As the first portion of the North American Overwatch Contenders Season 0 wraps up, let’s take a look at some of the more prominent storylines coming out of both days of the open qualifiers. 380 teams competed in an open bracket format, where only the top eight teams would advance and play for seeding into the playoff group stage. From then on out, each of the 16 teams who qualify plays for a shot at the $50,000 prize purse. Coming out of the first open qualifier, day one gave us upsets of tournament favorites and challengers rising to the occasion. Overwatch Contenders Day One definitely lived up to its name. Here is just a few of some of the awesome storylines that are starting to develop early on in Season 0.

Many pundits could look at this group stage and count on Selfless Gaming, but it was a shock to many that they placed so poorly in the group stage on day one. A team that had yet to finish 3rd in any online tournament, now relegated down to 5th-8th place? The team that was consistently taking Rogue to the brink, looked a bit lost and disjointed. Such an aggressive team focused around momentum and pressure, just seemed deflated. It was definitely an odd showing from Selfless Gaming, but that does not take away from their skill.

Even with their lackluster performance during day one of Overwatch Contenders they still are considered “contenders” in their own right. The North American powerhouse will surely come into the second phase of group play with something to prove. They want to show that everyone has off days and that Selfless, as a team, is going nowhere. The want to cement their position and remind everyone of their dominant win streak of 35 wins in a row and winning eight tournaments back-to-back that ran last February. Just to solidify how talented this roster is we need to only look at Dafran.

Selfless Gaming’s Soldier 76 all star, Daniel "dafran" Francesca is touted as one of the best currently. LG Evil’s Jake "JAKE" Lyon had this to say on Dafran’s skill at the character, on a past episode of the Around the Watch Podcast: “Personally, in my opinion, I think Dafran is the best Soldier [76] player in the entire game — bar none. I don’t think there is even a player who makes me even think twice about that.” One day of questionable play should not discount your thoughts on Selfless, they still are incredibly strong. The only worry is now with Dafran out of the team with his recent slap on the wrist, how will Selfless do without one of its all stars?

FNRGFE is a ragtag group of individual players from three different defunct Overwatch teams. Consisting of former members of Fnatic, NRG, and Gale Force Esports they all share their competitive drive that also stems from other FPS games. Almost all of the players have a strong background in other competitive FPS titles, like Team Fortress 2. Lead by Team Fortress 2 veterans Enigma, Clockwork, and Muma, this team has some serious firepower. If they can come together and gel well as a team, they pose a serious threat to some of the North American staples.

With that strong leadership and competitive drive, the players all banded together for one last shot at Overwatch — and it paid dividends. With their outstanding performance throughout the first day of the open qualifiers, FNRGFE placed 3rd-4th, upsetting the likes of NRG Esports and Selfless Gaming. They even went so far as to take a game off of eventual first place seed FaZe Clan. To say that they are “contenders” is an understatement.

FNRGFE is without a doubt my darkhorse pick moving forward. Given the amount of time this team has had to practice together, along with the power of the competition that they beat, speaks for itself. They have all the keys to their own success, but they have to commit to it. They have to continue to show up, day in and day out to really make a case for themselves moving on and into the Overwatch League.

Since MLG Las Vegas of last year, we have not seen FaZe Clan perform up to the level that they could. Sporting a new and revamped roster with Lui "Lui" Olivares, Joe "Joemiester" Gramano, and Alexandre "SPREE" Vanhomwegen. With George "ShaDowBurn" Gushcha at the helm, the team looks to return to glory in Season 0 of Overwatch Contenders. Technically speaking, the last tournament that they won was back in October of last year playing in the Overwatch Monthly Melee. They don’t “win” much of anything from the open bracket, but it proves a point. It proves that FaZe does have what it takes and can perform despite their disadvantages. On their way to the final, they took down; Team Liquid, You Guys Get Paid? (YGGP?), FNRGFE, and finally FaZe Clan defeated Luminosity Gaming Evil in the Grand Finals.

