Very little is known about Team Argentina, one of the two teams from South America qualified for this year's Overwatch World Cup, and I say that as a proud member of the South American Overwatch scene.
Despite not being one of the teams competing in the ongoing community regional league, the South American Overwatch Circuit, rumour has it that this year's Argentina roster is one of the strongest teams in the region, reaching the level of teams like Brasil Gaming House and Keep Gaming.
Last year, Argentina was invited to the Overwatch World Cup Americas Qualifier, but despite winning against Peru, they failed to overcome their border-brothers from Team Chile, and ended up not qualifying for the main event in Anaheim.
This time they will be facing Team France, Team Denmark and Team Thailand in Shanghai. While they remain an unknown quantity, they still must enter Group B as underdogs. Argentina will have to shock and amaze the Overwatch world if they want to make playoffs.
We reached out to team captain, Battletoad, in the hopes of learning a bit more about our elusive hermanos.
Could you briefly introduce yourself and your teammates?
Battletoad: Starting with Klaus and I, we both started playing with Nocturns Gaming, and for about five months we won every single tournament, including three LAN tournaments. I'm known for good aim, mechanics and aggressive playstyle on Lucio, while Klaus is a very flexible DPS player with good aim, and smart individual decisions. We both stopped playing Overwatch for one season to play Paladins, and attend a major LAN event in Atlanta, but then returned to Overwatch by joining Kaos Latin Gamers. We both got invited to last year World Cup, but Klaus couldn't participate because he was too young.
ddx was known as the best Dota 2 player in Argentina, but decided to come to Overwatch. He learned the game very fast and started playing competitively during Season 3.
BeastxZuken, as known as Beast, is a known player in the shooting games community, such as GunZ and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive). He started playing Overwatch before ranked matches were live, and got himself at the top in the South America region, achieving first place Tank during Season 4, according to Overbuff. Before joining Argentina, he played for Hafnet e-Sports and Furious Gaming.
Nekta is Team Argentina's captain and in-game leader. He is known for once reaching first place as Reinhardt on Overbuff ranking and performing as tank for Hafnet e-Sports and Furious Gaming. He currently has one of the highest skill ratings in the region.
Last but not least, leviataN is a former Team Fortress 2 player and ex-teammate of Team Brazil players. Also one of the highest skill ratings, he is a deadly hitscan and projectile player. He previously played DPS for Hafnet e-Sports and Furious Gaming.
What is like playing competitive Overwatch in Argentina?
B: Leaving aside the fact that players in our country don't have much economic compensation for the time invested in playing the game professionally, I would say it is cool since you get to know cool people and travel a lot to play tournaments. Even so, my dream is to get to play outside the country (Europe, USA, Asia) or for a gaming brand that can fully support the time we are investing into this career and quite sure my team mates thinks the same.
What can you tell us about the team selection process like for Argentina?
B: The roster was decided by the Argentina Committee (Bassoid, RKT, Luria). They made all competitive players mix together and against and see which who was the best and where the best synergies lay.
How are you preparing for the group stage?
B: I can't give much details of our training but I can say even Illidan would be surprised how good prepared we are.
What do you think about your group? What are your expectations?
B: Our group is a very difficult one, as far as we know the full Rogue roster is playing for France and almost full Singularity roster for Denmark. Also Mickie from EnVyUs is joining Fireball to play for Thailand so we expecting a very competitive group stage, but we are still confident on making it to Blizzcon.
How do you feel about travelling to Shanghai?
B: Very excited about it! China has been my favorite country since I was a little kid and I've always dreamed on travelling there. So not only being able to play in the World Cup of the game I love the most, but the fact I get to play it in China is great joy for me.
Which team are you most excited to play against?
B: We want to face Team France (Rogue) the most since we have never had the chance to compare ourselves against any APEX level team in the past.
Which teams and players do you follow the most? Who inspires your game style?
B: We respect a lot of teams in the Overwatch scene, but we play our own style. We understand the metagame and we encourage to be creatives ourselves.
The Team Argentina World Cup roster is:
- Nicolas "Klaus" Ferrari (DPS)
- Nicolas "leviataN" Brosio (DPS)
- Julian "BeastxZuken" Lauandos (Flex)
- Mariano "Nekta" Di Cicco (Tank)
- Carlos "Battletoad" Riccardi (Support)
- Alan "ddx" Salvati (Support)