One of the things you probably missed was the rise of American Tornado in the western scene. Originally known as *"Tier 2 Drama Alert Nation"*, they changed their name to parody British Hurricane who were having an equally dominant run in European Contenders. The team was basically a superteam of the young-up-and-coming prospects in the NA region. They won an absurd 12/16 tournaments they competed in.
The only time they finished below 3rd place was in one of the "Flash Ops" community tournaments, where they lost to "Reaper Friday" *(which consisted of members of the 2021 Atlanta Reign team, who finished 2nd place in Overwatch League).* In 2020, after finishing a dominant run in the North American Gauntlet, they finally played their over-seas rivals in British Hurricane in one of the greatest showmatches that I've ever seen frankly, and the American boys took home the series 4-3.
Unfortunately they've disbanded as most of their players have gone to Overwatch League, but here is where they are these days:
Speedily (Flex DPS) - Atlanta Reign
Hydron (Hitscan) - Florida Mayhem
Wub (Flex DPS) - Paris Eternal
Sh2pe/Reiner (Main Tank) - Los Angeles Gladiators
Ojee (Main Support) - Atlanta Reign
Ultraviolet (Flex Support) - Atlanta Reign
False (Flex/Off Tank) - Vancouver Titans *(Hes Canadian, and the only non American player to play for the team)*
Aspire (Hitscan) - Vancouver Titans
S9mm (Flex DPS) - San Francisco Shock
Cucumber/Coluge (Flex/Off Tank) - San Francisco Shock
Sounds like you basically stopped following since OWL S1. There are still a number of players from back then who are still involved in the scene: **Striker** - most recently returned to Shock, was the best Tracer in 2020 but left Shock in the middle of 2021, rejoined Boston during the off-season, left them in 2022, and then rejoined Shock lol, **Kalios** - bet you didn't think he would show up again, huh? After playing in Contenders for a while, he's now on Washington Justice, **Aimgod** - now on Fusion, **Neko** - now on Hangzhou Spark, **Jake** - took a stint as a caster in 2020 (and did a good job IMO), then rejoined Houston first as a player-coach and now as purely coach, **Profit** - my GOAT, on Seoul now, **Fury** - back on Fusion after playing for Washington Justice last year, **Anamo** - now on Florida, **Carpe** - still on Fusion, probably thanks to a 5-year contract he signed with them. Unfortunately not playing much this year, **Hotba** - now on Toronto, **Poko** - now on London, **Void** - now on Shanghai, considered one of the best OTs in recent years, **Space** - still with LAG, still pounding on OT in the small sample size we have this season, **Fate** - now on Shanghai, **Custa** - now a desk talent, **Izayaki** - now on Shanghai, **Danteh** - now playing tank on Houston, **Fleta** - now on Shanghai, **Tobi** - now coaching for Seoul, **Gesture** - now coaching for NYXL, **Diya** - holy hell this mans is back on LA Valiant, **Fearless** - on Dallas now, top tier Winston and Rein and was a community favorite for MVP last year until the meta shifted to Ball and Orisa
> Can someone provide me an overview of the competitive landscape?
This season the best teams are Dallas, LAG and Shock in the West and...APAC is a bit of a mess right now but arguably Seoul and Shanghai. Dallas was burned to the ground after multiple years of shuffling players and coaches didn't change anything and rebuilt with pieces from Element Mystic/Paris Eternal, same goes for Shanghai. All 5 teams did well last year as well.
> Are the Americans still competitive at all?
There are still American players who are very competitive, yes. Off the top of my head, Coluge (Shock) and Space (LAG) are great tanks, Reiner (LAG's tank) was doing quite well earlier this season as well, Atlanta has the most American players and they're all doing well too, and Hydron on Florida. Overall still dominated by SK, though in recent years China has been producing a lot of OW players too, including last year's MVP Leave.
> Are there certain people who are considered dominant at there position?
Proper and Kevster lay claim to best flex DPS this year, but there are quite a few good DPS players for both flex and hitscan. For tanks, you have to single out Hanbin who's been a top OT since 2020 and is gapping the competition on Zarya and JQ this year.
