Tainted Minds entered into the eXTREMESLAND AUNZ Qualifier final on form after toppling hotly-favoured ORDER 2-1 in the Semi Finals.

Despite some individual heroics from ofnu and INS, they were unfortunately felled by The Chiefs 2-0 and their coach Fergus “Ferg” Stephenson was gracious enough to have a chat with me after the match.

I’m being joined by the coach of Tainted Minds, Ferg, who just got knocked out in the Grand Finals of the eXTREMESLAND Qualifier. So Ferg, we’ll start yesterday where you guys took a pretty massive victory over ORDER 2-1.

Ferg: Look, I mean we were pretty stoked to get the win. With ORDER it’s a rivalry these days. We never know what sort of result is going to come out. They adapt quite well to our game style and yesterday we found a lot of weaknesses per se that we were able to exploit over and over and that allowed us to get the clinch of the series.

It was a really commanding – obviously outside of Cache – we were pretty comfortable on both Dust 2 and Nuke. We managed to get to 15 before they hit double digits on both maps. That’s just how it goes when we play ORDER – there’ll be series that we play where they batter us and there’ll be series where we batter them. It just seems to be the trend. So we just came out the better outfit yesterday.

Heading on to today with the Grand Final. What were you expecting from The Chiefs?

Ferg: Oh, we were expecting a random game style…well not so much “random”, I mean more a semi-structured “free” style of play. Really sort of aggressive and not letting us adapt – that’s Mike’s (apoc) call style, so he really kept us tangled in that respect. We couldn’t counter them based on the last round – we really had to take into account how much ground they were covering in certain areas.

They just exploited us and we couldn’t contain them. Especially on Inferno. On Mirage it was the same struggle, especially the CT half. We just couldn’t see areas that we could bolster the numbers, because as soon as we bolstered the numbers they’d just jump on the other side of the map. They had a really good read on us and our setups so it was very difficult on our CT sides.

I think on Mirage as well we ended up losing the CT half 9-6 or something so it was a pretty tough task. They played it really well with a stand-in and they should be commended for that side of things. I think IyeN really stood up, it’s not like he went ballistic and took over the game, but he played his role which made it really tough for us.

Let’s talk about pistol rounds. On the pistol rounds it did seem like The Chiefs had the advantage. With a stand-in they were going very aggressive and it worked very well for them against you guys?

Ferg: I told the boys after the third pistol round…fourth, sorry. It was the T pistol side of Mirage. We just need to lock in a pistol – we haven’t won one yet. They played their anti-ecos really well, I think there was one force-buy we won on Inferno. Other than that, they closed out their anti-ecos really well and that’s obviously one of the hardest tasks in CS:GO, to convert your anti-ecos.

Honestly, hats off to them. They played outstanding, and as you mentioned the pistol side of things is an important of the game, it’s not 100% necessary, if you can split 50-50 on a series you can usually come out on top if you’re a really strong team but if you’re losing 100% of your pistols in a series you’re making it one of the toughest tasks for yourselves.

Unfortunately we couldn’t convert any pistols and if it was the case that we could have gotten one on Mirage, maybe it would have been different. We could have finished the game in regulation time and not gone to overtime.

And just on that round 28, that Molotov, how did you feel after that?

Ferg: (chuckling) There was a lot of head-shaking going on behind the screen. It’s unfortunate – it’s just one of those things that the game hasn’t fixed. I think it happens in Banana (on Inferno) as well if you Molotov the halfwall at the bottom of banana it will burn someone on the top.

It happened to BURNRUOK at Van (on Mirage) as well. He saw the molly land at the bottom of Van and he moved a little out to the right at the top of Van and he cops the molly for two ticks and that’s the end of him.

Thanks for talking to us here at Snowball.

Ferg: Thanks very much.

While this loss will sting for Tainted Minds, they will need to get back on the horse pretty quickly as they have Animal Squad next on the docket on the 5th of September. We spoke to Ferg very shortly after the finals, and to have such specific recollection with barely any time to gather his thoughts was super impressive.

