I would've agreed with you about Lunatic Hai prior to Fleta and Munchikin addition. But now, I think they are a lot more flexible. It was just their DPS that wasn't flexible, but Fleta can pretty much play anything, and Munchikin can play any hitscan really well. I didn't watch a lot of Munchikin's game before, so I will still have to see whether he can play like yesterday consistently. But if he can, I would probably pick Lunatic Hai as #1 team now.

Lunatic Hai > C9-Kongdoo, EnVyUs, LW Blue > GC Busan, Miraculous Youngster > RunAway, Gigantti, Misfits >= FaZe

This is how I think top 10 in the world is now. I excluded NRG because I think it's unfair to include a team which I have not seen a single match from.

It all depends on how you rate these teams and players, so I will try to put things in perspective.

Underrated team:

• C9 EU (>= FNRGFE, Rogue, 123)
  Yes, I know 123 4-0ed C9 EU, but I think that could be partly contributed to C9 EU not being in their best condition as they just found out that KDP will be replacing them in OWL. Also, mowzassa's aggressiveness works in their favor against weaker teams, but it often works against them when they are facing teams at similar or higher level. If they were just slightly more coordinated, they would've had better results.

• Gigantti (only if you still think Misfits is better, I think Gigantti >= Misfits)
  Currently I think Gigantti is at similar level with Misfits, but I think they have more versatility to adapt their comp if needed. So in the long run, I think Gigantti roaster will have better chance than Misfits.

• I thought about adding X6 here because I think they can be better than FNRGFE, Rogue, and 123. But TimeBoy is so inconsistent. BeBe and GILY are somewhat inconsistent as well. On their best day, they might even challenge RunAway, but because of their inconsistency, I wouldn't say they are underrated.

Overrated team:

• FaZe Clan (Gigantti, Misfits, RunAway >= FaZe)
  Many people might disagree with this, but I think FaZe is a bit overrated. Don't get me wrong. I still think they are great, which is why I consistently said that they should be picked up by an OWL team. But they have some obvious weaknesses. Carpe is a beast when he is in form, but he's a bit inconsistent. ShaDowBurn is one of the best Genjis in the world, but not at top level with anything else. SPREE and Rawkus is good, but I don't think they are one of the top 10 players on their role.

• Envision (Rogue > Envision = Immortals, Afreeca, MVP Space, ViCi Gaming, 1246)
  I think they got their surprise victory agaisnt Rogue because Rogue was complacent. Rogue didn't seem to be prepared for the match at all. Envision has decent players with decent coordination, but nothing spectacular.

• Rogue (ONLY if you think they are better than FNRGFE, I think FNRGFE >= Rogue > Envision = Immortals)
  Rogue has players who are one of the best at what they do well. But their narrow hero pool has limited their ability to overcome the situations when they are being countered.

Underrated player:

• Arhan (>=Fleta)
  He is better Genji and Tracer than Fleta, and he is at similar level on all other DPS heroes (except Pharah).

• YangX1aoLg (>=Sayaplayer, Carpe)
  He is one of the main reasons why MY is so successful. His current form on hitscan heroes are better than Saya and Carpe imo.

• GodsB (= Carpe)
  He is better than Carpe on hitscan, but not as good on Tracer. I think he is one of the best DPS on hitscan role.

• Profit (Logix => Profit > Snillo, Davin)
  His Tracer is almost as good as Logix

• Greyy (One of top 5 flex heals in the world)
• Shaz (One of top 10 flex heals in the world)
• Neko (One of top 5 Anas in the world)
• Bani (Definately good enough to be in an OWL team)

Overrated player:

• Bdosin
  He is the weak link in C9 Kongdoo. Everyone in C9-KD plays so aggresively and that is why C9-KD often completely destroys the teams that are weaker than them. But for the aggressive dive to work against similarly good teams, they need massive healing from their supports. But instead, Bdosin takes aggresive positions to get additional kills. If C9-KD has supports like chipshajen or Neko who focuses more on healing, C9-KD will undoubtely be one of the best teams in the OWL.

