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"Killing off" all local scenes and tournaments is not the way to go for Esports, not if they want to last, as some pointed out even back then.

Creating the OWL was the right choice of course, what wasn't "right" was smothering all local non-OWL/Contenders related scenes and tournaments.

Doesn't matter how poor (quality wise) they migh be/have been, using Rito's model as a reference was a huge bet, one most likely to fail.

Riot and Blizzard (Activision Blizzard) are 2 very different companies, one succesfull thanks to their esport related game the other having it "just" as one of their various succesfull IPs.

The scene slowly dies out (less and less players play the game at high level) and the company won't keep investing into it because, well... it becomes more of a cost rather than revenue.

That said yes a pity OWL ended in a onesided wipe. :(

Contracts are running out, this past season wasn't too hot for Phillie, so it's a good chance to shake it up.

Imo they are looking for a more Korean team, so Carpe can be happy. :P

As for EQO, I would be shocked if no other team would pick him up, even if I think his requests might be high for some teams.

Still one of my fav players, the skill, the attitude...
Best of luck to him hopefully we'll be able to see him play a bit more!

Oof the Shocks are on fire...

I willbe able to watch it, but it never stops to amaze me how some (and yes I mean some not all and not most) people in the States perceives the world.

Here we are speaking of a league that wants to be international, and will probably be form next years.

A league that's made at 70% of players who are not from NA.

Implying that the biggest number of viewers is form NA is I'd bet to say quite wrong, to be honest I believe that summing up China, Korea and Australia, which can work around lower different time zones, you'd probably get more viewers.

The answer "find a better job" then is imo simply stupid, you either don't have one (too young or too rich), or are very lucky and had your job fall on your lap to say something like that, jobs that will leave you free the whole morning usually aren't "good" jobs, but are shift jobs.. which means you work unholy hours to get that morning off.

Considering the overall level of OWL (mainly Korean) I don't know how long he could have lasted (e.g. Fragi etc...), but he was probably THE one EU player who imo didn't get a chance while he should have, season 1 or 2, a pity.

Best of luck to him, for sure Contenders will miss an amazing player this coming season. :(

A rare Nevix appears, and it still looks cool.
SFS looking on point also with their team B.

Should be a win for London, Atlanta didnt play any strong team this stage

Damn fond memories of the Warriors (Osh-Tekk ones I mean), guys were playing really well and also very VERY friendly in chat after lost matches.

Good luck to KSAA!

Maybe next season, but I'd honestly change also some players.

Chubz: He's either very unlucky or not as good as most people think he is, one of the worst track records of all EU Tanks.
Asking: I really love the guy, loved his time with 6nakes, but since he went to NA...
Slur: Ex0rath imo was better

The rest is good, but I guess if you drop Chubz TEK36 will follow?

All in all, I didn't like the announcement of this new roster, "let's go full FR for communication" then the got a Brit as flex support.

They actually performed worse than with the previous roster... also and this is really VERY personal (being me Italian), relegating one of the best EU DVAs (not already on big teams) to streamer was bad.

I was tempted by Twilight, but... Guxue ftw tbh, the guy is a beast.

Welcome back mate, and why change that title? Is a perfect jebaited one. :)

Shangai looking nuts, if Phillie is still in this match gotta thank Boombox.

oh well that explains a lot, still funny stuff. :)

Funny but weird moment, is this not live?

If Carpe starts losing Widow's battles (gj Corey btw) I see it grim for Phillie. :/

Also, I get it he doesn't want to have Fragi in the team, and probably by now Fragi is completly wahsed up, but Sado ain't a great tank.

Are they playing this in the morning? :O

When you have a home team, literally "home" hurts criticizing it, but... wasn't very hyped about the "let's go all French so communication's easier, but stick in it a Brit"

• Tek36 is a good DVA, not better than DragonEddy thou, I'd say they are on the same level more or less.
• Chubz, ain't better than Mowzassa hasn't won nearly as much as the banana king, to be honest has a pretty poor track record, he might be just unlucky but that's a fact.
• Asking... no idea I have a soft spot for the dude, but he ain't popping off like he used to do in 6Nakes anymore.
• Dridro... is Dridro and the only one left of the team that won the Angry Cup in 2018.
• Slur and Khegasi, good but never got me excited

Yes I'm a "little bit" butthurt, sorry :)

GG HSL thou good win!

Ошибки were made, but he's back.

He came back to EU for some holidays and maybe didn't feel like going back to NA?
Saying this just 'cause of all the tweets he posted about being with his mum, taking time off, etc...

How can you not like Kariv?
Give him a team that doesn't bicker, that plays him and others on their role and you got a good team.

