Oliver "ecLipse" Nguyen played Support for Team Austria in the 2018 Overwatch World Cup. In a recent article by his teammate Sensotix, he had the following to say:

"...I really want people to watch out for ecLipse, one of our support players. He’s a really mature fifteen-year-old and has a bright future ahead of him. I would love to see him succeed."

With the World Cup now behind them, I caught up with ecLipse to get his thoughts about it. And given the praise Sensotix had for him, I also wanted to pick his brain on what it's like to play Support heroes in the current meta.

Your teammate Sensotix mentioned being curious about Brazil's strength. What are your impressions of them now?

They are definitely stronger than anyone expected. Even though they can't really play with other regions, they put up a huge fight. They have a bright future.

Was there something unique to their playstyle that made them stand out?

Their coordination in tank comps. It's not particularly different from how EU plays it, but they play it well.

It was mentioned that Team Austria's goal was to win one map. Do you feel your team has surpassed expectations?

Definitely. We wanted to be better than last year, which is why we jokingly said our goal was one map.

Team Austria's 2018 roster only retained 2/6 of the members from 2017 (wat7 and Sensotix). What happened to the rest?

Some have stopped playing Overwatch and for others, there were better options.

Who was the shotcaller for the team?

wat7 was the shotcaller and he definitely was the heart of the comms.

Did your team have any free time to explore Los Angeles?

We had time, but we were mostly too tired. Although on the first day, we did go to In-N-Out, haha! We liked it, but some of us didn't like the fries.

Any thoughts about ZachaREEE's comment on Sombra, Doomfist, Winston and Ana being overpowered?

I agree with everything except for Ana. I think she definitely is very strong now, but not overpowered. Her biotic grenade and her new ult are the reasons why. Her ult is sort of like a preemptive Resurrect now. Of course her sleep dart is also extremely strong, but it's hard to hit consistently. So that's why I think it balances.

Are there particular hero synergies that make Ana strong?

Ana/Genji is probably the strongest combo right now. Nanoblade was already really strong, but Ana wasn't being played into any comps. Now that that you can play her into a lot of comps, nanoblade gets used again. It was probably the ult buff that got her back into the meta. Ana being meta also brings Soldier:76 back into play on some maps like Numbani. Nanovisor is a strong combo.

And of course, now that it's an instant 300hp heal, it's used when Winston dives in or when your Reinhardt gets low.

Do you have a favourite clutch moment with Ana from the World Cup?

In this clip, wat7 is solo stalling the cart until I come back and give him Nano Boost at the last second. It saves him from Tracer's Pulse Bomb.

Would you say we're in a diverse Support hero pool meta right now?

I think the supports are really flexible now except for Zenyatta. He relies on big heals like Mercy or Ana. Now that Mercy is nerfed, he's nerfed as well. He has no self-sustain and has no mobility whatsoever.