In the Mercy + Ratspam meta? I'm not so positive.
The new patch will never arrive soon enough into OWL

Except they don't (e.g. try and check how many non-Koreans would Monte put into the all-star teams)

Why not something like:
Analysts/Caster/Coaches pick the 2 coaches.
The 2 chosen coaches pick let's say 4 men out of 12, the casters/analysts 4, and the people the remaining 4

It ain't even night anymore mate, it's 7 friggin AM! (6 I guess in the UK)

Damn yes it's close, but despite being my least favoruite of the lot (Uprising, Valiant and Huston) I truly believe Huston will make to the playoff with the 2 remaining KO team.

Well VAL attack with more than 5 mins time bank didn't help for sure thou.

Here to see my boys (welll after Fusion and Uprising lol) losing at least one map to the Dragons and not making to the playoff.
3-1 VAL

Edit: wait a sec uNKOE actually smiling?!?! Ok I'm done <3

Great job SFS anyway!
It required Ryujehong to pop off as in good old times for Dinasty to barely win this match.

Totally agree, wish some of these casters knew the players a bit better thou, or at least be able to recognize what's happening in a match, Babybay losing every single duel to Fleta, Nevix performing better than Zunba.

Despite Mr X trying to bring it all back to Babybay again, I have to agree with Uber, Nevix is the one stepping up on SFS (also Nomy tbh).

Wth is happening to Seoul? Are they really tilting so badly?
Losing on Anubis, full held on first point...
Losing on Ilios, never even trying to reset on the 3rd map...

Hmm really hope is something OWL related (stress, or something) and not something serious outside of the game.

GL to the man with a mission!

Imagine if they had to beat each and every team in the open qualifiers... they get'em young and by the time they win the opens, they are of age for OWL. :D

God everytime I see the contenders logo I think of the Outlaws, and Alicus, are we sure he isn't in some way involved also in here? :D

Jokes asides, damn loads of team from Korea, anyone knows something about these 8? Or even just a couple of them?

I honestly would have preferred it mid-season, like in the NBA, probably after the end of the last trading window thou.

Care to explain why thou?

I wouldn't wish to do bad to anyone but some persons I know in real life and have wronged me badly, but very badly, everyone else deserves good wishes mate.

First and foremost, welcome to the forums of over.gg with your first post, that's very well written and even more interesting!

Some of those matches would have been heavy deciders for these first playoffs, Dynasty Vs Fusion, Outlaws vs Valiant, even if considering the other matches for the Spitfires and the Excelsior, they would have been probably decisive only for the 3rd place.

I'd give the win to Dynasty over the Fusion (even if I'm a SBD fanboy) and to the Valiant over the Outlaws, which will probably mean either Dynasty or Valiant would have grabbed the 3rd spot.

I know that in the long term all teams are gonna play eachother so many times that everything will add up, but do we know why they couldn't play all teams during phase 1?

p.s. just 'cause I'm like this, but this is why I love over.gg a galaxy of gems waiting to pop-out of the community <3

I was rooting for map 5 for a reason! :D

No excuses! Mistakes are not accepted!!!

Jokes asides, you guys (in this case you Commander) are simply amazing, the dedication you have for the scene is simply mind blowing! <3

GG Huston!
I don't get what Whooyal finds funny tbh, to laugh his a.. off after a 3-0 swipe.

Well closer match than one might imagine, considering the current state of both teams.
Some signs of life for Florida!

Damn and I so much want to see the map 5 rosters play!!
GG Boston, nice clean victory.

Agree, if nothing changes (some crazy plays) I guess this might be a 3-0

I like it, despise Lunar Colony thou.

That was fast, as much as I like Fragi, he really dies too soon every fight.

I'm still wondering what lead them to believe that introducing another 2CP map was a good idea, but meh... now we finally have a new mode officially in, it took them one year (wasn't during last Chinese New Year they had the CTF in the Arcade modes?), but it's finally here!

Close one, no idea why but I have the feeling NYXL might end up winning this.

London 3-1, if Linkzr doesn't play.
If he plays London 3-2 with a chance of a 3-2 for Huston thou.