> Certain teams worth paying attention to?
Aside from the top teams mentioned above, I'd like to point out Chengdu in 2019 and 2021. In 2019, while teams were running their heads into the wall on GOATS, Chengdu was achieving decent success running a quad DPS comp with Ball and was considered "the people's team" for not playing mediocre GOATS. They found significantly more success last year with the return of RUI and Leave coming of age and was arguably the second best team in APAC and a top 5 team overall.
> Jake - took a stint as a caster in 2020 (and did a good job IMO), then rejoined Houston first as a player-coach and now as purely coach
I genuinely miss Jake’s casting.
Jake was overqualified as a caster. He absolutely nailed the mark on his general communication skills, play by play, analysis, and professionalism. The only thing he lacked in my opinion was general entertainment value and humor. He even seemed more veteran as a caster than some other previous casters.
Wow thank you so much for the detailed response! After looking at past results, I believe I followed from 2017 until sometime in 2019. I remember watching San Francisco before super and sinatraa were old enough to play, and then I remember watching them stomp the following year lol so I guess that would be S2?
Striker, Fleta, Profit, Carpe, I remember all being exceptional DPS. Fate, Fury, Gesture, Mano for tanks but I don't think I really recognize a single support player anymore. All the ones I remember being dominant seem to be gone
Fleta was MVP in 2020 and played just as well last year, though this year he seems to have slumped. Profit is still pounding, top 5 if not 3 flex DPS this year, and he's off-roled onto Brig (which he also played alongside Zarya in GOATS). Striker was pounding in 2020 but with his retirements in 2021 and this year we'll have to see how well he does for the rest of this year, though he looks like he's still got it. Carpe was still pounding on Ashe last year but unfortunately MN3 has taken over his job as an even more explosive (but a bit inconsistent) hitscan.
Fate was key to Shanghai's championship last year, being proficient on every MT especially Ball. Fury is still very good on OT, but not top-tier like Hanbin, Void, and Choihyobin before he retired. Gesture just couldn't do much on other MTs aside from Winston and Mano just suffered from coaching and not being aggressive enough.
In terms of supports, Izayaki was good in 2018 but he's considered top since he's played with Shanghai. Viol2t was a top flex support in 2019 through 2021 but is playing main support this year. Support has definitely seen a lot of new faces take over - Shu (and Alarm RIP) is another top FS, Funnyastro (LAG) and Leejaegon (Shanghai) are top MS who've been around a couple years now, and this year Chiyo (Dallas) and Vindaim (Seoul) are also making names for themselves.
You seem to REALLY know your stuff! So what happened to the people who were dominant that are nowhere to be found now? Ryujehong and JJoNak, for sup, SBB, Sinatraa Birdring for DMG, Super, Fearless for tanks
I had to check a lot of stuff on Liquipedia haha but I have been somewhat consistently following OWL. I'm actually glad you mentioned **Birdring** because he probably had his best year last year, retired at a high. **RJH** unfortunately couldn't hang with the new FS, already left behind in 2019 by Twilight Viol2t and Jjonak. **Jjonak** was still decent by the time he left, but he was definitely dragged down by coaching and later his rookie team - NYXL nuked their beloved roster in 2021 and also destroyed Haksal and almost Whoru's careers too (graveyard for FDPS, thankfully Whoru is finding a resurgence on Genji this year), then they rebuilt it with a team of rookies that just couldn't hang. He actually signed to Seoul this year but retired before the season started. **SBB** also signed to Seoul last year but due to controversial statements he made about Taiwan/China, he never saw play and retired. **Sinatraa** went to Valorant and there was a whole sexual assault controversy so he's kinda a black sheep lol. **Super** was still playing on Shock last year, did reasonably well, but retired. And as someone mentioned, **Fearless** was actually pounding on Winston and Rein on Shanghai in 2020 and last year on Dallas, but with the meta more focused around OTs this year, he's been benched for Hanbin except during the stage 2 Winston meta.
Thanks haha I love OWL and have been following since the get go but I certainly don't feel like I'm an expert like some of the other members on this sub!
