An Outlaw is criminal that has vacated all aspects of legal protection, quite literally operating “outside” of the “law.” And somehow, someway Chris "Bani" Benell was roped into this string of heists, stealing the hearts and minds of droves of Overwatch fans. Bani was only a cog in the machine, one of many fugitives that commandeered a runaway train on course for success and glory. He was the mastermind of the plan; a small Outlaw from Canada, wise beyond his years.

These are the records of his journey thus far.

Into the Saloon

As a support player for the Houston Outlaws, he traded the long stretches of tundra in Canada for the dry and desolate landscape of Texas. His journey to the top mimicked his peers and predecessors in some ways, but in others, it was vastly different. Bani began to test his competitive nature going all the way back to 2007-2008 where Blizzard’s hit MMO, World of Warcraft, had just released its newest expansion; the Burning Crusade. Within his first season of competitive arena play, Bani was able to reach nearly the top of the leaderboards with surprising ease. He was familiar with some of the names he was paired off against, but Bani was surprised by his own prowess at the game. In a previous interview with Esports Heaven, Bani extrapolates on this thought; “Yeah, I think I am a really competitive person. I’ve always naturally tried to be the best at whatever I was doing.”

However, like many, his interest with World of Warcraft waned and his mind ventured elsewhere. He needed a new vehicle of competition, he needed to find the next adrenaline shot. While in high school, Bani was incredibly active and played a number of sports. He dabbled in Soccer, ran in track and field, and even played a bit of music on the side, but Valve’s, Dota 2 would be the next game that grasped at his attention. “I came from Dota 2 and I tried to be as good as I could in Dota, but I was not quite good enough to make the cut, but when Overwatch came out I thought I was good enough to go for it.” Towards the end of his time in university, Blizzard had unveiled their newest masterpiece, Overwatch. As a follower of Blizzard Entertainment’s games, Bani knew he had to give Overwatch, a the very least, a small chance.

Little did he know, it would shape the course of his history with video games.

“If I'm being honest, the best thing getting my degree did for my Overwatch career is motivate me to train as hard as I can so I never have to go back to school or get a normal job.” Bani chuckled. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in science and neuroscience, but surprisingly wanted nothing to do with a 9-5 desk job. “Learning neuroscience and psychology did help me get a better understanding of myself though. I think it helped me understand how to keep the right state of mind for improving and performing at my peak.”

Fate would have it that the majority of the large-scale tournaments that happened previous to the beginning of the Overwatch League would kick off just months before Bani was graduating university. He found himself jumping from team to team, each time vastly improving. So much so that Gale Force Esports approached him with an offer to join their Overwatch team. With only a handful of weeks left, he joined Gale Force Esports Overwatch division with the aspiration that maybe one day, he might make it big. Gale Force Esports floated around the upper-half of the Overwatch Esports amateur scene. They battled against the likes of Rise Nation, Toronto Esports, and EnVision Esports in numerous qualifiers, but late in May of 2017 Gale Force Esports released their Overwatch roster for claims of “underperformance” and a “wide pool of talent opening up.”

Double Down

That coming June was set to be the beginning of Overwatch Contenders Season 0 and there was no way Bani was missing out on that opportunity. He joined a merry band of veterans from across many esports and what was to become quite the Cinderella story, Bani joined team FNRGFE. Bani recalled what and just how FNRGFE came together. “I think before I even joined up with Gale Force Esports, Enigma, Clockwork, Muma, Pookz, Milo and myself all played every once in awhile, just to stay practiced in scrimmage environments while weren’t on teams. Then, I ended up joining Gale Force Esports. Shortly after, Clockwork joins up with us at Gale Force Esports. We didn’t really play much with the ‘scrim team’ much[sic] at that time, but once we were dropped we decided it was time to bring that back.

We got buds as our last DPS player to try and make a run for it in Contenders Season 0 and it ended up going really well! So, we kept going from there. Enigma decided to drop out due to his own personal reasons, so to fill his spot we managed to pick up Coolmatt69, which was a pretty huge addition to the roster. Realistically, [it’s] one of the best pickups we could have gotten.”

This core of players would find success, but never achieve a victory under the FNRGFE banner. Bani and company consistently managed a top 4 placing in the tournaments that they did participate in, culminating at the Overwatch Contenders Season 1 Finals where again they would take 3-4th place. It was here that FNRGFE would catch the eye of the Houston Outlaws. With the new acquisitions in the Houston Outlaws, the team atmosphere was bound to change. “It's super refreshing,” Bani reassured me. “While the team is still half FNRGFE, it feels like a brand new team. We're in the process of going back through all the basics - how to take fights, map defaults, compositions, and as a bonus, roster lineups, etc. I think teams that are together for an extended period of time tend to become set in stone; their playstyle becomes fairly rigid and difficult to change as habits and expectations from each other become reinforced over time. This shakeup helped us throw out our bad habits and rebuild with a strong foundation and the ability to catch and eliminate bad habits quickly with all the extra eyes looking to make us the best we can be.”

