The 2019 Overwatch World Cup put on a showcase of some of the most talented players that lie in a holding pattern outside of the Overwatch League and French DPS, Lucas "Leaf" Loison sits alongside them. Coming off the back of a strong second-place finish this season in Overwatch Contenders with Team Gigantti, Leaf has never looked better. He and his countrymen looked at the top of their class as they toppled some of Overwatch’s most formidable giants.

This year Team France secured a respectable fourth-place finish. However, don’t let that inhibit you from appreciating their results. Leaf and Team France defeated Team South Korea in the group stage and advanced as the second seed just behind the eventual gold medalists, Team USA. However, their run came to an end when they ran into a surging, Team China, in the semi-finals and lost the rematch against Team South Korea for bronze.

Leaf took some time out to speak with Esports Heaven about what was going through his mind after upsetting South Korea in the group stage, what it felt like having the French community’s support, and he shared his opinions on Overwatch and it’s new game mode.

The atmosphere was electric and intense! Everyone was very happy that we could come back from our bad performance against Team USA in the first match. Shortly after everyone calmed down and started focusing and our two last matches which were the most important ones.

I think they lacked preparation, they have good players but I think Asia, in general, had a weird meta while Europe and North America practiced the Doom/Reaper and the Bastion meta, which felt like the “superior” one. Crusty explained a lot of things already and it makes sense.

We already kinda knew which team we will have to face and we were confident we could beat both the United Kingdom and Sweden if we played our game. I think the two biggest assets of Team France this year were our preparation, especially on group stages and quarter-final map pool and our hunger for victory.

It felt super weird, in a good way, I didn’t expect to get so many messages from people supporting us. I’m super happy with what we achieved this year, but a bit sad that we couldn’t get top three for the fans.

For fans that will keep following me after this World Cup; know that I will do my best in whatever I end up doing and I hope I can share some of the love you all gave me!

For Team France I HAVE TO to pick Chubz. He’s a really special main tank. He doesn’t fit in the usual definition of what a main tank player should do and how he should communicate. But he’s really good at what he does. We struggled a lot with our synergy at the start but we both worked very hard during preparation. He was very calm during both days of the World Cup and helped us stay disciplined.

Outside of Team France, I feel bad for Chinese Taipei, they are a very good team and WON on Sombra was so good. We struggled a lot in scrims against them and I’m sad they didn’t get to show their worth.

I really like the PvE on Overwatch 2, it really feels good to play even if I’m not that interested in it.

I’m not too sure about the new game type. I’m afraid a match between two good teams, one could just turtle on a good position after they have the push advantage and just camp it. But it’s way too early to say and I’m still happy knowing new things are coming.

That’s a pretty hard question. Of course, you always make mistakes during your life and sometimes you wished you could go back in time and fix them. Truth is, mistakes are part of what made me who I am today and I’m happy about it. I’ll just tell him the same thing I’ve been telling myself for a long time, do what you really like as long as you give it all you’ve got.

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 .