According to a report from The Esports Observer, Blizzard has stated that they are hoping to add 4 to 6 new teams for Season 2 of Overwatch League. The huge success of the league's first season has surprised many, and those who were reluctant to invest in Season 1 might reconsider for Season 2. The additional 4 to 6 new teams would come with the introduction of a number of new players. Investors and team managers have to start looking for new talents to fill their rosters, and they probably don’t need to look any further than the Overwatch Contenders. This season of Overwatch Contenders has shown that many of the players have what it takes to be OWL superstars.



This article will select some of the best players from Overwatch Contenders and form 4 different fantasy teams for Season 2 of the Overwatch League.



Disclaimer: These teams have been formulated by the author’s opinions and do not even closely resemble reality. The team names, cities, and logos are all made up and in no way relate to any future teams of the Overwatch League.

I would like to thank Jp3 (Tokyo Titans, Vancouver Direwolves), and Jeverst (Cologne Guardians) for allowing me to use their awesome team concepts for this article.





1. Vancouver Direwolves (KR Contenders Team)



The Korean scene has a vast amount of talented players that can play at a 1st tier level. If a manager wanted to buy the next successful OWL team, buying one of the top KR Contenders would be a good bet. Personally, I believe that Seven, at least on paper, looks like the most solid team despite their drop out in the quarterfinals and I will be using them as the foundation of the Korean Contenders dream team. Here are some reasons why:



First of all, Seven has an incredible frontline with eVo and Fr3e leading the charge. However, if I could change one thing, I would add Daco from Element Mystic as the off-tank, as he is one of the best D.Va’s in Korea and I believe that he is better suited for the team than Fr3e. Daco provides aggressive boosts to secure kills, and his ability to peel for his supports is amazing. Check out his amazing dodge.

I believe that both eVo and Daco should be highly considered for Overwatch League.



As for the supports, I have decided to include Seven’s supports, Revenge and Mika, in the lineup since they have been formidable this season. Revenge has proven to be a very competent and aggressive support, while Mika has been peeling and using his ultimates effectively. However, Chara from Meta Bellum has also been an impressive Lucio this season and I have added him to the lineup since he could be a favorable addition to the team.



The DPS duo of Seven is probably one of the best in South Korea. I believe that Bazzi has the potential to play for the Overwatch League immediately. His deadly Widow shots have carried the team multiple times and have been a joy to watch. I have also included Xzi from Element Mystic, as he is another player that is worthy of being in the Overwatch League. He has solo carried his team out of unfavorable situations with his Tracer; he illustrates how much of a difference one player can make. If anyone is trying to make a Korean team for Season 2, Xzi or Bazzi would be must-haves.





2. Cologne Guardians (EU Contenders Team)



EU is another region that has a wide array of talented players. I believe that a team of all European players is strong enough to be competitive in the Overwatch League. To start, I have decided to use the British Hurricane as the foundation of the team.



Fusions and Hafficool form one of the best frontlines in the EU Contenders. If I had to criticize one thing about this frontline, it would be that I believe lhcloudy is a better Reinhardt and that’s why I decided to put him on the team. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to have another off-tank backup to mitigate fatigue, and so I have decided to include Txao into the lineup as he is probably one of the best off-tanks in the EU.



As for supports, I would like to see how the British Hurricane will fare with some of the best EU supports, Masaa and Ripa. I strongly believe that these two supports can make the team stronger. Also, if they were to use a Reinhardt lineup with lhcloudy, these two supports would work well with him since they are all from Team Gigantti. I have included FunnyAstro as well because he will be needed in comps where they need an aggressive support.



As for the DPS, Kragie and Kyb are probably the best DPS duo in European Contenders. I would argue that they are ready to play for an Overwatch League team immediately. Kragie’s Tracer and Zarya have been top notch and Kyb has a wide hero pool that could be played at a high level. However, there might be a need for a flex DPS that can play a wide variety of heroes, and I cannot think of anyone better-suited than Erki. His considerable hero pool can be utilized well thanks to his great mechanical skills; his addition to the team would help cover for any role Kragie and Kyb cannot has a deep hero pool that he can play well with his mechanical skills and he could fill in for roles that may not be covered by Kragie and Kyb.





3. Tokyo Titans (NA Contenders Team)



Trying to form the best NA Contenders team was a lot more challenging than the other regions, simply because it seems there are not enough NA players that play at OWL level. If you look at the top teams, many of the players are not actually from NA. This includes WHOru, Alaram, Greyy, Kruise, SharP, Smex, Shadder2K, etc. It would be impractical trying to make an all-NA team, no matter how experimental it may be. Therefore, I tried to make an NA Contenders team that can showcase some of the best players in NA and players that may have worked with NA teams.



