It's time for another episode of Picked Over. Before you check out the best of the rest, make sure you’ve caught our feature content this week. We released another video interview with pro players, profiled some of the newer teams in NGE, and wrote an opinion piece about the recent decline of the European scene. Once that’s done, grab a drink, sit down somewhere quiet, and read on.

Picked Over is a recap of the best pieces of feature content from outside over.gg. Feature content is ramping up now that creators have slept off their Christmas food coma; we've picked out our favorite pieces this week from January 8th - 14th.

If you've skipped over some of the following pieces or just not happened to see them, we can personally recommend them to you. Make some time in your day for these beauties.

Nydra's Minutes: The FaZe question in the face of impending NGE ousting

GosuGamers - by Nydra

In the last few weeks, FaZe have gone from a 2nd place finish at MLG Vegas to being eliminated from NGE Winter Premiere and splitting with their team captain. What has been going wrong with FaZe and how did they get to this position?

Nydra breaks down some of the factors that led FaZe here in our only written feature this week.

FaZe Clan came into the group stage of NGE’s Winter Premiere as one of the teams fancied for a playoffs spot. The tournament notably lacked the two North American leaders in EnVyUs and Cloud9, who dropped out to participate in OGN APEX, which on paper removed the glass ceiling over FaZe’s heads when it came to the region’s top team in the tournament. Boasting star players such as Genji prodigy Shadowburn, Reinhardt expert FCTFCTN and top tier DPS and Roadhog player TwoEasy, and having recently beaten the likes of Cloud9 and Fnatic at MLG Vegas, FaZe were looking unstoppable within the Winter Premiere confines.

At the time of this article, FaZe are instead on the bottom of the table, staring impending relegation in the face alongside, Citizen7, who are yet to win a series at 0-5.

This sounds like an odd position for FaZe to be in, but performance inconsistency has almost become the team’s defining characteristic.

PEA vs ESL: Dirty Tricks And Divided Loyalties

Richard Lewis Show - by Richard Lewis

If you don’t follow CS:GO or wider esports news, you might be unaware of the context here. Two competing organisations attempting to strengthen their hold in the open tournament circuit have been at loggerheads after a completely failed attempt at exclusivity in North America.

Richard Lewis continues the PEA vs ESL/EPL/WESA saga by unveiling more of their disputes, as well as unveiling that PEA have reportedly been denied tournament licenses by Blizzard. It’s an incredible interesting topic that shows some of the challenges of running a truly open tournament circuit rather than one controlled by the developer.

EnVy Overwatch WINS MLG LAS VEGAS

Team EnVyUs YouTube

Now for something completely different! This light-hearted but long video is full of complete nonsense, but it’s very fun to peek behind the scenes at EnVyUs’ players and their journey to 1st place at MLG Vegas.

Since adding Mickie to the roster the team has embraced a culture of fun and lighthearted banter whilst slamming their opponents - I defy you to watch this video without falling in love with the team that everybody already respects.

Floating Healthbars in Overwatch Spectator Mode on PTR! Hooray!

By DoA

This isn’t so much a great piece of content as the only way I have to promote the fact that HEALTHBARS ARE COMING. As an avid spectator, analyst, and caster with a history of consulting on similar features in TF2, these changes excite me to no end.

DoA clearly shares my excitement and will be one of the people who benefits most from the update. I firmly believe that this will be a major upgrade to the ease of spectating Overwatch, and while there is still a long way to go to make Overwatch as easy as possible to watch, it’s going in the right direction.

Jason Lake's expanded thoughts on Overwatch League

Pause Please - by CyanEsports

Jason Lake, founder and CEO of compLexity, recently gave his thoughts on the Overwatch League announcement and how Blizzard are relaying information to organisations. He was critical of their reluctance to divulge key details and expanded on how that is affecting potential investors.

The reason this is in any way interesting - after all, we all know very little about the OWL - is because this criticism is coming from an esports organisation’s CEO, giving their perspective on how the parties mesh together. The reason I’m recommending this video rather than his original post on Facebook is because CyanEsports followed up, gathering more thoughts and answers, to give a slightly more in-depth look at Jason’s thoughts.