Those who have been following the South American Overwatch Circuit may have noticed within it a team with familiar faces on a roster playing under an unfamiliar name. That team is KARMA and that familiar roster is Team Argentina.
When we profiled Argentina back in July it was revealed that the players of the squad had left their previous teams to spend more time practicing together in preparation for the World Cup. With no commitments to other teams for any of the players, the opportunity presented itself for the roster to stay together. "After playing in the World Cup we noticed our current level was not far away from the global scene and we regretted that we only had one month to practice as a team for that event since we weren't a team before. So we decided to stick together to be ready for whatever challenge comes next," said Battletoad, support for KARMA.
Despite taking an early exit at the World Cup, Battletoad and his teammates saw signs of promise from each other in the competition that would lead to them sticking together to compete as a club team. "I think the main thing that punished us in worlds was not the level we had as players or team, but the limited strats we had and the inexperience some of our players had in those kind of offline events," he said. "Nervousness broke our team coordination and comms, right now we establish a lot of stuff in our comms and strats and we have had the chance to play a couple of tournaments to deal with nervousness, so I'm sure next time we will make it to the big stage."
In fact, KARMA has had nothing but success in those very same tournaments they are using to gain inexperience. "We haven't lost a single tournament [that we've competed in] since we came back [from the World Cup], not even in North American tournaments," Battletoad said.
One of those tournaments was The Overguard: Haste Overwatch $1k Series 3, where they beat a retooled Toronto Esports team in the Grand Final. According to Battletoad, the team played that tournament with ping between 180 and 200, forcing them out of their comfort zone in order to win. "We noticed in the qualifiers that we weren't going to win with our standard gameplay, so we decided to outsmart teams with strange compositions and weird positioning/decision making," he revealed.
In the short term, they plan to keep improving by playing in the South American Overwatch Circuit (which is currently only streaming in Spanish and Portuguese), as well as any free single day North American tournaments they are eligible to join. KARMA's long-term goals, however, are much more ambitious.
"Our goal is not in our region, we have high expectations on becoming a team that stands strong worldwide," Battletoad said. This goal does not come out of nowhere, as he also mentioned that Brasil Gaming House is the only team in their region that is competitive with them, and vice versa. That, on top of their performances against North American competition and in the World Cup, certainly gives the team promising prospects on achieving their goal. There is, however, one obstacle. "Right now [moving to North America/Europe] is impossible since KARMA is not a gaming brand. We are currently looking for a gaming brand that can finance [a North American/European move] since we find it very necessary to keep growing."
You can catch them in action this Tuesday, September 12th, facing off against Brazil’s Uprising E-sports in the SAOC semifinals. A win there will set the stage for an epic Grand Final showdown against their international rivals, Brasil Gaming House. For those unfamiliar with Team Argentina or needing a refresher, the roster of KARMA is:
- Nicolas "Klaus" Ferrari (DPS)
- Nicolas "leviataN" Brosio (DPS)
- Julian "BeastxZuken" Lauandos (Flex)
- Mariano "Nekta" Di Cicco (Tank)
- Alan "ddx" Salvati (Support)
- Carlos "Battletoad" Riccardi (Support)
- Miguel "Bassoid" Oro (Coach)
- Lautaro "RKT" Massara (Analyst)
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