Hmm...Faze not going to APAC despite not being announced for OWL yet? Hoping it's good news! As for APEX the only other teams that could make it are either GC Busan and Runaway/NC Foxes, but I'm rooting for Runaway to make the finals again.

Damn lol, their first meeting was a knocker, and I don't know how much of the story the score actually tells but from the looks of it KARMA figured BGH out hardcore.

Impressive, good to see team Argentina showing what they got!

HKA's last match is against Machi, so effectively who ever loses this will not make the top 4. BLANK has to show up big if they want to make the playoffs.

EnVision, though I could see teams like Rogue, FaZe or 123 getting an invite if the players are still playing but not in OWL.

If she remains as-is she won't come back to being an absolute must pick, but great D.Va players can still make good use of her, just a bit more niche like she used to be.

I think they might be able to make due with a strong Zarya player (Babybay until Super/Sinatraa come in) or mayb they just go triple DPS? Lots of possibilities so I'm looking forward to seeing what they do and how they measure up to the rest of the field with this interesting roster.

That being said, I'm now an EnvyUs/Seoul fanboy until Canada gets their own team <3

NCF vs LWR

• LWR win 3-2

GCB vs LH

• LH win 3-1

He won't be playing for about half the Season so i'm assuming they've taken that into consideration.

Yeah, hopefully they don't suffer from the Rogue and eUnited syndromes. Will be interesting, specially considering what xQc had to say about the roster choices.

Ardeont only having lost one map in 11 games is a scary prospect though i guess the one positive I can get from this is that both FW and BLANK are the other top two teams.

This is a race to not finish 4th and have the best chance to make it to the finals.

Only 6 of the 8 man roster will be able to play when the league launches though what I'm curious about is who Super and Sinatraa will be putting on the bench, for rotation I assume.

Looking at their current roles they seem to be missing a proper off tank and a projectile DPS, so I'm looking forward to seeing who plays what initially and later on.

Apparently he went to the hospital right after the match, but yeah, it's sad to see a team that had been doing so well crumble in the important moments.

Time for Remiska to update his OWL teams thread since this one is now official.

Good thing Harbleu took a step back to stream!

I don't put much stock into the Rogue match, they were still playing in sub optimal conditions, without assuming that Rogue would have won that match I strongly believe it would have been much more competitive, possibly even costing FNRGFE their playoff spot.

Don't get me wrong, I think they're a really good team but they don't feel consistent enough to reliably bring it to EnvyUs. Also, LAN experience counts for a lot in my book, so I see it less as FNRGFE being limited and Envy being enabled, looking forward to seeing if they can show up strong or if the gaps in both skill and experience are as big as I believe them to be.

Yeah I get you my main point was that others may see your view in the same way you see theirs. Understanding another person's thought process is hard enough and made almost impossible over the internet, so you not being able to comprehend how people come to the conclusions they do is normal.

All that matters is that opinions differ so I don't think you should be concerned when people disagree with you, though you're free to defend your point of view...without trying to dismiss another's.

In any case, he might very well get in, and it is unfortunate that not all of the pros we like will, with just over a month left for the signing period.

New vid:

"Misfits and eUnited showcased what happens when you allow a team to dictate the pace of the match"
Let's break it down! Aggression vs control

I think being right or wrong is besides the point here. In all likelihood the opinions formed here don't have the depth required to truly make an educated judgment on the relative strength of the player so it's all guesswork and personal opinions. Bandwagons on either side will be a thing, considering how you can only take one of two sides so your "research" comment is out of place since I can only assume you would have done a similar amount of research and broad spectrum analysis.

For what it's worth I like the guy but he didn't stand out to me compared to other available supports so while I'm not sure where he'll end up I don't think it's impossible for him to be picked up.

That's extremely unfortunate. Hopefully MY get picked up by the Shanghai owner

imo he is and has been one of the best DPS players in the world. I'm just happy to see him be able to flex and really show the depth of his talent.

I like that requirement, how bout we try and make LAN proven, region original super teams and see what those would look like?

Triggerererered.

I actually agree that as a team they're not the best in the world, but I think that could also be a product of them being a mix up for the purpose of getting picked up and not having the resources, on their own, to be the best.

Individually though the team has a lot of talent so I think we'll end up seeing more of them getting spots.

Just wanted to add a bit of perspective on this from KyKy and Flame's points of view. They talked about it on the Overview: The OverView #77 - Hot Tub (feat. KyKy), they talk about it from 46:47to 54:30

Here's a very short summary, feel free to listen to it as I think it's well worth it.

• Flame thinks it's a scummy move, but justified due to the circumstances surrounding him, team Sweden and Misfits. Could possibly improve team morale as they were not the most fun group to be part of last year.
• KyKy mentions that it makes sense since you'd replicate the current Misfits roles. Roster locks for Blizzcon were on Sept 1st and playing the group stage never guaranteed your participation afterwards.

Sexy!

So all teams need to do to qualify for APAC is win one game eh? Pretty intense when the QF match ultimately has more impact than winning the finals, but I'm OK with this.

I predict MY winning the grand finals over VG with LGD and FTD also qualifying for APAC.

I'm slightly confused, do all teams that make the SF qualify or is it the two finalists and the winners of the qualification bracket?

Something feels redundant but I may just not be understanding the format.

His soldier wasn't great so that's also something to note.

#2 I think you mean double elim, but I agree that I like how APEX handles going from 8 to 4, it increased the chances that we get the best 4 teams in the semis to prevent a repeat of the APEX S1 finals. However, for tournaments with fewer teams where round robin decides seeding, or if you have fewer than 8 teams that qualify for playoffs I think there are a few reason why they would want to avoid it:

1. It adds a lot of games to the schedule and it time is an issue we could see situations like Contenders S0 where teams have to play for 10-12 hours in a day.