• Mowzassa
  He is a decent tank, but often does not know when to retreat. His aggressiveness more often paid off than not in Contenders level, but at higher level of play, I think he will often be a burden to a team.

Xepher is pretty weird addition. Anything Xepher can do, Zunba can do way better. In addition, Xepher has bad reputation in Korea by accusing Geguri as an aim hack user and swearing that he would quit pro if his accusation turns out to be false.

I wonder how the groups are drawn because it looks like Group A is pretty stacked compared to Group B.
I think ViCi, Envision, MVP, and Afreeca are the four strongest teams in the group stage, and three of them are in group A. Also, I think Blank and ahq are the weakest, and both of them are in Group B.

I'm not entirely sure how this will go because I do not know how good Chayne is. If he can play as well as numlocked, I think this will most likely be 2-0 by eV, possibly 2-1.

This match can really go either way imo. Yaki is good, but not top level. OneFact only really shined with Doomfist, and even for that, he didn't get to show whether he can still shine with the nerfed version. Undine and Fuze are great, but the tanks are average. We will see whether MVP Space still has what it takes to be one of the strongest in APEX next season

Should be updated to RX Foxes

https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/75gpqw/nc_foxes_changes_their_name_to_rx_foxes/

I agree. I think GC Busan, Gigantti, and Miraculous Youngster are the teams that are strong enough to compete in the OWL. FaZe is also pretty strong but needs some new members to fill in their weakness to compete with the top teams. RunAway, X6, Afreeca, Rogue, C9-EU, and 123 would be great starting place to build a team around.

Realistically speaking though, I don't think GC Busan will be picked up because their prowess was only recently shown, and I think most of the teams are finishing up their roasters now. If GC Busan can continue to show their strength in the next season of APEX, I certainly hope to see them getting picked up. If somebody can buy Busan spot and sign GC Busan? That would just be amazing.

For Gigantti, Miraculous Younster, and FaZe, I would be confused if most of them are not already picked up. For Rogue, C9-EU, and 123, I hope to see most of them picked up as well. For other Korean teams though, I don't think it is likely to see a lot of them, probably just a few star players.

I still cannot believe this happened. How? I felt like everyone on C9-KD was top class (maybe except Bdosin). I really hope we get to see GC Busan in the OWL. If we don't get to see them in Season 1, I hope someone buy Busan spot and sign GC Busan. That would be really awesome. I wasn't convinced by GC Busan defeating LH twice, but this match really showed me that GC Busan is actually crazy good.

Semi-Final

C9 Kongdoo 4 : 1 GC Busan

RunAway 4 : 2 NC Foxes

Bronze Final

GC Busan 4 : 1 NC Foxes

Grand Final

C9 Kongdoo 4 : 2 RunAway

4-1 or 4-2 by C9-Kongdoo

Although everyone on GC Busan is really good, I think C9-Kongdoo is better. As long as they start with typical starting line-up (Birdring,Rascal,Fissure,Void,Wakawaka,Bdosin), Kongdoo will take the match.

Which is exactly why I hoped LH to pick up Libero. But it seems like NY is the one who got him. I don't know what NY will do once Flow3r joins in March. They have four top DPS (SBB, Flow3r, Libero, and Pine). Libero can flex tank, but MekO is quite good, so I doubt they would use Libero for that. Pine can flex heal as well, but then again, JJonak is really good.

I think coach of GC Busan deserves as much praise as the players. I think the main reason GC Busan was able to play so well against LH both games was because they knew exactly how to take advantage of LH's weakness.
We all know LH's DPS isn't the best, and that has been the problem LH suffered with. But in the match against X6, LH showed that they can somewhat overcome it by letting the DPS to play what they are best at (Whoru on Genji and Gido on Tracer). However, GC Busan was well-prepared to counter that by playing Soldier/Tracer. When LH rushed in, Hooreg placed biotic field, and GC Busan just fought on it. When Whoru changed to Junkrat, GC Busan played Pharah to counter that.

