The preseason for Overwatch League, the biggest tournament for Overwatch eSports fans, will soon start on December 6th. The preseason matches will be held as exhibition matches, with the results not included in the actual team scores. Nevertheless, it will be a great opportunity for all teams to get a feel for the competition and see how good they are.
A total of 12 teams will be playing in the 1st season of the Overwatch League, which will be divided into two divisions, Atlantic and Pacific, with 6 teams in each. They will be playing against one another within their own division and against teams in the other division. Once the top teams for each division are decided, they will be playing against one another in the playoffs.
This indicates the need for each team to seize the initiative against one another during the preseason, since they will be competing for the rankings. With the players all fighting for their own aspirations in this preseason, many Overwatch fans will be watching with great expectations.
Here is the analysis we did on the teams in the Atlantic Division, which includes Team Boston, Florida, Houston, London, New York, and Philadelphia.
▶ The Schedule for the Overwatch League Preseason
December 6th, Thursday (PDT)
16:00 Florida Mayhem vs San Francisco Shock
18:00 Los Angeles Valiant vs San Francisco Shock
20:00 Seoul Dynasty vs Shanghai Dragons
December 7th, Friday (PDT)
14:00 Los Angeles Gladiators vs London Spitfire
16:00 Dallas Fuel vs Houston Outlaws
18:00 New York Excelsior vs Boston Uprising
December 8th, Saturday (PDT)
(Matchups based on results from matches on 6th and 7th)
16:00 Not decided yet
18:00 Not decided yet
20:00 Not decided yet
December 9th, Sunday (PDT)
(Matchups based on results from matches on 6th and 7th)
11:00 Not decided yet
13:00 Not decided yet
15:00 Not decided yet
▶ Boston Uprising - First match against their rival, New York, will be quite a spectacle
Boston Uprising is comprised of 3 DPS, 2 Flex, 1 Tank, and 4 Supports, which makes 10 players in total for their roster.
After it was announced Striker, who was a former member of ROX Orcas in South Korea, and Kalios, a former member of Afreeca Freecs, Neko from RX Foxes, and Gamsu from CONBOX were joining, the team gained a lot of attention from the Overwatch fans, since each of the players displayed extraordinary performance during Overwatch APEX.
Along with these players is another player worth noting: Mistakes, who displayed great Tracer play during the Overwatch World Cup in Team Russia. Nothing certain can be said about Team Boston yet since the rest of the team has only played in pro teams for NA and other regional leagues so far.
Boston Uprising will be playing in their first match on December 7th, the 2nd day of the preseason matchups, against New York Excelsior. This matchup will be a great opportunity for Boston Uprising to show what kind of a team they are. It will certainly be exciting to see what kind of strength Boston will bring to their battle against New York.
▲ An official video of Huk, the manager for Team Boston, introducing their team roster.
▶ Florida Mayhem - Misfits, one of EU’s strongest team, will they be OK with just 6 players?
Florida Mayhem is a team with 2 DPS, 2 Flex, and 2 Supports; this makes them the only team in the league with 6 players in their roster. They are also the team with players from Misfits, one of the best EU Overwatch pro teams.
Along with the players, the team also has the head coach from Misfits. It seems that the team doesn’t recruit additional players like other teams, in order to keep the established team synergy intact.
Although they may have the smallest roster, looking at their players one by one will convince anyone that Team Florida is indeed another powerful team with skilled players: from TviQ, Mannaten, CWoosH, and Zebbosai, former members of Team Sweden for OWWC, Zuppuh from Team Finland, to Logix, who has been great with his Tracer plays in NA comps.
However, having only the minimum number of 6 players to play during the year-long league in 2018 has made some fans feel understandably insecure. After all, this means that all players will have to play at their very best without having any problems like injuries or slumps caused by meta changes. It has yet to be seen how well this team will be able to keep playing at their best.
▶ Houston Outlaws - An aggressive team comprised of high-value players
The Houston Outlaws are comprised of 4 DPS, 2 Flex, 1 Tank, and 3 Supports, which makes 10 players total. A notable feature of this team is the 4 DPS players; this abundance of DPS, along with the optional DPS from their flex players, makes the team a very aggressive threat.
