H2K, a storied esports organisation famous primarily for their League of Legends team, recently took the dive into Overwatch by signing a North American team with potential, Kids Next Door. The team has begun to challenge gatekeeper teams in qualifiers with their roster, which features former TF2, Tribes, and LoL players.
The new H2K roster has competed in three qualifiers for the ESL Atlantic Showdown, improving on their Round-of-16 knockout in the first two tournaments to reach the quarter finals in the most recent. This was not enough to take them to the next stage of the tournament, but continuous improvement is the aim for H2K.
This ethos was reinforced in a statement from their support player Graham, who said:
Potential is the biggest word. After being on many different teams in my life (of different sorts), this one has a deadly combination of drive and positivity. We've had a lot of solid scrim results, especially in the Pharrah meta against highly ranked teams. Each member intends on pushing themselves and the team into a top tier position.
H2K features a number of players who may be recognised from other titles, but the notable recent addition to the roster is ex-NRG player Esper. The top tier Mercy support was cut from the team at the end of June, back when they were playing for Luminosity Gaming. This decision was questioned by many as it coincided with a slump for the team, and NRG have only just filled the gap in their roster in the past few weeks with the addition of ex-Liquid’s dummy.
Esper found his new home much quicker, and clearly saw potential in the H2K roster. As did the organisation, who have invested heavily in a team which has yet to prove itself or manifest its potential.
I got in touch with H2K’s tank, Kresnik, to find out more about this team that was previously under the radar, but will now be representing a large organisation with a wealth of fans.
Hello Kresnik, thanks for taking the time to talk to overgg. I'm aware of your team more than most I think, as I recognise some names from the TF2 Highlander team Kids Next Door, which you used the name of for your Overwatch team. How did the team form and take shape?
Well, initially, we were much more TF2 centric then we are at the moment. Initially, m4risa got a group of TF2HL players together to compete in OW on release (we tried to do beta, but I'm the only one who got in CBP1), and that initial group ended up either not liking the game or wanting to stick to TF2 aside from me and m4risa.
I spoke to Deaft, who was an up and coming Spy player at the time of OW's release, and he had a team with openings for us with players from various backgrounds. People stepped back or left due to various reasons from this new group and we were left with the six we have now, with LoL, Tribes, TF2, and OWCB backgrounds.
I'm actually the only member from Kids Next Door that was still on the roster, our coach just liked the name when I brought it up!
During the evolution of your team did you find yourselves becoming more and more serious? What was that process like?
I'd say so, yeah. We got players that had more focused attitudes and had more time to spend practicing. We upped scrims, watched tournaments, reviewed maps, and started kicking everything into high gear once the dust was settled roster-wise.
Who or what is the driving force behind the team in terms of motivating you to improve in Overwatch?
What's pushing us all forward is the drive to improve and be the best. We want to succeed for ourselves, and to properly represent H2K (since they've been nothing but amazing to us so far). In terms of focusing our improvement in game, Graham, our support flex, is really good at keeping everyone on the ball with consistent calls and quick thinking. Out of game, Jesse, our coach, and Debbie, our manager, are both all over us with ideas, keeping us on track, and encouragement.
What kind of differences have your team members seen when trying to improve in Overwatch compared to your previous titles?
I can't speak for the rest of my team, but going from Highlander to this in terms of practice is night and day. KND's first season of UGC Platinum (Season 14) was maybe 6 hours of scrims a week, if I remember correctly. One hour to do map reviews with it. Plus, that wasn't for anything but liking the game and wanting to win.
Now with H2K, we're aiming for 4-6 hours of scrims daily, along with ranked play and strat discussions around it, and winning or losing games in tournament has a lot more on the line than a lower number on an in-game medal. So I'd say it's a pretty different environment, for me at least.
I was always one of the more dedicated players on KND TF2 in the early days, so it hasn't been that hard for me to adapt so far. Basically the time I would've spent pubbing in TF2 is all scrimming or ranked in OW. I haven't had much fatigue in the last month so far and I don't see it starting any time soon!
What have been the most notable improvements for your team as you've progressed?
It's not something you can tell from the outside, but our communication has been getting a ton better as we're syncing up more and more plays. In terms of clear info flowing back and forth between everyone, and less vocal people being more vocal, comms have improved a ton.
Other than that, it's been more minor stuff like being tighter as a unit on pushes, timings, etc. Those are the things that have improved the most as we've scrimmed more and more.
How did you start to form a relationship with H2K?
The team that me and m4risa joined into had already been talking to H2K through relationships from previous games. We met with them and they watched us play, and they liked the attitudes and personalities on the roster, along with what they saw from our gameplay.
It wasn’t people who had played for H2K, just people they had known through running tournaments and various other projects.
What are your goals for the team, both long-term and the more immediate ones? Have H2K expressed any indication of where they’d like you to be in the near future?
Both us and H2K are aiming for success, and we both hope to bring the name around the top of the rankings in time. Even though there's a ton of talent in the game, we think we have what it takes with dedication and skill to get there.
Our short term goals are to play in and/or qualify for as many tournaments as possible. Get more practice, get better, get our name out there to get better scrim partners. And lately we've been going back in forth in scrims with teams like sodipop and selfless.
In terms of who we want to overcome, I'd say we're aiming to be the best, even if it's a lofty goal. Realistically, we want to get to top five and push to improve further from there.
When our readers are watching you in tournaments, who should they be keeping an eye on in your team?
I'd say Fire and m4risa (our DPS') are the highlight for people watching tournaments. They have solid hero pools and both pull out ridiculous shots when it's needed.
Fareoh [the flex] always does manage to impress me with all the stuff he can play, so I'm definitely glad he's in the role he's in.
Have all of your players committed to Overwatch full time now that you have support from H2K?
The only people who didn't have the time to go full time right out of the gate were me and m4risa, but yeah, we were both able to leave our jobs and shift our focus full time to the game.
One final question for you Kresnik. Did being a heavy main in TF2 prepare you for a main tank spot in Overwatch? Seems you can never catch a break!
I'm not sure, it's a very different role from how heavy was at the end of the meta I played in.
Heavy by the end was all about dodging damage and forcing split focuses, while mainTanking is all about taking or blocking the damage, headlining fights.
You still end up protecting your core in both, but the mindset I have to bring is different from how I used to play Heavy
Thank you for talking to me, we’ll be keeping an eye out for the new H2K roster. Any final words? And are Fareoh and Graham brothers?!
Yes! Fareoh is also an EDM producer. I’ll say I'm super grateful for all the help H2K has offered us. We're aiming high and putting in as much effort as we can to get there.
I'll shout out to Jesse + Debbie for helping us all stay on track, and shoutouts to Chris and Harris from H2K for being awesome to us so far.
The roster for H2K is:
- Asa "Fire" Swan (dps)
- Marisa "m4risa" Tachau (dps)
- Ian "Fareoh" Spurrier (flex)
- Bobby "Kresnik" Wiemer (tank)
- Graham "Graham" Spurrier (support)
- James "Esper" Southall (support)
- Jesse "Jsrhuntz" Rangi (coach)
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