Damn. EnVy's plain rolling right now. I guess you can't compare playing vs Korean teams for months with competing in NA.
First game I see Fate completely shut down, Envy loses mech so fast, and Grim and Agilities can't do anything.

Scratch that, rolling and smoking. Mickie just farmed Grav in 2 fights...

Um... Why is IMT picking Numbani knowing it is THE Harry map ? :thinking:

Rein Winston ? With Mccree Doomfist, ok Envy please..

Logix is too good.

I will say that C9 seemed all over the place so I wouldn't take this game's result too seriously, but Kyb's Tracer was lackluster, to say the least, this series. Crusade and Nevix only ones shining on C9 to me.

Misfits played really well this series, Cwoosh seemlessly transferring to Winston, Zuppeh was really consistant and Logix was slammyn.

Movistar Riders, which dropped their roster :candle:

Mah boi Nevix with the crispy plays

Did he get burned out of playing Genji or something ? Ever since he left Reunited he barely played any Genji, and when he did, he wasn't near the level he was.
I guess C9 doesn't have a tracer player, we'll see how they cope. Finally some payload, get this koth outta here.

Zebbo almost threw that one. Cwoosh made a ton of space on this first map tbh, forced an early bubble from Mowzassa multiple times.

One of the most anticipated games in the NA side of Contenders. IMT's recent form has been amazing, and they, by now, had the extra time to refine their strats and comms. EnVy, on the other hand, is the most consistant roster the game has seen, always topping whatever region they're playing in, great group of guys, lots of experience, you name it.

Now EnVy's Achilles heel hero-wise would be that they don't have a Pharah player, and we saw from past games that Pharamercy is probably the best counter to a solid Torb-Orisa defense.
I don't know if IMT has been practicing it, I'd like to think so, but if they pull it off, it could prove to be an uphill battle for EnVy seeing how the game's format involves 2 payload maps and an assault one, all of which are very much Torb friendly bar maybe Anubis, Route 66 and definitely King's Row.

Also hyped to see some more Doomfist action on a pro level. Very promising game, 3-1 IMT for me.

Exactly. Which gives more credibility to what xQc said about the new roster. With Contenders this close, I don't see IMT giving away free scrim time to see who's meshing well in the team.

And I agree with Poi, although only for the first part. If one of them were to stay, I'd personally pick Harbleu. Great dude, always calm and collected, nutty Zarya, nutty Roadhog. His Dva is not up to par for sure, and he usually goes on some crazy solo Hog adventures across the map (although when these plays work, he looks Pog af), but he puts in the work.
All in all, full rebuild seems to be the best option going forward (Danteh BlessRNG).

Finally, I've searched for anything about ongoing NRG trials, and there's nothing coming up, so I don't necessarily agree with the info being well documented. I unfortunately wasn't in Ajax's stream when he talked about it.

I hope I'm wrong but LH will make it out of groups. Same thing happened last season. It's when they're down that they start rolling.
I don't believe that Meta Athena will be able to compete against LH, so this makes their game v Runaway that much more hype. Season 2 grand finals rematch.

Apex is a phat PogChamp tbh.

You're right, I got them mixed up. It was right before the Harbleu rumours blew up.

I'm listing 3 events that happened recently, the last one of them, which happened just a few hours ago, is quite compelling. The team's main DPS player is not in on scrims, vs IMT nonetheless, and you're gonna tell me that doesn't raise any flags ? It looks pretty clear to me.

Although you using the word argument implies that I was trying to make a point, which I, as said in my last post, am not.

But hey, interpretation right.

Didn't know that was a thing actually :thinking:

Ok before coming in mouth blazing, please read the post.
If you had done it, you'd see that I'm not stating a fact, I'm asking a question following a few events. And I posted it in General Discussion for a reason, nowhere did I actually SAY he wasn't on the roster anymore.

Second, who said anything about streaming scrims ? IMT was scrimming against NRG, and Iddqd was streaming ranked instead of playing with his team.

And to make myself clear, if there are rules preventing discussions to be had unless official then by all means, I don't mind one of the admins taking it down. But just read what I posted before criticizing.