With JAKE, who has made his name well-known through his excellent performance in the Overwatch World Cup, Mendokusaii, who has not ceased to play well since his time in C9, Clockwork, who is known for his greatness with hitscan heroes, and LiNkzr, who has been a star player in the EU- each one of their DPS players has been known for their great skills, which means that the team will be able to play with a high degree of flexibility, since they have several attack options.
Their power does lay with their DPS alone, as their tank and support are formiable as well- coolmatt and Rawkus were great as D.Va and Zenyatta back when they were playing in the Overwatch World Cup. Houston has players with great name value, since the rest of their players are also from Faze Clan and FNRGFE, the teams that were outstanding NA teams.
In addition, since they have two Korean coaches, including Tairong, a champion from previous World Cup, they will be able to learn the play styles and strategies of Korean players, while learning how to counter them as well. This could serve as a large power boost for a non-Korean team.
▲ Official trailer for Houston Outlaw’s roster.
▶ London Spitfire - Put the 1st winning team and 2nd team from APEX together and you get team London
It’s London Spitfire- the famous London team made by C9 that ironically has no Londoners in it and is instead made up of 12 Korean players. Though people might be quick to see the team as a ironic punchline, they are too a powerful team to be rendered as a mere joke.
First, their players are from GC Busan and KonDoo Panthera, two teams that have great careers built in Overwatch APEX, which has been known as the league with the highest performance. GC Busan and KonDoo Panthera were placed 1st and 2nd in that league, proving their greatness.
Each team had a history of great performance, and as Team London chose to recruit most of the players from each team, it literally became a team of KonDoo Panthera and GC Busan put together. Additionally, Fury from Rhinos Gaming joined the team as a flex and NUS from Meta Athena joined as a support, making it 4 DPS, 2 Tanks, 2 Flex, and 4 Supports in the team.
This team has skilled players that stood in the spotlight of the Korean Overwatch pro scene for each of their roles. If they develop a synergy that can further strengthen their individual prowess, the team will truly become a force to be reckoned with.
▲ London Spitfire’s official trailer for their roster
▶ New York Excelsior - Players hungry for official matches, will they be able to take Boston as their first prey?
New York Excelsior is another team made up entirely of Korean players. Similar to Team London, the players for New York are from LW Blue, a team that was in the top of the APEX league. One of the players from LW Blue, Fl0w3R, didn’t make it to the league due to the age limit.
In addition, Libera, the ace for Meta Athena, has been recruited as DPS, while JJonak, who is well-known for his top Ana plays, and Ark from LW Red joined as supports, completing the 8-player roster.
LW Blue players didn’t have much opportunity to show their skills since they withdrew from APEX as they joined NYXL. Meanwhile, Saebyeolbe, Mano, and Fl0w3R from LW Blue were selected as the representatives for OWWC, an opportunity which allowed them to display all their skills and eventually win the competition.
As for the rest of NYXL, they must be craving a chance to prove themselves in the league since they haven’t had the opportunity to do so. They will be expected to come completely prepared for their first matchup against Boston Uprising on December 8th.
▲ The official trailer introducing the NYXL roster
▶Philadelphia Fusion - Multinational all-star team with 6 players from OWWC!
Philadelphia Fusion has 3 DPS, 2 Flex, and 1 Tank, and 4 Support, making it 10 players in their roster. They also have snillo from OWWC’s Team Sweden and SADO, who got suspended for 30 matches due to boosting, moved to their inactive roster.
This team has players from different nations, and is yet another NA team that has no NA players. However, they have immensely skilled players from all over the world, making them a team that should not be easily overlooked.
They have ShaDowBurn, a Russian player with the world’s best Genji, and 6 players that played for their country in OWWC. It would be easier to view this team as having players who have proven their skills in their own countries on their team. In addition to this, Carpe, who has been playing in the top comp ranks in NA, HOTBA, and Dayfly each joined the team as DPS, Flex, and Support respectively.
Fans should definitely look for to this team’s performance, as each player is known to be skillful. The fact that they only have one professional player as tank in their current roster may make the team seem unstable, but their flex players can certainly manage as sub tanks, making it less of a problem.
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