Rogue, Counter Logic Gaming, Rise Nation, and compLexity Gaming of group A will kick off the main event. Rogue and CLG should make it out of their group. Rise has failed to polish their gameplay recently, struggling against and ultimately losing to teams like Tempo Storm in the April Overwatch Monthly Melee qualifier cup. compLexity has been plagued by roster swaps and instability for months now, and has performed poorly in tournaments.

Comparatively, Rogue is considered one of, if not the, best team in NA. The all-French roster has gone undefeated in 2017 and was a shoe-in for an international OGN APEX Season 3 invite. CLG, though not as flashy as Rogue and definitely still a new kid on the block, has found success with their signature Pharah/Mercy dive composition. It would be an upset, to say the least, for Rise or compLexity to advance to playoffs.

Similarly, in group D, EnVy and Team Liquid should advance. The former’s attendance is doubtless, but there may be room for NRG Esports or Splyce to upset the latter — it all depends on which version of Liquid shows up.

The recent addition of shadder2k has been good for Liquid, and id_ has shined in the rebirth of Pharah meta. AZK, too, has been landing Pulse Bombs and showing up on Tracer. The team took second place to Rogue in the PIT Championship, edging out Selfless Gaming for a spot in the grand finals. Hopefully the team can keep it up this standard of gameplay and put an end to Liquid’s lackluster tournament results.

The debut of NRG’s bird-less roster at the April OMM did not go as well as the organization could have liked, but they did manage to take a 2–0 win against Meta Athena, a Korean team, and a map off of Immortals. The roster is stacked with individual talent, from Mendokusaii to iddqd to Harbleu; maybe the additional practice time will be the difference between much-needed redemption and another PR nightmare.

Splyce is a team with little past experience. Their invitation confused some, considering their limited tournament background. Their games will not be cast, so die-hard fans will have to watch the recordings.

EnVy, like Rogue, will undoubtedly make it out of groups — and a match up between the two titans of Overwatch is one fans are dying to see.

Rivalcade is EnVy’s return to the competitive NA scene where they made their name. The team shipped off to Korea for the first two seasons of APEX in October and has not seen an NA competition since a quick win at MLG Vegas in December. Rogue has taken over in the interim.

While the pressure will be on Rogue to continue their win-streak and live up to the spice of winz’s tweets, EnVy is equally as pressured to reassert their dominance in NA. This is the first and only opportunity audiences will have to gauge the teams’ relative performance before both compete in Korea for APEX.

Also returning to North American competition is Cloud9 — with another brand new roster. Once more, of group B, it is safe to expect Cloud9 and Immortals to advance out of groups, but how the former will perform past that is anyone’s guess.

The team also picked up a new coach, Bishop. Via Cloud9

Cloud9 recently benched ryb and Mendokusaii and transitioned noted DPS player Gods to the main tank role.

This was done to make room for two Korean players, Xypher and Selly, who will fill flex and DPS roles, respectively. The two new additions are no doubt skilled — they would have to be for Cloud9 to shoulder new VISA drama and potential communication barriers — but teams take time to settle into new rosters and positions, and this will be their first competition together.

Cloud9’s success in this tournament and beyond could set a new precedent for the import of Korean talent to the North American and European scene, and could have implications for the future composition of Overwatch League rosters.

Cloud9’s active roster, version 3? 4? Who’s keeping track.

It will be interesting to see how the understated but consistently performing team Immortals stacks up against Selfless, Liquid, and Cloud9 this go around. The team took first in both the OW Winter Premiere and the Carbon Series, but those tournaments lacked top-heavy competition. Immortals ended their brief competitive hiatus with losses to Denial Esports and Selfless Gaming in the April OMM. All competitors considered, a fourth or fifth place finish would be respectable.

Of group C, Selfless and Luminosity Gaming Evil are the favorites. enVision Esports is another newly established team that entered the tournament through qualifiers, where they placed 5–8th. They failed to advance from the April OMM qualifiers after losing to You guys get paid?, a team that has failed to wow spectators since their one-off win against noted mid-tier North American team Fnatic.

LG Evil rescinded their acceptance to the OMM this month to recoup after their back-to-back participation in both the Carbon Series and the PIT Championship. Meanwhile, Selfless took another 3–2 loss against Rogue in the last grand finals.

Selfless and LG Evil are decently matched and their series will be one worth watching, especially to see if the latter can keep up with the likes of Selfless and Immortals or will continue their decline since Carbon. Teams are better at nullifying the aggressive play styles that made both of these teams relevant with each and every tournament — who adapts and who stays the same will make the difference.

Amidst the outcry of a potential NRG APEX invitation, Selfless’ name was kicked around as an alternative to be considered, despite their lacking LAN experience. The suggestion fell on deaf ears and the second invitation ultimately went to EnVy, who are attending for the third season in a row. Now, at least, we get to see if there is any truth to the claim that Selfless can hang with the best of them.

In the desert wasteland that is pre-Overwatch League limbo, the OW Rumble is the best thing NA fans have had in a while.

Particularly, the return of old favorites in EnVy, Cloud9, and NRG is exciting. We will have an opportunity to pit our new favorites, like Selfless and Immortals, against old mainstays.

Assuming that Rogue and EnVy are locked for first and second, the battle for third and fourth is almost more interesting. We have seen a lot of mid-tier competition in the last four months, but when it comes down to it, who is going to tail the best of NA?

The tournament begins today, 4–22, at 3:oo PM EDT at twitch.tv/livethebattle. No more waking up at 4am to watch NA teams compete in Korea! Well, for now.

See the Rivalcade OW Rumble site for more details.