When the Houston Outlaws did an interview with their General Manager, Matt "flame" Rodriguez, he mentioned that the team was “super in tune with each other.” I wanted to get Bani’s take on exactly what he thought that meant. “Honestly as a player it's hard for me to understand what it means to be super intune with each other. From my perspective, we're all just playing good Overwatch. From the spectator point of view, it might seem like we have some innate chemistry, but in my opinion, we're all just solid players who know how to work as a team and communicate effectively.”

Meet the Outlaws

In an attempt to pick Bani’s brain on just how he felt about his teammates, I asked him if we could do some simple word association. I’d give him a word and he’d tell me what teammate he thought it best would fit and why. The catch; playing along with the “outlaw” theme I based it around a classic deck of cards where Bani would judge one of the few face cards and match said card with one of his teammates.

First off, we started with the Joker of the team. This one didn’t need much explanation before Bani had an idea of who was the jokester of the team. “Muma,” Bani answered quickly and decisively. “He loves trolling us. When Linkzr first arrived in Los Angeles he told him to come to the apartments even though we were all at the venue. Luckily one of us caught it and told him to come to the venue otherwise he'd be sitting at the apartments with no way in.”

The next one made Bani think a bit harder. “Hmmm [...]” Bani pondered on who might be the King of the Houston Outlaws or someone who might be a leader in and out of the game. “[...] in-game the leader is either me or Boink depending on what hero we're playing. Out of game I'd say Jake, but I bet when Tairong arrives he'll win us all over as our glorious leader.”

The next face card will take some explanation. The lowest face card in a deck of cards is the Jack, which I considered to be the representation of “the prince” or the young who aspire to greatness. I posed this representation to Bani to gauge who he thought was the best listener or someone who is thoughtful. “I could probably name different people for each of those examples, but I think Linkzr probably fits that role best. He's obviously not underrated anymore/most improved with the title "Finland's gift to esports", but I think he listens well and while he doesn't talk a lot like me or Jake. Whenever he speaks it is very well thought-out and helpful both in and out of the game.”

The Queen was the next face card. This, in my mind's eye, is someone who is a bit more structured or tends to be a touch more parental. Someone who might take care and looks after their teammates. “Honestly, our team might be a bit unique in this regard, but everyone is fairly self-sufficient. It's probably why FNRGFE had a lot of success with no sponsor. Everyone is good at managing their own time and affairs. We all step up and help each other when it's necessary - for example Flame as the only car owner at the moment became the shopping mom for everyone to get the new apartment necessities. Mesr also stepped up and drove Mendo to Mexico at like 4 pm the day before the preseason and as the coach, he schedules scrims, does the ‘ready-check’ in the morning. But overall I wouldn't say anyone is downright the Queen of the team - we're all responsible adults.”

Last but certainly not least, we had the Ace. Bani thought for a moment, but as he quickly came to his decision, he gave a warm smile. “I have to give this one to Linkzr as well. There's nobody else on the team I can regularly spectate and just think ‘Jesus Christ this is the best player I've ever seen.’ It's really just insane how good this guy is.” With this, we have a small peek behind the curtain of the Outlaws and have a slightly better idea of how exactly their team works.

A Runaway Train

As Bani and company look ahead to the beginning of the Overwatch League, they look to improve their preseason showcase. Both of the Houston Outlaw’s preseason matches resulted in losses, one to Seoul Dynasty, 2-1 and one to their Texan rivals, the Dallas Fuel, 3-2. As part of the core of FNRGFE, I asked Bani if there was anything he could have changed about their match against Dallas. FNRGFE took Team EnVyUs to the brink and this match was similar and Bani seemed to agree. “We're very confident as a team. As I mentioned we are in the process of rebuilding the foundations of the team, as a result, there were some pretty major throws we made as a team that made the difference in our series. Those mistakes are simple and easily fixed. The experience of the preseason was invaluable as a team leading into the regular season though. Now, we know what our team looks like on-stage and how we should approach covering any weaknesses we might have in the future.” Houston took the losses in stride, each with its own set of lessons to teach. Stage 1 - Week 2 is Houston’s chance for redemption where they will face off against the Dallas Fuel.

Staying on the topic of having the foresight to look and plan for the future, I wondered what Bani wanted to be known for after his time with progaming was over? What did Bani want his legacy to be? “As a team, we'd like to be remembered as the winners of the Overwatch League inaugural season.” Setting lofty, and yet achievable goals are something to be admired. I, for one, can respect that fact that Bani wants, more than anything, his team to be the best. “As an individual, I want to be remembered as one of the best players in Overwatch. I know I've got some work to do but I'm ready to put in the hours and make it to the top.” Putting his team before his own interests, striving to become great, and above all else staying humble.

Bani might not be the most ruthless Outlaw, but that's what give him character. As the anchor of the team, he isn’t always in the limelight. At times Bani can be delegated to the messy and unwanted jobs, but he doesn’t mind - that’s his modus operandi. At the purest essence, Bani is the “teammates teammate.” His actions entirely selfless and Bani operates with his team in the driver's seat. His tale continues through the first season of the Overwatch League as an Outlaw, but not as the sole gunslinger, but as a part of a merry band of thieves.

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, MLG.tv, and the Houston Outlaws.