Five TaKeAways from TaKeOver 2

TaKeOver 2, the $50,000 prize pool Overwatch tournament/house party, concluded this weekend. Rogue, who had just been knocked out in the group stages in OGN APEX Season 3, took the title. On their way, they faced eUnited three times, as well as a resurgent Cloud9, a neutered Cyclowns, and a disjointed Misfits. It was a memorable event, with great games, great match analysis, and great gags. Here are my biggest takeaways:

What have NiP been doing all this time?

At one time, Ninjas in Pyjamas were in the discussion for best team in the world. Triple and quad tank comps ruled supreme, and no one ran them better (which is only fitting, as the meta was literally named after the team). Nerfs to Ana hit NiP hard, and the team retreated from public view – ostensibly because there weren’t any tournaments worth their time. Assembly and the PIT Championship, a combined 11 games, were all they played between DreamHack and this past weekend.

TaKeTV exposed the Finns as ill-prepared for the current meta, bringing into question what, exactly, they’ve been doing since November. When you contrast their results to those of Rogue, who came out of their own training retreat blazing-hot, it brings up painful questions. Do NiP simply not have the players to run or counter dive? Is it an attitude problem (any of arrogance, laziness, or self-deception)? Do they not have effective training regimens or coaching/analysis?

Regardless of the ultimate cause, the result is that they looked abysmal, and at the worst possible time. Their organization just recently dropped their DotA team to allocate additional resources to Counter-Strike. Immense pressure will be on the Finns to make a strong showing in the Contenders qualifiers, else they might have to worry about their own futures with the org as well.

NiP's slump visualized in their over.gg ranking

Rogue and the West

It is, as Monte pointed out, the darkest timeline. Rogue exited early from the OGN APEX league, flew straight to Germany, and smashed their way through the best the West to win TaKeOver 2. While several other teams at the tournament put on impressive displays – any of Cloud9, eUnited, or Movistar Riders would also have made fine victors – Rogue winning brought the Korea vs West story to the forefront.

What does that say for the comparative strength of Korea and the West? Not much, actually. While it’s clear that many of the best teams in the world right now are Korean, an argument could be made that half or more of the top ten are still Western. EnVyUs (still in Korea), and the four TaKeOver semifinalists are all solid contenders. Lunatic-Hai, LW Blue, and Kongdoo Panthera might be at the top of many people’s lists, but the West lacks neither skill nor depth. If anything, TaKeOver 2 was an excellent opportunity to show off just how many good teams the West has.

Importance of a coach

In a lot of ways, Misfits and Cloud9 are very similar. Both have incredibly flexible rosters. Both are helmed by best in the West DPS players (and both have reputations for being difficult to build around). Both are seeking to bring their current rosters up to the heights achieved by their old ones.

But Cloud9 have a coach, empowered by the organization to make any decisions he deems necessary. And he has; C9 has seen roster changes, role changes, and composition changes since Bishop was brought on board. Misfits, on the other hand, were the only team at TaKeTV without a coach. They looked disorganized – less so than in prior tournaments – but still noticeable. Stretching all the way back since the three-way trade, Misfits have struggled to make sense of their collective deep, overlapping hero pools. Their early exit from the tournament should be a wakeup call that strong, non-player leadership is needed to help them convert their abundant raw talent into results.

Zenyatta’s prominence

While Rogue was tearing through North America, casters and analysts consistently talked about how important uNKOE’s Zenyatta was to their super-aggressive dive. In fact, one of the main success conditions (theorized, at least, since not many people were having success against them) was to try to pressure uNKOE into switching from Zen to Ana.

Then, and there, Zen was still a bit of a novelty. Most teams still preferred Ana. At TaKeTV, that was most certainly not the case. uNKOE was joined by Boombox, Roolf, Dante, and Poks (who, while not a support main, certainly could have fooled a lot of people). Zenyatta stole the show. Momentum-swinging plays, discord orb’s critical importance to the modern dive, favorable camerawork, and oodles of headshots made Zenyatta the hero of the tournament.

The need for a lighthearted event

As much as it’s been overblown on Twitter and Reddit, it’s hard to deny that there’s been a lot of bad news coming out of Overwatch lately. Many organizations that grew the scene into what it is today are bowing out. In the absence of official word about the Overwatch League, the fans – jaded, skeptical, but still very hungry for the league – are wringing everything they can out of every rumor and scrap of information they can find, often interpreting it negatively.

TaKeOver 2 was a breath of fresh air. It had the high production value of other LANs, but also a jovial atmosphere. Even more so than the now-discontinued Monthly Melees, TaKeTV didn’t take itself too seriously. In addition to all of the joking around though, the players that joined the casting couch opened up and talked about strategy with a level of honesty and depth that’s not common. In-match and post-match analysis from players on other teams in the tournament is engaging, informative, and could improve future tournaments down the line.

High quality matches, running gags, and deep insight directly from the players made it the most enjoyable tournament to watch in a long time.