What's amazing is that summing up all DK people you get to 5-6mill... less than London?

Leaves us poor ITA guys some crumbs, that's the only place we can see our flag in OW. :)

Logix back into OWL Kreygasm
And finally Mangachu gets a shot!

also...

Thank you Mr Logix

Let's go HSL! :)

https://youtu.be/m3EV8lDvcoI

Gotta love casters that on a 2-1 for Hurricanes hope they will win... sigh

GG SMS, this was a nice match. :)

From a purely fun point of view I don't see too many issues besides how this gets implemented (e.g. role queue means way longer queues, no matter the numbers involved), as in the end everyone surely has an hero (or more) he/she likes to play, this should make it easier to actually play them and not being forced on something you might be even good at but really don't want to play.

From a competetive point of view... well the opposite, but then it's again a personal issue you'd still be free to decide if you want to have more fun (while still trying) on your fav heroes, or if you ONLY want to win no matter what, then nothing would changed compared to how the game is right now.

In the end this won't remove trolls/throwers/OTPs, it will only remove GOATs, and that's why I'm neither happy nor mad about this change... Maybe it's 'cause I'm not a DPS player.

Last point I have is a very personal opinion... I have the feeling this will lead to longer periods where a meta isn't established (unless OWL and other heavily organized teams will actually spend time trying to create/mold one), but once there the new metas will be even harder to break, so not so sure this is an improvement.

Oh I honestly don't know how to take this...

The guy could surely be a beast, so it's of course sad to see him leaving the OWL.

On the other hand in hindsight (ikr?) one could see something like this coming considering his roster movements and where he ended up.

I only hope for him this wasn't actual "Burn out" but rather a conscient decision to move forward before getting there, as it's always very hard to get out of it. :(

I'm not a fan of the guy (as a player, not as a person), but this is some very shitty stuff...

Happened to me only once, but was more than enough, besides the obivous huge economical issues it also affects you at another level, even more so if your professional life brings you to live abroad. :(

Best of luck to him and his gf

it will eventually get introduced to competitive ladder, which is healthy for the game. 2-2-2 allows for role queue, which allows for a more stable ladder system.

True, but how long will the queues be?
I totally agree forcing everyone to stick to 2-2-2 in comp OW would be a solution to weird/unfun matches on the ladder, but opens a lot of other possible issues.

Is the 2-2-2 lock going to be enforced at a queue level? That might probably be the better option, but leads to potential gargantuan queues.

Is it only at character selection screen? Won't fix anything, people that doesn't want to play a different role will either quit the match (so back to queue issue) or throw (intentionally or via bad plays)

But aren't they just talking about OWL?

My question is do pro players (as a whole) really dislike playing GOATS? Or is it "just" DPS players, which means 1/3 of the pros?

That said they are doing it for the viewers, as apparently people can't follow what happens in 3-3 and so don't enjoy it?

I'm personally tired of GOATS, but the same way I was tried of the Mercy meta or the dive one, metas become stale after a while, but imo you don't fix them by introducing hard locks like this one.

I agree with Farsil, why not introducing a banning system which has been missing for years, both heroes and maps?

A pity. :(

Sado's Rei is really not good enough for this level of GOATS, and Carpe on Zarya simply doesn't carry as much as on DPS. :/

Chinese Dot... erm OW

Twilight carries this team like a beast, I mean they are all good but without him they'd be no near as good as they are.

Why thou? Management is clearly the strong point of the Mayhem...

Very very nice of Blizzard to make a rewind brodcast of 2018 OWL during EU Contenders... nice move Kappa

The flag meta is back!

Will this be the right move?
I honestly don't know this player much, but best of luck to him, he'll need it.

Buds whatever pogu!!!

Well at least we got Blase's Doomfist :)

Also football-like jersey for Phillie?

:/

Paris has finally found its Zarya player looks like.
Florida... well is Florida.

EDIT: of course as soon as I post something... Paris starts throwing. LUL

Ain't even fun to watch, and yes I know a lot of people likes to watch dominant teams, sadly I don't. :/
GG Titans I guess.

Oof the downvotes for wanting to see Fragi play...

As for Carpe, he'll eventually step up again... eventually.

They also imo need to improve target focusing.
I know they were against the Titans, but oh my... I was almost triggered, so many fights they could (and should) have won and yet you could see 3-4 Titan's health bars getting chunked at the same time.

Wish they at least tried Fragi (if he's still around) in the end the team who's at the top has a tank that plays the same way.

But I guess if your carry doesn't feel comfortable playing with you, it's bench time.

Uhuh you make "joke" picks 'cause you are sure you're gonna win anyway... worked well on Paris.