But because of this exact reason, I do not see GC Busan defeating C9-Kongdoo. Birdring/Rascal have giant hero pool and good at pretty much any DPS heroes. Because of this flexibility, it's very difficult to find any obvious weakness of them. I think this is similar reason why GC Busan had harder time with RunAway. RunAway is way more flexible team than LH.

LH needs to get top level hit scan player if they don't want to face the same difficulty again in the OWL.

I would say he was regarded as one of the best, possibly the best, hitscan in season 2 of APEX. But he has been inconsistent after that. Now I would say there are handful of DPS that are better than him (Birdring, Flow3r, GodsB, and possibly Recry even when only the hitscan heroes are considered). Also, Saya was never considered to be a top level on Tracer, which is also a big disadvantage.

It's weird this is not on over.gg yet, but OGN has announced last week that super match between top tier Korean teams and Chinese team will take place in October 15th (2PM, KST).
Originally, Miraculous Youngster and LGD were invited, but LGD has declined the invitation. So Lucky Future will replace LGD.

Lunatic Hai vs. Miraculous Youngster

AND

C9 - Kongdoo vs. Lucky Future

Final between the winners will follow it seems. I was so disappointed to not see top tier Korean teams in this year's APAC, but I guess we will see at least few matches of them against top Chinese teams.

Sources:
http://program.tving.com/ogn/supermatch/2/Board/View
https://twitter.com/RallyJaffa/status/911185000984322048

Actually, Arhan has one of the largest hero pool. He can play almost any DPS heroes pretty well and has played them in tournaments. That being said, he mainly played Genji (and Tracer) because Genji (and Tracer) has been essential part of the dive comp, and he is so good at it. On the other hand, although Recry plays most of the hitscan heroes very well (and even some projectiles like Pharah), his Genji and Tracer are not at the top level. I think this is part of why Afreeca was so successful in season 3 when Soldier/Tracer comp became more prevalent.

Finally! Libero really deserved to be in a better team. It's unfortunate that Saya did not get to join OWL team though. Saya has not been as consistent as Libero recently, and that's probably why he did not get good offers. Out of Korean DPS players not currently in OWL teams, Arhan, Haksal, Stitch, and GodsB has shown better performance than Saya recently. Haksal is still not of age yet, but I hope the other players get picked up. Recry and Saya are also good options, and I would like to see them picked up as well, but I guess that is less likely.

I really hope Libero joins Team Seoul along with Fleta, but rumors suggest that he will be heading to Team New York to fill in for Flow3r's spot as he won't be able to play until March due to his age.

So these are rumored Korean players to be picked up by OWL teams:

Team Seoul

• Fleta
  Wekeed

Team New York

• Libero

Team Boston

• Gamsu

Team London

• Nus
  Fury

I would be disappointed if Wekeed is the one Team Seoul picks up. He is good, but I wouldn't consider him as one of the top DPS players in Korea. If it is true, it seems like Seoul only picked up players from the teams with unclear future. Maybe they spent so much for buying Lunatic Hai already?

• Favorite team?
  Lunatic Hai

• Favorite players?
  Tobi is just so gooood
  ryujehong for his incredible skill and charisma
  Saebyeolbe for his personality and skill (when he is in form)
  Runner for his team spirit, selflessness, humbleness, and mental strength
  Libero for being such a talented player who can easily learn to play different heroes
  Rascal for his eagerness to win
  Birdring for his skills and consistency

• Favorite matches?
  Meta Athena vs. Kongdoo Panthera - APEX Season 2, Upper Bracket Final
  RunAway vs. Lunatic Hai - APEX Season 2, Grand Final
  Lunatic Hai vs. Kongdoo Panthera - APEX Season 3, Grand Final

• OW Hero mains?
  Lucio, Zenyatta, Mercy, Reaper, Junkrat

• Favorite movie?
  Sunflower (Haebaragi, 2006)
  The Dark Knight (2008)
  Interstellar (2014)

• Favorite food?
  Asian noodles (Korean cold noodle, aka NengMyun, Black bean noodle, Pad Thai, Pad See-Ew, Japanese Ramen), Sushi, and Bahn Mi

• Favorite over.gg member?
  KuroiRyuu9625
  Admirable
  Pixelfish
  poi98
  Many others who keep this community alive and healthy

How did I miss this thread!? This is very interesting as I think there are plenty of Korean DPS players above him. I don't think this is for viewership as I think signing any top Korean players will attract similar, if not more, Korean viewers. He must've improved a lot or something.

