Overwatch Open Preview: NA Group B

The first two days of play at the Overwatch Open's main event in Atlanta will feature eight North American teams battling it out for the right to represent the region in Friday's televised Grand Final. Even though the North American hosts have an extra three days to prepare, both NA and EU will have the luxury of watching the others tournament play out in full.

The coming days should definitely serve as an opportunity for coaches and analysts to earn their keep, because up until this point there has been a veritable drought of information on many teams. Obviously there is a world of elite level scrims and practise that goes on behind the velvet rope of professional esports, but for paupers such as ourselves who don't have access to the right lobbies, figuring out the current form is a tenuous prospect.

So eh… don't bet the house on this or anything.

Group B

Cloud9

Kyle "KyKy" Souder (Flex)

Kyle Souder (Flex) Greg "Grego" McAllen (Support)

Greg McAllen (Support) Lane "Surefour" Roberts (DPS)

Lane Roberts (DPS) Adam "Adam" Eckel (Support)

Adam Eckel (Support) Derrick "reaver" Nowicki (DPS)

Derrick Nowicki (DPS) Kevin "deBett" deBettencourt (Tank)

Getting blown up at the Atlantic Showdown, bombing out joint last has definitely taken the shine off of Cloud9's legacy; champions of Agents Rising, a perennial fixture in the world top four and one of the longest running rosters.

Their struggles over the summer months have seen questions ask of reaver, who has perhaps struggled to make an impact in the post Widowmaker world. Recently he has earned kudos for his Tracer play, but eyes will be on him in Atlanta.

Their qualification run for Atlanta was smooth sailing, maintaining a clean sheet against Immortals (formerly Sodipop) and Sea Algae, but the real catharsis for C9 came in August during the Alienware Monthly Mayhem when they were able to take out compLexity before eventually coming from the lower bracket to beat FaZe Clan in the Grand Final.

The signs are that they have turned the corner and should be a lock to make it out of Group B, and despite their summer downturn they have an impeccable match history against all three teams here.

Method

Jacob "PsychoWaffle" Oyer (Support)

Jacob Oyer (Support) Randal "Roolf" Stark (Support)

Randal Stark (Support) Brandon "ultimawep" Wilson (DPS)

Brandon Wilson (DPS) Nicholas "exi" Dudek (Flex)

Nicholas Dudek (Flex) Eric "Krawnnic" Beaugh (Tank)

Eric Beaugh (Tank) Gabriel "Snow" Ceregatto (DPS)

Method were the upset kings in qualification, denying compLexity their trip to Atlanta and beating out Rise Nation to finish just behind NRG in Group D. That run of form would continue into the Alienware Monthly Melee where they dismantled Rise and coL again, but unfortunately had to forfeit against Immortals due to a power outage affecting Snow.

No doubt Method will be keen to find out how that fixture against Immortals might have played out and it seems probable they will be facing off in the lower bracket. How much more can we expect from Snow without his usual 200ms Brazilian latency? Plenty, but probably not enough to see them escape Group B.

Fnatic

André "iddqd" Dahlström (DPS)

André Dahlström (DPS) Scott "custa" Kennedy (Support)

Scott Kennedy (Support) Oliver "Vonethil" Lager (Support)

Oliver Lager (Support) Casey "buds" McIlwaine (DPS)

Casey McIlwaine (DPS) Warsi Faraaz "Stoop" Waris (Tank)

Warsi Faraaz Waris (Tank) Matthew "coolmatt69" Iorio (Flex)

Fnatic were surely happy with their placement at Atlantic Showdown where they made a deep run to the Semi-Finals despite being one of newest rosters competing there. They had plenty to improve upon, but what they showed was promising – particularly Buds who really announced his arrival at gamescom with big Reaper plays.

They progressed 2-0 in qualifiers without dropping a map, topping group over Team Liquid. Since they have gone dark, popping up to bootcamp in Chicago a week ago. Results across the summer season see Fnatic match up well against everyone except for EnVyUs and Cloud9, but they will be hungry to jump the queue to the top of the podium here this weekend with coach Roflgator pushing them forward.

Clear favourites to take their opening match against Immortals who they have yet to lose a map to in official play. They will be looking ahead to the matchup versus Cloud9 which is much less favourable for them historically and will most likely have been the main focus of their preparation for Atlanta.

Immortals

Christopher "GrimReality" Schaefer (DPS)

Christopher Schaefer (DPS) Brady "Agilities" Girardi (DPS/Flex)

Brady Girardi (DPS/Flex) Athen "Aythen" Zhu (Support)

Athen Zhu (Support) Jeremy "Jer" SantaCruz (Support)

Jeremy SantaCruz (Support) George "Hyped" Maganzini (Flex)

George Maganzini (Flex) Wolfgang "wgb" Braun (Tank)

Not many people would have fancied Immortals prospects given the structure of the tournament, but ten days ago they were dealt another blow when Nomy was unable to get a visa in time for the main event. Former Colorado Clutch tank wgb has stepped in in to the role (which included attending their bootcamp) at short notice, but it remains to be seen what sort of impact he can have.

Their path to qualification saw them crushed by Cloud9 but ultimately finishing second ahead of Sea Algae and Huckleberry. Of all the attendees they only team they have managed to score a win against in competition this summer is Splyce (unless you count that default against Method).