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Category: Overwatch

T1’s disappointing 2020

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

T1 is one of the most popular esports organizations in the world featuring in almost every esport you can think of. They have many titles to their name, however this year they have had continuous struggles with almost every major esport.

T1’s disappointing 2020 – League of Legends

Starting with League of Legends, T1 had a very disappointing end to the season. In the Spring Split they were performing extremely well, finishing 2nd place in the group stage. Then progressing in the playoffs and winning it all in the Grand Finals versus Gen.G to be crowned champions of Korea for the 9th time.

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Credits: T1

Despite their great start to the year, they could not replicate the same performance in the Summer Split. T1 finished 5th in the group stage which got them in the Wildcard round versus Afreeca Freecs. They lost the match and ended the Summer Split in 5th. They were then given a 2nd opportunity to advance to Worlds via the Regional Finals. T1 had performed really well, up until the Grand Finals versus Gen.G where they got clean sweeped 3-0. Missing the League of Legends World Championship for the first time.

VALORANT

At the start of VALORANT, T1 were one of the most hyped up teams considering they picked up some of the best North American CS:GO players. During the closed beta, and shortly after the game was launched T1 had been dominating the region alongside TSM. Their best placement at an event was at T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown where they got 2nd place, losing to their rivals, TSM.

Skadoodle T credits
Image of Skadoodle
Credits: T1

A few months passed and T1 were only getting worse with every event. This led to the benching of Skadoodle, where coach fRoD had to step in and replace him while they found a suitable 5th. They did not manage to find anyone which fit into the roster, and after another terrible result, T1 released both Crashies and Food. Now, just like 100 Thieves, they are rebuilding the roster with hopes of getting better results. 

Overwatch

They’ve also had a horrible season In Overwatch. In the first season of the Overwatch Contenders in Korea, the team ended the group stage in 3rd place after getting a 100 points with a victory in Week 1. In the playoffs they were against RunAwa y which beat them 3-1, dropping T1 to the loser bracket. There they met with Gen.G which beat them 3-2 and knocked them out of the playoffs, ending the 1st Season in 7th-8th place.

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Credits: Liquipedia

Now in the 2nd Season of the Overwatch Contenders in Korea, T1 have already lost all 3 matches in their group stage and are sitting in last place. Them having a score of -7 clarifies that they will not be progressing forward to the playoff stage, and ending the 2nd season in 9th-10th place.

T1’s disappointing 2020 – What’s next?

As you can clearly see above, their results this year have not been promising; however, every organisation has its ups and downs. T1’s disappointing 2020 should be used as a learning curve for the future. All they have to do is look back, see what went wrong, apply the changes and move on. They will certainly be missed in this year’s League of Legends World Championship, however it will be very exciting to see new Korean teams perform instead.

Make sure you don’t miss out on any important esports news by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com! 

Overwatch League 2020 Playoffs – Preview

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Indeed, the Overwatch League 2020 Playoffs are almost here. They signal the end of the season and the arrival of the Grand Finals. Thanks to the postseason changes, all 20 teams will be involved. Below, we’ll be previewing the playoffs for both regions.

A few differences outline the North American and Asian Playoffs. However, the same outcome will be achieved – two teams making it to the Final Four. Here are some of the differences:

  • Dates – NA (3-13th Sep), Asia (4-13 Sep)
  • Teams – NA (13), Asia (7)
  • Prize – NA ($625,000), Asia ($325,000)
owlfun
Credits: Overwatch League Twitter

Also, both events will be online. In terms of format, the Overwatch League 2020 Playoffs consist of the following:

  • Single-Elimination Play-Ins will slice the competition down
  • A Double Elimination Bracket (4 or 8 teams respectively) will determine the top two seeds

Chiefly, all streams will be available on the Overwatch League YouTube channel. The schedule involves two bursts of gameplay across three days each.

In terms of predictions, we’ve made some already. The main narrative for this season is whether a team from the Asian region can finally claim become World Champion. All eyes are on Shanghai Dragons at Playoffs. Everything is building up to the Grand Finals taking place on October 8-10th.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news.

Sentinels Release xQc – Where to Now?

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Within the competitive Overwatch scene, Felix “xQc” Lengyel is a popular name. The Canadian signed into the Overwatch League in 2019 as streamer/substitute, forming a reputation on streaming platforms such as Twitch. A recent announcement has Sentinels release xQc as per his wishes.

As a former player, xQc played as the Main Tank role for Team Canada while subbing in for both Sentinels and Gladiators Legion at times. In terms of achievements, his most notable are two podium finishes. Both of these were at the Overwatch World Cup. So much so, that the 2017 iteration crowned him as the T-Mobile MVP of the tournament.