In the end London isn't in the state Seoul is.

Aren't both teams american? Or you mean the 1 American player in Boston (who's actually fragging like hell)?

Nice job Commander! And damn are all Italians siding for the same teams Poi? Me to hope for Philly or Boston, even if tehy are the less likely. :D

I usualy believe that in these cases there's a lot of wrong doings on both sides, and with the lack of information we have if I have to side with someone it's usually the weakest party, which I guess means IPN?

But again, whoever you side with and whatever you think, this indeed very sad. :(

Best of luck to all players involved in this!

Mate you are from the USA, you should tell us why. :)

My idea? Well it's very American, as long as there's something indigenous (being them players or organizations), even if they are private, you guys always start cheering "USA USA" when facing against a foreign team.

Guess it's all about nationalism? I don't get it, but trying to explain you (americans) why, won't bring me anywhere. :)

I personally don't chant "ITALIA ITALIA" when the Juventus is playing in the Champions League, as they do not rapresent my country, but a private organization, and a specific City (Torino), that doesn't mean I can't cheer for them vs let's say Real Madrid.

Now I have no idea what the real reasn for Iddqd not playing is, but while it's true using a stable roster has proven good for many teams, that doesn't seem to be working for SFS.

Why not even trying putting the "old" man in?

Who would have guessed? You put uNKOE on Zen and suddenly the Valiant start winning again.

:edit: those map 5 rosters thou :P

I honestly have no clue who alll these guys are, any hint?

Well London Aca...erm Those Guys looked ALMOST like on a different tier tbh.

It's time for both imo, be happy for a new organization (that will likely bring more KO and NA players to OWL) and light a :candle: for one of the top 2 western organizations of the pre-OWL era.

And still no ZP, I know I come out as a ZP fanboy (and I partially am) but this is starting to look insulting. :/

Babysteps, I think with these additions they will at least start to become competitive with all the other teams.
To compete for the top 3 is a different story.

Might be enough to have a single room tbh, is not like there's a mandatory rule for sharing rooms/apartments.

This was indeed a hell of a match, ggs both teams, and gratz FU for the win!

They also picked other players apparently, what worries me more is language, I don't know how common it is for Koreans to actuallly know Chinese, I'm pretty positive is very uncommon for Chinese to know Korean.

You say, there's always English, but then watch all interviews (and not just in Overwatch) of Chinese players, they always have a translator, even for veternas who have been playing on international stages for years.

Variety of maps is helping it (for me) I wanted so much to watch some matches on King's Road for example.

God I should really stop making predictions. :D
EnVision are bringing it!

You guys are both right, but reading a statement like.
"need more girls in esports" are simply invalid ,per se.

What we need is more good players, being the females, males or trans, doesn't and shouldn't really matter, what should define you as professional is not your sex, but what you do (and how good you do it), how you behave and interact with the people around you.

Agree, yesterday enVision managed for a couple of maps to hard focus on Whoru and limit him quite a bit, the problem is ZacahaREEE, unchecked, started popping off.

Eh I'm not a top 500 (barely gold lol), but there are very good female players (not just in OW), one of my friends is a pro player.

Yes ok she's pro in the Italian COD scene, which is not exactely the highest tier of pro esports, but still when you speak to her, she's pretty adamant:

"I will never like having a spot in a top tier team just 'cause I'm a woman, I grinded to get here, I deserve it, I play better than many males but worse than the vast majority of pros in bigger teams, as easy as that"

Buds is playing very good on enVision, it seems that being away from the pro scene for some months hasn't affected him at all.

On that note (enVision), Crimzo, I know he will never be picked up form an OWL team (not now at least) but damn if he's good.

In bocca al lupo dall'Italia!
GL from Italy!

Yeh and it always boils down the usual arguments, when there's only 1 valid one:

Whoever has the skillset and attitude to be part of a pro scene deserves to be in it, REGARDLESS of his/her sex, sex shouldn't make it easier or harder, ever.

Top 3 teams all from group A, guess the groups weren't very balanced? :)

GL to all teams!

That's 'cause I'm an idiot lol, Outlaws I meant. :D