Congrats to the Hangzhou Spark for becoming thread 10,000!

Update:

• Krystal and BeBe round out Spark roster.

Because of Japanese Overwatch's history of competing in the Pacific region, the grand final run CYCLOPS made was quite significant:

• Pacific Championship Season 1 - DeToNator.GOLD and SunSister went 3-25 and 1-27 respectively. They were the bottom two of the table and only won matches against each other.
• Pacific Championship Season 2 - Libalent Supreme finished in last place at 0-14.
• Contenders Pacific Season 1 - As said before, they finished 1-4 in their group. That was good enough for fifth out of six teams.

It's a shame Japan's best collection of talent has to split after showing so much promise.

Updates:

• Hangzhou Spark reveal brand.
• MASK, Sup7eme and YinDong to be Spark coaches.
• Spark unveil guxue and NoSmite.
• Spark add Ria and Adora.
• GodsB and Bazzi next Spark additions.
• iDK and Revenge added to Spark lineup.

I lost my marbles and somehow convinced myself otherwise. 😅

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why are you like this

They're not an org. I doubt any contracts were signed.

Almost positive Snow wouldn't count toward it because he has lived in the US for most of his life. I'm not entirely sure what Blizzard's criteria is for "resident" of the region but it would have to be very strict to not include Snow.

Thanks for the quick catch. I forgot about D.C. when it came to branding.

They have already posted an anime gif rise up weebs: https://twitter.com/Hangzhou_Spark/status/1062881390377689091

Update:

• Chengdu Hunters emerge.

Update:

• Dallas Fuel add rCk to the roster.

Updates:

• Fusions joins Uprising.
• Nenne promoted to Excelsior.
• Shanghai Dragons add Levi as coach.
• Atlanta adds Dafran, NLaaeR, ErsTer, Pokpo, Gator, Daco, Kodak and Masaa.
• Toronto adds Stellar and Ivy.
• Defiant add Aid and Yakpung.
• Guangzhou becomes Guangzhou Charge.
• Paris becomes Paris Eternal.

This match has been rescheduled.

👅

I see NYXL models their roster-building strategy after Season 1 Shock.

This story was updated following One.PoinT's announcement of SuperPlouk and Hqrdest.

i unfortunately don't have that kind of power

this is the best account on this website

Updates:

• Paris adds coaches KyKy, Seita and Féfé.
• Defiant add envy and Neko.

Updates:

• Boston Uprising sign Blasé.
• Dragons add DDing, diem, YOUNGJIN, CoMa, Luffy and GuardiaN.
• Paris reveal players SoOn, ShaDowBurn, NiCO, DANYE, Finnsi, lhcloudy, BenBest, HyP and Kruise; reveal coach daemoN
• Atlanta becomes Atlanta Reign.
• Excelsior add nuGget as GM.
• Shock sign Viol2t.
• Toronto unveil Defiant branding.
• Gladiators reveal rOar and Decay.

More information here:

https://www.over.gg/9655/replay-system-to-be-unveiled-at-blizzcon

If you keep up all of this engagement, Gnomes, you may just get a nerdstar!

Btw, I missed this when writing the article, but the Mayhem originally intended to bring cloudy on as a two-way player: https://twitter.com/MattAkhavan/status/1054693976639528960?s=19

Is that a rare Icelandic flag I see?

UPDATE: This story has been updated following the BEAT announcement of the talent lineup.

I watched the Contenders Season 2 finals and didn't remember him playing, and thought I was right when I checked back on our match history and didn't see his name. However, I went back and watched the VOD after your comment and found you were correct.

As a result, I've corrected both the article and that grand finals match in our match history.

Involver provided a translation of KnOxXx's twitlonger for anyone interested: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqme54

That 45-3-1 match score is written in W-L-T format.

UPDATE: The story has been updated to reflect that Kirby will remain with the Fusion. It was previously stated that Kirby's future with the team was unknown.

An update: WHO announced Chubz has left the team and will be replaced by Midna, who was the main tank of the team last season.

big pocky fan

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with what you have to say. To add onto what you said about OWL franchises hosting tourneys, I mentioned the Guilded Gala because it could have been a great opportunity to scout talent (at least for the Outlaws). Hosting some kind of Contenders LAN is a great way to hold 0 ping tryouts for OWL and academy teams, and these events should be utilized more regularly for that purpose.

I agree with you that it shouldn't be necessary and players from all Contenders regions should have an equal chance of making it into the Overwatch League, but currently some regions are valued as higher levels of competition than others (whether that's fair or not is an entirely different argument). With the system currently in place, it's hard to see that changing without players from regions currently perceived as weaker having success in OWL, and partly because their regions are perceived as weaker players from these regions are less likely to make it into OWL in the first place (they can perform well at the World Cup and get a tryout with a major ping disadvantage but those are both barriers to entry players from regions like Contenders Korea and Contenders North America are less likely to face).

I don't actually want players to have to progress from region-to-region in a minor league baseball type system to make into OWL (I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear enough! While I wanted to show there was no progression path like there is in baseball, the main thing I'm proposing is international competition to be played in between Contenders systems) , not only is it not feasible but it also assumes some regions are stronger than others with no basis. Interregional competition would give players and teams from these "weaker" regions the opportunity to disprove the notion that they are weaker. Until then, I don't see the situation for players in these regions as one likely to change (although hopefully I'm wrong).

People should have noticed Patiphan well before, regardless of his opponents. There is no evidence that Fusion University is better than Machi Esports, after all. However, people's perceptions of the quality of teams and players within various regions will not change until they get a chance to prove themselves against the teams they believe to be the best in the world.

Fun fact: 4 out of the league's original 12 teams have 10 players currently on their roster. Of those 4, the Shock have 5 from their original roster, the Valiant have 5 from their original roster, the Outlaws have 8 and the Fusion have 9.

Yes, he turned 18 in June.

Update:

• Mayhem sign Apply to two-way contract

He's actually so good he just played as six players.

It's fixed now, sorry about the mistake!

No but rouge is "red" in French

This is at LAN. In fact, it will be played on the World Cup stage.

Cyclops managed to win 2 maps without a practiced main tank, Japan is alive and well

I was going off the battlefy page and wasn't sure who tae was, thanks for giving me some background. I'll add him into the article.

patiphan to pound

Update:

• Added D.C. subhead
• WizardHyeong named head coach of D.C., janus first D.C. player

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I think he meant to tag Sephy who is @Selfless_Brad on Twitter.

While Super had historically played main tank, the team had expressed a desire for him to play off-tank when he became of age. Nevix ended up being a better off-tank than Nomy a main tank, so Super went back to playing main tank.

It should be streamed on the listed channel. Don't know why it isn't up yet, maybe some kind of delay happening with setup?

Forgot about him as well. He would be another example of a player that showcased the ability to play multiple roles before Overwatch League but focused on specializing in one once he made it into the league.