The Overwatch World Cup is one of the last times we will be able to see some of our favorite players like Jjonak, Space and Surefour play before the start of Overwatch League Season 2. While we are all obviously excited to see them play, the World Cup may be most important for some people that are trying to make the jump to Overwatch League or people who are trying to prove themselves as being at the top of the league in there specific role. Our writers Calder and Dreydan have compiled a list of 4 people we think could have their career excelled very quickly by a strong Overwatch World Cup performance.
Mangachu (Flex DPS - Canada)
As one of the stars on Canada's Overwatch World Cup team and one of XL2 (New York Excelsior's academy team) DPS anchors you would expect to see Mangachu on one of the OWL teams going into Season 2. There was a lot of rosterbaiting involving him and the Dallas Fuel because they lost Seagull an Mangachu fits Seagulls hero pool almost perfectly. He mainly plays projectile (mostly Pharah and Hanzo) but he is also know for playing "Off Meta" heroes like Junkrat, Torb, Mei, Doomfist and is working on characters like Wrecking Ball, Genji, Zarya and Brigitte.
A player that can flex as much as him is very valuable in today's game especially with all the balance changes and reworks blizzard are going to be bringing to the game over the next couple of months.
So what does he need to do to get on an Overwatch League team?
Mangachu needs to be able to show how his hero pool can be utilized. With such a diverse hero pool team need to have a baseline for how that can be use. This falls on both Jayne and Mangachu. Jayne needs to show his skill as a coach and run some unconventional strategies that work because of how Canada's flexibility in their DPS line up. Mangachu needs to execute. Showing that he has the ability to close out kills in tight spots and carry when the team needs him to is very important.
We need the one performance for fans to be able to build his mythos around. An example of this would be Pine. Every single time that you talk about Pine his McCree play on Ilios against Boston is brought up. This is "the Myth of Pine". Almost every player has this, though on a much smaller scale. Yes, Mangachu is a great player, but he doesn't have that map/game where he popped off and r/cow turned and took notice, especially because he is a Western player.
By Calder Amos-Wood
Twitter: @amos_calder
Trill (Main Tank - Australia)
After Trill's tweet stating that he likely won't be playing in North America this season, there was a ton of support for him from players and coaches like Custa (LA Valiant), Hus (Blank Esports) and Chayne (GOATS) and Gunba (Boston Uprising) as well as a lot of surprise throughout the community. Trill has been an anchor while playing Main Tank for Australia and Blank Esports and during an off season where Main Tanks seemed to be rare, Trill should have been near the top of ever mixed teams list.
But it's not over for him. Australia is in the World Cup and that gives him another shot to show his worth before the start of Overwatch League Season 2 and Contenders Season 3. This could be a matter of 250 ping trials and Trill not being able to accurately show what he is capable of and if that is the case than a great World Cup in Los Angelas could really help him.
So what does he have to do?
With the rumors from Halo that the Sydney Drop Bears have signed Blank Esports for Contenders Season 3. There is some likelihood that he will be picked up partway into Overwatch League Season 2 but it is more likely that he is picked up for Season 3 or that he is picked up in one of the future Contenders Seasons on a North American team. What the World Cup can still do for him is show that he has the ability to hold his own against the best in the world - South Korea. Australia's World Cup is basically them staring up a mountain which many people have little expectation for them to climb. Though they may not win, they can still show why they are one of the best 8 teams in the world and Trill needs to be dominant if that is going to happen.
By Calder Amos-Wood
Twitter: @amos_calder
Jayne (Head Coach - Canada)
Justin “Jayne” Conroy is Team Canada’s head coach and has recently been signed to the Dallas Fuel as an Assistant Coach. He had originally gained popularity around the first half of the Overwatch League season, his stream was frequently had clips posted onto the Competitive Overwatch subreddit. Jayne had also been coaching a team, Tainted Minds, during Australian Contenders Season 1. Sadly the team ended up losing all 5 matches during the season without a single map win and a -19 map differential. After the season he left the team and focused on his stream. He gradually began to gain viewership, the numbers rising week by week and eventually getting to where he is today.
Once Jayne became one of the most known Overwatch streamers, he ended up in the vote to become the Head Coach of Team Canada. As we know now, he got voted in by Canada’s top 150 players, and went on to coach the country’s team into quarterfinals with a 4-1 Record.
Now, he may have a major following and got Team Canada to the quarterfinals, but he hasn’t truly proved himself capable of being a Head Coach just yet. Even though he got Canada to quarterfinals, they were in an extremely weak group and could outclass most of the teams based on their individual skill as a majority OWL team.
Another thing that I believe could be brought up is how much weight his run during Australian Contenders should hold. Jayne’s old team, Tainted Minds, originally went 0-5 in Season 1, as mentioned earlier. The next season, without Jayne, they ended up going 2-3 with a -2 map differential, though one of those wins coming from a forfeit match against Dignity. Jayne’s experience with this team should definitely be factored into his coaching résumé, but he was also living on the other side of the world coaching people in an entirely different time-zone.
Whether or not all of this can attest to his true coaching ability, it’s hard to tell going off of what little we know. Soon, Jayne will get his chance to prove himself as an OWL worthy coach, and a possible Head Coach in the future depending on Team Canada’s results in quarter-finals.
By: Dreydan
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