Also, Runner just posted this on his twitter:
https://twitter.com/Runner_Runaway/status/912927726876598272
I don't think this means much, but I will be really happy if they can find someone to pick them up as a whole.

I think their DPS have been under-performing, especially uNdeAD. Jkap and Hex talked about uNdeAD having a wrist problem recently, and maybe that has something to do with his performance.

Yeah, it seems too harsh for me that it'll cost you the spot in APAC if you slip for one match. I would've preferred for them to give the first and second place automatic qualification, and qualification points for the rest. Maybe like 2 times more points than the Summer league to emphasize the importance of the Grand Finals? 200/100/50 points for thrid, forth and 5-6th, respectively.

Anyways, MY will probably win this as well. And I think VG, LGD, and 1246 will qualify for APAC.
With how shaky LGD has been recently and how strong MT1 looked with Unturned playing, MT1 might bring an upset. It will be really weird to see LGD not qualify for APAC if that ever happens.

But the article also says that they are not building an all star roaster by bringing in star players one by one. So maybe they are building from a chunk of 123? I would like to see snillo, Tonic, and bock1 in it if that is the case. But from what comments are saying about bock1, I guess it is not likely to see bock1 being part of the team.

Don't they both play Tracer mostly though? I feel like Finnsi flexing to Soldier and Haffi flexing to Genji has worked pretty good since snillo is doing so well on Tracer. I would prefer getting another really good hitscan and/or projectile DPS than another Tracer player.

Yeah, I think something like double-round robin as seen in round of 8 of APEX makes the most sense. Something like BEAT invitational seems a little drawn out imo. I'm not exactly sure why I feel this way though because it seems like it only ends up with 1 or 2 extra matches compared to APEX format in the end. Maybe because there are so many matches of the lost teams?
I feel like APEX format makes sure at least top two from each group gets to go to the semi, and Bo7 instead of Bo5 for Semi-final and Final minimizes the chances of luck playing a part in winning by favoring the team that took the closely contested maps. Also, longer matches for the favorites are more exciting to see.

KR
DPS: Birdring
DPS: Flow3r
Flex Tank: Zunba
Tank: Miro
Flex Support: ryujehong
Support: Tobi

-I think this is the easiest one to pick. I might pick Rascal instead of Flow3r if it is for something like OW World Cup that needs good teamwork within short amount of time.

NA
DPS: Taimou
DPS: EFFECT
Flex Tank: coolmatt69
Tank: FCTFCTN
Flex Support: chipshajen
Support: Harryhook

-Although I think aKm might have the best aim in NA (maybe worldwide), Taimou has better understanding of the game overall (position, hero pool, which hero and tactic to play when, etc.). And I think EFFECT matches best with Taimou as DPS duo. Sinatraa might also be a good choice instead of EFFECT.

EU
DPS: TviQ
DPS: LiNkzr
Flex Tank: Manneten
Tank: ChrisTFer
Flex Support: Boombox
Support: neptuNo

-Tonic and fragi are also good, and SPACE and Smex are good for flex tank position as well. I think Greyy could be better than Boombox atm, but Boombox is probably better when he is in proper form.

CN
DPS: YangX1aoLg
DPS: Jason
Flex Tank: Lateyoung
Tank: guxue
Flex Support: Shy
Support: creed

-uNdeAD and Eileen dps duo is also very good, but their problem is that neither of the two are great on Tracer. I think YangX1ao and Jason complements each other better on their hero pool. Zhufanjun is pretty much at the same level as Shy on flex support role.

I am wondering about the same question actually. I think it would be fair only if other teams are allowed to swap players too. I mean June was too early to tell which players would be the strongest in November. For example, China would be much stronger with Lateyoung and creed instead of mg and 5King.

