'frd' Goebel, who is an off-tank player for the Atlanta Reign, and he's going to be the featured personality in today's chapter of OverAchievers. Before I begin though, I wrote about the Reign's flex support, Dogman, last week, so if you missed that post, do frd's story began. In the second season of the Overwatch League, we saw a wide array of players from a broad spectrum of teams show off their skills in many different ways. Some of them got the opportunity to do so quite often, being fielded regularly over the course of multiple stages, but there were others who didn't see the same level of playtime as their cohorts, and were instead guarded; held on to by their teams' coaches for very specific purposes; being utilised right when their skill sets were required. One such player was NathanGoebel, who is an off-tank player for the Atlanta Reign, andgoing to be the featured personality in today's chapter of OverAchievers. Before I begin though, I wrote about the Reign's flex support,, last week, so if you missed that post, do give it a read as well. Alright, now let's talk about how's story began.





Nathan Goebel began playing video games at the mere age of 3 on his first console: the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES for short). As time went by, he moved on to playing 'Halo' on the XBox his father got him, and after hopping, skipping and jumping from one title to another for many a year, he landed on Overwatch, after he saw it "blowing up on Twitch and YouTube". Over his many years playing video games, Nathan had developed a desire to become a professional gamer, but as an actual goal, it had always seemed unrealistic to him.





We all know that Overwatch proved him wrong, but not right off the bat. Although frd (pronounced 'fried') enjoyed the gameplay Overwatch had to offer, he didn't find its first Competitive season very fun. Because of that, he "didn't expect too much from it (the game)" from a professional perspective, but all that changed when he decided to have another go at the ladder during Competitive Season 2. Before he began his placements, frd had gone through the then-new tier system, which contained the ranks we're all familiar with today (Bronze-Grandmaster). Looking at its structure, he thought hitting something like Diamond would be a commendable achievement for him, so imagine his reaction when he was able to grind to Top 500 in its first season of existence. That's when he realised he was actually good at the game, and it made him confident that he could turn this talent into something very special. That was also the time frd took a liking to Roadhog, and despite him having played "pretty much everything" during his time on ladder, he always had the most fun on that hero.





Because of this, around Competitive seasons 5 and 6, frd joined his first ever Overwatch team called 'Anime is Real' as an off-tank player. Most of you probably won't know this, but 'Anime is Real' also included LA Valiant's projectile DPS player Apply, Fusion University's main support player CarCar, and a now-Apex Legends pro Mohr, who plays for NRG Esports.





As time went by, frd kept finding himself on better and better teams because of his consistency, which he thinks is his biggest asset. After regularly putting up good numbers on ladder and performing well during tournaments, Nathan decided he wanted to give top-tier Overwatch a shot. As a result, he requested his parents for a year to prove his worth in the esports scene, and if that didn't lead anywhere, he would pick up his education where he left it off. Fortunately, frd's hard work paid off, and he got picked up by Gladiators Legion a few months after he graduated high school, and just a month after that, he was signed by the Atlanta Reign.





As the OWL fans among you may know, frd saw most of his playtime in Stage 4 this year, where he played a fantastic Roadhog, swapping to D.Va when necessary, and it was partly due to him that the Reign went undefeated during the Role-Locked quarter of Season 2. Frd was fielded temporarily during Goats as well, but I guess his roots on Roadhog preceded his reputation, and his skill set was saved specifically for a meta where it could outmatch most of his competition, which it certainly did. Because of that, I asked frd which other Roadhog players in the League he thought were top-tier, and he mentioned SPACE, who is now signed to the LA Gladiators, and ChoiHyoBin, who is still with the San Francisco Shock. No other Hog players really impressed him last season, and I'm not surprised, given how consistently he was landing those hooks and getting picks for his team.





TIDBITS OF TRIVIA:

The Name ' frd ': It was originally ' friedwiener ', which Nathan shortened to ' frdwnr ' when he started making progress in Contenders. Right before OWL, he shortened it even further to ' frd ', and no, there are no points for guessing why.

Favourite Hero: Roadhog/D.Va

Most hated Hero: Orisa. Frd believes it is "mind-boggling" that Orisa wasn't reworked along with 2-2-2, and that she's still being buffed steadily over time. I mean, it's really something when you main Roadhog but hate Orisa, right? Maybe you should listen to this one, Jeff.

Favourite Map: Lijiang Tower

Most hated Map: Paris

Favourite Meta: Dive/Goats

Most hated Meta: Anything that includes Orisa, because "Orisa is awful".





I think this is the classic "I hate my boss" situation, right? Your boss is the main reason you can put food on the table, but you still hate him/her for certain traits they possess. Similarly, Orisa's presence in the Meta was the only reason frd could show off his amazing Roadhog skills, but he still hates her for being as strong as she currently is. Well, let's hope for frd's sake that she's nerfed before OWL Season 3 begins, but not too much, since I'm sure we still want to see him get work done as Roadhog, even though he may prioritise the health of the game over his signature heroes. This nice-guy attitude seems to come naturally to him, since when I asked him about his personal goal in Overwatch, he said he just wants his squad, no matter whom he's playing alongside, to remember him as a good teammate, and I'm certain his cohorts on the Reign will agree that he's already achieved that goal.



All that said, I wish frd the best of luck for the ensuing season of the Overwatch League, and hope he gets to pop off a lot more this year on any hero he plays. I'm incredibly grateful to him for chatting and sharing his story with me, and I hope I can make more content with him in the future. I have linked his social media accounts at the bottom of this post, so do check those out and give him a follow. If you liked this post and are interested in reading similar posts in the future, you can subscribe to my blog (the button is on the top right section of the page); it's really motivating to see more and more people returning to read my content, so thanks a lot for dropping by and spending some time here. That's all I have for you today, so thanks again for reading, and I wish you a Happy New Year in advance! This is Proilios, signing out.



Frd's Social Media Links: