

As the start of the Overwatch League pre-season (December 6th) gets closer, the trash talk and friendly rivalries between the OWL teams have been ramping up on social media. Since the teams were first revealed, a cold-war of memes, witty responses, and expert clap backs has been waging on the battlefield that is our collective Twitter feeds.





With each team vying for fan love, greater brand recognition and positive social-media momentum leading into the official seasons January 10th start date, social media managers and meme experts (yes, that is a real job we will get into later) have been hard at work fighting on behalf of their OWL teams. Each team is keeping it relatively friendly and there aren't any crushing defeats to pour salt into, however, that hasn't stopped some teams from going out of their way to roast their rivals.



Here are some of my favorite Twitter moments between official OWL teams so far:





1. NYXL opens no legendaries during Halloween.







It's hard to beat such a clever and amusing jab at the rest of the league. NYXL took the universal feeling of disappointment that every Overwatch fan feels when opening a garbage loot box and directly connected it to four of their most popular rivals. NYXL is effectively calling four teams in the OWL common and worthless, yet they still come off as the good guys.



The timely, celebratory and good-natured comedy of this tweet set the bar high early on.





2. Dallas Fuel and Seoul Dynasty show their respect.







Dallas Fuel and Seoul Dynasty are scheduled to play against each other on January 10th, so regardless of how friendly the players are with each other, the pre-season rivalry has been established. That being said, Seoul Dynasty has been enjoying their reputation as one of the strongest teams in the OWL, so their Twitter feed is relatively quiet when it comes to attention-seeking roasts.





This small moment during Seoul's team reveals features both organizations respecting each (Dallas praising the Tiger and Seoul trying their hand at a fuel pun) and is a stark contrast to how fierce this rivalry will actually be during the first day of the OWL.





3. Boston Uprising compares NYXL logo to home decor.







Apparently, Boston Uprising took this joke from someone else's Twitter feed, so you have to give some points off for the lack of originality. That being said, this dripping with sarcasm description of NYXL's new "merch" being a set of shower curtains is hilarious.



This "once you see it, you can't unsee it" moment will likely lead to many more home-shopping comparisons and NYXL did the right thing by ignoring it outright. However, one can argue that the original jokes creator, @SurvivorOW, had a far more savage comment directed at Boston:









Ouch! Will Boston ever be forgiven for such an atrocious reveal video?





4. Los Angeles Valiant turns a weakness into a strength.



One day, the LA Valiant decided to post this picture on Twitter introducing their DPS players.







Everything is wrong with this photo. From the out-of-focus elderly couple standing at what appears to be an airport all the way to the uninspired font choice, this is not how you want to represent your brand new OWL team. This tweet was understandably mocked because it looks like something from highschoolers very first photoshop class.



As the procession of shame ran rampant on Twitter, whoever is in charge of the Valiant's Twitter account had a good idea to save some face:







Fully embracing the "graphic design is my passion" meme that was used to mock them, Valiant poked fun at themselves and gave everyone a laugh in the process. The introduction of their tank players was so memorable, it was easy to forget about their early misstep. Well played, Valiant.





5. Philadelphia Fusion is Hiring a Seasonal Meme Specialist.







The fact that this is a job actually exists now is worthy enough to include on this list. However, LA Valiant's condescending GIF reply is a stroke of Twitter genius. Do you really need to hire a Meme Specialists to compete in the OWL social media arena? Aww, that is so cute!





Considering Fusion hasn't posted any memorable zingers as of late, maybe some outside help is needed.





6. Los Angeles Valiant waste no time destroying San Francisco Shock.







You are going to see a lot of LA Valiant on this list and it's not out of bias (I'm more of a Spitfire fan). Whoever runs their Twitter account is straight savage and it's fair to say that calling out nearly half of San Francisco Shock's Twitter followers as fake is a bold move. Did SF Shock really deserve this public outing so early on?





Well, considering their dismissive response to Valiant's introductory tweet (that was then deleted once they were outed), maybe they had it coming.







Here is the number one rule on Twitter: If you are deleting Tweets you're doing it wrong. This is not a good look for SF Shock, as they were severely roasted during their very first interaction with one of their biggest state rivals. Back to the drawing board!



7. NYXL uses Overwatch free week to low-key / high-key flame Boston Uprising.





When it comes to competitive gaming, one of the most insulting things you can call someone is free. It implies that victory against them is so easy, it might as well be a free win. NYXL saw an opportunity to insert another hilarious jab at Boston Uprising and it's unexpected punchline is where all the power comes from.



