French organisation Owly Six, formerly known as Ozyria, has reached outside its own country's hexagonal borders to acquire a Russophone roster. Owly Six have kept one of their former players, Av3k, on the team and have moved Mendzel, to coach; the other five active players are from former top teams TORNADO.ROX and OW.QQ.
CIS players Txao, clozZ, and NLaaeR have joined from ex-ROX, while Polish players MATTH and Slepajstos have joined from the disbanded OW.QQ lineup.
The organisation has prior ties to these players and the Eastern European region in general. It used to house a team, run by French Quake and Shootmania legend Strenx, that included current players Av3k and Mendzel - the former of the two also a Quake and Shootmania pro in his own right. The team bootcamped extensively in Poland at the end of 2016 and has now completely shifted its focus to become a CIS and Polish roster.
Our Overwatch's team is already complete ! Please welcome @TxaoOW @NLaaeR @Av3kk @OWMendzel @slepajstos @matthow and @clozzlol pic.twitter.com/Ar0BUHhjuy
— Owly Six (@OwlySix) 22 March 2017
Of all of the potential teams from Russia or Eastern Europe, the most promising in recent months appeared to be OW.QQ. The Polish roster was making waves in European tier two circles, catching up to ex-ROX, Slav Squad, and other former strong teams. The region has produced many individual talents playing in top teams but has yet to form a six-man roster that can compete at the elite level.
Unlike OW.QQ who disbanded, ex-ROX have rebuilt their roster and are currently participating in the Overwatch PIT Championship. Engh has brought in COOLLER and cYpheR as a DPS duo, and the team are currently doing reasonably well at 1-2 in the tournament against top European competition.
Owly Six technically have more players from the original TORNADO.ROX roster than ex-ROX, weirdly, but have not yet had the opportunity to prove the talent of their team.
That roster for Owly Six is:
- Ilya "NLaaeR" Koppalov (DPS)
- Mateusz "MATTH" Prymas (DPS)
- Ilya "Txao" Makarov (Flex)
- Max "clozZ" Khurkunou (Tank)
- Maciej "Av3k" Krzykowski (Support)
- Adrian "Slepajstos" Pieper (Support)
- Konrad "Mendzel" Mendzelewski (Coach)