Credits: Sentinels Twitter

However, it seems that due to his growing popularity on Twitch, he needs more room to grow. Accordingly, he asked Sentinels to part ways for whatever reason – either another offer from an esports organization or simply to focus on streaming. As Sentinels release xQc, his future is now an open book.

Across his streams he’s taken an open approach to gaming, as a variety of titles are enjoyed and skills tested. The sky seems to be the limit for Felix “xQc” Lengyel.

We’ll keep a lookout as to where he’s off to. For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news.

Overwatch League 2020 Post-Season – Gearing Up

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

After 6 months of competition, the Overwatch League 2020 Post-Season is finally here. In this short article, we’ll be reviewing the regular season while also glancing at the Playoffs. Read on for all the details!

Ending on the 23rd August, the franchised league sorted its 20 teams based on their season performance. Accordingly, each organization played 21 matches to give us our final standings here:

overwatch league standings
Credits: Overwatch League

As we had predicted earlier, Shanghai Dragons are still pushing for an Asian team to be crowned World Champion. However, note that unlike previous years, the top 2 teams from each region will be found through a separate post-season bracket.

Indeed, all teams will progress to post-season due to the change to online mid-season. The Overwatch League 2020 Post-Season will consist of the following Playoff brackets:

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Credits: Overwatch League
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Credits: Overwatch League

The playoffs are to commence shortly, with the first stage kicking off next week. Meanwhile, the Grand Finals have been moved to October.

Overall, the pressure is on. Evidently, the favourites are Philadelphia Fusion and Shanghai Dragons, though a couple other teams are on their heels. Will Shanghai fail to show up? Will a lower team make a surprising run?

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Overwatch League Grand Finals – Moved to October 2020

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

As we previewed earlier, the post-season for Overwatch League 2020 changed somewhat. At that point in time, regional brackets were secured to kick off in September. Now, Blizzard has finally confirmed details for the Overwatch League Grand Finals and All-Stars weekends! Read on for more!

Indeed, viewable here, the press release covers everything. Accordingly, following the playoff stage in both regions, the Grand Finals Weekend will run from October 8-10th. A fully detailed schedule and format is available below:

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Credits: Overwatch League
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Credits: Overwatch League

Chiefly, this is how it will all work out chronologically:

  • September 13th – regional playoffs determine the top two teams from North America and they fly out to Asia. If not possible to play on the same server, something else will be sorted. The top 2 from Asia will wait patiently.
  • September 26th – All-Stars Asia
  • October 3rd – All-Stars North America
  • October 8-10th – Overwatch League Grand Finals with $1.5 million on the line.

Beyond those dates, other details such as prize pool distribution, awarding of the MVP trophy and others are also discussed in the post.

Do note the All-Star days for both regions. Here, fans can vote for players, forming teams which will then play against one another. This bit of fun looks to cool down the viciously competitive atmosphere.

For more news, visit https://www.esportsguide.com/news.

Overwatch League – Countdown Cup Recap

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

To finish off the entire season, the Overwatch League Countdown Cup topped the cake. Indeed, organized by Blizzard Entertainment, an event has held for both regions. Accordingly, 13 rosters from NA and 7 from Asia competed for $275,000 separately. Read on for a short recap.

By all means, the Overwatch League 2020 – Countdown Cup served as a final taste of competition before Playoffs. Chiefly, teams qualified through placings in the season. Firstly, let’s take a look at North America.

owl schedule
Credits: OWL

Overwatch League – Countdown Cup By Region

North America

Here are the 13 teams involved, sorted according to how they finished at the Contenders Cup:

  • 1st – San Franciso Shock
  • 2nd – Philadelphia Fusion
  • 3-4th – Florida Mayhem
  • 3-4th – Paris Eternal
  • 5-8th – Dallas Fuel, Atlanta Reign, LA Valiant, LA Gladiators
  • 9-12th – Vancouver Titans, Houston Outlows, Washington Justice, Toronto Defiant
  • 13th – Boston Uprising
Credits: OWL Twitter

Asia

Correspondingly, the following is how the qualified teams from Asia stacked up:

  • 1st – Shanghai Dragons
  • 2nd – Hangzhou Spark
  • 3-4th – New York Excelsior
  • 3-4th – Chengdu Hunters
  • 5-7th – Guangzhou Charge, Seoul Dynasty, London Spitfire
Credits: OWL Twitter

To explain, the results simply reflect how the entire season has progressed. Hence, both season leaders handily took their respective events.

Will nobody show up against Shanghai Dragons or San Francisco Shock at Playoffs?

For more news, visit https://www.esportsguide.com/news.