Other teams need to take notes on how NYXL uses global Overwatch events cleverly knock down their competition. Another win for NYXL!





8. Los Angeles Valiant get a taste of their own medicine, courtesy of Dallas Fuel.







Earlier in this list, we saw LA Valiant use the condescending route in order to mock their rivals. However, that is a dangerous strategy when your organization's logo and the mascot is an actual angel. Turns out, angels aren't the most threatening of visuals and Dallas Fuel jumped on the opportunity to remind everyone.



The Flight of the Valiant? More like adorable children enjoying playing dress up. LA Valiant could have tried to respond, but I have a feeling there is nothing you could say to Dallas to make them feel embarrassment over their love (obsession) of fuel.





9. London Spitfire gets attacked for their profound misunderstanding of when to use semicolons.







If you didn't already know, London Spitfire is comprised of an all Korean roster. This means there is a good chance that all of their active players, all three coaches, and their team manager speak fluent Korean and maybe English as a second language. Perhaps whoever is operating the London Spitfire Twitter account is also speaking English as a second language, so most people would forgive slight grammar mistakes.





The LA Valiant Twitter account is not operated by "most people." It is run by an unrelenting, merciless, meme warrior that is dedicated towards out social-media'ing every other team in the OWL. It didn't matter that London Spitfires tweet was harmless and in no way aggressive, it was on LA Valiant's turf and no one is safe from the flames.





10. Boston Uprising embraces the meme and just stops trying.





We have already seen LA Valiant deploy this strategy, and its effectiveness is undeniable. The first step is to non-ironically produce a terrible piece of content on the internet. In this case, it was Boston Uprising's poorly received roster reveal video.





The second step is to embrace the poor reception and then produce an over-the-top horrible piece of content that is so bad, it's good. If it all goes according to plan, you appear self-aware and edgy while letting everyone know you understand how bad that last bit of content was. You can ignore this strategy completely if your first piece of content is competent, but if not, embrace the MS Paint!





11. San Francisco Shock loses it's soul to MonteCristo.











How can you ever post a tweet again after such an absurd roasting? MonteCristo demonstrated absolutely zero chill in when he responded to SF Shock's cheeky poke at his hair during a broadcast. They have families MonteCristo, there is a human behind that Twitter account!



LA Valiant, never missing out on an opportunity to win on Twitter, sealed the deal with an image that accurately represents the brutality of MonteCristo's response and how impossible it was for SF Shock to recover.



Don't mess with MonteCristo on Twitter OWL teams. It won't end well.



12. Dallas Fuel and Houston Outlaws have a sparring match.







It's not often that two teams clash on Twitter and both hold their own. It's usually a slaughter that involves one team pretending the whole thing never happened, but sometimes you get even matches of wit and Twitter savviness. The rivalry between Dallas Fuel and Houston Outlaws is steeped in so much Texas pride that neither team can afford to back down, causing brutal back-and-forths like the interaction above.





Dallas Fuel attempts a classic Twitter interception by redirecting attention away from Houston Outlaws video to their hilarious photo of Taimou as the real "new sheriff in town". However, Outlaws correctly answers back with over the top aggression, calling into question Fuel's lower follower count and outright declaring their control over Texas.





A lesser team would have been defeated by such a vicious blow, but Dallas Fuel smartly responds with a smug GIF retort, diffusing the comment about Twitter followers and bringing it all back to what really matters-- winning matches. Both teams emerged even after this Twitter clash and popcorn was enjoyed by all.





Bonus: Seoul Dynasty asks for burger counseling and LA Valiant ignores the request.







This isn't actually Twitter beef, but I think it worth talking about. Seoul Dynasty clearly doesn't know how to find a decent hamburger in LA, and they don't want to risk eating anything sub-par. While I agree with the larger Twitter communities vote towards In-N-Out burger, I think the real story is LA Valiant purposefully withholding their hamburger expertise.



I get it-- competition is fierce and a true min-maxer would want the enemy teams to be eating bad hamburgers as opposed to good ones. However, there has got to be a limit to rivalry and I think helping the South Koreans enjoy the best American Burger in LA is a noble thing to do.



Come on Valiant, get it together!



Follow the author @nickdorazio3rd

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