One of the more contentious aspects of Blizzard’s planned Overwatch league is the announcement of a combine. Blizzard promised that ladder stars and tournament players would both receive invites to the combine, and additionally extended their first invite to a current professional—Miro. While the idea sounds incredible in theory, the announcement implies that current professional teams will likely be torn apart to create new teams.

Teams that have played together for many months now — some extending to even the beta — now effectively have ticking timers in place. Should these teams be torn apart, a lot of the work professional players are currently putting in will go to waste. Some professionals have even questioned whether participating in the current scene is worth the effort, given that they can earn invites to the combine by laddering for only a few hours a day as opposed to participating in scrims for over 10 hours a day.

Blizzard’s grandiose plan with their Overwatch league, and subsequently the draft, almost certainly has some sort of plan in mind for the future. However, the lack of information revealed at the BlizzCon announcement is at least somewhat perturbing. With the information given, at least one thing is certain: a draft has numerous implications for the scene, both for the present and the future.

The Good

Photo credit: Cloud9.gg

The clear advantage to implementing a draft is that doing so spreads talent. Currently, top talent is loaded in a few teams; namely, Team EnVyUs, Rogue, Misfits, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Cloud9, and FaZe have the most star-studded rosters (in the west). In order to evenly spread talent across what will probably a 10+ team league, a draft would guarantee that every team could land a superstar player. Superstars are especially important in a city-based system that aims to promote regional pride; without a superstar, fans would shy away from a home team in order to root for a team with better players.

Additionally, a draft allows ladder players to get a fair shot after demonstrating their talent in the upcoming combine. Without established teams in the league, ladder players can be judged on their individual skills and compared with players from the pre-existing tournament scene on a more consistent basis. Though tournament experience will certainly be taken into account by organizations, professional players will not be able to rely on synergy that they built with a single lineup to carry them through to the next stage of competition.

The Bad

One of the hardest traits to test in any sort of combine is how good of a teammate any player can be. While information might float around the scene, only current professionals will have an actual reputation that organizations can take into account. Ladder players will certainly be vetted by Blizzard for toxicity (for better or worse), but actual teamwork is a difficult skill to test for in Blizzard’s planned combine.

The combine will likely organize in-house matches with various different teams to test how well players can adapt and mesh. Unfortunately, such a structure tests only the same skills that solo queue does. All players participating in the combine will have the ability to play in this type of environment, to an extent, given it mirrors the high ELO ladder.

Outside of screening for ragers, Blizzard can only do so much to screen for “coachability.” Players might be able to function in a solo queue environment, but playing against coordinated rosters with strategies and weeks of preparation is a different beast entirely.

Photo credit: USA Today

Obviously with a draft come risks, but given that 2017 will be the inaugural season of the Overwatch league, organizations will likely have little experience in dealing with this sort of draft. Traditional sports might be moving in with their experience in drafting players, but picking players for the NFL or NBA is very different than doing so for the Overwatch league. Football and basketball prospects will never be “pickup” stars; instead, they will almost always come from structured environments, such as college teams or foreign leagues. The best players in Overwatch might not even be participating in the current tournament scene, so team-play is not a guarantee.

The Ugly

Perhaps the most unfortunate change that a draft would bring is the destruction of previously dominant rosters. While talent would be spread around more evenly, dynasties such as the current Rogue would be torn apart, leaving a “what if” for the future. Think upon the current SK Telecom T1 in League of Legends — given time to grow, good teams can become truly great. The current landscape has no chance to achieve such greatness, with only six months at best to continue playing with the same roster.

Photo credit: Turner Sports

Given time, the scene will certainly see new rosters come to challenge greatness. Undoubtedly some organizations will prove to be better managers of talent than others, in which case hierarchies will be set. While better teams might exist in the future, Rogue, EnVyUs, and other dominant teams will see their legacies cut short.

Additionally, what remains to be seen is how Blizzard plans to structure international competition. Will Koreans, Europeans, Chinese, Americans, and all other nationalities compete in a single Overwatch league? Given that the first season is almost certainly only going to occur in America, will players from around the world be able to compete? Language barriers will strain communication in a comm-intensive game, and weighting spoken language against in-game talent will be a decision organizations must deal with should a worldwide talent draft occur. The question of exclusivity is the biggest question that Blizzard has left unanswered, and unfortunately, the community likely will not receive an answer for at least some time.

The Verdict

A draft system, which seems likely to occur, ensures a wide distribution of talent and promotes regional pride for fans. However, it provides many short-term problems in exchange for the promise of stability once the league is fully formed. These short-term problems are risks worth taking—Blizzard’s vision of their own esport engulfs a long future and the promise of constant improvement. While the current scene will have to sacrifice in order to participate in Blizzard’s league, the benefits from two, three, or more years down the line should outweigh less than a year’s worth of preliminary competition.

Though details are still uncertain, one fact is undeniable: Blizzard clearly believes in the future of Overwatch, and they will only take steps that they trust will benefit the game.