“Thinking it Over” is a short opinion piece to encourage debate around a specific topic.





The Overwatch League has announced the adjustment of rules of roster construction for the 2020 season. The announcement included key dates of the different stages in the signing window and Contenders and Academy team rules. Moreover, the league took in feedback from this season’s two-way player structure and refined it further. In this piece, I attempt to evaluate and explain those rules and argue that they are an overall welcome net-positive.





Key dates

Opening of free agency window

The signing window once again opens shortly after the season ends on September 30th. Teams in this period may extend or renegotiate contracts with their Overwatch League players or may sign players from their academy team. They will have time to do so until October 7th.

Contracts in the Overwatch League most often function under the 1+X structure. A player that signed during season one had one guaranteed year of a contract with a team and if the team wanted, it could decide to keep a player on for the duration of X years. Most Overwatch League contracts are either 1+1 or 1+2, meaning that teams get to extend the contract for one or two seasons at the same conditions that were previously agreed upon. However, it is notable that renegotiations for higher salary often reset this window.

For example, if you were a player for the London Spitfire in the 2018 season and renegotiated your salary based on your season performance, your team likely didn’t just pick up your second-year option. Instead, it was often the case that the renegotiation included a completely new contract which may start the 1+1- or 1+2 time frame from the beginning once again.

With this in mind, it is unlikely that many 2018 players will be able to willingly move into free agency by their own decision at the end of the 2019 season (which they might want to do for instance to forgo buyouts that would otherwise have to be paid for them). Many players did renegotiate their contracts after the first season, allowing teams to pick up players +1 option for the third season. It follows that we shouldn’t expect all too many high-caliber free agents in the off-season, if any.





Minimum of 8 players deadline

November 11th is the official end date for the duration of the seasonal contracts. Players who are set to become free agents (as they haven’t received a contract extension from their team between September 30th and October 7th) may contact other teams presumably starting October 8th. It is noteworthy that teams may still pick up a player’s next season options with the intention of selling them to another team for a buyout during the entire transfer window that only closes in Summer next year.





On November 15th, all teams need to have at least eight players, of which four can be two-way players. This should give the league the assurance that teams have three months to apply for all required visas over the season and minimizes the threat of an organization being unable to field a full team of six players across the season for visa-related issues. Moreover, it will help in scheduling pre-season team duties such as media days.





Contenders/Academy rules

For the 2020 season, academy teams or so-called “affiliated teams” will be required to operate in the respective region where the main team is located. Teams that still want to have a two-way player be able to practice outside of the region they are located in are given the option to affiliate with non-academy teams in other regions under the vague condition of having to provide “meaningful local structure.” Affiliated teams will not enjoy academy team privileges like the contractual right of matching an offer for a player like academy teams currently do. The intention of these rules is likely multifaceted and hard to pin down and to speculate would potentially be reckless.

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The rule change seems to be a reaction to actions of teams like the Philadelphia Fusion, who had sent their Academy team Fusion University from North American Contenders to Korean Contenders for the second season of 2019. While Fusion University will be given a transitional grace period, it shouldn’t be a serious problem for the Fusion as the organization has deep business entanglements with SKT T1, an esports organization located in Korea that is likely to fulfill the ambiguous “meaningful local structure” requirement.





Peculiarly, the new rules also allow academy team players to negotiate the right to match an offer out of their contract. When academy players are currently offered an Overwatch League contract from another team, the parent organization is allowed to match the offer and sign the player under the same conditions that were proposed by the other team. Arguably, this is one of the most attractive aspects for an Overwatch League team to even field an academy team. That way, teams can ensure quality talent development under their own roof while also making sure that they receive the player at a reasonable market price if they want. In conclusion, it appears rather unlikely that any Overwatch League team would be willing to give that right away in a contract negotiation unless it meant that they could heavily cut expenses elsewhere in the contract (salary or accommodations).





Two–way players

During Stage 1 of 2019, Boston Uprising’s Fusions had been signed to a two-way contract. Having played for Uprising Academy beforehand, his contract prohibited him from playing his third OWL match against the Shanghai Dragons. Fusions had previously played two OWL matches and had thus maxed out the number of games a two-way player with previous Contenders season playtime was allowed to play under the old ruleset. This limitation had only been pointed out to the Uprising moments before Fusions was set to walk on stage.





Likely in order to prevent such scenarios in the future, the Overwatch League has adapted its rules and shared them with the public. A two-way player can play two matches within 30 days in Overwatch League without losing his eligibility to play in Contenders. Upon participating in his third OWL match, the player is barred from competing in Contenders for the next 60 days.

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Arguably, the intention of the two-way player system is to allow mostly rookie players to maintain form on a team’s academy (or now affiliated) roster to be able to be feasibly subbed in for all kinds of unforeseen circumstances while also ensuring the integrity of Contenders, so OWL teams don’t send down their top talent in order to push for a Gauntlet victory in the postseason.





In my opinion, the length of this lock-out is the only questionable aspect of the announced changes to roster construction and even there it is possible that the unannounced Contenders schedule next year makes these 60 days appear less severe than they seem to me. If the schedules remain similar to this season, 60 days are an awfully long time, during which a player’s form could deteriorate.

One topical example I could name is the case of Elk from Fusion University, who played for the Fusion in stage 1 because of an unfortunate illness on Boombox’s part. Afterwards, the team didn’t immediately send him down to Fusion University but kept him around while not playing him actively on the main roster. Only after the Atlantic Showdown did Elk get the opportunity to compete again and looked significantly out of shape because of his significantly long three-month break from competitive play.





Verdict

The new rules show a direct ability to learn from past mistakes and have measured responses to them. The rules didn’t shy away from introducing complexity if it meant that a past issue could be prevented in the future. I also have to commend the League for its transparency with these rule changes. All the changes appear sensible and enforceable. Giving the community the insight into this snippet of the rulebook will help crowdsource the enforcement as well as the warning of potential future rule inflictions in advance.