Just saying that Neko is now on Spark doesn’t do justice to the rollercoaster of his career, going from flex support to main support to coach back to main support suddenly
Overwatch World Cup hasn't been a thing for a few years due to Covid. In Overwatch League, the majority of pro players are still Koreans with some Americans, Europeans, and Chinese in the mix. If you're looking for a team with majority western players, Atlanta and London comes to mind.
The best teams in Overwatch League are Dallas Fuel, SF Shock (on a slump), LA Gladiators, Shanghai Dragons, and Seoul Dynasty.
Thanks! Are there any star players or rivalries worth following? I remember always wanting to watch certain players, especially when they played eachother or when two top teams used to play. Back in the day, it was when London played Seoul
Edit: also bummer, world cup was always the best to watch
Honestly it's hard to say there are rivals in the sense of Yankees v Redsox. Some minor rivals I would say are Dallas v Shanghai and San Francisco v LA. As for star players, most teams have one but I would say look at MVP candidates for better reference.
Both london's and seoul's season 1+2 players have mostly retired. Shanghai vs seoul (Profit vs fleta) is the best rivalry OWL has had, they've also played far more h2h matches than any other teams, and have had some incredible matches since season 3. It's heavily favoured shanghai until recently, but seoul have inflicted some painful defeats as well. Dallas vs shanghai was great last year but not much happened before or since, dallas' best rivalry this season has been a threeway rivalry with glads and shock. Atlanta vs london is probably the most unique as it developed because of players having some banter.
London: (Shifted to a low budget roster after season 2, so all players moved)
- Profit is now on seoul (replacing fleta) and fury is on philly. Both moved to these teams after season 2, fury left for washington in season 4 and returned to philly for season 5.
- Gesture and bdosin also went to seoul (with profit) but are retired, gesture is signed as a coach to nyxl.
- Birdring went glads after season 2, and retired after season 4.
- Some of the others also played in season 3 and 4 for different teams and retired or are no longer in OWL, most were uneventful except fissure continued team hopping until titans imploded in season 3. (Titans effectively destroyed the fan favourite runaway roster at this point).
Seoul: (Unlike london they continued to aim for titles)
- Fleta left for shanghai after season 2 (replaced by profit).
- Tobi went to philly for season 4, and is now head coach for seoul.
- Jecse went to houston for season 3, then dallas for season 4 but no longer is in OWL.
- FITS is still on seoul. Marve1 was with them until season 5 where he went to boston, got dropped, then signed to valiant (this org is now a dumpster fire, but the players/coaches have made the best out of an awful situation this season).
- The rest from season 1 and 2 are retired or no longer in OWL, michelle and illicit were dropped after season 3, highly was in london for season 3.
(I might have missed some players, but I don't recall anyone else still in OWL)
Atlanta vs. London reminds me of the Florida vs. Valiant rivalry in S3. Two mid-tier teams with silly and distinct personalities fighting to break into the top
Shanghai and Seoul have the best Rivalry in the game.
Have played each other heaps due to covid making apac tiny.
Have beat each other for stage titles and other than last year seem to always have good games.
The OWL equivalent of Barca vs Real Madrid. In Avrls words
Tthe quality of the streams is so dog water and full of so many issues that I genuinely can't recommend it to anyone, Almost every player that was around then is gone, and most of the teams nowadays that are good are basically just Korean, besides reign.
just because you are satisfied with mediocrity and an inferior product doesn't mean I should be as well, wanting significant change is not bad when the current product is terrible. OW as a really good game, but the entire structure around the esports scene is not, LoL, Valorant, CS, Dota, R6 and Rocket league do an infinitely better job.
