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Overwatch World Cup Group Stage Preview: Paris

Overwatch World Cup Group Stage Preview: Paris

With South Korea, Finland, the USA, Canada, China, and Australia locked into the Top 8 at BlizzCon, we now travel to one of the most passionate esports cities in the world—Paris—to determine the final two countries who will compete for the Overwatch World Cup title. They always call Paris “The City of Love,” but this weekend it’ll need to be temporarily renamed to the city of esports love, am I right?

What You Need to Know

  • When: Matches begin Friday, September 21, at 10 a.m. CEST (1 a.m. PDT, 5 p.m. KST). Saturday and Sunday’s matches will begin at 12 p.m. CEST (3 a.m. PDT, 7 p.m. KST).
  • Where: Espace Grande Arche, Puteaux, France (SOLD OUT)
  • Live Streams:
  • Broadcast: Check your local listings for select broadcasts in ESPN 3 and Disney XD.
  • Patch: 1.27
  • Match Schedule: Check out the official OWWC site.
  • Map Pool: All! Each match will begin on a predetermined control map: Nepal, Lijiang Tower, Ilios, or Oasis. Starting with the second map, the loser of the previous map gets to pick the next map from the following types:
    • Second map: Hybrid
    • Third map: Assault
    • Fourth map: Escort
    • Fifth map (tiebreaker): Control, but must be different than the first map

National Team Rosters

United Kingdom

  • Christopher “ChrisTFer” Graham
  • Eoghan “Smex” O’Neill (Contenders NA: NRG Esports)
  • Isaac “Boombox” Charles (Philadelphia Fusion)
  • Harrison “Kruise” Pond (Contenders NA: Toronto Esports)
  • Michael “MikeyA” Adams (Contenders EU: British Hurricane)
  • Finley “Kyb” Adisi (Contenders EU: British Hurricane)
  • Sub: Kai “KSP” Collins (Contenders EU: Young and Beautiful)

The United Kingdom—home of the lads, the hooligans, the LANimals. Enigmatic Fusion support Boombox is leading this squad, five of whom were members of the 2017 national team that made it to BlizzCon, qualifying over Germany alongside the United States. Remember that? Pretty crazy that only Boombox was picked up for the inaugural season of the Overwatch League, in retrospect. Needless to say, these guys are veteran competitive players who have their eyes squarely on the 2019 Overwatch League season as well as a BlizzCon spot.

Germany

  • Joshua “cRNKz” Colon
  • Cem “immortal” Oezgecen
  • Steven “kodaK” Rosenberger
  • Metehan “Mete” Aksüt
  • Herman “Nesh” Kobrin (Contenders EU: British Hurricane)
  • Julian “ProGi” Maier
  • Sub: Artur “Massie” Kiltau

Team Germany is headed by GM Ysabel “Noukky” Müller, who is deeply entrenched in the Overwatch community. She was a tournament organizer and observer before landing the job of team manager of the London Spitfire’s academy team, British Hurricane. Last week, the team convened in person to boot camp in Munich, hoping to build an edge and make their country proud in Paris.

Poland

  • Karol “Danye” Szcześniak
  • Michał “Redziok” Mingielewicz
  • Mateusz “Shaddo” Pihulak
  • Michał “DXtR” Wiencek
  • Jakub “Duku” Andrzejak
  • Dorian “Xyzano” Olechnicki
  • Sub: Mateusz “Matwoj” Hołtyn

Last year, Team Poland was in a group with South Korea, the Netherlands, and Austria, where they finished third under the Koreans and the Dutch. The only player from that team who made this year’s team is Danye, who recently played for the Copenhagen Flames in Season 2 of Contenders Europe. Poland is also an esports-loving country, so they’ll be looking to have a good showing in Paris. Also, there’s an important part of Overwatch history on the team: remember the team Straight Outta Comp Queue from Contenders Season Zero North America qualifiers? Matwoj was a part of that team.

Netherlands

  • Ryan “CrusaDe” van Wegen (Contenders EU: British Hurricane)
  • Jeffrey “Vizility” de Vries
  • Jonathan “Jona” Stelma
  • Mats “sab” Bauer
  • Coen “Corn” van der Ent
  • Thomas “brussen” Brussen (Contenders EU: One.PoinT)
  • Sub: Dante “Dante” Zegveld

The Netherlands is a small but relentless country in the competitive Overwatch scene. Vizility played for Orgless and Hungry in Contenders Europe for Season One, then moved to Toronto Esports in Contenders NA for Season Two. The coach for this team, Thomas “Morte” Kerbusch, is a former eUnited player who took the Contenders Europe Season Zero championship. And their Twitter handle is @OWranje, so if choosing the best Twitter handle for a team was part of the competition, they would’ve already won.

Italy

  • Francesco “Bimbz” De Luca
  • Edoardo “carnifex” Badolato
  • Federico “Nisa” Portolani
  • Lorenzo “Midna” Nulli (Contenders EU: We Have Org)
  • Edmondo “DragonEddy” Cerini
  • Marco “HearThBeaT” Soffia
  • Sub: Aris “LUFT” Galli

Midna is the first Italian player to participate in Overwatch Contenders, so he has a lot to be proud of. DragonEddy and LUFT played for Samsung Morning Stars Blue, an Italian team sponsored by Samsung, in Contenders Trials Season 2, but missed the top-four cut, finishing in sixth place. Last year, the Italian national team stole the hearts of fans at the Sydney Group Stage with their big personalities, and they’ll try to make a similar splash here in France.

France

  • Terence “SoOn” Tarlier (Los Angeles Valiant)
  • Benjamin “Unkoe” Chevasson (Dallas Fuel)
  • Dylan “aKm” Bignet (Dallas Fuel)
  • Gael “Poko” Gouzerch (Philadelphia Fusion)
  • Michael “winz” Bignet
  • Benjamin “Benbest” Dieulafait
  • Sub: Nicolas “NiCOgdh” Moret (Contenders EU: Eagle Gaming)

Last year, the French team was made up entirely of the old, iconic Rogue roster—a roster which struck fear in players all over the world. This year, France are back and even stronger. We’ve now had a whole Overwatch League season and a couple of Contenders seasons since we’ve been graced with a French superstar team. The world is waiting to see just how good they really are, and the passionate French crowd is standing by to be loud and proud to be #avecle6.

Talent Team

Soe
Soe Gschwind-Penski
Malik Forte
Malik Forté
LegDay
Harry “LegDay” Pollitt
Jaws
Jack “Jaws” Wright
Dezachu
Derry "Dezachu" Holt
Tridd
Thomas "Tridd" Underwood
ZP
Andrew “ZP” Rush
Jake
Jake Lyon

Set your alarms, follow @owpathtopro and @PlayOverwatch, and don’t miss out on this European celebration of Overwatch!

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