I only started actively watching Overwatch around April, 2017 (towards the end of APEX season 2, TaKeOver 2, and so on), so I lack information about most of the players who have not played at pro level after April. Because of this, my assessment of the teams with many of these recently inactive players (like SF Shock and Boston) might be inaccurate. Hopefully, I will be able to make more sound assessment after the preseason.
-Top 2 closely contested between Seoul and London
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Seoul Dynasty
Addition of Muchkin, Fleta, and Wekeed should supplement the weakness of the team. Also, the Mercy nerf and the Ana buff should help ryujehong to come back to his prime form.
- London Spitfire
I am not sure how they are going to combine two very strong squads. I think the main strength of GC Busan came from the team synergy, and I am worried that the mix of squads will affect the team harmony. In the end, I think this team will only be slightly stronger than GC Busan (as I think Birdring and Rascal are stronger than Hooreg for most heroes). But who knows, maybe great coaching staffs will help the players to bring greater synergies together, in which case, I think they will take the top place.
-Top 3~4 closely contested between Dallas and New York
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Dallas Fuel
My concern with EFFECT was that he seemed to only play Tracer, but it seems like he is getting better with other heroes as well. Unless Taimou enters one of those periods that he gets tired of the game again, I think this team should be strong enough to take the third place.
- New York Excelsior
They have stellar DPS and tank line, but I am a little worried about their support. I was never impressed with Ark, and although I know JJoNak is a great Ana, but he has never played at pro level AFAIK. Also, JJoNak seems to play quite aggressively, which tends to work well in competitive, but at a pro level, aggressive supports often suffer from the opponents. If these issues can be dealt with, they might take the third place from Dallas Fuel and may even challenge Seoul and London.
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- Florida Mayhem
Their weakness has been shown in the grand final of contenders season 1, but I still believe they are one of the stronger teams in the league.
-Top 6~7 closely contested between Houston and Philadelphia
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Houston Outlaws
I think they have solid players all around. Although I think Muma is decent, I was never impressed with him to the degree that many people seem to be praising him at. Maybe he will prove me wrong and take the team to the higher spot.
- Philadelphia Fusion
Very decent roster from the name value, but I am concerned about the flexibility of the DPS. ShaDowBurn only showed his supremacy on Genji and Snillo only on Tracer. Yes, Carpe can play multiple heroes to somewhat compensate, but his form seems somewhat inconsistent. Also, tanks are decent, but could be better.
-Top 8~9 closely contested between SF Shock and LA Valiant
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San Francisco Shock
This is the team I am least sure about. I don’t really know how good iddqd, nomy, Super, sleepy, and Danteh are. So this is just my rough guess of where I think they would end up. I think LA Valiant could easily take their spot unless they truly live up to the hype.
- Los Angeles Valant
I think the current roster is a great improvement from the one in contenders. Few concerns still remain though. SoOn never looked great on anything but Tracer, and I haven’t seen Agilities being impressive on hit-scan. Also, the tanks and supports are good, but not as great as the top teams.
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Boston Uprising
I don’t really agree with Harsha’s comment about the Boston team being very weak. I think they will be almost as good as SF Shock and LA Valiant. This is assuming Snow is on par with supports of the other OWL teams since I do not know how good he is. Maybe he was talking about the team before Kalios was added? (as it seems like his addition was later than other players)
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Shanghai Dragons
This squad has decent talents all around, but I don’t think they are stronger than MY. If the whole MY roster was joining OWL, I would’ve predicted them to be around fifth~sixth strongest in the league, but this roster will still be competitive enough to challenge other teams in the league.
- Los Angeles Gladiators
I could be wrong as I did not watch much of Kungarna’s games, but I was not impressed with iReMix and Bischu when I did. I think the supports are good, but DPS seems to be lacking as well. I know people speak highly of Surefour, but I don’t think he is as good as the top talents. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they are bad. Tbh, I feel like Seoul, London, Dallas, and NY are going to form top 4 and rest of the teams are going to be at similar level, going up and down the chart based on their condition on the match day.
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