There’s no way of sugar coating it – Europe bombed out of the Gauntlet. However, that doesn’t mean that HSL Esports didn’t learn anything from it.

They were hopeful of taking a map, a series, some semblance of success away from the event. While it didn’t eventuate on an objective level – they bombed out in consecutive 3-0 losses to XL2 Academy and Talon Esports – there’s elements of experience and pride you can take away from being here in the first place.

That’s exactly what Mads “Fischer” Jehg and Danni “Ding” Rasmussen did in their short stint here in Korea. The two Danes on the HSL lineup, the European representatives held their heads high regardless of the actual result – because they undertook a massive journey to get here.

“I was playing on Open Division teams before the season started after I had quit the game previously, so I was just happy to be in Contenders in the first place,” said Ding. “I didn’t even expect to be here in Korea.

“I was bored of the meta. I went and played Apex Legends for a bit, but there wasn’t any tournaments for like five months, so I went back to Overwatch and started competing again. That break gave me a new outlook on the game, how to play as a team and how to treat a team.”

It made playing here at the Gauntlet all the more sweeter for the both of them. Fischer had his own little redemption arc too, after leaving North America this year to return home. Making it out here proved his worth as a player, and gave him more experience than he could hope for.

“I think the accomplishment of getting here is nice in itself,” said Fischer. “Even if we didn’t do well here, at least being here together and meeting all the other teams – playing with all the other teams, watching all the other teams was rewarding.”

“I don’t play games unless I can compete in them – I want to fight for something.”
Danni “Ding” Rasmussen

There’s a lot that you can learn by simply being in the same place as other players. It’s like the knowledge absorbs into your skin and seeps into your brain. You hear the comms over the top of the practice computers. You scrim teams with skill ceilings 50 storeys above teams in your own region.

For Fischer and Ding, that was what made the Gauntlet one of their best experiences in competing.

“The Gauntlet was really competitive,” said Fischer. “You gather all these regions together and you realise that all of these players from other regions are really scary. Seeing all of these players perform is insane.”

“There’s also a different mentality around playing teams from these different regions too,” Ding added. “Everyone has different play styles and different mindsets – some teams play really aggressively, some teams play passively. We have a little bit in Europe, but the overall skill of teams is much lower, so you don’t notice it.”

That’s another common thing across international events. It’s a test of some regional nuances to see who has the better read on the meta. It might not be the heroes that are played that makes a meta, but the style in which they are played.

For Europe, they’ve struggled in finding their feet in 2019. They lost a spot for the Gauntlet at the Pacific Showdown after the British Hurricane disappointingly bombed out. It’s not going to get better though. The talent is fleeing overseas, and so is the cash.

“The region has been stripped apart from all of the good talent, and the new rising talent doesn’t have the same support structure as past teams from 2017 and 2018,” said Fischer, with a slight reminiscence on the early days of Overwatch where Europe was unstoppable. “The talent pool gets smaller every time OWL or an academy picks up a new player.”

“The Gauntlet is a good platform to get exposure for the Overwatch League. I hope that regardless of our results that people saw something in our play, and if they didn’t see it here, they saw it when we were in Europe.”
Mads “Fischer” Jehg

The talent is still there, according to Ding, it just doesn’t have the same environments to flourish.

“Mechanically, we still have some of the best players in Europe, but we lack the team structure to bring those players together. The early iterations of Gigantti had some of that amazing talent, but it slowly got stripped apart. Losing Seita [the coach] was a huge loss, because he created some of the best European players.”

Now, with World Cup on the horizon, Fischer has something new to set his sights on. He played alongside Ding last year, falling painfully short of BlizzCon to China and Australia in Bangkok. The new system has opened up a slot for them, and he is ready to prove they are a top 10 team worthy of auto-qualification.

“Last years World Cup was very tragic, because we were so close to qualifying. This year, I think we have a good chance. I think the team can come together pretty well – we just need more time. I think we will make it out of Groups I think, as for the top 10 or playoffs, I’m not sure yet.”

For Ding though, it’s time to put his feet up. The World Cup was never on his radar this year after his break – much like how the Gauntlet wasn’t either – but the hunger is still there.

“It’s going to be a long break now with a lot of ranked play and staying on top of my game, but I’m kind of looking forward to that. It’s nice not coming from work and having to scrim for four hours every night, so I’m looking forward to a bit of a break too.

“Hopefully the meta will change – it’s been a bit demotivating to play, but with the recent PTR patch, it looks good.”

