Overwatch Contenders houses both rookie and veteran talent looking to, one day, grace the Overwatch League stage. On the latter half of that discussion lies Daniel "Gods" Graeser, flex tank for Gladiators Legion.

With a track record that dates back to 2016, Gods has been around the competitive Overwatch circuit for a while, playing on teams like Luminosity Gaming, NRG Esports and Cloud 9. Now, he plays for the academy team for the Los Angeles Gladiators, Gladiators Legion. Gods spoke with EsportsHeaven about his thoughts on some of the new teams entering the Overwatch League, the level of Contenders, and why Overwatch League players should not remain comfortable going into the second season.

My social media memes are essentially my thoughts and jokes condensed into images directly. I love being able to be myself on social media and joke about whatever I want to. I think it's important to give people perspective though, I've been working on reaching my goals as a professional player for over 2 years now. When it's time to perform I take it completely seriously.

Oh boy ... the stories I could tell. Pookz and I met early on in my career, we were the two new additions to the team at the time so we definitely felt more separate from the team initially. I believe that combined with our similar sense of humor made us good friends. Some of my favorite memories come from our time traveling together and competing in 2016. Traveling can be hard and stressful, it's hard not to have some inside jokes about the weird stuff that you experience along the way, that's my favorite part.

The game is pretty simple from a professional perspective. The meta is defined around a sequence of abilities and movements made by your Reinhardt, Zarya, and Brig. The initial clash of the tanks is heavily scripted and predictable. While it is fun as someone who enjoys scripting and planning strategies in the game, I don't enjoy the game as much if I don't get to work on implementing new compositions because certain heroes are too powerful.

It's pretty clear to me that the teams that had existing rosters have a distinct advantage, it would surprise me if one of the new expansion teams were able to take the top spot. I'm excited to see people that I know and compete with and against moving up from Contenders and getting their chance to compete. Unfortunately, I have to cheer for them from the sidelines but it should be a really good season to watch as a spectator.

Good question. As time goes on the coaches will become critical for a team’s success. Currently, however, I believe the players have a better feeling and knowledge about the game than their coaches in some instances. This doesn't apply to every team. As we see more and more veteran professional players retiring to coaching positions this dynamic will change. You will eventually have people that played Overwatch professionally for several years transitioning

into a coaching role. They will have a lot to teach someone who is 18 and just breaking into the scene.

Contenders is still a pretty mixed bag. If you picked a name out of a hat blindly, you could potentially get someone who is barely good enough to compete in open, or you could get the Overwatch Leagues next MVP (me). In all seriousness though, players and teams in Contenders are getting stronger every day. The players currently in the Overwatch League should not be comfortable with their positions. Some of us are out here grinding all day to come and take their spot.

Yikes. A lot of different things contributed to that loss, to be honest though. It was the best way for us to lose. Everyone on my team is going to learn a lot from a long, drawn-out endurance game. In some ways, we feel like a new team. Adding Dalton and Far as well as some communication and cultural restructuring from our coaching staff is pushing us in

the right direction. I know we can and will do better in the future.

That was actually my call. We had noticed that Sombra can be good in instances similar to that one. I made a judgment call and it didn't play out the way that I thought it would. Not to fault Dalton though, we barely had experience playing with the Sombra.

The thing I can't stress enough with my team is playing our own game. Make our moves and force the other team to react. Team Envy might be a challenge, we aren't worried about facing any specific team right now. They should be worried about facing us.

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 .