Crazy Raccoon hopeful for more Asian OWCS slots after Dallas domination
The inaugural Overwatch Championship Series has been a complete throwback to the origins of the esport, stripping away the complexities of a franchised system to a raw, open-circuit bloodbath - just how it should be.
But the throwback to Overwatch esports' core design hasn't come without a wobble or two, and while the fruits of the labour are soon to be reaped, there's a teething issue to attend to.
Korea, and by extension Asia, even despite China's inclusion, has been head and shoulders above the rest of the world. This was proven by the recent Major, in which two rosters, Crazy Raccoon and Team Falcons, didn't lose a single map against challengers from around the globe.
Shortly after their victory, Crazy Raccon's Kim "Shu" Jin-seo and Lee "LIP" Jae-won told GGRecon that although they expect the OWCS system to narrow the chasm of interregional quality, Asia should still have more representation at Majors.
Crazy Raccoon confident that future Majors will be more competitive
Click to enlargeTo say that winning the OWCS Major was a landslide would be a bit of an understatement, that is if you look at it regionally. Both Crazy Raccoon and Team Falcons went perfectly undefeated against anybody but themselves and the two matches against each other had them barely separated.
Yet, with region locking not allowing much deviation between Asia and the rest of the world, the firepower is very much staying where it is, which could very well make for quite the monopoly when the international event rolls around.
But Shu didn't see it that way, and told GGRecon that he thinks the OWCS system will encourage the rest of the world to get better.
After hoisting the trophy, LIP told us, "I think that the gap in skill is being narrowed thanks to the OWCS system, but this weekend was more an interpretation of the meta rather than individual mechanical skill."
"That being said, the new system should begin to level out going forward."
Crazy Raccoon eye hopes of format rejig for more Asian representations
Click to enlargeThe glaringly obvious flaw in the system so far is the Major slots per region, and Asia, despite being the best, has one less slot than both EU and NA.
Sho thinks the scales should tip, though, and either pivot to an evenly spread three-per-region plus a wild card system or a much bigger four-per-region system, totalling 12 teams.
"In my opinion, a general Asian team's performance is really good. I think the third place from OWCS Asia, and even the fourth place, those teams are really, really good, and then they might be really competitive when they compete against each other European and NA teams.
"So I think that it'd be better to have a more balanced number of slots for the next OWCS. For example a three-three-three plus one wildcard, or just a four-four-four with the 12 teams format, that would be better for representation of the region and the OWCS competition."
Interestingly, ESL has a history of using a wildcard system to pick an extra slot at Majors. In previous years, it used a points system in each regional of the Rocket League circuit, where each league would fight for points at Majors for a slot at the next international event. This system could be useful for a 10-team Major in Overwatch.
The OWCS is considering tweaking its systems and learning from the Asian division's map pool selection process, which was deployed at the Major during Dreamhack Dallas. However, it's not yet clear whether it will widen the qualification process to accommodate some of the best teams in the world.