First off, and this is my personal belief, xQc said a few days ago that the new NRG roster was actually crazy good. Since the Fnatic days, I thought IDDQD was overestimated. I was actually hoping that NRG would pick Nesh up instead of him when they were rebuilding a few months ago. All this to say that I don't see NRG being scary with IDDQD on it, but again, this is my own opinion.
Then he went on a trip to Canada right after Sephy joined the team as coach.

And finally, earlier today, Kariv told xQc that they were scrimming against NRG. This would be meaningless if IDDQD wasn't streaming at the same time. Which begs the question, is he still on the team ?

Kryw's Zarya was what held Misfits in so many crucial times. Crazy crazy good. I guess he wanted to move to a DPS role that he, as far as I know, never really shined on.

He was godlike Pharah in beta, and I said it during world cup as well. But S4's is one of the best out there..

So my prediction for subs (if they ever get to play that is) is as follows:

• EnVy picked up Sinatraa for Zarya and Genji obviously, EFFECT doing great on Tracer I don't think they'll need him on that.
  The team never once had a top tier Genji player in their ranks (and god knows how much I love Talespin but his Genji wasn't competing with some others).

• Surefour can play anything I guess, but I think if they wanna run Pharah he'll be the go-to. Carpe was signed with the roster they have, so I'm guessing either him or SDB will take Tracer. SPREE has played Pharah but Surefour is a level above on the rocketQueen.

• Dummy is an unknown to me. I know he has played DPS prior to NRG but haven't seen him play in a long time, can't say what he'll play.

• xRetzi is pretty obvious I guess. One of the best hitscans prior to triple tank meta (which broke Rise sadly) imo. Him and Spirit used to be my favourite duo.

• Kolsti as main tank and Knoxxx back on Lucio is pretty obvious as well. The real question is whether this is Rogue's way of foreseeing Winz leaving OW. Unkoe said it was for 1 game, but you never know. I liked Kolsti on Movistar, never seen him Rein, but pretty competent on Winston.

• Last one is kind of a mystery to me. Why 3 subs ? Dream, to my knowledge, plays hitscans (and pretty well), but Kungarna already has Babybay on that role. Double hitscan comps ?
  Goliath's Zen was pretty good last time I watced him but Dogman was doing well too so I'm not sure about this one.
  And then Gods, who played main tanks, offtanks, hitscan and projectile DPS at a professional level. I'm guessing he's #1 sub pick if they need to change anything comp wise.

Don't you dare bring the Esper meme back :( I still can't fathom how bad he got treated.
I fucking hope he comes back.

Clearly shows. N E A T

I believe that people will root for the city they feel attached to no matter (to a certain extent) who represents it.
Now, I agree that local players will build a fanbase far more quicker but if a foreign team is the clear better choice, then it'll take a bit longer. Remember, there's nothing that builds a fanbase like rivalries and some spicy shittalk/banter, and I'm pretty sure that OWL will provide us with plenty.

'If you can't win, you build your brand with marketable players.' Couldn't agree more with Scrubasaurus on this.
If C9 plans to build a second roster then more power to them in my opinion. I'm sure viewers would prefer the best level of competition there could be, and koreans, for now, embody top tier Overwatch level.

Mineral's english is stellar. So clearly and beautifully written. Wish nothing but the best for him.
I do have a couple reserves about how this roster turned out, but hopefully they prove me wrong.

https://twitter.com/Rogue_uNKOE/status/897564319185072129

Unkoe says that Kolsti is subbing in for one game only vs Renegades.

EDIT: Kuroi faster on the trigger confirmed.

https://twitter.com/GoingRogueGG/status/897560026809647104

Winz is most likely the one being replaced. Knoxxx will go back to shotcalling leaving the main tank job to Kolsti.

Rogue wins this 4-0 and pretty convincingly. They admitted themselves that they didn't practice enough for OWWC so I wouldn't take their results there too seriously.
I actually like enVision, a lot of progress these last few months and nothing makes me happier than seeing a new teams contesting some of the best, but not on this one tbh.

Not having a 'UK name' doesn't mean you can't be a UK citizen :thinking:

As for NRG picking all 4 of them up, I wanna say I don't see it happening, they've been wanting to put a good roster together for quite the time and with the C9 results this last year...
Now nothing would make me happier than to see Seagull Surefour and Adam together, but too many uncertainties.

