Harsha's Hot Topic: The Kings of LAN



Photo by @kenzi131

With a one-sided 4-1 victory in the APAC Premier Grand Finals, Rogue added another line to their resume and cemented their reputation as one of the best teams in Overwatch. That's not to say that their journey was easy—they struggled against Misfits, who knocked them out of the Overwatch Open, while 2nd place finisher Lunatic-Hai took down Rogue on two separate occasions in the APAC Premier tournament. Ultimately, Rogue silenced critics by emerging victorious in the end. Not only did they defeat the team who previously snagged two victories off them, but they made Lunatic-Hai look uncoordinated in the process, dominating them every step of the way after a close match on Numbani.

While many different teams have emerged as contenders for the top spot in Overwatch, the last few months have belonged to Rogue alone. After a relatively quiet summer, they shocked the scene by handing Team EnVyUs their first loss in 57 matches, taking home a 3-2 victory in the semifinals of gamescom by a mere 8 HP. Despite their victory in Cologne, Rogue lost to FaZe in the qualifiers of the Overwatch Open (online), meaning that they had to settle for a second seed entry into the tournament.

Rogue defeated Misfits to gain entry into the bracket stage of the tournament, and subsequently took home a 3-2 victory against FaZe, taking revenge for the earlier loss. While an EnVyUs vs Rogue final seemed inevitable, Misfits denied such a showdown with a 3-2 victory in the European finals. Unfortunately for fans, an EnVyUs vs Rogue match has not occurred since gamescom—the matchup is especially tantalizing due to a recent Twitter beef between members of both teams (which was since resolved, for the most part).

With a 1st and 3rd/4th placing, Rogue was clearly a talented team, but losing to Misfits did create some doubt. Losing twice to Lunatic-Hai did not help that perception—clearly Rogue was a bit underprepared for the trip. However, the team reassured people by turning it on and dominating the playoff stages. Victories against Afreeca Blue, NGA Club, and Lunatic-Hai—likely the strongest opposition in the tournament—left no doubt that Rogue was for real, and a recent 3-0 victory against Afreeca Blue again in OGN's APEX serves as a reminder of just that.

Many rosters have undergone changes recently, and in a game as new as Overwatch, it's rare to see players stay in one place for too long. However, ever since iddqd's departure in early June, Rogue has maintained the same core players. The team operates without a strategic coach of any kind, meaning that all improvements they make are self-taught. This is especially significant when considering that Rogue lost twice to Lunatic-Hai, and one of the two matches was not close by any stretch of the imagination. Despite a 1-4 map score during the group stages of APAC, the team was critical enough to improve upon their shortcomings and demolish the Koreans in their rematch. This theme is again apparent when searching back to the Overwatch Open qualifiers and noting that Rogue was capable enough to take revenge on FaZe, despite losing the first time the teams fought.

Rogue's resilience is not their only strength; the team is composed of superstar members much like their rivals in EnVy. TviQ is an obvious standout; he's effectively the most versatile DPS player in the world, and brought in highlights on numerous heroes such as Hanzo, Genji, and even Mei. While he was overshadowed until gamescom, aKm has proved that he's truly a standout hitscan player. His McCree was very good, and he's made the transition to Reaper for the "Beyblade" metagame seamlessly. uNKOE and KnOxXx's Ana and Lucio play (respectively) have been top tier, and the former's Nano Boosts have been exceptionally standout throughout the current metagame. winz—the older brother of aKm—is a truly great Zarya, and provides the solid backbone that keeps Rogue consistent. Last, and most certainly not least, Reinforce's Reinhardt provides the aggression that makes Rogue so feared. While he will sometimes swing and miss, you better believe when he brings the hammer down, pain will follow.



Photo by @kenzi131

Originally, I spoke with Rogue's Jonathan "Reinforce" Larsson intending to gain inside knowledge of the team to give my article the perspectives of both a viewer and a member. However, speaking with Reinforce made me realize that his insight was too valuable to trim down. For this reason, I included the full text as a supplementary interview.

With Rogue being possibly the most consistent team, do you think you have a solid hold on #1 in the world?