I am going to start off with KnoXxX. KnoXxX may be an odd choice for an NA OWL team but I will argue why he would be a great addition to the team. KnoXxX is a veteran when it comes to LAN tournaments, and he is currently the leader of Eagle Gaming. I believe that he would be able to lead this group of young and talented NA players with his leadership and experience. Plus, he is an amazing tank.



I put Beasthalo, ZachaREEE, and Elk from the current NA Contenders champions, Fusion University, on this team. I believe all three of them have been exceptional throughout the series. While it is true that Beasthalo has overextended from time to time, I believe that he could be an amazing tank if he is provided with proper team synergy and training. ZachaREEE and Elk have been MVP of the team along with WHOru.



That leaves only a few spots open for the team. I have decided to add Smex as the off-tank as he is one of the better off-tanks in the NA Contenders and I would consider him an upgrade over crakinlakin. Gods was also added as an off-tank backup in case of fatigue or injury. He is an amazing addition because he can also flex to DPS. I added Greyy because he is one of the fraggier Zenyattas and the team needs a fraggy Zenyatta to fill the void of Alarm. Kruise was added as a backup support and he can also flex onto other roles. As for DPS, I added Shadder2K since I consider him one of the best Genji's in NA Contenders. As ZachaREEE fills in for the hitscan role, I thought that this team might need a DPS that can fill a variety of heroes and I could not think of an NA player more suitable than Mangachu. He is also a veteran of LAN tournaments and I believe that he will complement the needs of this NA Contenders team.





4. Chicago Strike (Runaway Fantasy Team)



Runaway has been a team that has been a favorite of the crowds for quite some time. Even today, they seem to have the biggest fanbase in South Korea and maintain a strong fanbase abroad. It has come as a surprise to many people that they have not won any major tournaments or been bought out by a sponsor. Facing these disappointments, Runaway has gone through many changes, including the loss of KoX and Kaiser, who are both original members of the team. For a time, it felt like the Runaway family would slowly fall apart. However, many of the members of Runaway, like Stitch, Haksal, and Bumper, remain steadfast and even refused offers from OWL in order to stick with the team.



It is every Runaway fan's dream to see their favorite team as a part of the Overwatch League. Despite some disappointments, they are still one of the top teams in Korea and it would be a pretty good investment to bring them over just because of their fanbase alone. However, they are not without a few caveats. With 12 rosters being allowed in OWL, I have come up with a roster that can potentially complement the Runaway Fantasy team.

▲ Chicago Strike concept by James Palermo. (Instagram)



You might be wondering why I put GodsB in the Runaway fantasy team instead of the Korean Contenders team above. This is because Xzi is good enough and I don’t think GodsB is a huge upgrade over him. However, If I could name one player that needs to be picked up from all of Contenders, I would say that it’s GodsB. He has been amazing throughout the series and has sometimes solo-carried X-6 throughout their matches.



Bumper has been an amazing tank throughout Contenders, but he is a flex player. I thought it would be good to have a dedicated main tank for Runaway. Of course, Emperor Kaiser could fit this bill. However, he has not played in LAN for quite some time and it might take a while before he can play at an OWL level. Also, his Winston has not been as great as his Reinhardt. So, I have decided to add Pumple from Foxes. Foxes is a team that has been eliminated from the quarterfinals, but Pumple has proven to be an excellent tank. His jumps have been on point, and I am speculating that he is the shotcaller because his team's DPS seem to follow through his dives very well. I believe that if Runaway wants to be competitive, they need a good main tank to lead the charge and Pumple is a great choice for that.



As for supports, I wanted to include two supports from the same team because synergy and teamwork is important for supports. However, some of the better support duos have been separated and recruited to OWL teams. Therefore, I have decided to include iDK and Lucid from Lucky Future Zenith (A team from Chinese Contenders with a full Korean roster) as supports as I believe that they are one of the top 3 supports duos from Korea.



Finally, I have added Ivy from 02 Ardeont as the final DPS for the team. I believe that Haksal is an amazing DPS player. He was considered one of the two best Genji's in Korea and this might still be true. However, he has some consistency issues. He severely underperformed in the semifinals, where his counterpart bqb constantly played better. Because of this, I believe that Ivy could be a great addition to the team when Haksal becomes inconsistent.





Disclaimer: The following article was written freely based on the author's opinion, and it may not necessarily represent Inven Global's editorial stance.