Two days of gruelling competition stand between Europe's elite teams and EnVyUs, Europe's other elite team. Whilst nV have already surpassed their placing from the Atlantic Showdown, there are a few teams left in the competition who are still haunted by the events of gamescom.

Over the next two days those fears will be vanquished or further compounded because there is no real argument to be had when I say that the European field is much more competitive than what we have seen so far from North America. The favourites for each group seem obvious and at the same time perilously positioned given the historical merry-go-round at the top of Europe's rankings since Overwatch's launch.

Group B

Rogue

  • Kevyn "TviQ" Lindström (DPS)
  • Jonathan "Reinforce" Larsson (Tank)
  • Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson (Support)
  • Dylan "aKm" Bignet (DPS)
  • Michael "winz" Bignet (Flex)
  • Jean-Louis "KnOxXx" Boyer (Support)

"Upsets" in the qualifiers have arguably landed Rogue in the easier of the two groups. Although I'm not suggesting the defending major champions threw to FaZe in qualification, it is fortuitous that ANOX and Luminosity arrive in Atlanta as qualification group winners when almost anyone would favour Rogue and Misfits to top Group A.

Having won every LAN of significance (sorry ASUS ROG) in Europe, Rogue are now bringing it to the North Americans on their turf to eliminate any doubt as to who the greatest team in the first era of competitive Overwatch really is. Another LAN win may be what is needed to finally silence the EnVy fans. Some of Rogue's recent results online have called their pedigree in to question; that loss to FaZe in qualification then going down 1-2 to REUNITED in GosuGamers #18 are noteworthy.

Ultimately, it's irrelevant. This is a team focused on one thing – winning majors. I questioned last time around if Rogue had improved through the addition of KnOxXx and the answer came back as an emphatic "Yes!" as they lifted the Atlantic Showdown trophy. All the key elements are still here for Rogue, captained by the most malleable player on the planet TviQ, who is complemented by the explosive raw fragging power aKm who really came in to his own at gamescom. They remain Europe's best hope to take home the title and will be burning that little bit brighter after an extensive bootcamp in Las Vegas in the ten days leading up to the main event.

ANOX

  • Alexei "Cypher" Yanushevsky (DPS)
  • Anton "COOLLER" Singov (Support)
  • Normunds "sharyk" Faterins (Tank)
  • Ruben "Rubikon" Zurabyan (Support)
  • Kiryl "Anak" Nikalayenka (Flex)
  • Artem "kensi" Budiak (DPS)

Probably the team hardest to get a read on currently, ANOX stepped up as contenders at the end of July when the cYpheR Genji / Anak Winston one-two punch put a hole in REUNITED and Rogue in the first open qualifier for the Overwatch Open. However, since then Rogue have kept a clean sheet in the matchup, taking five maps in two fixtures without response.

ANOX seemed to have gone off the boil, continuously coming up short of winning a bracket outright, making it through to the closed stage on points - only then to catch melty and Misfits with their pants down and finish top of their group without dropping a map. Then a couple of weeks later they get blown up during Lenovo Cup where they lost 1-3 to Dignitas and 0-3 to both NiP and Luminosity. Mercurial is an understatement with these guys.

I feel like the team that lacks a little something when it comes to self-belief – they've had these big breakthrough results at times, but just haven't been able to sustain those performances. Whether their sporadic successes have been down to favourable meta or other circumstances is hard to say, but if they can take a win in their opening game versus Rogue, they sky is the limit. Look to kensi's Tracer to be the difference maker.

Misfits

  • Mikaël "Hidan" Da Silva (Support)
  • Sebastian "Zebbosai" Olsson (Support)
  • Ruben "ryb" Ljungdahl (Tank)
  • Jonathan "Kryw" Nobre (Flex)
  • Terence "SoOn" Tarlier (DPS)
  • Andreas "Nevix" Karlsson (DPS)

The kind of roster troubles Misfits had to deal with this month might have straight up killed a lesser team, but somehow they have survived and remain competitive. A big part of that miracle has to be credited to Nevix who made the switch from support to DPS (a path that was once walked by both Kryw and SoOn) with incredible ease after gamescom.

Further credit obviously goes to their super subs, ryb and Hidan, who quickly found their feet in this elite tier roster, helping Misfits to top their Lenovo Cup group over REUNITED and then slam Luminosity 3-0 on the playoffs trail. They would lose out later to in a close game to REUNITED 2-3 before being eliminated by Ninjas in Pyjamas 1-3.

All things considered, not too shabby for a couple of weeks' worth of playing together. They have definitely been proving themselves to be still capable of making out of Group B, even with stand ins. Misfits record against LG remains impeccable and the passage of time is only going to strengthen the bonds of this temporary roster. An early win in the group should be enough to calm any potential nerves here that may have been responsible for their underperformance at gamescom.

Luminosity Gaming

  • Vytis "Mineral" Lasaitis (Support)
  • Kalle Haag "Zave" Nilsson (Support)
  • Tim "Manneten" Byhlund (Flex)
  • Dominik "Ruster" Waffler (Tank)
  • Arthur "EISSFELDT" Marx (DPS)
  • Jani "Tseini" Kähkönen (DPS)

Although they do match up well against ANOX, other recent results for Luminosity Gaming have only been favourable really against Team Dignitas and FaZe Clan. At this stage of the tournament that record will only may prove advantageous if they can actually top Group B to play the Group A runner-up in the playoffs, but that seems like a big ask.

To their credit they have been fairly active in competition through the summer months, much like FaZe Clan, which is surely a sign of a team that is eager to prove themselves. Tseini remains a constant threat in every situation with an incredible range of DPS heroes at his disposal. LG are definitely capable producing an upset, but the likelihood is that it will have to be the lower bracket where they seek to make their fortune.