What's that gotta do with anything ?

On a side note though, Nevix is one of those DPS that can play near anything at a really high level and he proved it at DH with old Misfits, him and Soon was the best DPS duo at the time by far. Him and Tviq never really got that flow going, but amazing addition to the C9 squad for sure.

I said it before, but I don't see Surefour and Adam breaking up during this transititon. Will they make their own team or get picked up is an unknown as of this moment but not too worried about them finding a team.
Gods and Roolf are LFT as well. Crazy how much talent is up for grabs right now.

Cwoosh will probably replace Nevix, shouldn't be a big surprise anyways. Who's gonna main tank for them is the big question..

So is old C9 gonna become SnapchatMe now ?

You know how every zen's nightmare is getting farmed by tracers. Well, every tracer's nightmare is Boombox.

They used everything on the fight before. And then they were going to kill FCTFCTN but Adam delayed it enough with a sound barrier, then Rawkus came in with transe. I don't remember exactly how USA got the edge as I can't watch it back now but I will tomorrow, cause you're kinda right about not losing the 4v6.

The fact that Jake switched back to Genji after touching point means that he knew they had the advantage too, idk it's tricky..

A lot of tough calls there they didn't really make any major mistakes, that was one the best Nepal rounds. Jake swap to Sombra saved it so hard for US.

My boi Nesh pogchamping. So good

Personally never thought of Reinforce as one of the best tanks, his Rein was what divided public opinion on his play in the first place (I don't remember which tournament sadly, but it was months before dive meta on old Rogue).
I do believe that he is a genuinely smart player and wants to be among the best. Good luck to him.

On a side note, I don't think it's safe to assume NRG is still looking for a shotcalling tank, that was when Seamoose was coaching the team. And I don't believe Reinforce was shotcalling on Rogue/Misfits either, maybe calling targets ?

Smex is one of the best EU Roadhogs too. I miss hog in pro play feelsbad

Why is Murizzz's shirt spelling Mruizzz ? :thinking:

Why ?

US taking the game pretty convincingly imo, Taiwan put up a good fight but was never enough. Beautiful game to watch though.

And this is why all successful teams have a really, really strong support duo.

Jake is pounding, but Adam man. Doesn't die, constantly peeling for Rawkus, always there to disengage. Good ass game.

:candle:

Do you really believe that ? Let me put it another way then. How about the respect they lose throwing a game cause they wanna make it deep in a tournament they, as you said, get no monetary gain from.
You think a serious org doesn't care if a player throws in a friendly game ?

I mean I get your point, but if it was an amateur tournament then maybe. Not on pro level. Anybody throws to avoid Korea gets called a pussy for as long as they play. Such is life.

Everybody's assuming UK is getting knocked out. I don't know, to me TWN, USA and UK are playing at around the same level. A lot of coordination, good comms, good players.

Dare I say if it wasn't for Baconjack's sick plays and Jongie's beast Winston, they wouldn't be this scary.

No one would risk their potential career and definitely their OWL spot over a meaningless tournament. OWWC is just an event for fun, to broaden the game's audience and as preparation for future LAN events etc.

Imo the team that wants to vs Korea is the one with the highest chance of beating them.

Well, unless you want 8 teams competing from the start, there's no other way other than teams getting better. A couple of groups could've been better distributed though but oh well.

ZP as Gru and Hex as Nefario.

Ok LAN Mikey is spicy. PawgChamp.

He got #1 on the NA ladder last season with a +90% win rate over like 300 games, so basically he was stacking late nights and queueing against lower ranked players farming ELO.

Of course it's not hard for players to stop shooting a zarya bubble used preemptively. What I'm saying is, if you look closer, you'll see that the best Zaryas bait (in a good way) teammates when taking fire.
What do you do when a Winston/Rein/ulting Genji etc, is in your face with a Zarya shield on him ? You can't just leave him be, and good Zaryas find those situations to take advantage of every ~8 seconds.

As I said, there wouldn't be any Zarya player if players could just stop shooting shields, it's more complicated than that. I'm a bad Zarya, and when I see the positioning and patience some of these players have with their shields and how it pays off afterwards it's honestly impressive.

This is the epitome of what getting farmed really means. Baconjack is massacring them.