Plus, it can be a good thing to get sucked back into reality.

“I work part-time at a small convenience store, and it’s nice. It’s very flexible, so I can take a day off if I need to, which means I can come to events like these.”

As for the grand plans for 2020, both aren’t settling with Europe, and they’ll do whatever it takes to better themselves for a chance at the Overwatch League.

“I’m going to look to go back to North America now,” said Fischer. “I miss Team Envy a bit – I love all of the players, so there’s no hard feelings there.”

2019 was lessons learnt for both Ding and Fischer. The fire is still burning, keeping them chugging along. No matter how battered and bruised they might appear after a hiding at the Gauntlet, scars heal, and they’ll come out the other side stronger than ever.

You can also follow Fischer and Ding on Twitter.

No team has made a bigger impression at the Gauntlet than Talon Esports, and no player has turned more heads than Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong.

The 16-year-old DPS star from Thailand has shone bright on the GIGA Arena stage in Seoul with immaculate Doomfist gameplay, as well as flexible picks onto Pharah, Mei, and Bastion. He’s become the face of a team that no one knew a week ago, but everyone will remember for years to come.

But Patiphan wouldn’t be where he is today without Ubon “oPuTo” Dara.

oPuTo is one of Thailand’s longest standing pro players, having been involved in Overwatch across Australia and South East Asia since the game’s release. The 24-year-old is one of a fabled few players to have been selected in every single World Cup, including 2019. It’s with good reason too – his hero pool complements Patiphan exceptionally well, and he brings a massive amount of spirit and energy to any team he is on.

Sure, he hasn’t been playing the Gauntlet, but that doesn’t mean he’s not had an impact. When Talon celebrated their close game with Element Mystic on day one, oPuTo was cheering in the team’s booth. When they triumphed over XL2 Academy and HSL Esports, he was there no less than three seconds after they typed “GG”

In fact, oPuTo and Patiphan’s relationship might go as far as being big brother and little brother.

“Patiphan is like a little brother to me,” said oPuTo. “I need to take care of him over here in Korea, but at the same time I learn from him too. He’s very good. His family supports him so well too, they go to every single event.”

Because of that, they both live vicariously through each other. Patiphan is always looking to prove himself and show off his flashy skills, while oPuTo is the more conservative and level-headed mind on the battlefield.

That level-headedness from oPuTo and that energy from Patiphan meant that they were pumped and confident after day one of the Gauntlet, even if a little bit tired after three sets and 13 maps.

“The games on day one were really tiring, but I couldn’t sleep because I drank too many energy drinks,” said Patiphan. “I managed to get to sleep at 2am.

“We were nervous for the first map [against Element Mystic], but after that we felt confident.”

“I was just supporting them so I could get to sleep at a normal time,” laughed Oputo. “But the games were so exciting. I wasn’t nervous watching the games, and when I saw that we won, I was really happy.”

It’s that energy and spirit that make Talon the most exciting team to watch at the Gauntlet, and the reason they’ve won fans hearts from all over. They’ve been taking notice of all of the support, scouring Twitch chat and Twitter and seeing all the “Talon Fighting!” comments.

“I’ve gained like 500 Twitter followers over the last week,” laughed Patiphan.

Talon are the sole fighting force from Pacific here in Korea, after scraping through the Pacific Showdown to save their spot. However, both Patiphan and oPuTo say that the region has a long way to go to getting recognised.

“I don’t think Pacific as a region has grown much,” said oPuTo. “Teams in the Pacific need more inroads into tournaments like the Gauntlet, and Talon is the only team who has those chances because we are the best. They call us the stacked team.”

“I’ve proven that Thai players are good players, but most people doubt us because we are from Pacific. SEA players are good players, as good as anyone else.”
Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong

They’ve also been the ones making the most opportunities for themselves. They’ve got those inroads in the forms of a team house in Korea, where they

ve been for the last six months. With better scrim opportunities and better ping to Korea, Talon have dominated and grown exponentially compared to their SEA peers.

“Living in Korea is a bit more professional because we are far from home, so we need to focus and work hard a lot. If we don’t work hard, it feels like we are wasting our time,” said oPuTo.

“We have seven players together, so we have to work together as a team,” said Patiphan.

It’s not much different from playing from home either. They usually play on Korean servers and play against Korean and Chinese teams to prepare for officials. But just moving up closer to Korea has allowed them to improve tenfold.