Currently? Hard to say. Best team in the last 2 months? I think we can rightfully say so with our tournament results. Had EnVyUs won the Overwatch Open I think it could have been a lot more open to discussion, given we won vs. them with the smallest margin possible at the Atlantic Showdown, and had they won Overwatch Open they would have proven the loss vs. us as a one-off.

The community has really been praising TviQ after APAC (and rightfully so). How important do you think his versatility is in terms of how good Rogue has been?

I think it's been instrumental in our success. We often like to look at ourselves as not necessarily the most strategic team, but one of the best teams when it comes to adapting, and a deep hero pool is crucial if you want to be able to play vs. all compositions out there, whether it's triple-tank, Reaper/Mei or Tracer/Genji. TviQ's ability to play pretty much all heroes in the game at a high level, most of them top tier, has really helped us in being able to consistently win vs. all of the teams out there.

We know that while you guys beat Lunatic-Hai solidly, you have stated on numerous occasions that the Koreans are quite good. Do you notice any differences in their playstyle compared to the west? Do they have any strengths over the west?

I think us beating AF Blue with a convincing 3-0 at OGN's APEX proved that Koreans are not quite up there once Western teams get used to their playstyle, but I think most of all, all top tier teams in the western Overwatch scene acknowledge the dedication and practice mentality of the Koreans.

We often like to look at ourselves as not necessarily the most strategic team, but one of the best teams when it comes to adapting

One of the reasons [we] got beat twice by Lunatic-Hai was mainly that we were thrown off by their synchronized aggression, but once we went over VODs, we adjusted fairly quickly. It didn't help to play Route 66 twice either, which proved to be one of their best and most well-rehearsed maps, while not one of our strengths.

We've heard that you've been able to accomplish all this without a coach; does Rogue have any sort of supporting staff? Are the players doing everything right now, and do you think a coach would be helpful?

We don't have any direct supporting staff, but our organization has helped a lot in management around us. There's of course a lot of depth to Overwatch when you get down to really hardcore strategy and tactics, but even then I feel that we in Overwatch are very far from that idea of everything working like a machine, and so there's not a lot more to it right now other than being smart about hero picks, and playing according to your picks as a team, and of course ultimate management. Working with a coach, to reach that incredibly high tier of strategy and tactical play which Overwatch will eventually support, will take a few years I'd say, so there's no drastic improvements to be made in such short time if you were to have a coach. If anything, support staff for player-to-player relationships would probably help a lot of teams in Overwatch.

You've had a sort of Twitter beef/rivalry with some of the EnVy players—do you think of them as your rivals? Are there any teams you really would like to face?

I think both sides are over that "Twitter drama", it was a small "in the moment"-thing without real huge consequences, so there wasn't much to it. Cocco, Talespin and Chipshajen are low-key cool guys, and HarryHook and InternetHulk are just fun, social people that are nice to hang out with at LAN events etc. so I don't really hold anything against them. That being said, at the end of the day we're probably the two best teams in the west right now, we don't wish each other success, we want to beat each other, that's just the spirit of competition. Calling it a rivalry just makes things a whole lot more exciting the next time we play each other.

Do you have any predictions for OGN's APEX?

Okay, I've had this on my heart for a while and not really put it out there. But I think that BlizzCon could shake things up in the scene a lot, drastically. We're most likely going to see some huge changes in terms of new heroes, balance changes and maybe even gameplay changes, and I worry because I feel that all of this being implemented ahead of the OGN APEX playoffs could hurt the competitive integrity of the tournament, thus putting asterisks on the tournament results. Now, obviously adapting to balance changes is a skill in itself, and credit to whoever ends up winning APEX, they will be the best team at the tournament, but at the same time, I feel like it would make the results of the tournament worth less, than for example seeing the Atlantic Showdown and Overwatch Open played out on pretty much the same patch.

As a final note, Johnny the Giant chose not to answer my last question regarding a beer he spilled on a certain someone. You can find Reinforce on social media by following his Twitter (@Rogue_Reinforce), where he updates people on his streaming schedule and the team in general. Rogue is currently on break for BlizzCon, but their next match will occur on November 14 against Flash Lux in OGN's APEX.

For more competitive Overwatch news, follow @GosuOverwatch.

QUICKPOLL Is Rogue the best team in the world? Definitely

Thank you for voting! Not so sure

Thank you for voting!