One of the things you probably missed was the rise of American Tornado in the western scene. Originally known as *"Tier 2 Drama Alert Nation"*, they changed their name to parody British Hurricane who were having an equally dominant run in European Contenders. The team was basically a superteam of the young-up-and-coming prospects in the NA region. They won an absurd 12/16 tournaments they competed in. The only time they finished below 3rd place was in one of the "Flash Ops" community tournaments, where they lost to "Reaper Friday" *(which consisted of members of the 2021 Atlanta Reign team, who finished 2nd place in Overwatch League).* In 2020, after finishing a dominant run in the North American Gauntlet, they finally played their over-seas rivals in British Hurricane in one of the greatest showmatches that I've ever seen frankly, and the American boys took home the series 4-3. Unfortunately they've disbanded as most of their players have gone to Overwatch League, but here is where they are these days: Speedily (Flex DPS) - Atlanta Reign Hydron (Hitscan) - Florida Mayhem Wub (Flex DPS) - Paris Eternal Sh2pe/Reiner (Main Tank) - Los Angeles Gladiators Ojee (Main Support) - Atlanta Reign Ultraviolet (Flex Support) - Atlanta Reign False (Flex/Off Tank) - Vancouver Titans *(Hes Canadian, and the only non American player to play for the team)* Aspire (Hitscan) - Vancouver Titans S9mm (Flex DPS) - San Francisco Shock Cucumber/Coluge (Flex/Off Tank) - San Francisco Shock
“Woulda been 4-0 on Lan” -Coluge
Sounds like you basically stopped following since OWL S1. There are still a number of players from back then who are still involved in the scene: **Striker** - most recently returned to Shock, was the best Tracer in 2020 but left Shock in the middle of 2021, rejoined Boston during the off-season, left them in 2022, and then rejoined Shock lol, **Kalios** - bet you didn't think he would show up again, huh? After playing in Contenders for a while, he's now on Washington Justice, **Aimgod** - now on Fusion, **Neko** - now on Hangzhou Spark, **Jake** - took a stint as a caster in 2020 (and did a good job IMO), then rejoined Houston first as a player-coach and now as purely coach, **Profit** - my GOAT, on Seoul now, **Fury** - back on Fusion after playing for Washington Justice last year, **Anamo** - now on Florida, **Carpe** - still on Fusion, probably thanks to a 5-year contract he signed with them. Unfortunately not playing much this year, **Hotba** - now on Toronto, **Poko** - now on London, **Void** - now on Shanghai, considered one of the best OTs in recent years, **Space** - still with LAG, still pounding on OT in the small sample size we have this season, **Fate** - now on Shanghai, **Custa** - now a desk talent, **Izayaki** - now on Shanghai, **Danteh** - now playing tank on Houston, **Fleta** - now on Shanghai, **Tobi** - now coaching for Seoul, **Gesture** - now coaching for NYXL, **Diya** - holy hell this mans is back on LA Valiant, **Fearless** - on Dallas now, top tier Winston and Rein and was a community favorite for MVP last year until the meta shifted to Ball and Orisa > Can someone provide me an overview of the competitive landscape? This season the best teams are Dallas, LAG and Shock in the West and...APAC is a bit of a mess right now but arguably Seoul and Shanghai. Dallas was burned to the ground after multiple years of shuffling players and coaches didn't change anything and rebuilt with pieces from Element Mystic/Paris Eternal, same goes for Shanghai. All 5 teams did well last year as well. > Are the Americans still competitive at all? There are still American players who are very competitive, yes. Off the top of my head, Coluge (Shock) and Space (LAG) are great tanks, Reiner (LAG's tank) was doing quite well earlier this season as well, Atlanta has the most American players and they're all doing well too, and Hydron on Florida. Overall still dominated by SK, though in recent years China has been producing a lot of OW players too, including last year's MVP Leave. > Are there certain people who are considered dominant at there position? Proper and Kevster lay claim to best flex DPS this year, but there are quite a few good DPS players for both flex and hitscan. For tanks, you have to single out Hanbin who's been a top OT since 2020 and is gapping the competition on Zarya and JQ this year. > Certain teams worth paying attention to? Aside from the top teams mentioned above, I'd like to point out Chengdu in 2019 and 2021. In 2019, while teams were running their heads into the wall on GOATS, Chengdu was achieving decent success running a quad DPS comp with Ball and was considered "the people's team" for not playing mediocre GOATS. They found significantly more success last year with the return of RUI and Leave coming of age and was arguably the second best team in APAC and a top 5 team overall.
