Hopefully they do better than the last two Japanese teams to play in the OPC but judging from their match against Ardeont this is going to be a tough ask.

At the very least i'd like them to be competitive and get their fair share of wins.

Blizz announced that it would explicitly work that way, so that teams have a clear path to APEX. The double relegation system (APEX -> Challengers -> Open Division also makes it so teams that are good enough to stay in contention have their chance at going back to the big stage.

Wouldn't be surprised if the Korean OWL teams decided to treat APEX like NA/EU might see Contenders. The guaranteed salaries might be attractive to players knowing they would still be "based" in Korea since most APEX teams don't have proper funding (though that could also be subject to change) if the league and scenes manage to grow.

Not sure there's much to be said here in terms of apparent credibility of this article. Best example would be "The C9's overweight league" among others. As for your question of "Why make it up?", I'm sure you know that more elaborate things were entirely made up on the internet so writing a fake article is a pretty low effort kind of thing since the information that is correct is openly available.

I can only assume that Jack and Alicus know the business and are smart enough to know what's best for the organisation and what it needs to succeed.

Score was as expected but it's still valuable experience for this squad. Now they need to get it together and fight for their chance at 2nd place in this group even though it's a very uphill battle.

Flash Lux losing this badly to a team that finished mid pack in challengers is more than worrisome. The changes they've made have clearly not worked and at this point I think nothing less than a full rebuild will.

Teams have broken up over less so I'm not confident in this squad's future right now.

Woa, even BLANKstralia is seeing some change ups. The scene be a movin'!

Hong Kong Attidude, 1/6th Hong Kong Squad. They'd be right at home in an NA squad! For realz though, Ardeont should probably crush this since HKA is clearly in tier 2 with a solid gap between them and ahq/FW.

Really the only one they need is a Korean flag and it's pretty much guaranteed.

Some links about it:

Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6tye72/espn_sources_lunatichai_roster_to_join_overwatch/

Actual article:
http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/20353712/sources-lunatic-hai-roster-join-overwatch-league-relocate-temporarily-la

Munchkin rumor:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6tuij6/munchkins_stream_chat_possible_leaks/

No word on if the roster would stay as-is or if modifications would be done to it since they just added Taejun.

Very true. S4 was also still under C9 contract while Carpe was a FA so your point makes much sense.

Interesting that S4 would be on the bench here considering that he;s probably a better Tracer than Carpe (can't tell much since I haven't seen it). His hero pool is so large though that it overlaps with both Carpe and SDB, but it also gives FaZe so much flexibility, one more team that's gotten considerably more potent with the recent roster shake ups.

I haven't seen any mention of them grabbing other top KR players other than the rumor thread about munchkin.

Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6tuij6/munchkins_stream_chat_possible_leaks/

If this does turn out to be correct I wonder if they'd try and pick up one of the better DPS duos like SBB/Fl0w3r or Rascal/Birdring since they already have 4 DPS players on their squad.

I also read that Esca will have to go do his mandatory military service and that could have been one of the motivators for bringing Taejun back since he was one of the long standing members of the squad.

That would be the ultimate irony, and justice.

Apparently the LH squad is going to move to LA for the first season of the OWL. They would allegedly have been picked up by the owner of the Seoul spot.

Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6tye72/espn_sources_lunatichai_roster_to_join_overwatch/

Actual article:
http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/20353712/sources-lunatic-hai-roster-join-overwatch-league-relocate-temporarily-la

The owners themselves declined to comment so nothing seems to be confirmed, but if it's true...wow.

Some of these guys having to be subs breaks my heart, like S4 and Sinatraa. Also some of the roster pick ups are really perplexing because of overlap but in the end I think they do make the teams more well rounded.

I'm just curious to know who would get swapped in and out in some these cases.

I'm confused as to where you've seen him play then. He was lights out at TakeOver being one of the most effective Tracers. As for OWC he had to try and hard carry the team but it's a difficult task when your opponents know to focus fire you into oblivion.

Other than the unknown factor of Cwoosh on tank these guys look very dangerous and I truly hope they get thr desired results from this.

Holy shit lol. Misfits just beasted the fuck up! Didn't see this one coming but this may be the best move they've ever done. Now Tvique is free to flex the shit out of his hero pool. And Cwoosh on main tank? This is some crazy stuff they just pulled off!

