Blunder-Watch: The worst moments of Overwatch esports
First, we were 'Onlywatch', then we were Overwatch, but now? Now we are Blunder-watch. Overwatch League has offered its fair share of amazing, jaw-dropping plays, but what about the magical ones? The ones we remember for all the wrong reasons?
These are some of the most neck-snapping, eyeball-gouging, straight-up worst plays from all of Overwatch esports - but hey, at least they tried, right?
Esca LUL
Click to enlargeIn a time before the Overwatch League, one man entered meme-dom by flying just too close to the sun. South Korean esports legend, Kim "EscA" In-jae, was never supposed to play Tracer.
Prior to OGN's Overwatch APEX Season 2, EscA was most known for playing picks like Cassidy, Mei and Soldier: 76.
But thanks to some rather terrible behaviour from his teammates, the wider Overwatch world was gifted one of its first infamous plays.
It wasn't just this one instance that cemented this FPS great into backwards notoriety, it was the consistency of his misfortune that would.
The perfect crime
Cloud9 may have committed the original sin of competitive Overwatch, but Shanghai Dragons' Jin "YOUNGJIN" Young-Jin perfected it.
Shortly after YOUNGJIN assisted the Dragons in absolving their 0-42 loss streak, he stepped into the hallowed halls of legend, not for his merit but for simply forgetting something.
And when you break it down it because infinitely more palatable.
A dash of overtime situation, high pressure, and everyone trying to rapidly communicate, all served over a well-boiled plate of absent-mindedness and you've got yourself a gorgeous C9 ball drop.
Jokes aside, more obvious stuff like playing the objective can be taken for granted when the game gets hectic.
We've all seen our fair share of 'C9s', as they happen semi-frequently, but YOUNGJIN's earn a special place as the single worst example in Overwatch League history.
To the porcelain god
Overwatch League fans love a good toilet bowl. However, to summon one, fans must first make a sacrifice to the porcelain god, Min "Jerry" Tae-hee.
While it is technically a forced error, as he's attempting to avoid the enemy D.Va bomb, Jerry's unfortunate timing completely takes the wind out of Boston Uprising's sails almost instantly.
Anything can happen on LAN and this series went to a strange but beautiful map seven where the Uprising manage to narrowly surpass the Outlaws in the 23rd minute.
Hanbin's D.Va 'magic'
Choi "Hanbin" Han-been rarely missteps, and arguably this isn't even really his fault, but it's too unique of a fumble to not add to this list.
Nailing a Self Destruct kill in modern Overwatch is becoming increasingly difficult as players perfect their rotations, but the Ultimate still can provide value.
On a game type like Control, where time is incredibly fleeting, if you can stall the enemy for even a few seconds it can snowball into a sizeable control percentage for your team.
So not only does this play, quite literally, throw one of those resources in the trash it does so in spectacular fashion.
If Roadhog Chain Hooking D.Va bombs into their team is akin to Batman, this odd chain of events for Hanbin and the Dallas Fuel has to be Overwatch's Joker.
Memp
This just in; the Esports Unilateral Coalition of Competitiveness has just charged Kim "Assassin" Sungwon with one count of egregious use of an ultimate and one count of reckless endangerment in a public setting.
While it's likely this missed EMP would not have been the catalyst to a 0-3 comeback against the Toronto Defiant, the Justice needed all hands on deck to attempt to gain some momentum for their rather woeful season.
And, if we're frank, his overall Sombra play that season was something magical. As some might say; one of the Sombra players of all time.
If found guilty, Assassin's whiffed ultimate may go down as one of the worst plays in Overwatch League history. GGRecon will not update this story as it develops.
Stop, Jimmy … no
To be fair, Overwatch League commentator and former professional player Scott "Custa" Kennedy makes this clip gold, but Lei "Jimmy" Yujia has got some explaining to do.
With a numbers advantage, Jimmy attempts a flank towards the tail end of Dorado's second point.
However, what ensues is nearly 30 seconds of uncontested tomfoolery as Jimmy not only goes on a 'spider pine-esq' flank but fails to get anything done.
No pressure, no presence, and, as Custa points out, even terrible positioning.
While Jimmy had a brief stint recently as a formidable hitscan threat in APAC this season, no one escapes the past.
This quietly hidden gem from Jimmy is among some of our favourite bad plays in Overwatch esports.
Hubris, pure hubris
It is inarguable that Park "Viol2t" Min-ki is one of the greatest Overwatch players of all time.
However, it is also inarguable that this is one of the most blatant displays of pure, unadulterated arrogance the Overwatch League has ever seen.
Not only is it on a map that attacking teams frequently take an initial peek with Widowmaker, not only is it in the 2021 Overwatch League playoffs, but the risk-reward just simply does not add up.
Is the extra ultimate charge worth trading your composition's main source of healing? Is the damage potential really worth binning the very first team fight?
Viol2t still to this day does not shy away from making plays and that is the cornerstone he has built his career on, but every so often, the bloodlust just sends him over the edge.