FaZe Clan advances out of the first day of the Overwatch Contenders and has solidified the first seed moving forward into the second stage of the group play. What is interesting about this roster is the sheer amount of raw mechanical skill that they have at their disposal. Yes, they do have an amazing Genji player in ShaDowBurn, but everyone else on this roster can hold their own -- and then some. They need to dig deep because if they can, FaZe has a serious shot at making a deep run into the first technical season of Overwatch’s developmental league.

Having a storied history in many other games, FaZe Clan and its roster look to make it to LAN. A handful of players still plays from the Europe, which makes it infinitely harder than if they were all playing from North America. If they can show that they, as a team, have what it takes they definitely will make some upsets once the Overwatch League rolls around and hopefully the offline portion of Season 1 of Overwatch Contenders.

Day two began with almost 300 new unique teams and a few teams that did not quite make the cut on day one, one such team was Immortals. Day one did not go as planned for Immortals, as they made a deep run, but fell just short of qualifying. With sharp losses to the ex-Denial Esports roster and Yikes, Immortals leaned on day two of the open bracket to show their metal. Can Immortal’s regain their consistency with their new roster or will they find it hard to adapt?

Partially the reason for their poor performance, relative to their skill, is because their new additions to the roster had just flown in that day from South Korea. Park Young "KariV" Seo and Koo "Fate" Pan-Seung from the upstart APEX roster, Might AOD, had been signed earlier that week. Day one was not the best showing for them, but they definitely made up for it during day two. Something that resonated with me, is a quote that I support player and Immortals in-game leader, Verbo had said in an interview for the Immortals website. His final message to his readers and his fans was, “ I want to show people they can do anything.” This is the evergreen optimistic attitude that Immortals as a team will need now that they have two non-English speaking members on their team.

Kariv and Fate both came from a very solid team. Many people looked at Mighty AOD and didn’t think too much of them, but if you watch their gameplay it’s incredibly diverse. We all know the highlight reel that Kariv put up on Widowmaker, but he actually was the support player for Mighty AOD and would flex around with his teammates. Fate, on the other hand, is not so flexible but is incredibly strong on his role as the main tank. So, much so, that he has Lunatic-Hai’s main tank, Gong "Miro" Jin Hyuk respect. Even with some Korean all-stars joining the ranks, the question still stands; can the consistency of Immortals continue with the investment of their Korean Imports or with the communication barrier hinder their team play too much?

Team Liquid is an interesting bunch. They are comprised of veterans spanning across multiple FPS backgrounds. Coming from Quake, Counter Strike, and even Team Fortress 2, this Team Liquid roster rounded out day two of the open bracket squeaking by at 7th place and granting them safe passage into the second phase of group play. I don’t have the credentials to speak for or against Team Liquid, so I reached out to Overwatch Contenders caster, Robert "hexagrams" Kirkbride for a quick comment on the team.

I started off our quick chat, asking about what he thought the consistency issue was or if they were just a slow starter. “Well, that's the question with Liquid that I think they've been trying to answer, which may be the reason they went out and got a new coach. I think they are as confounded by their inconsistency as everyone else; it literally makes no sense.” Hexagrams answered back in a thoughtful tone. He has been outspoken about his support for the team, but even he can’t place his finger on where or what the team needs to do to remain consistent.

However, Hexagrams did hint at something that viewers should keep their eyes on. He spoke to the cautious praises of AZK, Shadder2k, and ID stating; “...the early indicators of how well [Team Liquid] is playing are generally the DPS. Obviously, Shadder2k has big moments, but sometimes he has just as many bad blades. Is AZK being somewhat quiet? Is ID 'on' as Pharah?” The offensive threat seems to be where Team Liquid lacks consistency, they can be explosive, but that flame starts to flicker at times. When I asked him about the potential of the team, he was quick to reassure me that they definitely have potential. “Team Liquid plays everyone close, and with Overwatch being a game of inches, they could easily do very well.”

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLG’s 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, FaZe Clan, Immortals, Team Liquid, and Selfless Gaming.