Right, wasn't sure what you meant by him showing us a deeper hero pool unless it was sarcasm, and if it was I didn't pick up on it at all.

Which Hero did he show that we haven't seen from him?

Possibly, but I think it's because his Tracer just isn't that great. He can mostly get the job done but against top tier Tracers it can be a liability. You could see him losing most of the 1v1 to Carpe. If he can be on 76 or McCree he might have more impact on fights.

We'll have to see what they decide to keep him on.

Three days of matches this week.

They have 6 weeks to have everyone play 7 games so they had to add a day.

This week NA has three days, next week it's EU, the week after that it's NA again and finally EU for the last group phase week.

Sideshow seemed to have mentioned a roster lock as of week 4 though. The exception would be that you can still use players that haven't played for other squads afterwards, if I understood him correctly.

As far as I understood Thoorin didn't actually say much about the game and just let the other guests explain the details, probably because he isn't an authority on the matter.

Doesn't the website do some basic spell checking for you though? I mean I'm still gonna read your shit but, lolz.

Friday Sept 1st

IMT vs FaZe

• FaZe wins 3-1 (FaZe won the match 3-2)

RNG vs eV

• eV wins 3-1 (EnVision won the match 3-1)

-----------------------------------------

Saturday Sept 2nd

FNRGFE vs Rogue

• Rogue wins 3-1 (FNRGFE won the match 3-1)

Kun vs nV

• nV wins 4-0

-----------------------------------------

Sunday Sept 3rd

IMT vs Rogue

• IMT wins 3-2

RNG vs Faze

• FaZe wins 4-0

Edit 1: I don't know my days of the week...
Edit 2: Updated with actual results.

As of right now they've lost a total of 2 maps compared to LGD's 1 map loss. They don't seem that far off to me, but I guess we'll see come match time.

They'd have to tie both the assault and hybrid maps for that while splitting Payload and Control. Pretty unlikely to happen imo.

I think this will be a 4-0 for Envy, man for man they have the advantage and teamwork wise they are even further ahead of Kungarna if the latter's performance against two of the weaker teams in the tournament is any indication.

Might be cause all teams have to play 7 games and one per week wasn't going to be enough to fit all of them into 6 weeks. I always wondered about that, and I guess this is how they're gonna do it.

Note that they're also having 3 match days on the week of September 15th, 16th, and 17th.

Very eventful day of APEX as both "favorite" teams come up short in the mists of their rebuild seasons. It looks like the top 8 will only have two truly powerful teams this year in LH and KDP, assuming LH can get a 3-2 win or better against MA.

This could be the new faces of APEX after LWB, LH and possibly KDP are off to play in OWL, the future looks very interesting for the league, very interesting, but also very different.

SDB in NA? The world collectively goes: "Oh Shit."

No clue, but their engages have been absolutely horrible, they've never been the same after losing their tanks. GC Busan looked real good but I think it's largely because AF were absolute dog shit tonight.

KDP and LH might have a relatively easy path to the finals again this year.

They increased her DM's recharge rate by 25% so if my math isn't total shit she should fully recharge it in 7.5 seconds down from 10.

Here's Geoff Goodman's post on the Blizz forums:
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20758667192?page=5#post-88

I'm not sure, I don't know if they passed it on to Kellex and he reformed along with ChrisTFer or if it still belongs to TS and the new squad is "representing" them.

My best guess is that TS gave the spot to the players and the reform happened but from the tweet they put out it sounds like the new team is still TS in some way. The Org looks like it'll support whatever the players want to do so I don't see them pulling that kind of move.

Will be interesting to see what this new squad can pull off. I think Misfits is still the heavy favorite to win, but I guess we'll see if week one and two tendencies stay strong and if we get to witness another monster upset.

The Org owns the spot and they can either keep it, give it to the players or sell it. In this case it looks like the new roster is still representing TS but since Kellex is still on they also could have given the spot to him.

I don't know how far they'll go, but more chances to display your skills is always a plus.

2 losses in a row where they won no maps and had arguably stronger teams to face still, yeah that could result in the team thinking they may be able to get better results by going their separate ways.

If the main goal is getting into OWL you need teams to notice you and your impact, that might be more difficult to do when your team is seen as massively underperforming.

Hopefully the ex-Singularity players find themselves new homes or even OWL spots but in the meantime maybe this team will have a better showing to allow them to show what they got.

Thank God. That and the Playoffs not being a bubble race anymore right? Then they no longer have 28 games to get it done but I think 14 is still doable. Steeper hill to climb, much improvement to come hopefully.

Nesh should go a long way in fixing that imo.

I think it's more that they lost two games without winning a single map, and not yet having faced the "top teams" of the tournament. given what most teams goals for Contenders are they probably felt they'd be able to get more exposure individually in other possibly more successful teams.

