For the last month and a half, the team formerly called Graviton Surge has, appropriately, been crushing dreams.

In late June, the roster swept through the Amazon Gaming Series, defeating REUNITED 2-0 and the red-hot Creation eSports roster 3-0 in the final. The next day, they showed that win wasn't a fluke, with wins over melty eSports Club and ANOX at the Go4Overwatch Europe Cup #4.

Misfits continued their strong performance in the first two weeks of July, at the playoffs for The Battle, where they once again took big wins against REUNITED and Rogue.

And when it came to the qualifiers for the two biggest Overwatch tournaments to date, Misfits showed the world they don't need two chances to earn their seat. Twice.

At the heart of the team are support player and shotcaller Sebastian "Zebbosai" Olsson and DPS Terrence "SoOn" Tarlier, who each came to Overwatch with experience in other competitive games: Zebbosai played Team Fortress 2, SoOn played Shootmania. According to the two teammates, some of that experience proved to be portable, and some of it didn't.

Zebbosai, who played DPS for the team before taking on the shotcalling role, said that his competitive past helps him make snap decisions, despite the gap that separates TF2 and what many in the community think of as its spiritual successor.

"I used to be a maincaller in TF2, so I could carry some of that with me into this game once I moved to Lucio," he told theScore esports. "Apart from that, Overwatch is also a 6v6 game, so calling focus etc. works the same way."

For SoOn, the muscle memory required to consistently land shots is something he's carried with him from Shootmania. "We used the Railgun to flickshot every time, so I’ve got a good start on Overwatch, especially with McCree," he said.

By contrast, the team's second DPS player, Nikolaj "Zaprey" Ian Moyes, didn't have any competitive experience to lean on when he joined the team. But he had the benefit of getting into the Overwatch beta early enough to prove that he belonged on a top tier squad.

Zaprey played for Reason Gaming briefly during the beta before their roster disbanded; shortly afterward, he got the attention of Andreas "Nevix" Karlsson, Graviton Surge's second support, in pub matches.

"I queue-sniped Nevix for a week, he noticed me, and then I trialed for Graviton Surge, and here I am," Zaprey recounted.

The Danish player is the only current member of Misfits who wasn't a part of Graviton Surge's original roster. Tarek "kr4tosdigga" Ekmekci was initially a support for the team when it formed on May 21, while Zebbosai was playing DPS.

That first incarnation of the team made their mark right away, with a third-place finish at TaKeOver on May 29. The event — billed as the first Overwatch LAN after the game's official release — was also the first time the players met face-to-face. For a team with players spread across France, Germany and Sweden, the initial chemistry was strong.

"The team atmosphere is great," Zebbosai said. "Going to TaKeTV really helped us all bond. Of course as any team we don't always agree with each other on everything and arguments do get heated sometimes, but there's nothing we haven't been able to work through."

Though the finish at TaKeOver was a good start, the team felt they could do better with Zebbosai in the support role calling shots. Not confident that kr4tosdigga could fill Zebbosai's old role, the team opted to scout out a new DPS.

Zaprey, who officially joined the roster on June 16, ended up being the secret sauce they needed. Together with Zebbosai, SoOn, Nevix, flex player Jonathan "Kryw" Nobre and tank Nicholas "Skipjack" Rosada, the team was complete. A week later, they signed with Misfits. That's when the fun started.

Global trendsetters

Having the raw talent to play with the best in the region is one thing, but playing for a competitive team takes a lot more, Zaprey said. "My communication has gotten a lot better, it was something I really needed to work on. But, after relentless training, I learned."

Zaprey's Genji play has become notorious in the meta that has developed after patch 1.1.0.2, which introduced Ana and brought changes to many heroes. His strong sense of timing has allowed him to flank the enemy backline and, infuriatingly, often slip away.

Despite his strong performance on the hero — and the despair of many competitive supports — Zaprey doesn't think that Genji is especially overpowered.

"I feel like people overrate Genji," he said. "I always hear people say he’s OP, but I think he’s the most balanced character in the game. I hope I get to play him more together with Tracer."

That Tracer/Genji dive combination is something that now sees situational use in the competitive meta and, when it works, it's terrifying.

The Ana patch also brought dramatic changes to the support role. With the new hero added, and substantial buffs to Zenyatta, the team set to figuring out what new support setups would look like. They moved Zebbosai from Lucio to Zenyatta, while Nevix tried to make Ana work. But while the addition of Zenyatta made a lot of sense — the hero has largely replaced Mercy in the competitive meta — Ana didn't really work out.

"Since then, the meta has evolved and Ana is no longer in it, so after playing for a couple of days with Nevix on Lucio and me on Zenyatta we decided to swap," Zebbosai said. "So right now I'm back to Lucio, because we felt it was easier for me to call from that position."

A lot on the line

Misfits have chosen the right moment to heat up.

Winning the $5,672 grand prize at the Amazon Gaming Series shortly after signing with the organization was a good start for such a new game. But as the popularity of Blizzard's new title has skyrocketed, so have the stakes. The $100,000 ESL Atlantic Showdown and the $300,000 Overwatch Open, both set for the coming weeks, are showing just how much interest there is in the ascendant esport.

Misfits qualified for both events at their earliest opportunity. In the first EU qualifier for the Overwatch Open, they faced ANOX in the finals, another squad that were trending upward after having defeated both REUNITED and Rogue earlier in the bracket. ANOX quickly took the first game off Misfits on King's Row.

Zebbosai said the team stayed calm despite the surprise loss. "Morale didn't really change," he said. "We know we can't win every game, but that first map we lost helped us figure them out, so we adapted our comp and strategy to turn it around on the other maps."

Turn it around they did, taking the next three wins on Lijiang Tower, Dorado and Ilios to finish the series 3-1 and become the first EU team to qualify for the biggest Overwatch tournament yet.

Although it was another in a string of dominant victories for Misfits, Skipjack still feels humble about the team's success. "All the top teams in Europe are very close to each other right now, which is very exciting, because you can never know who will pull ahead next tournament," he said. "That is why I think that there is no 'best' team in Europe at the moment."

In many nascent esports, early success doesn't necessarily translate to financial gain. But in the fast-moving landscape of Overwatch, becoming the best team in Europe — or the world — is already a very lucrative prospect. If Misfits can carry their momentum through to the Atlantic Showdown or the Overwatch Open, they'll not only have a bright future ahead of them, but some cold hard proof that the effort they've invested has paid off.

Josh "Gauntlet" Bury is a news editor for theScore esports. You can find him on Twitter.