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Why have Overwatch League’s expansion teams been so successful?

Volamel 2019-02-20 05:18:53
  As we wrap up the first week of the Overwatch League’s second season, one narrative has seemingly led the pack: the expectations and success of the eight new expansion teams. From the post-season analysis to pre-season predictions, this has been the question on the collective mind of the community. After Week 1, I think we’ve seen a brief glimpse at what the future might hold. Eight of the sixteen matches featured in week one were expansion teams playing against some of the original twelve rosters that joined the league during the inaugural season. Of those eight matches, surprisingly enough, the expansion teams have won six of the bouts. And with a light projection after the first week, the first stage should see them winning more than half of their future engagements against the original twelve teams. So, why is it that veteran Overwatch League organizations and talent are being beaten by the new expansion teams? As we trace back the breadcrumbs of success, it seems to point towards one central point with a myriad of branching ideas. As the old adage goes, “all roads lead to Rome”. And in this case, Rome is Overwatch’s academy league, Overwatch Contenders.  

Experience En Masse

  A majority of the expansion teams are built from Overwatch Contenders teams, which have housed a global pool of talent that has been studying and learning a majority of the compositions that have been featured thus far in Stage 1 for months. On the other hand, the Overwatch League teams have had some much-needed rest and relaxation after a grueling first season. Both of these statements can be applied to coaching staffs as well as barring some exceptions. Now, to some degree, I’m sure the Overwatch League teams have studied and practiced the metagame—some teams more than other—but considering that Overwatch Contenders has the conflict of competition—meaning each team wants to perform to the best of their ability to become a top prospect for the league—it forces the teams within it to take the state of the game much more seriously. Much like a gladiatorial arena, Overwatch Contenders is a fight for survival and relevance. One slip and you’re gone. You can say that these expansion teams are more “experienced”, and I’d agree, but experience can, and often does, mean many different things. The term is overused as a very succinct way to explain the differences between the two subjects without having to explain the nuance between the Overwatch League and Overwatch Contenders. The majority of the expansion teams have a previous background piloting some of the compositions that will see playtime throughout Stage 1. This means they’ll understand how each component is modeled as well as how each hero functions within it. However, you can unpack that further to show a deeper level of general knowledge which goes down to an organizational level.  

The Organization’s Conundrum

  The expansion teams have signed many coaches that are heavily experienced in the current metagame, but they are also not hindered by the fact that they already have preexisting talent that is signed. This creates a form of “safety net” for some of the original teams primarily in two different ways: financial and risk aversion - neither of which are bad things, but they should not be accepted as a hard and fast rule. Put yourselves in general manager's shoes for a moment: You’ve just been appointed to become the new general manager of your favorite Overwatch League team and you're tasked with building out the roster for the upcoming 2019 season. You get a large manila folder packed with lists of names. Why should you sign a rookie player, who is an unknown quantity and will generally have a higher market price, when you can extend your existing player’s contract and continue to develop them? You have a great team! The team already has synergy with a majority of your roster and they should be able to pick up on the new metagame, no problem. You also undoubtedly trust in your coaching staff to quickly and efficiently learn the new landscape, just as much as they did last season. Why ruin something that is either good or growing? You can start to see my point and why I’ve been shouting from my soapbox at every possible avenue I could find. Teams need to pick the brains of the players and/or coaches who have played in this environment. Recently, Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham, assistant coach of the Philidelphia Fusion, came out in support for how important it is to have a baseline level of knowledge around the current state of Overwatch. “I have this theory with teams in the Overwatch League,” he said. “If their coaches are really humble, and they understand who understands GOATs, teams should let certain players coach.” He quickly named the Dallas Fuel with rCk, the Atlanta Regin with Massa and the Guangzhou Charge with Kyb as candidates for such an experiment. While bold, I don’t disagree with the logic at all. Expansion teams and many Overwatch Contenders teams don’t know any but the ecosystem we’re are currently in. They have a leg up on the competition, period. They were bred in this environment of tank-centric compositions and resource management. As an organization, ignoring that fact will hurt your season and we’re already seeing this take place.  

Frond Covered Pitfalls

  A handful of the original twelve teams have been swindled by their inner Scooby-Doo villain who’ve caught them in a hole covered by palm fronds. They’re so caught up in solving the mystery of GOATs that they don’t see the same pitfalls that befuddled them in season one, returning in season two. And these holes could be, at the very least, partially filled by some of the top soil from Overwatch Contenders. For example, the Houston Outlaws seems to be perpetually behind the eight-ball. Last season it was their lack of a strong Tracer presence and lack of being able to close out a series. This forced them to innovate and rely on creativity, which can only last so long. This season, it’s their lack of understanding with regards to the GOATs composition that forces a return to the reliance on off-meta picks and creativity to look competitive. I believe this comes from either not drafting players or coaches from Overwatch Contenders. Last season’s champions, the London Spitfire, look to be in a similar position. Last season, they were very slow to adapt to the Widowmaker metagame and looked uncoordinated. This season, they seem to start slow with the tank metagame and look uncoordinated. And surprise surprise, they did not draft a ton of GOATs experience in the offseason. Only Guard comes from Overwatch Contenders and he didn’t play within that metagame. He is a fantastic Sombra specialist but has little to no experience playing publicly in the current metagame. I think it’s a fair criticism to say that we don’t have a large sample size to compare this to, as we’ve only completed one week of season two, but it’s an odd coincidence that teams with a heavy amount of Contenders talent prevailed during the opening week. With that said, there still are some teams from the original twelve that have found success. Take the Philadelphia Fusion, for instance. I didn’t expect them to come out to the level they did, but after close inspection and thought, their success makes sense. The teams have three very talented minds for this metagame. Elk, Hayes, and ChrisTFer all have experience in this metagame and know GOATs very well. It would not surprise me to hear that they’ve imparted their wisdom and a lot of success can be attributed to them. Other teams either didn’t respect that option or just didn’t think of it. Standing opposite of these lethargic teams are some of the expansion teams that had the opportunity to draft players and support staff from Overwatch Contenders. Teams like the Paris Eternal, the Hangzhou Spark and the Atlanta Reign. All of these teams have a good grasp on things currently and are going to cause some serious problems for teams who are struggling to adapt. This begs the question: will week one repeat itself?  

Continued Success?

  At least for Stage 1, I think the expansion teams will do well for themselves. They’re ahead of the curve and many teams are going to have to play catch up. Now, this does mean that we’ll see things either refined or innovated. Meaning, there are going to be a handful of teams that are going to invest the time and resources into GOATs and there are going to be teams that try to find the next best thing to counter it. So as it stands for Stage 1, the expansion teams look to have more experience with the metagame with a similar structure when it comes to supporting staffing; things should go well for them. Now, what if we take this a little further? What if we pose the question to future expansion teams? A lot of these rules and predictions still apply and what needs mentioning is the fact that expansion teams have an exclusivity window where they can sign free agent talent in the offseason. That means they get the brightest minds and the upcoming all-stars that have been studying 2020’s variant of GOATs. Weirdly enough, there are some world-class talents that will be of legal age to compete in the Overwatch League come either late into the 2019 season or during 2020. I am very positive we can revisit this next season and find that a lot of the same things ring true. There is going to be a veteran team that has been slow to adapt and hasn’t acknowledged the experienced talent waiting in the amateur scene. At the very least, there will be a new team that does and looks great because of it. And I’ll still hopefully be here making horrible dad puns and drawing reference to 90’s era cartoons to an audience that raises an eyebrow at the name “Bill Nye.” Thank you for reading, and support your local Contenders teams.
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.
 

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