Winstrike Team is an esports organization that does not share in the same legacy or clout as some of the other endemic esports leaders, but with their 3-4th place finish in the Overwatch Contenders Europe Season 2, they’ve made a strong leading statement. The core of the roster is made up of CIS Hope, last year’s 3rd place team in Season 1 of Overwatch Contenders Europe. Winstrike Team’s new head coach and former player for Wizards Esports Club and Wind an Rain, Ilias “iLka” Kaskanetas sat down with Esports Heaven to delve into his coaching philosophy, ways to improve the European Overwatch scene, and his thoughts on Hammond and the new Sombra changes. ______ Winstrike Team has been the most recent organization to step into the amateur scene in Europe. If there is going to be an expansion team for the Overwatch League in Europe, do you think they should have to sign an academy team? In my opinion, if there was a full European Overwatch League team, they should gather the best of [the] European talent. Either the best team of European Contenders or individual talents. I would not want to see a team get signed because of the “name” or social standing they have. Would it also help if Overwatch League teams could sign and compete in foreign Overwatch Contenders leagues? For example, if the Los Angeles Valiant signed 6nakes and wanted to stay and compete in Europe. I could picture with more long-term capital invested into the region other investors might be more interested. What is your take on improving the situation in Europe? In order to have a better environment in Europe, we either need more Overwatch League Academy teams signing European [talent] and staying and competing in European Contenders or [have] a complete makeover of the sponsorship restrictions which is currently leading to organizations ignoring the Overwatch esports scene. Something that I’ve always wanted to ask a coach was how you as a professional deal with the respect of your players. It feels like support staff are given enough time after a big loss before players tend to want to change up the roster from the top down. How have you or how will you approach instilling meaningful concepts in your players to try and maintain their respect through losses? Is that something as an in-game leader that you’ve had to overcome as well? A loss is always hard. What comes after that varies depending on the current situation of the team. For example, in our case, we are in a spot where we just got signed and are expected to have an even greater future moving forward, so it is almost in no need of discussion. I have encountered in the past a loss which lead into a roster revamp. How I dealt with that as an in-game leader was, to give some time to everyone and then make sure to know who I want to keep and move on with and who is out and then finding new fits without prolong tryouts because I feel like there is huge demotivation behind constant tryouts. Thinking about some of the lessons you’ve learned from being an in-game leader, do those same concepts still apply to be a coach of a team? Definitely. Being an in-game leader and player has helped me more than anything in my coaching position because I have had a bunch of coaches around me and I could acknowledge who helps, who is there for me and who is just simply an extra stress and a negative part of our roster. So I am basically using this experience to help my players develop, be there for them and encourage them through the bad days, which mentality obviously is of tremendous importance in the eSports industry. If you don’t mind I’d like to pick your brain a bit on how you view Hammond. A point that was made recently was that Hammond tends to telegraph when a dive is about to engage with his Grappling Claw. Do you agree with this sentiment at all? If so, do you think that with more practice there can be more mind games added in so that the enemy team can’t brace for the impact of the dive and potential thwart it? Although it might look very predictable and easy to play around, his fast movement and the way he is able to flank makes up for this disadvantage. For example, you could be rolling around in the enemy backline and appeared suddenly, [impair] the enemy and then use the grapple to reach back to your team fast enough. Of course, with more practice, I am expecting more strategic development and smart usage of the hero. He is definitely going to shake things up moving forward and I cannot wait to see him mastered. In a few different regions, we’ve seen Winston and Hammond become interchangeable depending on the map. We’ve also seen quite a bit of triple DPS with a Hammond carrying the weight as the sole tank option. When it comes to practice, are these things that have been happening in Europe as well? If so, what changed to allow a more aggressive metagame? Well, you have probably noticed how Europe is heavily dependant on tank play. In Europe Hammond is used in a completely different perspective, more of a 3-3 counter or a tank addition into your tank lineup. An example is a composition I have repeatedly seen in [practice] has been Winston, D.Va, Hammond. People use it to make quick dives with Speed-Boost or the Reinhardt, Zarya, Hammond - a more tanky composition revolving around Hammond creating opportunities in the backline of the enemy team. So, I am certain that the NA-EU differences will still apply with Hammond in play. It seems like Sombra’s permanent stealth has caused a bit of controversy. Before we dive into her, tell me some of your thoughts on her new rework? Sombra’s latest “rework” is indeed spreading positively and quiet quickly. From a flanker that goes for the typical support one-clips, she is now a tool that people are using to scout for information and work around the enemy’s compositions or movement. This can be compared to the MOBA map “warding” where you want to control as much vision possible before making any move/play. She is in a good spot and definitely a completely different hero in terms of playstyle. From that, it feels like Widowmaker and Hanzo still have a ton of value in that sense because they give some much information and they can possibly scout out the enemy Sombra. Do you think Widowmaker or Hanzo will become ‘must pick’ heroes due to Sombra’s oppression? If not, where else do you think people can look for a counter? I know there has been talk of Sombra being able to hunt the opposing Sombra’s Translocator prior to a dive, but I’m interested in your take on this issue. How does Winstrike deal with Sombra? There are a couple of ways you can deal with her current invisibility. The most efficient one is to go all paranoid and have your D.Va or Tracer or any sort of hitscan of that sort shoot as much air as possible in hopes that you will reveal her. Yes, you can work around the translocator but as mentioned above, you really need to make sure that the “free” information scouting is denied as early as possible with a reveal. About our lovely snipers, they still are in an “OK” place, but with the hitscan changes and the added cooldowns on their mobility skills I am expecting a lesser pick rate and more diverse team compositions with hitscan heroes such as McCree or Soldier 76 involved. In your most recent match against Angry Titans, everything seemed fairly close up until Rialto. Could you talk about what happened after the win on Temple of Anubis? Where did things not line up properly? We were indeed toe to toe against them until Rialto. I would not put the blame into a specific reason, it was more of a “they felt the game more” situation. They came in hot and they looked much more restricted and collected, our individual mistakes was what lost us Rialto which is also a map that we look a bit shaky on. We could not adjust in terms of hero counter picks or face them in a 3-3 vs 3-3 matchup. Overall, they were the better team and a well deserved victory and LAN Qualification for them. _____ Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel. Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.