Elijah Hudson "Elk" Gallagher is easily one of the names that I hear most frequently tied with Overwatch League Season 2. Prominent community figures and players alike all have spoken very highly about the 18-year-old native New Yorker. However, Elk has been through the competitive ringer for the last two years and has a lot of experience at his disposal. Formerly a player for teams like East Wind, Evil Geniuses and even flying to Southeast-Asia to join MEGA Thunder, Elk has likely seen it all.

Elk now works under the Fusion University’s banner and is quickly shaping a very successful track record with the team. As the reigning Overwatch Contenders North American champions, Esports Heaven caught up with Elk as he prepared for his upcoming grand final match against XL2 Academy to talk about his history in card games, his future as a player, specialty in Overwatch and what it means for the future of the game.

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I think the main thing I've gained from my background in chess and other strategy games is that I'm calm in the high pressure situations.

So, for MTG I really liked combo decks cause they seemed the hardest to play. Due to the price of playing legacy I went towards the modern format. My first successful event I played a now banned deck called "Amulet Bloom" that was very complex and interested me for that reason. After that I started playing midrange like Jund.

I actually hope it doesn't. One of the coolest things about Overwatch is needing so many different kinds of people to pull off a good team, [but] I'd like Blizzard to push even harder to make them more complex and harder to learn.

I do think there is more room for stylistic choices in teams, but also think the issue is with Overwatch as a whole. With under 30 heroes it's hard to have that kind of diversity and find team comps that work "better" than the meta. Blizzard has done a great job with map design to push different strategies but I don't know if its enough alone.

I think the main thing is I had just come off a win with team Sun With Face Clap (SWFC), a pickup team for the

Overwatch Heroes Rumble 2017

with Mangachu Ishiny Zacharee Kellar and Goliath, but previously to that I played in OPC Season 2 with Mega Thunder. We went like 6-20 and almost got relegated. I wanted to prove to myself that I could win Contenders Season 2 and feel comfortable in my abilities.

I wouldn't rule it out but I very much like being competitive so I haven't really thought about it.

I think language barriers make complex strategies really, really hard. Not only do you need to be able to change them mid-game but even going over VODs it can be hard to communicate. Overall, I think it can be overcome, especially in competitive environments.

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Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at

@Volamel

.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.