This past morning, Kongdoo Uncia and RunAway defeated their western opponents in order to solidify their positions as just a few of the final eight teams at OGN's APEX Season 2. They're joined by fellow Korean giants such as Kongdoo Panthera and Lunatic Hai, newcomers like Meta-Athena, and only one team from back home- Team EnVyUs. It's natural to start to wonder if the difference between Korean Overwatch and North American Overwatch is truly such a large gap, with only Taimou and co. managing to consistently represent and stand with the best Korean teams. And while this may be the current situation, I believe that in time, and with more international competition, the strength of the North American scene will only grow in comparison to Korea.
Before season 2 started, Cloud 9 came into APEX vastly unprepared and frankly, unknowing of what was to come. Despite the pickup of talented player Gods, and a strong victory over CONBOX Spirit (albeit a weaker team), Cloud 9 was utterly demolished when they went up against Afreeca Freecs Blue. Interestingly, Afreeca Freecs Blue is truly a mediocre team- ArHan has become somewhat of a liability, and all their comps attempt to work around their last remaining 'talent', Recry. The reason they defeated C9, however, isn't due to possessing better individual skill; in fact, it's the complete opposite, because Surefour and Mendokusaii both are vastly talented players. In my opinion, the main reason AF.Blue won the series was due to their stronger work-ethic and intense preparation to take on C9. Possibly, this could be the Korean work-ethic for everything in their lifestyles; I'm half-Korean myself, and I know from family and visits that the way Koreans prepare for ANY type of competition is through determination and hard work. C9 seemed to lack this going in, and despite improving a massive amount to face off against Kongdoo Uncia, even with the loss, it showed how large the gap was between the level of seriousness that these teams take Overwatch as an eSport. This is in no way a jab at Cloud 9 or any American team, but the simple fact is that all the Korean teams worked and trained a lot, lot, harder for these matches.
This brings me back to North America. Currently, the scene is led by Immortals and Rogue, filled with mid-tier teams such as Liquid, Luminosity, Selfless, Hammers, and many more, patiently awaiting the return of APEX teams in order to heat up the competition. Something that I've noticed as of recent, based on the NGE Winter Premiere or the past few monthly melees, is that the North American teams possess the exact same problem as Cloud 9 and Fnatic did going into APEX, even if they're facing off against their own nationality.
Immortals looked like an unbelievably strong team, but yet last week, they lost in a BO5 to Luminosity, a team with various roster problems and a lack of coordination/discipline. The absence of strong work ethic in North America is what's hurting the scene in general, and why there is such a massive difference in quality between games at Carbon and games at APEX.
A solution to this, in my opinion, is for Blizzard and all the major sponsors out there (ESL, FaceIT, etc.) to facilitate much more international competition. For the first few tournaments, Korea will wreck everyone, but this is okay, because the more North American teams are exposed to the intensity of Korean teams, and the more they practice harder to defeat them (as was the case with C9 vs KDU), the scene in general will improve and just become more healthy. Monthly LAN events would allow for proper world rankings, and before you know it, I guarantee, you will see North American teams like Immortals, Fnatic, the new NRG, and maybe even Team Liquid climbing up the leaderboards. Because truly, in terms of pure mechanical skill and potential, there's not much of a difference between American and Korean players. Panker from KDU is very talented at Reinhardt, but there's only so much of a gap between him and FCTFCTN. Bunny is a phenomenal tracer, but at the same time, so is Sinatraa, he just hasn't been surrounded with the same opportunities to excel.
Korea currently beats North America in teamwork and coordination, but with proper work-ethic, training, and more consistent tournaments and international practice, NA teams that were once considered tier-3 will now rise to compete with the best. At least, that's my hope.
For now, we just have to wait and see. EnVyUs could very well be eliminated within a week, but they also could take the gold again. EnVyUs is the only North American team that seems to truly understand the level of coordination and discipline required to be the "best", which is why they've been making deep runs in playoffs at any event they've attended. Misfits, Cloud 9, and eUnited (who have decided to bootcamp in Korea), are beginning to understand these concepts. It's only a matter of time before this spreads to the rest of the promising, talented, and high-potential players and teams of the North American overwatch scene.
Thanks for reading.
-QuickCloud
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