2. The finals is always an issue since you need to give an advantage to the team that made it there through the top bracket on top of having a lower bracket team that's played more games depending on where they dropped.

In the case of Contenders S1 I think that seeding played the role a double elim bracket would have, so I'm OK with the current format given that we have a high chance of getting 1vs2 Finals in both regions.

Edit: Added information.

They also almost lost to RNG, so unless they find a new gear this will be a 3-0 imo, It could end up being closer than the score suggests, but I don't see them taking a map off of nV.

They truly outclassed all other teams including LGD in their run to the top. They look poised to change people's perception of China being a weak region for Overwatch. Hopefully they make it deep into APAC 2017 so we can see how they truly measure up against the best of the other regions.

In my opinion that's a misconception, afaik none of the spots are guaranteed on any team, and I believe he was chosen first and foremost because he was part of Misfits. No doubt they would have wanted to send the whole squad had their results not been so lackluster at the time. With their latest roster changes and the success they've had with them it makes sense for them to want to emulate that as much as possible.

Again I want to reiterate that I'm not in favor of the decision, but I understand it and in the end I can't condemn them for trying to make the team stronger, even if they had to cut a great guy in the process.

We've known for a very long time that rosters would be unlocked for Blizzcon so there's nothing surprising here. I can fully understand the sentiments of people when it comes down to Reinforce but what I don't get is the outrage and the now questioning of a long established rule set.

As Admirable mentioned all teams can make swaps, Mangachu was talking about it as everyone was questioning his position on team Canada and it makes sense to allow them to make adjustments in case players became unavailable, or available in some cases.

Again, I think it really is unfortunate for Reinforce as a person since I really like the guy and I actually think he's a great tank. However, if their goal is to give themselves the best chance of winning and they feel like this is what's best for the team I don't think we call this move...whatever it's been called in this thread or elsewhere.

This could also be a result of the decision being driven by players, some that have played with him for a long time but from the team's standpoint I think they have reason to justify it, regardless of personal bias.

That being said I'm Canadian so I was always going to root for team UK, but if this is what people are basing who they're now rooting for on I think it's also being unfair towards the rest of the squad and the actual intentions behind the change.

Insert "Dead Game" meme here.

Yeah, that's why I said SDB, I have no issues admitting that some of the best players playing in NA are from the EU. I'm a hockey fan so there's nothing new or shocking there.

I mean you could pick up players from Rogue and GO to try and make a strong flexible team.

I guess but then wouldn't you just pick a full team of NA players? Either it's players currently playing in the region or player from the region, imo.

The token NA player doesn't quite make it any less EU to me lol.

I like your list, I think the only changes I'd bring would be these ones:

EU:
Linkzr -> Logix

NA:
Agilities -> SDB

KR:
Fl0w3r -> Rascal
Fissue -> Mano

Obviously they do, the problem is you need a much larger sample size than what you get through internal testing or PTR to get meaningful data, even if the Pros are kicking and screaming about it they represent such a small fraction of the player base that Blizz, in line with their balancing philosophies, won't only take their opinions into account.

I think it's easy to sit back and complain about how broken she is and why they let it go through as-is but realistically if they're trying to reach most of the player base this is the only way to do it. I'm not saying it's the best way, because I don't think it is, but I do feel like it's how they've chosen to handle it at the moment.

Damn man, we were one map loss away from perfection.

No, no we're not. Keep their Trump away from us.

I'm forced to very strongly disagree with you on that one.

I'm hoping they just tweak the Valkyrie duration and rez CD, I'd think reducing the former to 15 seconds and increasing the latter to 60 seconds still makes her strong in the poke phase/early fight with the possibility of getting a 2nd rez if the fight drags on but it gives teams more leeway too.

Now, if they don't tweak her I think Seagull's Pharah could very well see play time whenever they decide to put him in (APAC probably?)

Yes, but for one of the few times this Season they look very dominant. Now, let's see if they can keep it up!

To you maybe, but apparently it means something to them, and truth be told that's all that matters.

I agree that it really sucks for Reinforce, and I feel for the guy. It's obvious he really cared about this and would have given his best.

As for it being unfair it would seem the squad decided to treat the same way they would treat an actual team, and we know roster changes are a normal thing when the team thinks it could perform better.

So I also feel very disappointed that he won't be there, but I disagree that it's unfair given their apparent goal.

Regardless of implications regular scheduled matches need to be played. That's how most if not all leagues work.

Not a valid reason to disrupt strats that take a lot of time and practice to be effective. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to see them play with the new D.Va..bit less with the new Mercy, but it does give Blizz more time to fix some still broken things.

Note that you're not the one having to play at a professional level and all the implication it brings. I don't know how long teams would realistically need to feel effective with new changes, but if Pros say the need more time I'll jump on that bandwagon for obvious reasons.

I'm sure they don't want a repeat of the Bastion incident where everyone was just going yolo and playing him even though they didn't really have any practice with it.

Yeah I had put the wrong winning team for a second there even though the map score was correct lol.

The only thing this tells me is that FNRGFE isn't as clear cut part of the top 4 as I imagined. There's obviously no point in "what ifs" now but I'm still convinced Rogue would have beaten both EnVision and FNRGFE had they been playing under optimal conditions.

That being said, I'm still happy FNRGFE were able to fight their way back to a victory here and hopefully they're able to learn and improve a lot from this considering who their next opponent is in the playoffs.

Yeah, I was working under the assumptions that map ties didn't count as wins but it looks like it's not the case. If FNRGFE lose they will not be making the top 4 since they can only get a maximum of 15 map wins (if they go 3-4) vs Rogue's 16 map wins.

Finnsi and Hafficool carrying that last point defence so hard, just clutched it out.