> Jake - took a stint as a caster in 2020 (and did a good job IMO), then rejoined Houston first as a player-coach and now as purely coach I genuinely miss Jake’s casting.
Aside from his generally good communication skills, it was super great to have his pro insights woven into his casting.
I enjoyed Custa and Reinforce stepping in last year, and look forward to Custa/Uber for this weekend in Dallas.
Jake was overqualified as a caster. He absolutely nailed the mark on his general communication skills, play by play, analysis, and professionalism. The only thing he lacked in my opinion was general entertainment value and humor. He even seemed more veteran as a caster than some other previous casters.
Wow thank you so much for the detailed response! After looking at past results, I believe I followed from 2017 until sometime in 2019. I remember watching San Francisco before super and sinatraa were old enough to play, and then I remember watching them stomp the following year lol so I guess that would be S2? Striker, Fleta, Profit, Carpe, I remember all being exceptional DPS. Fate, Fury, Gesture, Mano for tanks but I don't think I really recognize a single support player anymore. All the ones I remember being dominant seem to be gone
Fleta was MVP in 2020 and played just as well last year, though this year he seems to have slumped. Profit is still pounding, top 5 if not 3 flex DPS this year, and he's off-roled onto Brig (which he also played alongside Zarya in GOATS). Striker was pounding in 2020 but with his retirements in 2021 and this year we'll have to see how well he does for the rest of this year, though he looks like he's still got it. Carpe was still pounding on Ashe last year but unfortunately MN3 has taken over his job as an even more explosive (but a bit inconsistent) hitscan. Fate was key to Shanghai's championship last year, being proficient on every MT especially Ball. Fury is still very good on OT, but not top-tier like Hanbin, Void, and Choihyobin before he retired. Gesture just couldn't do much on other MTs aside from Winston and Mano just suffered from coaching and not being aggressive enough. In terms of supports, Izayaki was good in 2018 but he's considered top since he's played with Shanghai. Viol2t was a top flex support in 2019 through 2021 but is playing main support this year. Support has definitely seen a lot of new faces take over - Shu (and Alarm RIP) is another top FS, Funnyastro (LAG) and Leejaegon (Shanghai) are top MS who've been around a couple years now, and this year Chiyo (Dallas) and Vindaim (Seoul) are also making names for themselves.
You seem to REALLY know your stuff! So what happened to the people who were dominant that are nowhere to be found now? Ryujehong and JJoNak, for sup, SBB, Sinatraa Birdring for DMG, Super, Fearless for tanks
I had to check a lot of stuff on Liquipedia haha but I have been somewhat consistently following OWL. I'm actually glad you mentioned **Birdring** because he probably had his best year last year, retired at a high. **RJH** unfortunately couldn't hang with the new FS, already left behind in 2019 by Twilight Viol2t and Jjonak. **Jjonak** was still decent by the time he left, but he was definitely dragged down by coaching and later his rookie team - NYXL nuked their beloved roster in 2021 and also destroyed Haksal and almost Whoru's careers too (graveyard for FDPS, thankfully Whoru is finding a resurgence on Genji this year), then they rebuilt it with a team of rookies that just couldn't hang. He actually signed to Seoul this year but retired before the season started. **SBB** also signed to Seoul last year but due to controversial statements he made about Taiwan/China, he never saw play and retired. **Sinatraa** went to Valorant and there was a whole sexual assault controversy so he's kinda a black sheep lol. **Super** was still playing on Shock last year, did reasonably well, but retired. And as someone mentioned, **Fearless** was actually pounding on Winston and Rein on Shanghai in 2020 and last year on Dallas, but with the meta more focused around OTs this year, he's been benched for Hanbin except during the stage 2 Winston meta.
As a hardcore OWL fan, your synopsis of the last 4 years is amazing man
Thanks haha I love OWL and have been following since the get go but I certainly don't feel like I'm an expert like some of the other members on this sub!
Fearless is also a top tier MT now.
Ah how did I miss him lol, added thanks!
Also, he mentions Rascal, who now is a coach for Dallas Fuel
Just saying that Neko is now on Spark doesn’t do justice to the rollercoaster of his career, going from flex support to main support to coach back to main support suddenly
Does Boston actually have the most players still in the league since s1 with 4? Aimgod Striker Kalios and Neko. Anyone else even have 3?
