tourney realm aka "Overwatch Professional Region"

If you don't know what this is, you can read about it here in the context of APEX S2 https://dotesports.com/overwatch/ogn-overwatch-apex-played-on-old-patch-4986

Haven't been able to find any other threads about this but I had a few questions just out of curiosity:

• I heard that OPC and APEX are both on tourney patches - are they using the same "Region", and are any other tournaments using it? For example, is the Premier Series in China on it as well?

• I think OW Contenders isn't using this (for now?), but will OWL use this? What about World Cup (lol)?

• How does it work exactly? Since the article says that some teams can scrim on it, do you give your battletag to Blizzard and they give you access to it in your client?

• What version is it on exactly and when has it gotten updates? (Is this secret info or can pro players who have access to it give us a detailed rundown including dates of patches? xD)

Feel free to use this thread to discuss Blizzard's tourney patch system in general.

It was kind of needed.
Good job blizzard.

I believe they are using the same "region" in that they're both on the same patch and would be updated as one, like PTR. Contenders is online so I am not sure whether it's even possible to use Professional Region in that case.

Gotta imagine WC and OWL will run something similar, but WC used real LAN last year so I think OWL will as well if the resources are available or they make it easier.

It's currently on the Hanzo buff patch, pre-Roadhog nerfs. You can tell simply by watching the apex/opc games.

APEX also seems to be able to stall patches, while OPC is usually on latest patch during their League games.

Sounds like they might just provide accounts with access to the region to approve players/teams for scrims so I'm guessing it would be possible for future Contenders seasons to use this.

I have no clue what the actual logistics would be like but this is quite interesting.

I'll need to watch the VODs, but I'm sure that some weeks of APEX games they were running old patch and OPC games on the same day were on new patch.

I believe the tournament organizers are able to set which patch it should be on. For example, I remember APEX waited until the end of the group stages before releasing the Hanzo/Orisa buff patch. Not sure if they'll be patching to 1.12 after the QF decider match, though.