Zaprey quits, Skipjack also absent for Misfits in Overwatch Open

Yesterday, Misfits’ tank Skipjack announced in heartbreaking fashion that he would be unable to play in the Overwatch Open as his mother was “gravely ill” and he felt he had to focus on his family. Keen eyes, however, would have noticed that it was Zaprey the team had been missing in recent games; the young star for Misfits has reportedly decided to quit Overwatch, leaving the team without two of their main players for the $300,000 tournament.

Replacing the absent duo are ryb (formerly of OWKings) on tank as a stand-in for Skipjack, and Hidan, who is trialling support to replace Zaprey. For ryb this is also a change of role, or rather a throwback to his early days of maining tank rather than flex. He has a long history playing with caller Zebbosai in both TF2 and Overwatch and will be looking to fit into the roster as seamlessly as possible while Skipjack is with his family.

Skipjack has been present in recent games but his tweets yesterday indicated a desire to be with his mother and the rest of his family while she was in poor health. He also tweeted that the support he was currently receiving “means a lot”, as many wished him and his family well in their tough situation.

I won't be able to participate in the @OverwatchOpen in Atlanta, because my mother is gravely ill and I need to focus on my family. (1/2) — Nicholas Rosada (@skipjackOW) 8 September 2016

For Zaprey this decision to quit had been simmering since gamescom. As a young and fairly inexperienced player, he found the atmosphere of the event overwhelming and after Misfits bowed out in the group stage decider match the team felt something had changed. Despite still being an excellent player Zaprey appeared to have lost some of the self-confidence and wasn’t enjoying playing his role.

Misfits attempted to deal with this sentiment by swapping over the roles of Nevix and Zaprey, putting their all-star talent Nevix on dps - a role he can easily handle if his multi-talented ranked stats are anything to go by. Only a few days later, Zaprey told the team that he was going to quit and would instead focus on his schoolwork.

From the outside, people had already been wondering why Zaprey was not present in the past few games. There were concerns that, as a 17 year old, he would not be old enough to fly to Atlanta and compete in the Overwatch Open should Misfits qualify for the finals. The rules were later amended to make the minimum age 17, leaving Misfits additionally upset that their friend and valued teammate had decided to leave when he would have been able to compete after all.

Only four of these Misfits will be in Atlanta. Photo Credit: ESL

Their replacements are stand-in ryb on tank (formerly of OWKings before their recent demise) and Hidan, formerly of ex-Team Aera, trialling on support. This leaves the team without their main tank or support and with a dps who doesn’t have as much experience within the team’s structure. Despite the excellent quality of their temporary replacements, they may struggle to compete without their core lineup; so far they haven’t shown us enough of the lineup to decide either way.

It is unknown whether Zaprey will return to Overwatch at a later date or with another team. It is presumed that Skipjack will return after the Overwatch Open, when he feels ready.

The Misfits roster for the Overwatch Open will be: