wherever they might end.