Dallas Fuel undergoing massive roster overhaul

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Dallas Fuel have just announced that they will be updating their Overwatch roster for the remainder of the season. The main change for this roster is the departure of both head coach (Aaron “Aero” Atkins) and assistant coach (Louis “Tikatee” Lebel-Wong), this was their statement:

In addition to parting ways with both coaches, the Dallas Fuel management decided to also part ways with one of their DPS players, Jang “Decay” Gui-un. Decay joined the team back in October of 2019 with the hopes of being a stepping stone for the roster for them to start winning championships, however this was not the case.

This is what Envy CEO, Mike Rufail had to say about Decay’s departure:

If you thought that those were the only roster changes being made, you thought wrong. Just yesterday, DPS player Hyeon “EFFECT” Hwang announced his retirement from professional Overwatch. His statement can be found the twitlonger below:

It seems like a lot of organizations and teams are going through a couple of changes in order to assure the best roster for the current state of professional Overwatch. Another example of a team roster change was when SF Shock announced Ta1yo to be one of their main DPS players.

Competitive Overwatch is certainly changing, and obviously this is due to VALORANT impacting professional esports careers, being that it’s a new game, most pros are jumping to it in hopes of having a more successful career in VALORANT rather than their current esport. 
Make sure you don’t miss any important esports news by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com!

Overwatch League 2020 – Reaching the Endgame

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

The Overwatch League 2020 Regular Season is finally reaching its conclusion. Despite, the update on the post-season format, nothing has changed drastically. Read on as we dive into the current standings and predictions for the remaining matches!

Indeed, the entire purpose of the season is to qualify for Playoffs. Here, teams will have the opportunity to fight for a whopping $4,000,000 in prize pool. Although all teams qualify for a Play-In or Playoff, seeding makes a world of difference.

Accordingly, two weeks of matches remain. Let’s take a look at how the standings stack up:

owl standings
Credits: Overwatch League

Storylines and predictions are running wild for the postseason. The former world champions of San Francisco Shock (2019) sit at third place. Meanwhile, Philadelphia Fusion is contesting as the current leaders for North America. However, the main thoughts are behind Shanghai Dragons – will a team from Asia finally be crowned World Champion?

Despite current predictions, everything might just switch up in the final two weeks.

Accordingly, here’s the schedule for the final couple of weeks:

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Credits: Liquipedia OWL

The Overwatch League 2020, despite the switch to online, has barely lost steam. With Playoffs scheduled for 3rd September, this is the endgame – take no placement for granted.

To view matches live, paired with all the necessary statistics and information, visit https://www.esportsguide.com/game/overwatch.

For more esports news, visit https://www.esportsguide.com/.

Overwatch League Post-Season Format Changes

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Last year, the Overwatch League Playoffs were held a week following the Regular Season. Accordingly, only the top 4 teams took part. However, for the Overwatch League Post-Season in 2020, the format is changing!

To continue, with roughly 3 weeks of competition left, the format has changed. The announcement was made in video form on Youtube, as viewable below:

Credits: Overwatch League YouTube

In summary, all the action will kick off a month after the regular season starts. Specifically, on September 3rd, the two regions will be split into two brackets.

Respectively, seeding and choice will correspond to seasonal placings. Naturally, the higher seeds have earned an advantage in this regard. Following two weeks of action, the top 2 from each region would be obtained.

Finally, it will all come down to a double-elimination bracket between the final four. For the most part, the tournament will be online. However, the top two North American teams are flying out to compete against the Asian rosters!

The 2020 Overwatch League Post-Season Format all boils down to $4,000,000 of prize. First place earns a whopping $1,500,000.

Viewable through YouTube, learn more through the original post.

For more news, visit https://www.esportsguide.com/.

SF Shock Ta1yo, the first ever Japanese player to be signed in the history of OWL

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

San Fransisco Shock have just announced that they will be signing the first ever Japanese professional player in Overwatch League history. SF Shock’s newest player is none other than Sean “Ta1yo” Henderson, one of the best Hitscan players in the game. Here is their announcement:

Overwatch experience

Ta1yo has been playing overwatch since mid-2017 and has played under numerous organizations and teams, some of them being: CYCLOPS athlete gaming, JUPITER, and most recently Third Impact. Ta1yo is mostly known as a Hitscan specialist and he will be replacing Minho “Architect” Park in that role.

Credits to Blizzard
Credits: Blizzard

Achievements

His biggest accomplishments in the past 3 years of Overwatch are as follows:

It will definitely be exciting to see how the SF Shock roster will adapt to their new addition. Make sure you don’t miss the action by keeping yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for all your latest esports news!