Florida Mayhem received the primary Overwatch League pro-am match, however the amateurs had been the larger winners

Yesterday, the primary spherical of Overwatch League play in 2023 concluded with the league’s first-ever pro-am match. Seven novice groups from the North American and EMEA areas certified for the proper to play in opposition to the skilled Overwatch groups of the west.

Most Contenders groups are sorely under-resourced. They’re normally made up of teenagers and younger adults who follow and play alongside their faculty and work obligations. It’s an virtually unattainable grind for Contenders gamers to take care of the extent of ability wanted to compete in opposition to professionals who get a wage, entry to higher gear and training, and in some circumstances, even housing. Contenders is the spine of the Overwatch League. Esports has a notoriously excessive attrition fee, and for the Overwatch League, Contenders is the place professional groups supply their subsequent era of expertise and workers. But, for some time, the scene went virtually fully uncared for by Blizzard. Should you didn’t comply with the aggressive Overwatch neighborhood intently, for the primary few years of the League’s existence, you wouldn’t have identified Contenders existed.

For the final two years or so, Blizzard appears to have gotten the message, selling Contenders matches on social media and the Overwatch sport launcher. The professional-am match feels, then, like the following logical step of these small successes. It was Contenders groups given the chance to play in entrance of an viewers who may not be aware of Overwatch’s Tier 2 scene, groups acquired to hone their expertise in opposition to professionals, they usually had been displaying their skills for any workforce managers and coaches who had been watching.

Yeah, positive, none of these groups had been capable of make it to the ultimate stage of the match, and most matchups between a Contenders workforce and a professional one led to a swift and brutal shutout (with some professional groups pouring copious quantities of salt within the wound by taking part in off-meta compositions). However we did get a few good moments when Trick Room, Saints, and Twisted Minds upset their skilled opponents, certainly one of which was the two-time Overwatch League champion San Francisco Shock. The expertise is there, and it was lastly given the grand stage it wanted to shine. Oh, and the Florida Mayhem received the entire thing, however no matter, that’s not vital.

What’s vital is that when the League begins up in earnest on April twenty seventh and the japanese groups lastly get their alternative to play, we’ll get to see extra Contenders groups be part of the fray, and this time, the League groups are actually gonna have to observe their backs. Jap groups usually tend to have formal organizational help placing their assets on par with Overwatch League franchise groups. I’m not saying japanese Contenders groups received’t get the shit kicked out of them regularly, nevertheless it’ll be far much less seemingly than you suppose, and I, for one, am trying ahead to the sorts of upsets and knock-down-drag-out fights that make aggressive Overwatch so damned thrilling to observe.