Really excited to see how they perform with their new additions!!

As some users were pointing out it could be interesting if Winz was actually thinking about the possibility of getting out of Overwatch. That would probably put Knoxx back on Lucio and they'd have a more functional tank set up with Kolsti being able to both Rein and Winston.

Though for now I just have to take Unkoe's words at face value and assume that it's just a one match sub-in until proven wrong.

SA needs more of these to put them on the map and to help create more parity in the scene as a whole. The more the better so I'm all for this, and good luck to all the contending teams!

Unkoe's tweet:
https://twitter.com/Rogue_uNKOE/status/897564319185072129

He seems to be saying there's nothing more to it than a one match sub.

I think he definitely was the weak link when he was forced onto Tracer but I believe that's not the case on Soldier/McCree. His space control on Mei is crazy effective and his Sombra play allowed the whole squad to execute their strategies to their fullest.

I think that he's a pillar in his current role and not just morale wise when he gets to play the characters he's comfortable on.

I'll have to watch this, he's done a lot for eSports in his region just by being his account awesome self on top of having some serious D.Va chops and a willingness learn other heroes.

Truly an asset to the game, scene and eSports in general.

I like the idea of Mistakes more than S4, mostly because the latter is like Tviq in how versatile he is and their hero pools overlap more than I'd like them to.

That and Mistakes is an absolute beast on Tracer, even edging out S4 on that hero, imo.

Looks like a strong addition to the team. With TO Esports not currently being active I'm putting my hopes in these guys as a Canadian org.

Really hoping the change works out for the best and that we get to see them over perform and surprise us all.

So we've now got Tviq, Mannaten, Mineral and Zuppehw. They need a main tank and a solid DPS buddy for Tviq, because I wasn't impressed by Mannaten whenever he flexed so I'm not sure he'd be a long term solution. Cwoosh is an option if they want to go the way of a Genji specialist but I think right now you probably want your non Tracer player to be flexible.

That means I can also see them trying to pick up a stand out Tracer and let Tviq flex those muscles on his insane hero pool. A player like Sinatraa (and I mean with the same kind of hero pool as him) would probably go a long way since they'd have a lot of flexibility in what they could play effectively while still having that oh so important dominant Tracer.

I don't know of any Tracer players that can do what he can on those heroes but if any of you do I'd love to hear about them!

That would be a welcome surprise for sure. They're a Canadian org so I'm only critical because I'd really love to see them do well.

I didn't know that was a thing. Bookmarked.

No, for real though, if they replace Tonic with a Finnish player their flag meta will have reached the S tier meta rank.

Grommash: And what must we sacrifice to achieve this mythical flag meta level?
Gul'dan: Everything.

Flag meta is life.

Really good that the Hammers guys are finding spots for themselves, hopefully this change only helps the Gigantti squad in what they're trying to achieve but yeah, like a few ppl have mentioned this make for an interesting dynamic for the Misfits crew.

Seeing as Reinforce, Zebbo and Nevix are out...do you then just start rebuilding around Tviq and now Zuppehw?

They seem to have picked up ChrisTfer from the former Hollywood Hammers lineup, interesting prospect. I'm loving the shuffles as teams are trying to make themselves as strong as they can.

He deserves it, hopefully this is what they need to be able to contend with the rest of the field as I perceived them as a bit of a week link in the bunch. Really looking forward to seeing what they can do with this new and, hopefully, improved lineup!

There's a Reddit thread that's saying DreamKazper could be his replacement as he was seen in a kill feed playing with the Kungarna crew.

Very little to actually base yourself off of but seeing as Bischu is out it could be something.

Not sure I'd call them "really good" just yet, since they've struggled against mid tier 2 teams like LGE and such but if they manage to get some wins and not finish 0-7 this season I see that as a win for them overall.

Using ranked placements as a measuring stick in any capacity makes absolutely no sense other than to meme about it.

I wonder if a 16 team format might reduce the number of landslides we've seen this year. Since we'd still have 8 teams going to Blizzcon we just eliminate the need for a qualifier match and take the top 2 of each group.