I wouldn't call that ridiculous, you don't want to be seen as a weak player because of your team's weak results. Unless you think they could have turned it around and gotten better results in matches that would possibly have gotten even more difficult to win.

OWL is the goal right now, and the most effective way to get yourself seen and known is what's smart, imo.

Nesh is totally worth sacrificing your flag meta for though.

Detonator didn't qualify for OPC so I'm not very confident in what they can achieve in this leg of the APEX Challengers Series. Might need some additions to cover their, apparently, many weaknesses or risk missing the cut again.

Looks like Fischer will be playing for the newly rebuilt Team Singularity this weekend. This probably means they'll be leaning on Nevix some more as their main Flex DPS player.

Looking forward to seeing what they look like and if BP will be able to step up and take it to them as C9 keeps trialing players.

They were able to prove that a very solid Tracer can just enable Nevix so much, hopefully they find the right fit for them.

As for Sinatraa I don't think there's even any room to doubt that he'll get picked up. The man is just too good on too many key heroes not to be swimming in offers. I hope they can match him with someone like a Tviq to allow for some crazy effectiveness and flexibility both hero and comp wise.

This teams looks like it could do great things but it feels like they're still in the growing pain phase of having such a diverse roster. Luckily they have a long quad round robin to figure it out and I believe we'll see improvements.

If they manage to make it work I think they might be able to battle with ahq for that 4th spot, will be looking forward to seeing them getting better as this goes on.

LGD showing why they're one of the current top dogs in this tournament if a very dominating fashion. FTD is still third and look like they have the chops to retain that position, but we'll have to see what improvements they can bring on the way to the playoffs if they want a realistic chance of taking down either MY or LGD.

It's possible, they finished 3-6 in the Spring Season group phase so they could still makethe playoffs and pull off another monster run that surprises everyone.

I looked into what it would take for them to overtake MT1 and it's pretty rough.

Current Rankings:
MT1: 2-3-0 / 7-6-1
1246: 1-5-0 / 5-10-2

I think MT1 will go 3-3 in their last 6, as they have an equal number of games against teams both above and below them. To overtake them 1246 will have to go 5-0, map scores come into play if MT1 go 4-2 and they're eliminated if MT1 go 5-1 or better.

Best case rankings:
MT1: 5-6-0
1246: 6-5-0

They can do it, but they have a very uphill battle ahead, right now I'm not convinced they can pull it off again.

Your weekly reference seems out of place then also, feel free to not read articles you're not partial to while the rest of us proceed to enjoy them as often as we can.

I'm thinking 12 or 16 would be the magic numbers though I'd be leaning more towards the latter (hopefully).

To add to your list:

Toronto - Sentimental favorite cause Canadian
Seoul/Busan - I'm thinking it would probably another Seoul team but if it wasn't the case Busan could be an alternative.
Katowice - The team might only have a single, or no, polish player but the scene itself would be my reason for having one.
Bangkok
Beijing
Moscow - Not sure how Russia would handle that one but hey.
Just to name a few, but yeah, I'd like to see a strong 16 team first season and my impression is that we'd see at least 12.

Rogue hasn't looked good for a while and even though they managed to beat RNG it wasn't as clean as it once would have been. I will however give them the edge here given that FNRGFE have often failed to capitalize on opportunities they've made for themselves and that I've not sure they have a direct counter to Soon. Rogue has, imo, relied too heavily on him to get opening picks and win fight from their, but when he's able to do just that they usually follow up on it.

I think that Rogue win 3-1, but that the score could easily be reversed if Soon is kept in check and that Rogue isn't able to run triple DPS w/o being punished.

This match could be the make it or break it point for eUnited, to finish in the top 4 they either have to win all matches after this one, or every match save for the one vs Gigantti to guarantee themselves a 4th spot.

In terms of advantage I think eUnited have the better DPS core, but their lack of an actual off tank flex player might be their downfall once again. Like Rogue they've never looked very comfortable running the D.Va and I've never seen a Zarya from eUnited so overall I think 123 are in a better position to win unless they come somehow make the triple DPS dive work like it once did.

I think that 123 win 3-1, but I can see this going the other way if key players on either do/don't perform.

Edit: Spelling

Both are extremely skilled Flex supports, but personally I'm more partial to Jehong. My reason for it is that because of their different play styles, I feel like Jehong has more impact on his team and they rely on him more so than Envy does Chips because the LH DPS' due isn't as potent as the ones one Envy.

His big plays are often a big part of why LH is able to clutch out games they could have lost and when they lose him the whole backline crumbles very fast without players like Taimou and EFFECT being there to do equivalent damage to the enemy.

