One of the most interesting and exciting additions to the North American Overwatch Contenders scene for this season is Japanese player Sean Taiyo "ta1yo" Henderson. His addition to Third Impact ahead of the Contenders seeding tournament set to begin on January 11th to set the stage for the rest of the season. Now, this isn’t the first time he’s tried to travel abroad to continue his career, last year ta1yo was reportedly set to join

GGEA, Houston Outlaw’s academy team, before the brand’s financial woes

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With a solid track record in the pacific region and a resume that dates back to early 2017, ta1yo is chomping at the bit to help take Third Impact to their first Contenders title. Esports Heaven spoke with ta1yo about how he landed with Third Impact, how his view on the game as evolved over his career, and he shares his views on the state of Overwatch Contenders.

Well, I was offered a spot in tryouts, and Jupiter was splitting up. I really wasn't looking to compete anymore but I still had the urge to compete. The tryouts were really long and the players were carefully picked. That is one of the reasons why I believe this team has high potential.

I really just want to win this season of Contenders and get a chance to play in the Overwatch League. I actually don’t know many people in the Contenders NA scene but I really just want to prove myself as a player.

Ta1yo on sustainability: “I just love the game from the bottom of my heart […] Even if I go homeless, I probably will somehow find a way to compete in Overwatch!”

My love for the game has not changed much, but honestly speaking my drive to compete has deteriorated a little bit because of how slow patches have been. Seems like nothing is ever new. However, with that said, I am really motivated for this season of Contenders. I really just want to win.

I was a really toxic player back in the day, only wanting to win. That gave me a lot of willpower to grind, but it definitely affected my teammates negatively. Seeing my teammates break down at LAN gave me the epiphany of how my mindset was very toxic. Thus the change in mindset. My mindset as of now has become even more team-based. Overwatch is too much of a team-based game to have an ego.

Big overseas LAN tournaments just give me a lot of motivation to grind. For example, the Overwatch World Cup this year was able to rejuvenate the light to compete in me, seeing a bunch of Overwatch League players and stuff.

I feel as if this new upcoming season of Contenders will be hard on the players, but more games will be cool to watch. I honestly don't have any clue on how to run tournaments, but Contenders as of now is nowhere near sustainable, so I hope that in the near future there would be better infrastructure for the tier 2 scene.

I feel as if grassroots events involve the community more. Streamer teams and people streaming their games are very healthy and is more interactive than the “professional” theme that Contenders has but I still think contenders should function as it has been.

No matter how good and great you think you can be, nothing can beat multiple people working together. Overwatch has taught me so much about human interaction as well. I learned how to understand people and how they like to be treated, and being able to convey ideas to them, in a way that won't aggravate the said person.

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

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Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.