Picasso: Maps are your Canvas

Pablo Picasso is the most influential artist of the 20th century. Demonstrating a plethora of talent at a young age, Picasso was a trailblazer of modern at a young age. Creating a style all his own, he amassed fortune and success. Co-inventor of the revolutionary art movement “Cubism”, he was a creator on and off the canvas. No only did he break the mold, he destroyed it. To do what Picasso did takes a certain eye, that many people argue can not be trained. What we can take away from Picasso’s legacy is that you do not have to conform to what is the “status quo”. The standard does not have to reign supreme, but it will, until someone provides another suitable means of functionality.

Cubism is Picasso’s claim to fame. The act of reassembly with semblance.

What does modern surrealist art have to do with esports? Nothing if you just see art as art. A painting is more then paint on a canvas. It’s a visual story, every stroke, every color palet. There is purpose and meaning behind everything in art. Image an artist as your favorite film director. He hold the pace, tone, and can create emotion. Art is someone's personality personified onto a physical medium, but the message that it leaves is something that anyone can look at and use.

Esports is art.

The story line of an underdog. Powerful upsets from the losers bracket. The amount of diligent work and determination it takes to hone your craft. Rivalries and betrayal. These are things that you can extract from the cornucopia of drama and excitement that is esports. Without a narrative or any form of drama, competitive games would be about as much fun as it is to watch paint dry.

“Art isn't everything. It’s just about everything.” - Gertrude Stein

With recent discourse over the map pools at IEM Gyeonggi and MLG Las Vegas, I tried to see from Blizzard’s perspective why they would not want a “pick ban” system for the map pool. I understand that marketing to the most broad audience is something that sells. Not everyone wants to see Nepal played 75% of the games on any given day, I can understand that. What I can understand however, is that if Blizzard is going to pump the coming “Overwatch League” with millions of dollars, why would you not want to market with the competition in mind? I am not saying to cave and let pro-gamers run your esport, but understanding their needs and wants with correlation to your own is something that needs to happen. “Growing pains” come with any esport, but we need to start learning from the history of esports. Esports and the creative minds of the players and the teams have to find a middle ground.

We are at a pivotal crossroads in Overwatch. The Overwatch League will not control the entire scene, but it will set a standard that all tournaments will have to abide by.

Overwatch is still an infant when it comes to esports. As competitive gaming become more and more mainstream, the longer shelf life of games become. Overwatch, in its current form, lacks a great mind who takes the game and single handedly changes what we deem as “standard”. We do however have people that are taking amazing cracks at what “contemporary” Overwatch could look like in the near future. Utilizing one feature many seem to overlook, underappreciated and not understand its power. Maps are the key to unchaining our first great Overwatch team.

Players and teams are artists, the maps are not only battlegrounds, but a canvas.

Accede the Persona

The personification of a player or team's ideals and game theory is style. In general, stylistic teams have not seen a payday in most esports. Truly great teams or players are stylistic, but within their means. They know where to push the envelope of creative and meta defining play. They know what corners to cut without becoming too greedy. The upside is that a creative and stylistic team can be flexible, they have their own sets of tools that they bring to every situation. Think of them like a swiss army knife. A multi-tool that serves many purposes and is compact enough to travel with. Creativity allows team to think on their own, it grants them a freedom away from conformity.

Granted the game is still young, but each and every team has a style or flair that only they can add. From heavy offense play or a stalwart defense, every team will have its own nuance to foster, for the betterment of the Overwatch scene as a whole.

“An artist is an explorer.” - Henri Matisse

The path of least resistance is both the path most traveled and most understood. A systematic breakdown of the status quo requires patience and frontiersman's jacket. To journey places people never thought existed, to push the boundary of preconceived notion. To truly break the cycle of a “meta-game” you have to think outside the confines of what you understand. First you have to start asking questions, that you may already have solved. Really question matchups of heroes, map preferences, overall strategy, repurpose old ideas within a new form, etc. Not only is creative and innovative play good for the ecosystem, but it is amazing marketing.

Our first truly great team could be a group who not only understands the “what” and the “why”, but has solved the “how”. They understand what the meta is. They understand why it is meta; strength and weakness. But, they also have found the metaphorical “kryptonite” to what is considered standard or “meta”.

Having a style that only you are a master of, is what creates popularity.

The first question you hear when watching a stream or listen to any analysis is: “what their claim to fame is”. Everyone enjoys specialties. Whether you're Miro on Winston, IDDQD on Mcree, or Shadowburn on Genji, everyone loves specialties. Notice that all of the player’s I listed are very note worthy. Now that they have surpassed their peers on certain heroes, the personification sets in and changes the heroes completely. Once you’ve mastered something you start to add your own flair. Embossing it with your own personality is something of a gem in esports.

Creativity is incredibly marketable.

The Trailblazers

This piece is not to say that teams have not been creative, it is to hopeful reach out and foster more artistic visions for future players and teams alike. Certain teams have been very creative in their vision of Overwatch. The more teams break away and really free themselves from the shackles of the “meta”, the more entertaining and interesting narratives that will be lifted from their play.