“It’s better here in Korea because we have a lot of ping playing from Thailand, so we can put a better performance in playing from here,” said oPuTo.

“I think I’ve improved a lot by playing over here, but it’s hard to say when and why,” Patiphan said.

The experience has been positive for them as well, with no major complaints.

“I’ve been living here in Korea for six months, for Patiphan it’s been four months,” said oPuTo. “I’ve enjoyed living over here, and I haven’t really gotten home sick.”

Although Patiphan butted in, saying that there was one thing he missed: “I miss Thai food.”

Now four days into the Gauntlet, and Talon are now facing giant-after-giant. They will face Gen.G today for a spot in the top 4, and then they’ll face the winner of ATL Academy and XL2 Academy for a spot in the Loser’s Final beyond that.

All their hard work and preparation comes down to these last few games, and they’re ready.

“I want to give credit to our coach Face, because in this meta it would be very hard without him,” said oPuTo.

“Before the Gauntlet, we scrimmed with Envy and ATL Academy a lot, so we learned NA style. So we haven’t been surprised by how teams play, because we’ve played them before.”

“The teamwork is getting better during the tournament too, especially our coordination and communication,” added Patiphan. “If we can improve our communication, we will be playing at 100%.”

“I’m not sad that I can’t play in the World Cup because I’m here instead. The World Cup doesn’t matter to me.”
Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong

Patiphan had the perfect words to sum up their journey to here so far, and that they aren’t done yet.

“We’ve proven that we aren’t a bad team. We can beat any team here. Our confidence level is 1000%.”

Talon Esports will take on Gen.G in the lower bracket of the Overwatch Contenders Gauntlet today. You can catch the action live on the Overwatch Contenders Twitch channel.

You can also follow Patiphan and oPuTo on Twitter.

Kim “Sp9rk1e” Yeong-han and Yoo “Unique” Dong-hyun are two of Korean Overwatch’s brightest stars, but you won’t be seeing them on the Overwatch League stage just yet.

See, both Unique and Sp9rk1e are 17 years old, under the 18 year old age limit for the Overwatch League. However, both of their birthdays will fall just in time for the June 1 cutoff next year, meaning that’s there’s a good chance they’ll be picked up by one of the top 20 teams in the world.

So there’s good reason to keep an eye on these two prodigies at the Gauntlet here in South Korea. This is the biggest stage either of them have played on, and they’ve proven on day one that they’ve got talent and experience way beyond their years.

However, they couldn’t be more different. Unique is reserved, soft-but-well spoken, as the louder personalities of the team take over in shotcalling and leadership. Sp9rk1e is – well, he’s Sp9rk1e. He’s boisterous, slightly cocky, and always looks like he’s having fun. This shows off in his flashy Doomfist play, where he usually lets his work on the battlefield do the talking.

On home turf, Element Mystic will be looking to defend their Pacific Showdown titles from the likes of rivals RunAway, NA champions ATL Academy, and Pacific underdogs Talon Esports. While they got the results they so desired on day one, they weren’t up to their immaculate standards.

“So we are happy with the result, but we aren’t that happy about how we got there,” said Unique. “We showed a lot of mistakes and the bad side of our gameplay, so we will try to fix it and show you our good side in the finals.”

“We weren’t surprised about Talon’s performance, but with our own,” said Sp9rk1e. “We didn’t play up to our expectations on day one.”

Not underestimating Talon is something other teams might not have taken into consideration. The Pacific representatives blitzed through the lower bracket of Group A, taking down Europe’s HSL and North America’s XL2 Academy to secure second seed in the finals bracket.

“We had to reset our mental heading into the game with XL2, and I’m the one who usually does that,” said Sp9rk1e. “When our morale is going down, I bring everyone back together.”

Although, he’s also usually the first one to point out some faults in his team mates too.

“I think Doha made all the mistakes,” he said, laughing in the press conference, referring to their win against XL2. “There is a position Reaper has to sit in, and during the game, he didn’t accomplish what Reaper had to do. We cannot win 5v6, so that’s why we lost.”

While they might not be happy with their own individual efforts, they’ve got a bevy of fans on the sidelines to keep spirits up. Some teams are usually pressured by the extra home fans looking on your play, but for Element Mystic, it was welcomed after the huge roars for China in Shanghai.

“After going to Shanghai for the Pacific Showdown, we felt a lot more comfortable playing on home soil here in Korea,” said Unique. “We had all the fans cheering for us, and that was nice.”

