The Overwatch League will soon add an element to the game that pushes teams to plan more with less time in the 2020 season. But it could lead to fresher competition during a pivotal year for the young esports league.

The league announced Thursday afternoon it will adopt “Hero Pools" for OWL play starting in March, a potentially drastic change that should add new strategy and force teams to shift the way they practice and prepare each week.

Starting on March 7 --the fourth week of competitive play -- OWL will make four heroes unavailable for selection for each week’s matches: one tank, one support and two DPS heroes.

Teams that can adapt quickly cover all of the game’s 31 heroes will reap the benefits. Those that can’t may struggle more than anticipated.

The removed heroes will be based on play-rate data from the previous two weeks, the league said. Thursday’s announcement could shift the hierarchy of the league, and the Dallas Fuel should stand to benefit (more on that later).

Overwatch’s Game Director Jeff Kaplan discussed what the pools meant in a YouTube video couple with the game announcement:

Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan discusses upcoming

additions to the game, including the Experimental Card,

Hero Pools, and more.



📽️ https://t.co/bxYYnwiMQ7 pic.twitter.com/wMoIPdgZ99 — Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) January 30, 2020

Kaplan gave an example of what this might look like.

“Maybe Orisa, Sigma, Mei and Moira are not in the hero pool,” Kaplan said in the video. “So players will have to think of a new strategy that doesn’t involve those heroes and that will last for one week and then the hero pool will change.”

OWL teams will need to practice many compositions and strategies now, to say the least.

Here are the standards the league set for the significant change:

The heroes will be randomly selected from a group of eligible heroes based on play-rate data from the previous two weeks of Overwatch League matches—only heroes that are being played regularly can be pulled from the next hero pool.

No hero will be unavailable two weeks in a row.

Hero Pools will not be used for midseason tournaments, the play-in tournament, playoffs, or Grand Finals. All heroes will be available for those matches.

Teams will be informed of each week’s Hero Pool approximately one week in advance of matches.

The goal of Hero Pools in OWL is to keep the meta changing and force teams to prepare more with flexibility and different compositions. This will force teams to adjust on the fly every week. Several Fuel players recently players told The Dallas Morning News -- before Thursday’s revelation -- that they were trying new compositions and strategies, but this will force teams to have several game plans prepared at all times.

Hero Pools :ooooo I love this idea, im hyped — Jonathan Tejedor Rua (@HarryHook) January 30, 2020

“We know there are some challenges with this concept,” Kaplan said. “It’s something that we would be willing to change if it’s not going correctly. We could make the hero pools last longer. We could make the hero pools move faster or change every match.

"There’s all sorts of ways we can adjust this.”

Change is nothing new for the league, which begins its third season Feb. 8. OWL added eight teams after the inaugural season and introduced a 2-2-2 role lock in the latter part of the 2019 season.

The league last year suffered from the “goats” meta, which included three tanks and three support heroes in essentially every match, along with other compositions that had the player base feeling the game was stale. For example, during the role lock, many times both teams would roll out the same six heroes -- leaving little for fans to differentiate week to week.

This change could fix that.

But it could also introduce new issues.

For one, most OWL rosters are already set, meaning players must be more flexible with the heroes they can utilize at a high level. This could benefit the Fuel, who spent the offseason revamping its team, emphasizing its DPS line.

“The idea of Hero Pools coming to OWL is an interesting concept. Teams will need to be ready to adapt on the fly and push individual player versatility," Fuel head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins told The News in an email. "I think the one week notice is a bit short given the nature of travel and practice - especially on an international level. I’m glad the league is open to new ideas and would hope to see continued response to feedback.”

One of the Fuel’s newest additions, Gui-un “Decay” Jung, was brought in for his wide-pool at the damage position. This would allow the team’s other damage stars in Dylan “aKm” Bignet and Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo to fit into more compositions alongside Decay.

Teams will only have 27 heroes available now every week, that much is true. But for composition, they will be swimming with options.