Very small stylelist details seem to be flushing themselves out as roosters develop and brew over time. As the synergy builds, so does discussion. Discussion leads to possible new perspectives and hopefully creative ones. One such “brew” is Rogue’s Shock and Awe composition on Kings Row versus Flash Lux during Season 1 of the Overwatch APEX League. The composition was: Roadhog, Reinhardt, Widowmaker, Junkrat, Hanzo, and Ana. The name Shock and Awe is the only thing that comes to the forefront of my mind when you pair this comp on the map Kings Row. Using the high ground advantage off the start on offense, they use their superior range and firepower to pop the Reinhardt shield with Hanzo and Widowmaker, while smoking people out with Junkrat grenades. The amount of pick-potential with this line-up is terrifying. My words do not do justice to how interesting and creative this composition is. Not only is it something that no one would think of, but they used the map. I doubt this composition would work off of Kings Row but needless to say, it was incredibly entertaining.

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We find ourself right now in the meta of “Dead Weight”. The tank meta is alive and well currently with the term “Shield Wars” restricting most teams within its tight grasp. During NGE’s Winter Premier tournament, we see our next teams creation.

Ninja’s in Pajamas (NiP) is an legendary, multi platform esports organization. Know for their Counter Strike teams over the years, Overwatch holds no sanctuary from the “NiP Magic”. In Overwatch they deliver us the “Triple Tank” setup. Ideally using the vast health pool, they stick to objectives like glue. Instead of adding firepower to their comp, they use superior defense to push lesser teams to the brink. Again, incredibly innovative and definitely before their time, NiP had an amazing read on the meta before it came into fruition. With the recent patch and buff to D.va more and more teams are adopting this incredibly defensive style of play. Letting the Roadhog deal majority of the damage can be just enough to compliment 3 other tanks. Through the qualifiers for the Winter Premiere, we have seen a plethora of quadruple tank compositions.

NiP is in contention for one of the most influential teams currently in Overwatch. Hopefully we see more NiP magic in the future.

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What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? It has been a question asked throughout the ages. The mighty offense and the valiant defense, face to face. This sets the tone for our next example of creativity in Overwatch. During the NGE Winter Premiere, we may have an interesting answer to NiP’s tank favored meta.

Team Complexity use their brute force and coordination to push the pace. They don’t let the enemy team have any time to breath and remain collected when they push the points. Controlling the pace of a match is something that is hard to do, but when done correctly feels impossible to beat. Having that level of coordination and communication allows for something truly spectacular. Using Zaraya, it enables them to add an extra effective dps to the comp in the form of Reinhardt. After a certain point of ground is gained by the enemy, Complexity Zaraya shields the Reinhardt as they both pull the trigger and charge headfirst into the enemy team. While it takes a large amount of coordination and trust, it is an interesting take on how to deal with the tank meta. Not allowing the enemy to build ultimate charge and sit and poke away at your Reinhardt shield, while also building your own is quite the strategic play, a 2 for 1, one might say.

Team Complexity looks to be a very pivotal team for North American Overwatch. They show potential to be a largely creative team, showing Sombra every now and again. Complexity may have some “magic” up their sleeves as well.

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These are some of the trailblazers that pave the way for the coming creative overhaul on how we are going to see Overwatch in the future. They show individuality and creativity, an understanding of the game on a level the surpases the competition.

Crossroads

Again, we are at a crossroads with Overwatch’s level of creativity. Blizzard is enforcing a mandatory map pool instead of a “pick ban” style of map selection. This can and does impact everything. The issues that plague the game right now is that there isn’t a standard map pool. Every tournament previously has had their own style of map selecting, hopefully moving forward we have more of a standard to base future tournaments off of.

Team need to know very far in advance to learn craft and hone their brew of strategy stew. Once in the kitchen, one of the strategies most potent ingredients is the map. The map does not change. Heroes can be buffed and nerfed, but changing the map is much more difficult. The map is the independent variable. It does not change, we change around it. We flex and meld to the maps and use them as a tool to further impose our personalities inside the game.

“The world is but a canvas to our imagination.” - Henry David Thoreau

Blizzard’s thought process in the map pool debacle, has to be the marketing to the everman. Selling the game to as many people as possible is a great way to push the competitive scene forward into the esports tier lists. But, they have to understand the needs of competition. If players deem certain maps to be uninteresting and just poor, then action should be taken. Whether in the form of a map overhaul or just a predetermined “ladder pool” that Blizzard and team owners decide on with couscle from the players added with developer support.

The solution will iron itself out in time, the problem still lies in the inaction from Blizzard. Players and teams alike have reached out to them for any kind of reconcile with their decision on the map pools and selection process. Hopefully moving forward towards the Overwatch League in the later half of 2017, we see more communication from Blizzard and the players.

Follow the author on Twitter for more at @Volamel .

Source images courtesy of Blizzard.