So I consider him the best support flex in the world not just because he's insanely skilled, both are imo, but because I think he has even more apparent impact on his team's success.

I hope we get to see SDB in NA ping, always a treat to see the monster he is on wither low ping or, not for the feint of heart mind you, on LAN.

Hard to tell, Reinforce and Bren's rooms look suspiciously similar and Sideshow's shack hasn't been seen in months. I smell shenanigans...

Watch this though, way to good to pass up.

Contenders is going to be their chances to show what they got, even though they're not likely to make the top 4 I hope they show what they can do like they did in Season 0.

As it's been the trend we see even more talent added to the pool of players looking to get into OWL. With IMT not doing so well they could also be looking to cover their weaknesses, could be a chance for some skilled players to get in either as subs or on the starting roster.

Would have been nuts if they let them keep the name but added their signature to it. NC FatCats ftw.

First real test for GO, we'll get to see if how they handle one of the best teams (top 3?) in the tournament tournament currently.

Should be a good match, though I think Gigantti is more versatile, on top of having some monster players. They have the Doomfist pick along with the option of running triple DPS if the situation calls for it, and finally I believe their supports and tanks to be a bit better than those of GO.

My prediction: Gigantti wins 3-1, though I can see this flipping if Leaf goes unchecked.

FatCats forever. They looked kinda good considering but nowhere near as strong as LH2, and I think they could make it through this challenger phase.

We'll have to see how far they go but right now it seems that lots of kinks need to be worked out before that might come to fruition.

London 9 or London Lions sounds pretty good to me, I like.

LUL @ teams that passed on EFFECT, really turned out to be what Envy needed to balance out Taimou's...unique hero pool. If Rogue continue to struggle as they have I can see this a 4-0 for Envy, but they have more than 3 weeks to prepare for this so you never know by then.

Other than on the control map, where I'm not sure if they were trolling or what the heck they were doing, LH2 looked pretty good.

They full held on both hybrid and assault while not letting their opponents finish on payload, though last map looked a bit more difficult but it was a good showing overall.

I do think they pretty much need to be rolling through challengers and have a strong super week to be considered as a strong option at APEX.

This is gonna need some Meza love...

They confirmed that they disbanded on twitter:
https://twitter.com/ELLIVOTE/status/902623425017114625

:candle:

He's a top tier Pharah and a great Zarya but his D.Va is lacking and his other DPS role aren't up to par with the other pros.

I think he could get a spot if his Offtank play was better, or if Hog ever comes back, but his flex DPS picks need to improve so that he's a reliable asset and actually adds flexibility to his team.

Will have to see how they do, hopefully it's enough to compete at the tier 2 level and shake up the scene along with these other new Orgs popping up.

Haven't had a chance to try Deathmatch yet since I don't PTR so this should be quite the interesting experience given my utter lack of mechanical skills!

He posted a twit longer about it:
https://twitter.com/Mangachu_/status/902627790595530752

Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6wtzqy/mangachu_lft_owl/

Might be seeing more of these from players entering the growing pool of available talent, from Orgs that either aren't looking to get into OWL, don't have the resources to get into it, or don't have the team to compete and don't want to spend the resources to get one.

Edit: added the Reddit thread.

If all three teams have the same map differential extra matches will be played. By the way I'm not sure what your issue with this is.

It's literally how APEX has operated at least since Season 2, and also how Contenders, TakeTV and the OWC work. This is nothing new but how would you resolve three way ties where each team beat another but with different map scores?

They could and, assuming LH wins 3-0 vs Meta Athena...

Runaway win 3-0 we get:
Lunatic-Hai 2-1-0 / 8–3–1 (+5),
RunAway 2-1-0 / 6–3–0 (+3),
MVP Space 2-1-0 / 6–5–1 (+1),
Meta Athena 0-3-0 / 0–9–0 (-9)

Runaway win 3-1 we get:
Lunatic-Hai 2-1-0 / 8–3–1 (+5),
RunAway 2-1-0 / 6–4–0 (+2),
MVP Space 2-1-0 / 7–5–1 (+2),
Meta Athena 0-3-0 / 0–9–0 (-9)

The question here is how APEX breaks this tie since they'd both have +2. The community seems to believe that Runaway would move on since they would have the heads up. Not exactly sure how this one would be handled

Basically they first need to win, not not give up more than a map while doing so.

Also, any win by LH will guarantee a top two spot since at worst they'd be 8-5-1 (+3), matching Runaway's best case scenario.

A loss by LH and a win by Runaway sees Runaway finish first and MVP Space finish 2nd.

If both LH and Runaway lose the former goes through because at worst LH would be 5-6-1 (-1) vs Runaway's 5-6-0 (-1) with LHhaving won the heads up.