Well, I think they are still very good team and might be good enough to be picked up as a whole, which is why I included most of them on this list. But I think they need better tanks. Also, addition of one more excellent DPS player to increase their hero pool would be great. So maybe mixing Rogue and GamersOrigin roaster as spiderlily suggested above?

I am eager to see how OWL pan out. I really want the league to have the best possible players, so we can enjoy the highest level of games. But with so many talents available and the scene changing so rapidly, some of the players might easily be overlooked. So I wanted to bring this discussion on table, so we can bring some spotlight to the players who shouldn't be overlooked.
I have excluded anyone in Lunatic Hai, LW Blue, C9 Kongdoo, EnVyUs, Misfits, NRG, and Immortals, as those teams are pretty much confirmed at this point.

Team that should be picked up:
FaZe Clan

Players that should be picked up:
DPS
Libero (MetaAthena, KR) - Really good Genji, Pharah, Doomfist, D.Va, Mei, Hanzo, and decent Tracer, Soldier, McCree
LiNkzr (Gigantti, FIN) - Really good hitscan and decent Genji
uNdeAD (LGD, CHN) - Really good hitscan
Arhan (Afreeca, KR) - Top Genji, good Tracer and projectiles, and decent hitscan.
aKm (Rogue, FR) - Top hitscan,
SoOn (Rogue, FR) - Top Tracer
Leaf (GamersOrigin, FR) - Top Doomfist, good Genji
leave (MiraculousYongster, CHN) - Good Tracer and hitscan, and decent Genji and Doomfist
Jason (ViCi, CHN) - Good Genji, Pharah, Doomfist
snillo (123, SWE) - Top Tracer, and decent hitscan
Davin (Gigantti, FIN) - Very good Tracer
Eileen (LGD, CHN) - Very good projectile and Sombra
Sayaplayer (MetaAthena, KR) - Very good hitscan and Tracer
Hqrdest (GamersOrigin, FR) - Very good hitscan and decent Tracer
Kruise (eUnited, UK) - Very good Genji
Fleta (FlashLux, KR) - Good all-round player, especially Pharah, Genji, McCree, and Tracer. Good on Soldier, Doomfist, Widow, Zarya, Hog, and Ana as well.
GodsB (X6, KR) - Very good hitscan and decent Doomfist and Pharah
Recry (Afreeca, KR) - Very good hitscan
Stitch (RunAway, KR) - Top Tracer
Babybay (Kungarna, USA) - Good hitscan
Mistakes (Former 123, RUS) - Very good Tracer
buds (FNRGFE, USA) - Good Soldier, Pharah, Junkrat
Profit (GC Busan, KR) - Very good Tracer and decent hitscan
Nenne (LW Red, KR) - Very good Tracer and decent hitscan
Jaru (EnVision, USA) - Very good Doomfist and good Genji

Tank
ChrisTFer (Singularity, UK)
fragi (Gigantti, FIN)
Tonic (123, RUS)
Gamsu (Former CONBOX, KR)
YaoYao (OMG, CHN)
guxue (LGD, CHN)

Sub-Tank
Donghyun (Afreeca, KR)
coolmatt69 (FNRGFE, USA)
Lateyoung (MiraculousYongster, CHN)
ChoiHyoBin (X6, KR)
WOOHYAL (GC Busan, KR)
Kalios (Afreeca, KR)
Smex (Singularity, UK)

Heal
Fuze (MVP, KR)
creed (MiraculousYongster, CHN)
BBcat (1246, CHN)
neptuNo (C9EU, SPN)
Closer (GC Busan, KR)

Sub-Heal
Boombox (eUnited, UK)
Undine (MVP, KR)
Greyy (C9 EU, POR)
uNKOE (Rogue, FR)
Shy (LGD, CHN)
Neko (NC Foxes, KR)
KoX (RunAway, KR)
zhufanjun (MiraculousYongster, CHN)
Shaz (Gigantti, FIN)
Bani (FNRGFE, CAN)
Bock1 (123, SWE)
Dogman (Kungarna, USA)

It's unfortunate that I cannot include Whoru and Haksal on this list because they are only 16. Also, if dafran were to ever come back (which I doubt he will), he would be a great pick as well.