Sp9rk1e also made an unusual Australian connection over in Shanghai. The Korean DPS prodigy forged a strong relationship with Order support Max “Unter” Unterwurzacher at the Pacific Showdown, with the two getting on like a house on fire.

Their relationship has continued to strengthen after the event, with Sp9rk1e reminscing on the time that Unter came to him as a fan – not a foe.

“During the Showdown, Unter came to my booth and said “I’m a really big fan of you,” so he approached me first,” he laughed. “He was a really funny person, and I’m a funny guy too, and we still keep in touch on Twitter. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.”

There’s something special about the Gauntlet though that Element Mystic want to capture though. They’ve won Contenders Korea, they’ve won the Pacific Showdown, but this trophy would mean that they can prove to themselves that they are the best Contenders team in the world.

“Winning the Gauntlet would mean winning our third trophy after winning Contenders season one and the Pacific Showdown,” said Unique. “The Gauntlet trophy would be the most precious to us.”

The one foe they’ll like to face in the final? ATL Academy – the North American powerhouse that went through the regular season undefeated and dominated the scene in Fusion University’s absence.

“They didn’t even lose one map in North America,” said Sp9rk1e. “However, we will be in the finals first, and we will wait for any team to challenge us. ATL uses a lot of Bastion, and you will see that in future games. We will try and break their Bastion.”

I asked them whether they’d like to say something to some of their English-speaking fans, and they both gave it a shot. I kept the grammar here, rather than relying on the translator.

“Thanks for cheer our team, we will become champion. I want for more cheers from you,” said Unique.

“Thank you for cheering for me, all the foreign people,” said Sp9rk1e, in pretty good cadence and with decent grammar. But, he also cheated – he used Google Translate to cook up his answer while Unique pushed through.

Element Mystic continue their journey through the Gauntlet when they face ATL Academy in the winner’s bracket semi final today. You can catch the action on the Overwatch Contenders Twitch channel.

You can also follow Sp9rk1e on Twitter.

Translation credit: Brad Park (@Foxting)

Seb “Numlocked” Barton has been to the pinnacle of Overwatch, but his journey in 2019 has taught him that going back to basics can actually let you reach higher heights.

At the end of 2018, Numlocked was regretting the biggest career decision of his life. He had a number of offers at the start of the year, just before the start of the inaugural season of the Overwatch League. He decided to make the leap to the Overwatch League with the Los Angeles Valiant.

He ended up on the outside, wallowing away a year of his illustrious career on the bench, watching on as the Valiant stormed home to a decent 3-4th finish at the tailend of the season. While the team celebrated their success, numlocked was looking for a fresh start – and that took him back to Contenders.

He joined the British Hurricane – the academy team of the London Spitfire, who ended up knocking the Valiant out of the season one playoffs and eventually take home the trophy – and had put up a solid set of results. 

They came second in Contenders Europe season one, went to the Atlantic Showdown, but the Brit headed to the colonies for season two, joining Team Envy after Ashley “Trill” Powell promoted to the Overwatch League for Dallas Fuel. From there, Envy took home first place in Contenders NA West, and locked down a spot at the Gauntlet in Korea.

While their primary game experience has been with equal-level teams, they had the best preparation possible for the ten-team tournament – being practice partners with the Overwatch League grand finalists the San Francisco Shock and the Vancouver Titans.

“We’ve been slowly working on stuff that we needed to improve on after the Contenders season,” said Numlocked. “Leading up to the OWL Finals, we scrimmed exclusively the Shock and the Titans.”

It didn’t feel like a skill gap between the two teams – it felt like a skill cliff. However, Envy took home invaluable tips from their scrims against the Worlds best.

“It was a shock to the system, because we had been scrimming OWL teams up to then, but not them. So when we played them, they were on another level compared to the other OWL teams we had scrimmed against. The other teams we could consistently beat, but we couldn’t even take a map off them.”

Since arriving in Korea at the start of the month, the team has still managed to get a healthy dose of practice. The team environment in Korea is a lot more conducive to rapid improvement, and the teams are all of high quality, so it was a lot easier to organise effective training.

“There’s a bigger pool of teams we can scrim in Korea. In NA, we can only really scrim a couple of the top teams in Contenders, and then we have to scrim at OWL level. In Korea, we can scrim the top six teams and they’ve all been pretty good for us. We’ve had good scrims, and we haven’t had to blacklist anyone.”

It’s not Numlocked’s first trip out to South Korea though. He was here with NRG back in season one of APEX in 2017. While he thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the games were a different story.

