Picked Over

The outside world has some more great Overwatch content for you to sink your teeth into if you have free time after perusing our wares. There have been a great number of interviews this week with some additional feature pieces, all worth checking out.

You might wanna clear the rest of the day though because some of these pieces, especially the videos, are hefty. Go play some ranked and listen in the background perhaps? If you're a Reinhardt main then check out our first piece before you go:

GosuGamers - by Yiska

Yiska is on part five of his "essence of heroes" series and tackles Reinhardt with Reinforce. Reinhardt is one of the heroes most dependent on awareness and an understanding of initiating fights, and Reinforce attempts to break that process down into manageable chunks.

His skill at articulation, developed in esports journalism, throws an interesting light on some of the in-game thoughts processes a Reinhardt has to consider.

Kaiser has previously stated that 90% of what he does is reactive, proven by the fact that he can’t even remember what he did most of the time. Is that true for you too? If so, do you think Reinhardt could be played successfully in a calculated and systematic manner? That’s how I used to think and play Reinhardt a couple of months ago, but my mindset has shifted quite a lot. On tournament days I used to drink a lot of energy drinks, sometimes even 3-4 a day at most, and I’m really set on the idea that it made me more of an impulsive player which sometimes lead to clutch charges or stuns, but more often than not I panic-ulted into shields when all I had to do was stay calm... ...That kind of reactive playstyle Kaiser is talking about can work, but I think there’s underlying inconsistency issues following it (despite him having a very good playoff run overall).

Team EnVyUs

This is a genuinely hilarious look into the lives of the EnVyUs team competing in North America before their trip to APEX. The characters in EnVy are likeable and compelling, and I'm glad the organisation is producing more of this content to highlight the gems!

Esports Heaven - by Volamel

I had to include this piece by Volamel on the Korean prodigy duo of Pine and Fl0w3R. The article briefly explores their history dabbling in Asian TF2 with janus and starky before ripping into the early Overwatch scene, mechanical prowess on display from the beginning. Then the disappointing crumble of LW Red as they failed to make APEX. And again. And again.

Fl0w3R was given his boost into relevancy before IEM GyeongGi. Now Pine joins him on the same team. APEX Season 3 will see them make up for lost time.

Even with the strength and accuracy of pine, LW Red still could not make it into the Super Week Promotion tournament for Season 3. With a record of 8-3 (26-14 match score) LW Red again floundered out, barely missing the cut off to MVP Space. After LW Blue’s 3rd place finish at the end of Season 2 of the APEX League, the team underwent massive changes. Not only was Choi “Sylph” Seong Sik added, but more importantly, pine would finally see the majesty of the APEX stage. While Fl0w3R tended to his nagging wrist injury, pine and LW Blue took to the stage against CONBOX Spirit on the opening day of APEX Season 3. With pine’s freshman debut, the on-stage jitters were definitely present. He did, however, put on a spectacle of mechanical prowess and raw talent focused around the sniper rifle.

G-rated esports - By Yiska & Karahol

Yiska and Karahol are two analysts within the scene, the first whose article series has been feature in Picked Over just above, and the second who has a serious focus on using statistical analysis to reinforce narratives.

They've formed a new podcast called "Overrated"; in the first episode they discussed overrated players, in this episode they explore tournament formats. It remains a large annoyance of mine that many tournaments have formats (including the map system) that massively detracts from the enjoyment of watching. If you're like me you'll love seeing them break it down, if you're not like me then watch it to know why you should be.

Inven Global - by HyunJun "Hevve" Lee

Now we reach the Korean caster interview portion of Picked Over. By seemingly pure coincidence, Hevve, Thorin and Volamel have decided this week to interview three separate Korean casters. PapaSmithy, MonteCristo, and Achilios are all former or current Korean League of Legends casters who have made the transition into Overwatch.

In this first interview, Hevve delves into the life of PapaSmithy to see what makes him tick and why he brought his talent to Overwatch.

...I think that style also links to your casting style, your personality. How would you reflect on your personality as a caster and what kind of personality do you aim to become? It’s a hard question, although I do get that question a lot, such as what kind of caster I am or what I feel strongly about. The thing I feel most strongly about is the narrative, the storyline, which is really doing justice by the players and making sure that every game is special one way or the other. One of the moments when I appreciate the League system is when you reach a game that is not a big thing on paper. Everyone gets excited for a SKT vs. KT matchup because there is so much history there, but a game like MVP vs. Jin Air is not a massive superstar match on paper. However, in the League, it’s always about where they are coming from, what their runner form looks like, where they are looking to go, what the expectations were before the season, where they are now, what their trend has been in terms of actual in-game analysis like picks and bans, how that fits with their players, where they are going… For me it’s always about, “what is the story of this match?”

By Thorin

I must confess, this is the first time I've put a video, or in fact any piece, into Picked Over that I haven't already watched or read myself. The video was published four hours ago and it's three hours long, but since I've added it to my "watch later" list I think it's apt I add it here as well.

Thorin and MonteCristo are of course large personalities within esports and have moved their talents into Overwatch - Thorin currently only as host of podcast OverSight, while Monte is set to cast the OWL on release.

This interview is exploring the life and career of MonteCristo. Buckle in.

Esports Heaven - by Volamel

Our final interview of a Korean caster is new blood in the APEX scene, Achilios. He is part of the four-man team that took over OGN's English coverage of APEX following the departure of DoA and Monte; Achilios breaks down his thoughts in this interview on transitioning his talent and enjoying the development of Overwatch.