Yeah, if this is true, this is a great news. If they can bring Libero or any great Tracer player (Stitch, Profit, Nenne, Bunny), I would be really happy.

Well, EnVy doesn't have anyone who is particularly good on projectile DPS, so I guess it makes sense for them to bring in a player known for projectile. Le'ts see how Seagull will play as we haven't seen him in pro scene in awhile.

I think LGD's main fire power in the past was their DPS duo dominating over the others. But it seems like DPS duo of the other teams, especially MY and VG, have caught up to LGD's. Leave/Yangx1aoLg and Diya/Jason looking really strong and versatile! Unturned/Krystal duo from MT1 also looks pretty strong as well.
I guess if Team Shanghai were to build the strongest team possible, they really need to pool the talents from many teams instead of just signing LGD like many have been thinking prior to this season.

uNdeAD - LGD
Eileen - LGD
leave - MY
Jason - VG
Unturned - MT1
YaoYao - OMG
guxue - LGD
Lateyoung - MY
mg - LGD
creed - MY
BBcat - 1246
Shy - LGD
zhufanjun - MY

These are the strongest players in China at the moment imo, and I would love to see them getting into the Team Shanghai. List has 13 players, which is more than the maximum players allowed, but I couldn't choose a player to take out.

Was actually really fun match to watch! Unturned bringing hog back into current meta! All kinds of different heroes were played: Hog, Mei, Hanzo, Reaper, and even Bastion! Pretty much everything except Torb, Orrissa, and Symm were played in this match. This match was actually much closer than what the scoreline might suggest. With how shaky LGD has looked against VG today, LGD might lose to MT1 and not even get the third place!

Really? Why? I think they are solid top 3 in China?

For sure.
Libero/Saya would be awesome. Arhan or Fleta instead of Saya might also be great. I feel like Libero/Arhan or Libero/Fleta allows more flexibility. Or Libero with any great Tracer player might also work since Libero is not that great on Tracer imo. I mean he is good on Tracer as well, just not as good as top Tracers like Stitch, Nenne, Profit, and Bunny.
Personally, I really hope to see Libero and Fleta getting picked up by Team Seoul.

As a Lunatic Hai fan, it's not too difficult for me to pick a team to cheer for. But if they do not pick up top-tier DPS to fill in their weakness, I might look for another team.
If majority of RunAway gets picked up by any team, I would probably root for them, but I don't think that is likely to happen, at least not for the season 1.

To answer your question, I'm closer to #2 rooting for a certain player(s) and whatever team they land on

Yeah, I just saw that too. I feel like that was unavoidable since I could not see any possible way of mixing up two roasters as I said above, and I think the C9 EU roaster is too good to stay as sub. I feel bad for C9 EU players for having to look for another team, but I am sure most of them (especially NeptuNo, Mowzassa, and Greyy) will find another OWL team to join.

I figured this will happen eventually as I could not see how they would fit the existing roaster with KDP. I guess they have been trying hard to come up with a strong roaster by pooling great EU/NA talents but were not impressed with the results they have been seeing on the contenders. And when the opportunity came to sign the KDP, they probably felt like that was easier and sure way of having a very strong roaster.
I think releasing the pre-existing players is better for them than holding onto them as I'm sure most of them will be picked up by other OWL teams (neptuNo, Greyy, and mowzassa at the very least, and probably Nevix, MickeyA, and SPACE as well). I am sure the players feel really bad having to look for other teams when they thought they were already in an OWL team though.

