With XTRA Cup Live Finals happening last week along with APEX getting underway, Overwatch content is being pumped out at a rapid rate. We've seen some awesome content from Kirby, Jason Kaplan, RadoN, Elbion, and Karahol (more from him next week). Check the best of it out below!
META as FK Episode 2 with LiNkzr
By Kirby
Kirby unveils his second episode of 'META as FK' with a longer episode, blending an interview with Dignitas LiNkzr with his usual format of discussing patches, strategies, and compositions.
The two discuss the European scene and Dignitas' performance in the recent XTRA Cup, then spend half an hour going into detail on the new patch and how it has affected viable compositions. Great content to watch to hear pro thoughts on tanks vs. dive, Genji in compositions, Reaper and Roadhog, and more.
"Fixing" Lunatic-Hai: A Thought Experiment
Esports Heaven - By RadoN
RadoN runs us through some of the persistent issues with Lunatic-Hai, when considering them in the light of a contender for 'best team in the world'. Ignoring the recent roster changes bringing in Zunba and WhoRU, he looks in extreme depth at their former players and what could have been done.
This still holds a lot of relevancy now despite their changes, both as a reference point to see how they change with two new talents and the hero pools they unlock, and to see how the tactical underpinning of Lunatic-Hai adapts to a range of opponents.
In the last 4 months of 2016, Lunatic-Hai accumulated three second place and one top 8 finishes at offline events. With those, the squad stands out in most eyes as the clear choice for the receiver of the title 'best Korean Overwatch team of 2016'. In addition, half of the young men also finished first in the Overwatch World Cup.
Yet, despite all the achievements and being widely considered one of the elite teams in the world, Lunatic-Hai didn't seem likely to pick-up the gold at a big international event in the future, as they had some easily discernible weaknesses in their game.
They have attempted to address their problems with the recent additions of Zunba and Whoru and that will likely push the squad in a new direction with an eight player roster. The first has already proven himself as a top tier player and has been tested, but it is curious if the largely unknown Genji specialist will be able to perform at LANs.
Rather than addressing the recent additions, this article takes a look at the old roster, attempting to figure out if there were other possible solutions to the squad's silvery troubles, among the already established Korean talent. As with any problem, finding potential solutions begins by analyzing the situation.
The Triple Threat of Kongdoo Uncia
GAMURS - by Elbion
Elbion analyses how the addition of Butcher (or Butcherr if you want to be pedantic apparently!) has affected Kongdoo Uncia and opened up new doors for this strong Korean team.
He specifically looks at birdring on primary DPS, Panker with his excellent Reinhardt, and new addition on flex Butcher - a combination that Elbion describes as the 'triple threat' of Kongdoo Uncia.
Last season, if you asked what the best part of Kongdoo Uncia was, the answer would have been their teamplay and shotcalling. But as we saw last night in their Apex season two debut, their roster moves have opened up room for some serious star power.
Panker and Birdring were already making waves on their own last season. Now, with the addition of Butcherr from their sister team Panthera, the trio is already showing that individually they are each a force to be reckoned with; but together, they pose a threat to the established emperors of Overwatch.
EnVy Overwatch - Q&A - HarryHook
By Team EnVyUs
HarryHook, like a lot of EnVyUs, appears to be a very warm and genuine guy. This interview explores what it was like for Harry to become a salaried full-time professional; he talks about moving out from Spain and his family's thoughts on Harry going to North America, and how 2016 was working with EnVy the whole time.
ChrisTFer from the Chavs: "We haven't paid for this trip on our own.."
By Kirby
While the title hints at an upcoming acquisition for The Chavs, there are a wealth of other interesting topics hit upon during this interview with Kirby. As well as getting a feel for The Chavs and their opponents in Europe, he picks ChrisTFer's mind on some of the challenges facing European Overwatch players and teams, with a lack of tournaments and organisations compared to the North American and Korean scenes.
Kirby also did a similar interview with Dante from Movistar Riders at the same LAN, which is worth watch as well.
Overdrive Interviews - 2easy
Overdrive - by Jason Kaplan
TwoEasy was recently removed from his team, FaZe - the second time TwoEasy has been removed from a top team in Overwatch. While a lot of people immediately used this as an opportunity to apply a 'toxic' label, TwoEasy opens up a little in this interview and shows how the situation worked from his perspective.
It's a window into the mind of a player who has faced constant adversity whilst trying to become a top Overwatch pro, but has continued to invest more time and energy than most into building and growing both his teams and himself.