“I got a call like two weeks out from APEX season one and my mates were like “hey, we’re going to Korea, and we need a Lucio who can shotcall for us, do you want to come play for us?” It was all my TF2 friends, so I said yes, but I had no Lucio experience up until then, so I kind of got thrown into the deep end,” he laughed. 

“As a team, we didn’t really gel and got knocked out of groups, so after that we swapped me back onto main tank.

“Korea itself though I loved. It’s always been somewhere I wanted to come back to since then, so it’s nice to be here for the Gauntlet.”

That trip to Korea was part of his journey of always trying to improve himself as a player. He’s thrown himself into the deep end time and time again, but that one season on the Valiant was the year that almost burned him out.

“I felt like a shutout in my OWL season,” he said. “I didn’t get much experience with the team itself in terms of scrims – participating, watching, playing, anything like that. I feel like I just wasted a year of my career, so I look back on that season of OWL with a lot of regret. 

“I had a lot of offers other than Valiant that I could have taken, but I thought the Valiant would have been the best shot to improve myself as a player because I would have been fighting with Fate for a starter spot, but I didn’t even get the opportunity to fight.”

“Looking back on it, if I had the opportunity to go OWL again, and if the Valiant were my only offer, I’d stay in Contenders.”
Seb “Numlocked” Barton

Aside from that one blip though, he looks back on his ten year career fondly. He’s won Insomnia, the pinnacle of TF2 esports, and even played League of Legends in Turkey for a couple of years. It’s hard to pinpoint one specific moment that stands out as the most memorable, but nothing beats winning.

“From the early years, the one that stands out to me is the TF2 domination I had,” he said. “For two years, Epsilon Esports, the team I was on at the time, basically didn’t lose a map. We were the best team in the world, and dominating a game that hard will always be one of the top, if not the top moment.

“It’s hard to top winning, but the experiences I’ve had to travel the world to play video games and live in really cool places, it’s all really memorable.”

With his eyes firmly set on the Gauntlet, Numlocked is looking to prove himself as an OWL-worthy player, as well as show ATL Academy who is boss.

“Personally, I want a top three finish – I’ll be really disappointed if we get anything else, considering how well practice has gone for both of us. I know what everyone on this team is capable of, and I feel like top three is within our grasp. That’s where we are all aiming for, and anything less than at least proving we are the best American team will be disappointing.”

Although, there’s one thing he’s not looking forward to at Gauntlet – Orisa.

“Get me off this hero dude, I hate it so much,” he laughed. “You aren’t actively doing anything on Orisa, you are basically your team’s b****. 

“Everyone else on the team will ask for my abilities – they’ll ask for my pulls – and I don’t get to choose when to use them. It’s basically up to the whim of the team and I don’t really like that, I don’t have any independence.”

Going back to Contenders has rejuvenated Numlocked’s deep passion for esports, despite being stuck on Orisa and being at the whim of his team mates. After all, you don’t make it to ten years in esports without having the drive to constantly prove you are the best, and that’s what Envy will be looking to do this week in Korea.

Team Envy will continue their Gauntlet journey against XL2 Academy at 12:30pm AEST today. You can catch the action on the Overwatch Contenders Twitch channel.

Follow Numlocked on Twitter.

Emil “eMIL” Sandgren and Ludvig “Luddee” Håkansson are the Gladiators Legion bright and bubbly Swedish duo, but they’re here to prove that they are fearsome on the battlefield in Korea.

There’s been some talk about Gladiators Legion making it over to Korea for the Overwatch Contenders Gauntlet. They are the fourth seed from North America – a seed won by Fusion University at the Atlantic Showdown – leading for critics to say that they didn’t really earn their spot.

However, if anything, the fact that they edged in has made them hungrier to win. 

Luddee made the jump over to North America in March after two second place finishes in seasons two and three with Europe’s Angry Titans. He was also a part of the Swedish World Cup team that went to the hotly-contested Bangkok Qualifier in 2018, where Australia managed to eek out a spot at BlizzCon over Scandinavian rivals Denmark.

His counterpart was a bit slower on the jump, but he tasted success. eMIL joined Angry Titans just after Luddee’s departure, and ended up taking home the organisation’s first Contenders crown in season one 2019. He managed to get a third-place finish at the Pacific Showdown, but he was yearning for more.

