Former OWL players prevail in OWCS Swiss Stage
The North American and European Overwatch Champion Ship Series has concluded the Swiss stage of the tournament, finding 16 competing teams each for the two regions for the Group Stage. The quality of former Overwatch League players largely prevailed with many recognisable names still competing in the new format.
EMEA & NA participants
While the Asian regions are already in their Group Stage phase, North America and EMEA had catching up to do over the last week, finally starting regional play finding the participating teams of its own GSL stage groups through a Swiss open bracket format.
Playing nine matches in total in both regions, only the Toronto Defiant in NA and Twisted Minds in EMEA remained undefeated throughout the bracket. The participating teams (and their former Overwatch League players) are:
North America
Group A
Toronto Defiant (MER1T, Sugarfree, SOMEONE, Rupal)
Artemis
Citrus
Daybreak
Group B
Maryville University (k1ng, Danteh, False, Joobi, Lukemino)
WD40 (Seeker, MirroR, Lyar, MCD)
Timeless Obsidian (Dove)
Shikigami Hikari
Group C
M80 (Hydron, Pelican, Spectra, Hawk, Lep, Ultraviolet, Renko)
Timeless (Opener, Cjay)
Dreamland (Aniyun)
POUNDTOWNBOW (Paintbrush)
Group D
STUDENTS OF THE GAME (Rakattack, Cal)
Beluga’s Platoon (Halo)
Paragon Onyx
Pirates in Pyjamas
EMEA
Group A
Team Peps (Hybrid, Naga, BenBest, FDGoD)
Quick Esports (Daan, Shax)
Twisted Minds (KSAA, kellex, Skairipa)
Bingus
Group B
OwlSprayCheck (Kai, kevster, Sauna, LHCloudy, Vestola, Masaa)
Nu.age (sharP, Doge)
Celtas
Sheer Cold
Group C
LeftRightGnight (Admiral, Lethal)
Roc Esports (Checkmate, Izayaki)
Ex Oblivione (sHockWave)
AOMA Esports
Group D
Spacestation Gaming (SparkR, Backbone, Seicoe, Haid, FunnyAstro, Landon)
Raspberry Racers
Deimpero
AWW YEAH
OWL quality prevails, but newcomers are emerging
Of the 110 players qualified in the North American region, 28 (~25%) have had active Overwatch League contracts at some point during the franchise League's life cycle. A similar pattern showed in EMEA, with 28 (~27%) former OWL players of the 103 competitors making it into Group Stage.
With OWCS, the ruleset had enforced a soft region lock, allowing teams only to have two non-resident players for the respective region on their roster at any given time. Here a crucial difference showed in only Roc Esports’ Checkmate and Izayaki assuming import slots in the EMEA region as opposed to the six former OWL South Koreans in the North American region.
Looking across the regions, the concentration of former OWL talent expectedly remained in the Korean region, with 41 of the 54 (~76%) qualified players having had an active OWL contract at one point. Team Falcons' super-team lineup
The Group Stage kicks off this Friday at 6 pm CET / 12 pm EST for EMEA with the North American broadcast picking up at 10 pm CET / 4 pm EST.
