How would Ryu know? Never seemed like Cocco is good friends with any koreans

who's considering retirement? Taimou or Cocco?

xQc not suspended yet 4Head

This is one of the best threads to read. Kreygasm

First time we see so many Americans in one match monkaS

Biggest of FeelsBadMan in OW rosters

Hard to argue with the rankings given the lack of tournaments recently... (OW WC doesn't count). Upcoming months will be very crucial to the scene as well as the careers of players as OWL orgs begin to seek their star teams. Day 1 of Contenders and C9-EU gets 4-0, Envy 4-0 vs Immortals (Season 0 champs and argued as top team that would challenge Envy...LUL), Envision 3-1 Rogue! (Rank 4 on this list, had one of the longest undefeated streaks in OW, had only lost only to #1 and #2 korean teams, entire Team France, defined the triple dps meta, etc etc) and Lunatic Hai lost to MVP Space. If there was ever a time to get excited for OW eSports, it's now...just be patient and wait for dive meta to end ResidentSleeper.

Someone lineup both teams player's flags NotLikeThis

Another prime example of why OWL is most likely taking it's time to start. Mostly like Blizzard is waiting to attract a lot more spots but since orgs and players are too anxious they needed to announce the few they have already to shine some light on their progress.

All great points to reflect on, but there are still perspectives the public may be overseeing. Since the start of pro Overwatch scene, eSports teams have developed to prepare for the OWL, but I want to emphasize PREPARE. One must understand Blizzard's goal and the consequences of time it takes to achieve their "Blizzard polish". OWL hasn't even begun yet teams and players with minimum to no achievements in the pro scene are demanding an excellent OWL along with a sustainable tier 2 scene. Blizzard made OWL spots for $20 million and has achieved a few spots so far but yet that's not enough? At a certain point many uprising pros are contradicting their wishes for an amazing OWL while demanding for salaries while the scene develop. Many OW teams have dropped their rosters due to poor performances and financial struggles; I can easily name a few players that received "unfair salaries" (from the perspectives of many unsigned pros), given the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in small tournaments, yet did not perform to expectations; while there were unsigned players that have performed better than signed "pros". In no way is that Blizzard's fault and from a marketing standpoint, it's a huge risk supporting tier 2 teams when they hardly show results. The truth is the public won't support teams that don't perform well, unless there's some sort of attraction besides glory. It's been a year and a half since release and if uprising pros are still struggling to prove to orgs whether or not they should be considered for limited spots, then maybe they should reconsider what their goals are...
(To clarify, that statement goes to semi pros that were given the chance by orgs previously and are seeking continued support after poor performances in an undeveloped pro scene unlike CS:GO or LoL)

Amazingly thought out and written article. My best of wishes to your future endeavors. However, I do want to point out that there's always Contenders... imo Blizzard is trying to make OWL into one of the biggest and most successful eSport (hoping for the best monkaS) and not considering a traditional "Tier 2" League. It's not like many Tier 2 leagues work out in traditional sports anyways and Contenders seems to be a great place for unsigned teams to work their way up and prove themselves for OWL tier 1 orgs to consider new talent. In no way do I see Blizzard maintaining a Tier 2 League while players receive "live-able" wages with the inflation of player salaries from orgs, which had forced so many small teams to drop their rosters even with tier 1 players.

"it was believed he would FIND quickly FIND a team playing in Contenders" : OCD, NotLikeThis

•Arc 6 pharmercy dive comp was really strong •Custa and Unkoee are on another level •Arc 6 C9d on route 66 •Rogue experimenting lineups (underestimating Arc 6) and nearly lost •xQc reverse swept NotLikeThis

Never forget Flame said Harbleu's tracer looked like he was playing with a controller LUL

I hear Ajax is available Kappa

Doubt it. Harbleu and Iddqd are valuable assets through their other publicity formats such as streaming and YouTube. Also still sad they dropped Dummy, he was a very undervalued support player.

NRG seagFeels

It's also important to notice that although Envy doesn't have a single NA player, the team is still a "Western Team" (non APEC team) making it impressive when they can hold their own and win vs the strategic masterminds that are the Koreans. The work and efforts made by Envy will help NA OW be more competitive and show more potential in the upcoming Overwatch League, especially after disappointing NA showings such as C9 out of contenders S1, Selfless Dafran fiasco, and multiple NA teams dropping due to lack of performance or minor return in investment.

Miro showed complete dominance as the better Winston and why he should've been on the Korean World Cup roster seagEZ Especially after the trashtalk from AFB before the match.

Rogue undefeated all the way seagEZ Only team I see with potential to beat them are LG Evil on a good day or Immortals (yet they're still a fairly new roster). Not to mention their only loses are to Koreans (LH & KP) top two teams in the world tbh.