ViCi should be able to qualify with their next match, they made it all the way to the lower bracket finals of Nexus and seem to have the talent to make it through here.

Going off that I'd have to agree. LGE looked decent in the matches I saw them play though, like Team Celestial, I'm not sure how far they can get.

Their Nexus run was a short one to let's see if they can do better here.

Team Celestial finally breaking the curse. Not sure how far they can get though, the following teams should pose a serious challenge for them.

Just wanted to note that though Munchkin did get removed the reasons for it are pretty understandable. A wrist injury plus difficulty integrating into the group can make it really hard for the team to function and communicate as he mentioned.

As for Claris he clearly states that it was his own decision as he was getting offers from parties already associated with the league.

I really appreciate how relatively transparent Alicus is, he's able to cut down the rumor mill that is Reddit and make sure his statement is out there.

Very unfortunate for Infinity, hopefully Space can recover and do better than last season. Lots of teams rebuilding so this season may be there best chance to go deep.

I agree, and looking at the game at the moment it seems to be correct.

Possibly, but I think the Netherlands may have more raw talent, might be enough to overcome their lack of synergy compared to the Reds.

Now that I think about it, this thread is probably more suited for "Site Discussion" sub forum.

This might be more at home in the "Off-Topic" sub forum.

Already mentioned here:
https://www.over.gg/4968/munchkin-out-of-laser-kittenz#bottom

Well, 4/6 of the team is well known and talented, I'm assuming the other two will lean on the leadership of the majority but on paper it's a good team.

I think they'll get the win over Helsinki Reds.

I don't think any team would balance being in the league against taking first. You need the appropriate amount of investment long before then.

As you mentioned I'm not sure C9 would be looking to get in either, unless they've found some serious backing like IMT did.

Less than 48 hours boyz and girlz. Be right back while I make a trip to Korea to get fluent before then. The Hype Is Real.

Oh shit, I've begun the path of ascension to my 2nd star. I have no life. over.gg is my life, that's how you get stars.

Dafran is a solid Tracer in his own rights on top of being a god tier Soldier, but I'm not sure they'd want to take that on right now.

I do think it might be less of an issue for traditional sport orgs like the ones in OWL since they've seen far worst scandals and those players often bounce back. But I do agree that Sinatraa might be a better bet just because his Tracer is so sick.

#35 "this league will be a faillure for sure, no orgs in ow (besides nrg with 2 players on the roster) will have the finance to do this wauw.. gg"

• That comment makes little sense considering they apparently have 7 investors already. As for what the other endemic Orgs that what in will do...that I don't know. I'm assuming some some of partnership could be possible if they really wanted in. That or just finding more investors like Team Liquid or Lazer Kittens (not confirmed, just examples)

#36 "I guess that's why Blizzard are pretty much trying to do away with orgs and bring in multi-million or even billion dollar franchises who can afford this much money but will they find a dozen of them to do it or what that remains to be seen and if not can the likes of Rogue and C9 pay what, 300k a year in salaries? that's quite a ton of money."

• Player salaries won't be much of a problem for Orgs that pay millions in salary in their respective leagues already so that's not what I'm worried about. My concerns are mainly around viewership for the league and the health of the rest of the scene.

The more recently released information shows they're in this for the relative long run, including making sure players start early on the retirement fun and have active life insurance.

Damn, The Netherlands team having to change groups really screwed up seeding. Now we lose one of the three best teams in this tournament early.

Some insight from a few Koreans Pros:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6ptclr/pro_players_analysis_of_lh_vs_kdp/

Copy Paste from OP's (hyeons) translation:

Some highlights: (Gambler, Arhan, DNCE)

(Gambler, you just talked about LH breaking your guys' spirits and composure. What was the reason for this?)

G: LH's Sombra. (EscA) He completely left us ablaze. I'm not sad, though, because I'm not a pro anymore!

(What style would you say KDP?)

G: A typical DPS-Tank carry team. Like us (LW), or rather what used to be us (ㅠㅠ)

(Arhan, in the finals there are Birdring, Rascal, and Gido who have shown Genjis. Are you better than them?)

A: Yes. I'm better. I somewhat respect Birdring's Genji.

(Do you feel like KDP stole Birdring?)

D: Not really. We knew beforehand, and it was all agreed on.

(A survey of the teams' strengths)

Host: We have created a composite report from pro players, coaches, and staff on the comparison between LH and KDP's strengths. We have found that KDP has been rated higher in terms of mechanics, and much higher in terms of hero pool. LH is higher in terms of strategy, teamwork, crisis aversion, and composure.