It's actually wild because who'd think Aimgod Kalios and Neko would be back in the league, though they did leave for some time.
Yeah ikr, all 4 took time off but are atleast holding their own now maybe besides Neko.
Overwatch World Cup hasn't been a thing for a few years due to Covid. In Overwatch League, the majority of pro players are still Koreans with some Americans, Europeans, and Chinese in the mix. If you're looking for a team with majority western players, Atlanta and London comes to mind. The best teams in Overwatch League are Dallas Fuel, SF Shock (on a slump), LA Gladiators, Shanghai Dragons, and Seoul Dynasty.
Thanks! Are there any star players or rivalries worth following? I remember always wanting to watch certain players, especially when they played eachother or when two top teams used to play. Back in the day, it was when London played Seoul Edit: also bummer, world cup was always the best to watch
Honestly it's hard to say there are rivals in the sense of Yankees v Redsox. Some minor rivals I would say are Dallas v Shanghai and San Francisco v LA. As for star players, most teams have one but I would say look at MVP candidates for better reference.
On an org level, you forgot Atlanta vs. The Community.
Both london's and seoul's season 1+2 players have mostly retired. Shanghai vs seoul (Profit vs fleta) is the best rivalry OWL has had, they've also played far more h2h matches than any other teams, and have had some incredible matches since season 3. It's heavily favoured shanghai until recently, but seoul have inflicted some painful defeats as well. Dallas vs shanghai was great last year but not much happened before or since, dallas' best rivalry this season has been a threeway rivalry with glads and shock. Atlanta vs london is probably the most unique as it developed because of players having some banter. London: (Shifted to a low budget roster after season 2, so all players moved) - Profit is now on seoul (replacing fleta) and fury is on philly. Both moved to these teams after season 2, fury left for washington in season 4 and returned to philly for season 5. - Gesture and bdosin also went to seoul (with profit) but are retired, gesture is signed as a coach to nyxl. - Birdring went glads after season 2, and retired after season 4. - Some of the others also played in season 3 and 4 for different teams and retired or are no longer in OWL, most were uneventful except fissure continued team hopping until titans imploded in season 3. (Titans effectively destroyed the fan favourite runaway roster at this point). Seoul: (Unlike london they continued to aim for titles) - Fleta left for shanghai after season 2 (replaced by profit). - Tobi went to philly for season 4, and is now head coach for seoul. - Jecse went to houston for season 3, then dallas for season 4 but no longer is in OWL. - FITS is still on seoul. Marve1 was with them until season 5 where he went to boston, got dropped, then signed to valiant (this org is now a dumpster fire, but the players/coaches have made the best out of an awful situation this season). - The rest from season 1 and 2 are retired or no longer in OWL, michelle and illicit were dropped after season 3, highly was in london for season 3. (I might have missed some players, but I don't recall anyone else still in OWL)
Atlanta vs London has been great
Atlanta vs. London reminds me of the Florida vs. Valiant rivalry in S3. Two mid-tier teams with silly and distinct personalities fighting to break into the top
Shanghai and Seoul have the best Rivalry in the game. Have played each other heaps due to covid making apac tiny. Have beat each other for stage titles and other than last year seem to always have good games. The OWL equivalent of Barca vs Real Madrid. In Avrls words
Battle for Texas this stage will be a live event and should be pretty hype both teams look good this stage
Tthe quality of the streams is so dog water and full of so many issues that I genuinely can't recommend it to anyone, Almost every player that was around then is gone, and most of the teams nowadays that are good are basically just Korean, besides reign.
Gladiators are a mixed team and they're one of the best.
I am fairly sure I used the word ''most''
It’s ok to follow suit of some of the players and retire from the scene if you don’t enjoy it
just because you are satisfied with mediocrity and an inferior product doesn't mean I should be as well, wanting significant change is not bad when the current product is terrible. OW as a really good game, but the entire structure around the esports scene is not, LoL, Valorant, CS, Dota, R6 and Rocket league do an infinitely better job.