That led to the Los Angeles Gladiators academy team assembling the best possible roster they could have for season two, and giving them the best possible environment to climb. They managed to get by in Contenders NA East, losing to ATL Academy in the final, but still securing a spot here at the Gauntlet.

The team has been on a five-week bootcamp in Korea, scrimming at the top of their game and improving like they’ve never done before. They’ve lived the Korean lifestyle, bonded over searing hot plates of Samgyeopsal, only getting to see the sights of Korea from the window of their fifth floor hotel room in Insadong.

The journey has been tough, but unforgettable.

“The bootcamp was very nice,” said Luddee. “I don’t think we’ve improved this much this fast ever, and it’s been amazing. The Gladiators put us in the best possible situation we could have asked for.”

“I feel like the experience of scrimming here has been so good,” added eMIL. “There’s a massive difference to scrimming NA and Korean teams, and us being together has only made it better.

“Individually, the players are the same, but the Koreans really focus on teamwork. If you want to work on your team work or your ults, you know you are going to be practicing against other teams working on that, rather than the random stuff you get back in NA.”

Even just playing Korean ranked is a much better experience. While they can choose to VPN over and play with 200 ping, it’s a whole different ball game when everyone is on a level playing field.

“In ranked, the teamwork in ranked is amazing. I don’t want to leave because of ranked,” said Luddee. “If I go alone somewhere for a boop and I die, they yell at me “play with team, don’t go alone,” they really focus on teamwork.”

“If you play an off-meta pick, they’ll literally throw,” added eMIL. ”They say “you don’t play with team,” and so you don’t deserve to win. That’s how it is – it’s respect, you have to respect your team, even in ranked.”

The duo’s reunion at Gladiators Legion was unexpected too. They first played with each other on b0nkers, a Swedish team during the early days of Overwatch. That team eventually went on to become Red Reserve, but they were separated after eMIL accepted a new offer to play with Gale Force eSports in NA, just one month after the move.

They had a brief stint together on Mosaic eSports before the start of Contenders, before always pitting their forces against each other in Europe. They look back on those early days fondly.

“We got separated because some members of the team went their own ways, and I never thought I’d get the chance to play with Luddee again,” said eMIL. “Then, two years later, we played together on Mosaic, and now we are at the Gauntlet with Gladiators. 

“It’s kind of like this redemption story for me – it’s the simple moments that I remember the most.”
Emil “eMIL” Sandgren

“B0nkers was fun,” said Luddee. “We were a full Swedish team, and it was just good times. It was just a bunch of friends playing together – simple times.”

From those small-time days in Europe, they now find themselves on one of Overwatch’s most historic stages at the OGN Giga Arena. It’s hallowed turf, fourteen storeys up in the air, with hundreds more stories living inside of the walls. 

Most Overwatch League players shone in this very building back in 2017, when APEX was at its peak. Names like LW Blue, Lunatic Hai, Runaway, Team Envy, and many more from across the world stormed the house down in their refurbished five-man League booths, chucking the extra sixth man in the back, acting like a commander positioning his men.

eMIL and Luddee used to watch on in their bedrooms back home, dreaming of the day they’ll perform on such a stage. Now they are here, and it’s a bit surreal.

“It’s like a dream,” described eMIL. “As an EU player, where the scene lacks funding or support, to wake up one day and you’re in Korea, playing where APEX once played, it’s like a dream. 

“We have to remember that we are here to win though, we aren’t just here to sightsee. Our mindset is on winning, and then after that we can be amazed.”

“I never imagined playing on the APEX stage two years ago, but we’ve both been grinding our way up here so it’s great,” Luddee added.

But there’s only one thing on their mind, and that’s taking the trophy home. Their run isn’t going to be easy – they’ve got North America’s Team Envy, Korea’s Gen.G, and China’s LGE.Huya on their side of the bracket, before titans like RunAway and Element Mystic await them if they make the top eight.

They aren’t focusing on anyone else but themselves, and making sure their months of preparation pay off.

“We made it, despite all the circumstances, and we beat the other teams so we deserve this spot,” said Luddee.” We are focused on winning. We don’t have to prove anything to anyone but ourselves.”

“I don’t care about what any other team cares or thinks, all I care about is performing well,” added eMIL. “I don’t care if anyone thinks we are the fourth seed or anything, we will just show up, play our game, and what happens happens.”

The Gladiators Legion start their Gauntlet journeys here in Korea at 12pm AEST today against Team Envy. Catch the action live on the Overwatch Contenders Twitch channel.

You can follow eMIL and Luddee on Twitter.