As 2016 comes to an end, we can finally sit back and reflect upon the first year of Overwatch’s release. While the year was filled with many memories — numerous animated shorts, exciting esports announcements, amazing in-game events, and of course, plenty of our favorite developer, Jeff Kaplan — one thing in particular was most exciting to me: the fantastic professional play.

In an attempt to chronicle some of the best plays of 2016, I’ve compiled a list of my personal favorites. It should go without saying… but this is obviously a very subjective list. That being said, my criteria for these plays came down to several factors. I wanted these plays to be very impactful in determining the outcome of the match, as well as technically proficient enough to impress people. Additionally, a certain “wow” factor needed to be present (audience reactions matter!). Of course, the plays also needed to be memorable. Finally, I wanted these to all come from deep in tournaments.

There were a lot of plays I wanted to include, but decided against because I wanted to keep the list brief (Hidan’s Sleep Dart in the Overwatch Open against Rogue comes to mind). For this reason, the list is composed of my top five plays and a single honorable mentions, though ideally there would be around twenty total.

Honorable mention: Yes, that is a pro Genji

Courtesy of Seagull

This is eight minutes long, but it’s well worth the watch. While it starts out slow, with ex-Luminosity getting worn down by Cloud9’s unrelenting pressure, Seagull eventually puts on his carry pants and runs a clinic in Genji. You’ll notice from the strange portraits that this match is quite old — in fact, it occurred before Overwatch’s release, during the closed beta. While it might be difficult to put much stock in an online beta match, Seagull’s one-man army is still an incredible showing.

At the time of this match, Seagull’s Luminosity was a solid top American team, but Cloud9 was, for all intents and purposes, the best American team by a sizable margin. One upset didn’t earn Luminosity the top spot in America, but it proved that they could certainly compete. While NRG is currently struggling to keep up with the pack at the top, these kinds of plays are exactly what they need out of Seagull if they hope to find their prior form.

5. iddqd shoots birds out of the sky with McCree

Courtesy of Turner Sports

Courtesy of Turner Sports

If the first clip looks impressive, keep watching. While iddqd is no longer part of Fnatic’s professional team — he streams these days while awaiting an opportunity to pursue pro play again — he certainly ended his days there with a bang. In his last LAN appearance with Fnatic, iddqd was relegated to the “Mei” role, as buds took on the Reaper in the “Beyblade” metagame. Given that he was on a supportive hero, many began to wonder if iddqd had fallen off — after all, buds had taken the spotlight by performing incredibly well on Reaper.

Huk voiced his concerns on the analyst desk, even claiming that buds might now be a better player than iddqd. It seemed like iddqd heard him, because soon after, he picked up the gun-slinging McCree and shot NRG out of the air, one by one. Not only did iddqd wreak havoc on an entire team, but he personally plucked Seagull — one of the best Genji players in the world — out of the air twice in a row, with a melee attack finisher punctuating the second kill.

4. “Haksal” is Korean for “massacre”

Courtesy of OGN Global, with highlights compiled by AskJoshy

For a brief moment, Haksal looked to be the new Genji on the block, threatening the position of players like ShaDowBurn, Seagull, TviQ, and Surefour. While his time in the spotlight was brief, Haksal’s performance against REUNITED in OGN’s APEX was… well… a massacre!

Haksal finishes each kill with the patented Genji combo — a right click with a quick melee attack to follow. Using a ridiculously high sensitivity, Haksal made Genji look like the ninja that he truly is through twitchy movements and quick assassinations. REUNITED was clearly not prepared for a Genji of this caliber, and it showed in their succinct loss to the Korean team during group stages.

While RunAway eventually fizzled out during the group stages of APEX, leaving in 13–16th place, Haksal left a lasting impression on the Overwatch community through his impressice Genji play. While there are certainly other great Genji players in the world — some who are even more famed for their play on the ninja — it will be a long time until we see this kind of lethality out of a Genji again… especially after the nerfs!

3. winz clutches it out while breaking EnVyUs’s heart

Courtesy of ESL

In a pivotal game 5 against the consensus best team in the world, Rogue had to dig extremely deep to pull off a miracle. In one of the closest matches of the year, winz’s Zarya fell down to 5 HP during a fight, only to receive a gigantic overshield from KnOxXx that helped him survive for at least another moment. The ensuing series of events was utterly unpredictable — winz managed to charge up a Graviton Surge and find a four-man ultimate before dying, allowing TviQ to drop a Pulse Bomb and steal the point back for Rogue.

This is the play that changed Overwatch history. Rogue went on to become the best team in the world for some time, while EnVyUs struggled again and again at LAN events until December. While it wasn’t the most mechanically difficult play, it was one of the most clutch you’ll ever see, and you can hear the exasperation in both Uber and Jason Kaplan’s voices. If you can’t imagine how crazy this was, just listen to the crowd.

Author’s note: I decided not to title this “All I do is winz.” You’re welcome.

2. zunba takes down America—with style

Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment, uploaded by Official Overwatch Highlights

Probably the most memorable play to come out of BlizzCon due to its ingenuity, zunba’s rocket jump to set up Korea for a team-wipe was one of the most electrifying plays of 2016. While almost everyone knows that Zarya can get a bit of extra height on her jumps by using her right click, few could have dreamed of using it to jump through the small entrance in Eichenwalde’s gate.

Of course, this play would not be nearly as spectacular without ArHaN’s follow-up on Genji. Unfortunately for the west, his sword cleaved the entirety of Team USA, paving the way for Korea to take an incredibly close 2–0 and advance to the semifinals at BlizzCon.

While zunba has not garnered nearly the same success on his team in Korea, CONBOX T6, rumor has it that he might be joining many of his BlizzCon friends on Lunatic-Hai. Teams will be certain to prepare for this sort of maneuver given how famous it now is, but zunba will have plenty of opportunities to showcase his skills in the future.

1. Taimou goes Whole Hog all over Afreeca Freecs Blue

Courtesy of OGN Global, uploaded by AS eSports

This play has it all: clutchness, hype, and… good aim. Jokes aside, Taimou proves Roadhog right — the man was a one-man apocalypse. While Afreeca Freecs Blue were certainly not the second best team at OGN’s APEX, they did play against EnVyUs in the finals of the tournament. Both the crowd and the casters, DoA and MonteCristo, thought Afreeca was guaranteed at least a second point on Hollywood after a decisive teamfight, but Taimou showed everyone otherwise.

After receiving a Nano Boost from chipshajen, Taimou hooked Ana and then singlehandedly pushed the entire Afreeca lineup off of the payload to stall out overtime. He capped off the play with a hook on Genji, preventing Afreeca from even extending overtime.

The context surrounding the play makes it all the more impressive. Team EnVyUs took home the west’s first OGN tournament victory (in any title) after their trouncing of Afreeca, and as Koreans continue to improve at this game, it’s not a guarantee that there will ever be another. However, we can always look back on APEX’s season 1 ending — and this play — when we talk about Team EnVyUs’s rise to prominence (in LAN events, at least).