I agree Mowzassa is one of the best tanks, but I think Fissure is better at this point. Fissure was already a really good tank, but it seems like he has improved yet again this season.
Also, I feel like Wakawaka is not getting enough praises he deserves. He hardly ever gets picked even when the opponent DPS flanks specifically to target him. Also, he's so good at putting in damages as he has good aims by playing DPS in the past. KDP wouldn't be able to play so aggressively if he hadn't stayed alive all the time to constantly heal up the team.
Bdosin, on the other hand, is slightly overrated imo. He comes up with a lot of flashy plays as Zenyatta by playing aggressively, but by doing so, he gets exposed to dangerous situations often. I think as a support player, it is more important to avoid getting picked than getting picks, especially when you are in a team like KDP where everybody plays so aggressively. With such play style, everybody will fall once the supports fall. So I think Greyy is probably better support than Bdosin unless he changes up his style.
However, as a team, I am not sure mixing up the roasters will necessarily work out better for them since communication between the supports and the rest of the team is so important. Because of this, I am not quite sure whether C9 was the best place for KDP to land when C9 already has a decent roaster.

Really, C9? With so many unsigned talents in EU, I thought Team London would be the best place to pool all those EU talents. I wonder what C9 is going to do with all of the players in the team. There were speculations that C9 is going to run two full roasters, but I don't think that would be really necessary when you have KDP as your roaster. Also, I don't think mixing up the roasters is a good idea since KDP has strength in all of the roles. Greyy might be better than Bdosin imo, but I still think KDP will be stronger as a team by staying with full Korean roaster. Are they just holding onto all of the players so other teams won't be able to sign these talented players? I hope not.

I do not think GC Busan is a better team than LH either. But I think there is a clear difference between MVP's victory and GC Busan's. MVP was able to take the win because they were the first team with a great Doomfist in Korea, and Lunatic Hai did not know how to deal with it. Now with the nerf of Doomfist and teams learning to deal with it, I do not think MVP is as scary as they once seemed. Also, Lunatic Hai's DPS were performing very poorly that day.
However, GC Busan was able to defeat LH using a standard comp, and they did it in much more convincing fashion (3-0 compared to 3-2 by MVP). I do not think Lunatic Hai ever lost without taking a map after their loss in season 1 against KDU. Lunatic Hai usually learns to play against the opponent by the third map and pull out reverse sweep. It seemed like that was happening again today once Esca was subbed in, but GC Busan was able to even overcome that. For this reason, I do not think GC Busan's victory today should be taken lightly.
That being said, I still think Lunatic Hai is a stronger team than GC Busan. Although I think today's match is a good indication that GC Busan is becoming a strong threat to even the top tier teams, I do not think they will be able to pull out today's performance every time. If they can do this again in the next match against RunAway and again in semi-final, I might change my mind, but I'm not convinced to that degree yet. Also, ryujehong's performance was not at his best. It was partly due to Woohyal eating up all of his heals and skills, but even his Zenyatta was off today. Once he is back in his normal condition, LH will look stronger than they did today.

I think this match totally depends on players' condition on the match day. If RunAway can play as well as they did against MVP Space, they will probably take the win. But even if RunAway can perform at that level, GC Busan is more than capable of winning the match if they can be as good as they were against Lunatic Hai today.
All things considered, I think GC Busan has higher chance of winning the match. It seems like GC Busan has learned to play together as their focusing and team coordination was just excellent today against Lunatic Hai.

I don't think many people will consider GC Busan as weaker team than X6 anymore. It is true that LH did very poorly in Oasis, but we already know the control maps are LH's weak point. In King's row and Volkskaya, Lunatic Hai actually did fine. It's just GC Busan did extremely well to overcome LH's performance.
But I have to admit that LH's DPS players are very inconsistent. LTJ and whoru did really well against RunAway, but they were both poor today against GC Busan. Although Esca looked to be the strongest DPS player in Lunatic Hai today, he often fails to perform as well.
I still think Lunatic Hai has much better chance of taking the win here unless all of the DPS players play really poorly.