LH's DPS have been rated SIGNIFICANTLY lower than KDP's (one point lower than KDP on an out of a five point scale) However, the heal+tank have similar disparities in LH's favor.

Overall, the survey has shown that 58% of relevant individuals in the field expect LH to win. The reasons:

Teamwork that negates any difference in mechanical ability, crisis aversion ability that can deal with KDP's large hero pool, the world's best healers, previous experience, and huge skill in maps other than control, and team protection and strategy.

For those that expect KDP to win:

Best DPS in the world, they have the ability to make unexpected plays, they beat LW Blue in a more convincing manner than LH, they break strategy through their superior mechanics, and they can abuse Gido's lack of experience.

In closing, Arhan and Gambler expected LH to win, while DNCE expected KDP to win.

Or Sinatraa, lot's of choices right now.

In that case this actually makes me wonder how MY compares to LGD and 1246. They got 2-0'd by both of those teams in the Premier Series Spring Season and finished 5-6th in the playoffs.

If we go by that metric alone, yeah I know the sample size is way too small but it's all I got, LGD and 1246 could probably compete with Korean Tier 2 teams, though probably not with the tier 1 ones.

I'm already looking forward to APAC.

Looks like Infinity is done, disbanded:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6pu43s/mvp_infinity_disbanded/

:candle:

You'll have to elaborate on that, not sure what you mean here.

Shadder2k's input, according to him there's a 99% chance AZK leaves. Still not an official announcement, and lord knows if he's trolling.

You be the judge of that:
https://clips.twitch.tv/FunnyAmusedPuffinWholeWheat

An announcement as big as this one deserves bants and shitposts of an appropriate scale.

Damn, and it felt like they were looking so good :(, really hope they get their chance to shine.

You should do that if they end up winning the OWC as well.

For the most part this would mean that being signed to a current org doesn't mean much if you'rte looking to be in the OWL.

I believe it was said before but for them free agents just make things easier, no need to break then resign etc...

Also just so happens that we have a large pool of available talent so hopefully the ones most deserving get in.

They have 5-6 months to get their fixes in, so I can see that happening. It would honestly be weird to have season 1 of OWL without Rogue and nV. Lunatic Hai is a possibility but it's hard to tell with how their coach reacted. Who knows, maybe the guy with the Seoul spot could just buy the tanks/supports from LH and add the DPS from KDP.

I'm joking, but that would be scary as fuck.

Hey I'm legit, can't blame me for being my special Unicorn self.

Give me 4 stars and I can make 50k happen for you. Just don't ask me where/who I got it from. And avoid large bodies of water for a lil while.

I'd be very surprised myself. I see them as possibly coming out on top of their group.

I just noticed that we joined over.gg on the same day o.O

Or that. It could turn out just like the SK show matches.

Agreed, something that can handle contract dispute and/or other details not laid out by Blizzard's regulations.

The more information comes out the people can make educated decisions about this. I do think that because of their top down approach there will always be a ridiculous amount of questions since we don't know what will happen to the rest of the scene, but it's a start.

With the pace at which they've been releasing this lately I think a Q4, 2017 start looks doable. I'd love a press conference or some medium of information exposure where they'd talk about their vision for the Overwatch scene as a whole.

Like what happens to the rest of the world, outside of OWL, Contenders and the Open Division, i.e. like tournaments (big and small), LANs etc...

Oh and I support more puns on over.gg

Other questions have to do with LANs or bigger online tournaments, if those will make a comeback or if the OPC, APEX and APAC will be the only ones running.

I only named a few off the top of my head but yeah, I haz questions about the logistics of the OWL aftermath. If all the boxes are ticked and the whole ecosystem can breath this could indeed be something never seen. The opposite is also possible.

The alternative is launching an unfinished product that fails horribly, taking with it any chances of a successful resurgence for the game. I think the OWL can work, but what I'm interested in is what teams/orgs not int he OWL will do.

The main question being about it's viability and general sustainability. Preferably you'd have a bunch of tournaments world wide at all times of the year and the best of those direct themselves to the Open Division, then Contenders and some outstanding players possibly get picked up as the league expands etc...

But that requires an active scene and teams to feed into the whole thing so yeah, a lot of possibilities, but a lot of uncertainty.

What I take from all of this is that it's a possibility, but honestly until it does get officially confirmed it's not a foregone conclusion.