Some teams were nice surprises but too many matches ended in 4-Overwatch, imo.

This has been done before but can we fix IMT's flag distribution? It's very important for flag meta coherence.

EZ4NotYetDislosedSixthMember

S4's insgiht on what is happening with the squad:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/6tpliu/surefour_says_that_he_is_allowed_to_tryout_for/

He can tryout for other teams but he's still on C9, I'm assuming his buyout would be quite the sum.

eV have quite a few options tank wise now, including MESR or Reinforce is they wanted to go that way so I can see them completing their roster relatively easily if they haven't already but as a few people mentioned here I'd see them on the weaker side on NA Contenders.

If Faze do end up confirming Logix they could have the talent to content with the top three, emphasis on could, but the other four teams of RNG, KUN, eV and FNRGFE feel like they're lagging behind.

I somewhat feel the same way when it comes to Gamers Origin but to a lesser extent since the whole field seems to be miles behind eUnited if I base myself on their most recent results.

I'll be very interested to see if any of the underdogs can manage to usurp the apparent top teams and shake the current landscape of NA/EU pro Overwatch.

Well it's one more body to allow for more flexibility but Leetaejun was a wildly inconsistent fellow, either going off of being a straight up liability. That dubious honour was passed on to Esca when he was forced onto the Tracer roll. Now they have Gido, and while he's no standout EFFECT/SBB like Tracer he gets the job done in a consistent manner, even during the big moments like his first ever finals.

I'm curious to see what direction they decide to take with this since all the characters he plays are covered by the other three.

One thing I will say though is that I'm happy he was able to get things sorted out and be back with his team after the rabid fans had time to cool down a bit.

The one answer we can really lean on is that Alicus is just a few transactions away from owning Overwatch, then Blizzard, then the world.

If NRG fails again at this point Shaq should just fire them all and run the team himself...

Runaway's looking like a hyper flexible team though I hope they lock down their most effective play style soon if they want a solid shot at LH.

This victory should more than likely go a long way in getting them a top 2 spot in this group. It's good to see them doing so well and having so many options they can win with.

This pretty much went like most people expected. Meta didn't look very strong during challengers and I don't see it changing in the main season. There's a serious chance that they end up last in their group while X6 will most likely have to battle it out with the partially rebuilt Conbox for 2nd.

3-0 AFB

I think the value of being an actual team is very high, but I also think that it won't overcome a large skill gap or superior tactics, and in the case of USA/UK vs Taiwan it may have been both individual skill man per man on top of very solid basics, better engagements and as I mentioned, a favourable play style.

As far as I can see you're making a similar point to #24 but I think the U-teams in these groups had the unique situation of having a group of players that would be able to compete for the top in their region, in this current meta and everything south of the tier 1 teams like eUnited, IMT, Rogue or nV if fair game for both them and FW. Just want to note that I never mentioned them actually beating T1 teams, just the ones below them because right now there's a clear distinction of who's at the top of each region.

I'm not sure what you mean with the nationality bit and the part about them wasting their time since language is usually more of a barrier than nationality but a high level of understanding of the game tends to break that down a bit if you look at our Korean imports.

Now, of course not every region is made equal, the lack of cross region tournaments makes actually ranking them a very subjective thing and my main region for saying they'd have no problems competing with our region's tier 2 is because of the way they lost both those matches and how they had started to adjust their own play to try and cope. Though they had some level of success, their passiveness also gave the U-teams quite a bit of time to plan or react.

As a region OCE is most certainly weaker overall, but I believe that the top teams that came from their aren't. FW in particular might actually fall somewhere in our region's tier 2 if not at the top of it looking at the current scene, imo.

That would make a lot of sense, pretty sure the OWL form of this team has Tviq, but not sure any of the others are guaranteed to stay on so the all Swede thing doesn't look very sustainable.

Battle of the newcomers vs last season's upstarts. X6 has the experience and former BUMGOD on their side so I have to give them the definite edge here.

This should, and needs, to be a roll for LGD if they're to take back their spot at the top of the OWPS league.

Wonder if Misfits is going to keep the Swedes only thing they got going and not gonna lie, I'd like to see Mendo in that squad though that might just set them up for another role confusion problem...but I just want to see him play again if it's in his plans.