Okay. Up to this point, I thought LH might still be able to dominate OWL without any changes in the team. I know their DPS is weaker than other top tier teams, but I felt like their tank and support lines were so good to be able to compensate for that. But it seems like both in the Western scene and in Korea, teams are getting much stronger, and players are learning to play together as a team.
Today, LH's DPS was far below GC Busan's the entire game, and even support plays were not that great. Most notably, ryujehong was really poor today. I mean, it was well-known that his Mercy isn't great, so there was no surprise there. But today, his timing of transcendence was just unacceptable many times, and as Ana he could not hit any impactful sleep dart or biotic grenade, which is so unusual for him. Woohyal's D.Va just ate everything ryujehong was throwing.
I know Lunatic Hai is a slow starter, and it is not so uncommon for them to lose maps (sometimes even matches) to underdogs, but today's game was different from those other upsets. Even after Lunatic Hai changed things up to bring up their tempo again, GC Busan found the way to break LH down. If GC Busan can perform as good as they did today, I do not think Lunatic Hai will be able to defeat them even if they get to play again in later stages.
Lunatic Hai NEEDS top-tier DPS players. There is no question about that now.

Conbox looked stronger than I thought, but I guess it might be because of Birdring trying Junkrat in the beginning. Once he switched back to Tracer, he looked like a monster again. Many teams seem to be trying to utilize Junkrat since the patch, but so far, only Nosmite seems strong enough on it.

KDP 3:0 Conbox

X6 1:3 RunAway

LWR 3:1 NCF

LH 3:1 GCB

1) Toronto, Canada
Toronto is one of the big e-sport cities. As there are many good Canadian players but no Canadian cities in the OWL, I think Toronto will be a great addition. It's in NA, so it would be easier to participate in the league than other cities outside the NA.

2) Hong Kong, China
China has many talented players, but unlike Korea, I think it is less likely to see the Chinese players outside China. China is currently putting a lot of money into all kinds of sports including e-sports, so I think adding another city is China will be good in financial stand point as well. However, Chinese government sets a lot of strict regulation on how things are run, which is what discouraged Kevin Chou from picking a Chinese city according to a recent interview. Hong Kong has a great advantage in that aspect, as it is the only city that is free from most of Chinese regulation, yet it is still located in China. Also, Hong Kong has a team participating in the Pacific Championship as well, so I think Hong Kong can serve as a city to pool great talents from the OWPS and OPC.

3) Paris, France
There are many great French players, like the ones in Rogue and GamersOrigin, and Paris would be a great location for them to represent.

4) Stockholm, Sweden
Sweden is big in e-sport and definitely deserve a OWL spot. It's close to other European countries with great talents like Finland, Norway, and Poland, so a team based in Stockholm would be good to pool these talents (for example, 123 and Gigantti).

5) Cologne, Germany
As many people already mentioned, Cologne is one of the biggest cities in e-sport. As there are many great German talents and also from the countries nearby (Netherlands, Belgium, etc.), I think Cologne will be a great location.

I think Afreeca Freecs + RunAway roaster with Runner as a coach would form a great OWL team.
The main reason Afreeca Freecs failed this season was due to lack of a good main tank. They were one of the strongest teams on APEX with Mano. It seems like all of the weak points are filled by merging the two. Also, having a Runner as a coach who works so hard to support the team would be a huge plus to the team.

I think it's probably because it would be much harder to travel around for home and away matches if they are located outside the U.S. Although the first season is set to take place in LA, it is likely to change. I don't think anyone knows exactly how it will be changed, but it seems like Blizzard is aiming to do home and away matches around the cities, which I think is crazy with the cities located all around the world. Perhaps, that is why not many groups outside U.S. are showing interest in securing a spot in the OWL.

Important match for both of the teams. Rogue needs to win to have any chance to make into the playoff as I do not think they will be able to beat EnVyUs. If Kungarna wins here, they will have a good chance of making into the playoff. If not, they will have to beat Immortals--which I think could be difficult if Immortals is in their best condition-- and have better map score than FNRGFE and Rogue.
I think Rogue will win here as Kungarna usually run similar comp as Rogue, and Rogue is the one that usually excels in that particular comp. I predict Rogue win with 3-1.

For FNRGFE, a win here will allow them to get ahead of Kungarna and Rogue on the way to get to the playoff. But most likely, I think EnVision will take the win here. I feel like it will be 3 win-4 loss for FNRGFE, Kungarna, and Rogue in the end, and whoever has the best map score will probably get to the playoff. So FNRGFE should at least try to take away 1-2 maps away from EnVision if they can. I think it will be a win for EnVision with 3-1.