I won't be surprised either way but to me it feels like he might be leaning towards CS:GO, not that I put much stalk in a feeling.

From what I've been watching/reading the team i'm most worried about in the 8 I mentioned is Canada. I'm hoping those who showed that concern simple overestimated any issues the team might have and that they're able to make it through. If they do manage to end first in their group they're very likely to be facing the Netherlands which should also be a difficult match, on top of having to best Russian in their own group.

As for the other side of this possible QF, if the USA groups go as I'm imagining they will we might have a US(G2) vs UK(H1) qualifier on our hands.

A lot of possibilities, specially if we have as many surprises as with the Sydney group.

If I weren't rooting for Canada "rageoftofu" would have my vote. Heck, maybe they'll take maps from all the teams...except Canada...but I digress, hopefully they exceed their own expectations and are proud of whatever they manage to achieve.

A lot of roster reworks as of late, I think Meta may also be going through some things, but this should be a good test regardless.

Agreed, and KDP's dive is very different from AFB's. I do think LH have a clear path to victory if they can take advantage of KDP's weaker backline, but that's assuming a few things:

1. They can get past Void
2. Rascal/Bridring haven't kill their backline already

I'm biased towards LH, but I think they can do it. I'm just hoping for a high octane, almost, heart attack inducing game that goes all the way...with a win by LH in the end, cause bias.

Interesting, 1246 has positioned themselves to challenge LGD as the top team in China and some ppl already put them there.

Personally I give a bit more weight to LGD's ridiculous winning streak before they lost to 1246 so I'm putter the latter in 2nd place...for now.

I'm not familiar enough with these players to even propose a winner but I can see this going either way, though I feel like 1246 has the advantage of being a full team, and a solid one at that.

This has the potential of being a really good match..or possibly a steam roll. Just Overwatch things.

Note that this doesn't actually indicate if the league will be successful or if the rest of the scene will follow. Baby steps, we don't know if the parachute has holes in it yet.

The title of that Reddit thread is ridiculous but that's just par for the course I guess. What i'm more interested in is both players sounding like it's already a foregone conclusion even though the only thing I've seen from the man himself is a retweet of the ESEA unbanning and this tweet: https://twitter.com/LiquidAZK/status/889501008715493377

The tweet itself doesn't actually confirm anything, but most people are implying it's meaning. Hard to tell how much consideration he's giving it..or if he's already made that decision but I can see why it could easily be believed.

This part is what I'm really liking as it shows long term commitment to the player: "as well as health insurance and a retirement savings plan".

It's also interesting that the players would get to split $500k for winning the first season since for a team of let's say 8 players, it more than doubles their salary putting them above 100k.

basically the intensive to want to get into the league will be strong. The question being how will the rest of the scene fare and will it be sustainable for non OWL teams.

Hoping this helps inject some much needed life into the regions that need it the most.

A bit more on this from Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6pnxgk/liquid_azk_left_overwatch_to_rejoin_csgo_team/

This is the twitch clip the post is talking about:
https://clips.twitch.tv/MoistSmellyClipsmomPanicVis

I take it with a grain of salt just because everything is implied and hasn't been confirmed by AZK or Liquid yet. I believe TL has enough money to enter the OWL, but I don't know what their intentions are. I wouldn't be surprised either way but the only question is what would they do about the possibility of still being banned at majors.

Please note that my CS:GO knowledge is very limited so I haven't been able to develop an informed opinion. This is just an interesting situation to me.

Both of these teams need a boost for sure, specially if the meta hasn't changed by the time Season 5 rolls around.Hopefully they'll have figured something out by then but in the mean time we get to see hoe Meta Athena copes with the possible issues listed above.

They should be the stronger team at full power but can they adapt if that's not the case?

It seems like you both need to take lessons on the art of debate. Right now your conversations amount to little more than children squabbling as you throw insults left and right.

Make your argument, defend it with talking points, concede where appropriate, but more importantly, do it all with maturity and respect.

If your not prepared to defend your opinion in a logical and constructive manner you may just not be ready to put it out there.

I find myself saying this often, but this isn't Reddit.

MY too stronk. Though as Sideshow pointed out, if the Koreans are playing on ~150 ping instead of the the ridiculously low numbers they're used to and that the Chinese teams are improving this score isn't that crazy.

I also guess they're trying things out with all the changes but hopefully they find a strong stable et up they can use in APEX to find success. Making the finals is pretty damn good for a rebuilt team so there's hope.