Scheinriese - Prodigies Who Couldn't Deliver In The Overwatch League

Quick, what do you call the inside of a tube, what do you call it when you derive pleasure from another person’s misfortune, and what do you call a player outside of the Overwatch League who might appear to be extremely skilled in Contenders, but has yet to prove their skill in Overwatch League and may never deliver on the big stage? Yes, of course, there are German words for that.

Overwatch League rookies have continuously impressed each season, often becoming some of the best players in their roles. Some of it has to do with the content of the word ‘rookie’ framed by traditional sports that doesn’t quite hold up to the standards of the Overwatch League. In sports leagues, the level of play between the development programs and the top-flight teams is significant. In Overwatch, that often isn’t the case, and the top rookies are playing some of the best Overwatch on the planet in the Contenders system. One apparent reason for this phenomenon is the age requirement of 18 years to be eligible in the Overwatch League. Without anatomic disadvantages really mattering in the context of esports, other games have frequently seen players in their young teenage years become world champions.

With the limitation in place for Overwatch League, there are many hurdles to climb and durations to bridge for these players, unable to compete at the highest level in what could be their prime. Seeing new prodigies emerge before we find out their age is mildly anxiety-inducing as the waiting room for their arrival is a dire place to be. Not only are there questions about their real skill level, given that they do not frequently get to play what we perceive to be the best teams in the world, a lot can happen in three or more years of time in a players career, becoming potentially “washed-up” before they ever got to Overwatch League. 

• Read more: Overwatch - A Rookie's Game

The German language knows of a literary device called the “Scheinriese” (appearance giant) for which the translation proves challenging. A better explanation is to paint the picture of a character that turns optics on its head, appearing gigantic in the distance but shrinks as they come closer to the observer. In the same sense, a Scheinriese in the context of Overwatch League would be a player that appeared to be world-beating in Contenders years before becoming eligible but when they arrived in Overwatch League, they couldn’t quite deliver for various reasons. 

At least on the surface, the story of Yeon-oh "Fl0w3R" Hwang fits the description of a Scheinriese perfectly. An outstanding performance in both Apex season 3, and during the World Cup in 2017 set the expectations high for his eventual arrival. When he eventually arrived in Overwatch League season 2, he never came back to his old self. Whether it was the ever-changing nature of the game, a wrist injury, being a bench player and not getting the repetitions he required, or something else - the Fl0w3R we got to see in season 2 was not the skyscraper-sized giant that he looked like in 2017. 

Giants all the way

To further explain the idea of a Scheinriese, explaining what or who clearly isn’t one, could be beneficial. Take for instance Yeong-han "SP9RK1E" Kim, a player who after only a month of becoming eligible to play in the Overwatch League won his first trophy in the Summer Showdown with the Paris Eternal. During 2019, SP9RK1E had terrorised Korean Contenders with his Doomfist, Pharah, and Genji play, and has made similar waves in the Overwatch League this year, being a clear standout performer during the period of the season he was able to play in. 

Philadelphia Fusion’s homegrown prodigy Kyung-bo "Alarm" Kim is another example of a player who performed as monstrously in Overwatch League as he did in Contenders, remaining a carry support player with clutch potential. Arguably Alarm has grown even taller, adding to his hero pool in an impressive way, becoming one of the best Brigittes and Baptistes in the league.

A third prodigious talent that experts highlighted in the pre-season is Gil-seong "Glister" Lim, a player who has never been able to win titles, but has consistently demonstrated that he deserves to be on a championship-winning team with his impeccable mechanics, Fleta-esque flexibility, and heavy-duty backpack to carry teammates with. 

Throughout relatively long careers, these players were able to hold their level no matter the competition they faced, while always being recognised as top tier performers. Their performance didn’t dip for long periods of time, and there’s little reason to believe they won’t be doing the same thing in season 4 of the Overwatch League.

The edge cases

With the definition now out of the way and you having added one more German word to your vocabulary without even having to wear Lederhosen for it, we can change the scope to those who worry us a little, and who may be on the verge of fulfilling the Scheinriese criteria, though a definitive verdict looks too early.

Cracking open the time capsule of 2017 and 2018 expectations, we can look at Seung-jun "WhoRU" Lee, champion of Apex season 2 and the finals MVP award winner of that season. In 2017, Overwatch was heavily dive-focused with Genji/Tracer dive being the prominent composition. During this era, WhoRU looked at least on par with his now teammate Hyojong "Haksal" Kim, founding a polytheistic religion around the two Genji-gods of competitive Overwatch. WhoRU trounced opponents with his dazzling awareness during Dragon Blades, and his surgical precision - turning the cyborg ninja into an anti-pharamercy tool. Even during his early Fusion University days, he appeared to be smurfing in North American Contenders. By the time WhoRU turned 18, he had gone through a long downswing of performances, not standing out on Meta Athena nor Skyfoxes.

Fast forward to 2020, and the once equal has fallen behind his former rival, unable to deliver top-tier performances on other heroes and even falling behind on Genji, possibly because modern Overwatch requires flexibility over hyper-specificity. In 2017, WhoRU looked like one of the best players in the world, while in 2020, we have to wonder if the NYXL will stick with him for another season. The unfortunate trajectory of his career resembles Fl0w3R’s career more than it does Haksal’s.

Another name that springs to mind when thinking of outstanding Contenders talent that have yet to deliver in Overwatch League is Hugo "SharP" Sahlberg formerly of Team Envy, runner-up of the Atlantic Showdown, and winner of two North American Contenders trophies. The hitscan talent was recognised as a top talent throughout the pre-season and had an amount of teams vying for him. Unfortunately, with only two hours of playtime this season, SharP didn’t have the anticipated effect on his team, missing the expected edge over other hitscan performers. Experts who talked about SharP in the pre-season forecasted a performance of the likes of Kai "KSP" Collins, in range of reach of MVP or role star candidates. Instead, the renaissance of Andrej "babybay" Francisty followed by the discovery of Tae-hoon "Edison" Kim’s flexibility has left SharP outside of the starting roster despite even Joon "Erster" Jeong experiencing a rough season. 

A third candidate that isn’t quite as far on his path of Scheinriesen-dom but at least should induce anxiety in you, is the current apathy of Overwatch League teams to the recruitment of Tae-sung "Mag" Kim, the praised main tank wunderkind who turned 18 early enough in the season to be eligible this season.

While it’s possible that Overwatch League teams have tried to recruit him in the past, the general lack of quality main tanks in the league should have had at least some teams throw the chequebook at the young Korean RunAway player. Have Overwatch League teams lost interest in a player that many anticipated almost to the same degree that they did SP9RK1E? Fortunately, the expiration date on Mag’s career is far out, and will not be defined before the post-season this year when teams start to augment their rosters. 

As the Contenders system remains the playground of the young and gifted who are barred from playing with the big kids, players that rival their Overwatch League counterparts will continue to emerge, and we have to hope that Overwatch remains an attractive esport to dream of a big career for with players the calibre of Kamden "Sugarfree" Hijada sticking around, getting the required support, and development tools, trending towards the trajectory of the Alarms, SP9RK1Es and Glisters of this world.