TM fans can be confident that the brain behind The Brains will have his team back in fighting shape quickly with his attention to detail. Follow Ferg and Tainted Minds on Twitter.

The crumbs have fallen into place for the qualifiers, as the four teams for the BenQ Zowie eXTREMESLAND LAN Finals for Australia have been decided over the past weekend.

For the teams who have made it through, their focuses now turn to one another as they look to take out the ANZ spot for the Regional Finals. But before they can book their tickets they have two more battles to fight as they fly down to the Melbourne Esports Open this weekend for more exciting CS:GO action

SEMI FINAL 1: Chiefs (1st) vs Legacy (4th)

The El Clásico of Australian Esports appears once more.

After a tight OPL Gauntlet Final on Sunday, these two orgs will fight again for another grand final spot, albeit on a different field of battle. But for this fight at least, the odds seem just a little clearer.

THE CHIEFS

With a dominant performance closed qualifier, seeing them only drop one map against Tainted Minds, the Chiefs have stormed into the LAN Finals with an unexpected 1st Seed. Flying off the back of an strong month online, they seem to have solidified themselves recently as the constant challenger to ORDER, Tainted Minds and Grayhound. But their biggest strength is their performance on LAN.

Having won three out of their past four offline finals (Gfinity Elite Series being the only exception), the Chiefs know how to perform at LAN, something that has eluded both ORDER and Tainted Minds in recent times.

They come into this LAN as the dark horse, but they are all but ready to cause an upset.

LEGACY

After being called up last minute to the closed Qualifier with the withdrawal of Grayhound, Legacy were able to make it through to MEO with only a few hiccups along the way. In other tournaments, the trees have had mixed results, having lost 0-2 against Grayhound in ESL AUNZ while gaining a few 2-0’s at the start of the league.

But the winds are changing for the trees.

With the recent departure of their coach SnypeR, the players will go into the event relying on the minds of Lons and BL1TZ to guide them through the matches. And without their mentor behind them, Legacy may just lose that guidance at a critical point.

At their last encounter on LAN, the Chiefs put Legacy to bed, defeating them 3-0 (Bo5) in the Grand Finals of the CGPL LAN Finals at the end of July.

However, both maps were decided by a margin of 6 or less, so Legacy may rock the crib once more if the Chiefs aren’t careful.

MY PREDICTION

While the Legacy upset is definitely a possibility, it’s hard to see Chiefs losing this El Clásico fight.

Legacy still need more time to gel, and maybe even a change before they can become a constant challenger for the Top Tier in our region. Meanwhile for the Chiefs, they have fire in their guts, a good chance at an international LAN and are looking to catch their critics flat-footed.

However, it won’t be a cakewalk for them, so don’t be surprised to see the third map being played in this battle.

The Call: CHF to win 2-1

SEMI FINAL 2: ORDER (2nd) vs Tainted Minds (3rd)

ORDER vs Tainted Minds, a combination more common than bread and butter. This will be their 12th encounter this year, but the drama never seems to dissipate.

From the Bo5 reverse sweep for the IEM Katowice Spot to tense LAN finals, this battle will always bring the hype a tournament needs.

So how will this encounter turn out?

ORDER

After making it to the Regional Finals last years when under the Kings banner, ORDER will be looking to make back to back appearances. And after a confident closed qualifier campaign, they enter this tournament as most peoples favourites to win this LAN.

But ghosts do haunt them.

While they have been blistering in recent online battles, ORDER lost their higher seeding game against Chiefs 0-2, and have had some gremlins at LAN in recent memory. However, with more another shot at an international LAN on the line, expect the army of ORDER to come in with all guns blazing as they look for their second eXTREMESLAND Regional Finals.

TAINTED MINDS

The perennial bridesmaids looks for victory once more.

Tainted Minds have had the monkey on their back for the past year, repeatedly coming in the place dividend spots for the past year against the likes of ORDER and Grayhound. But they continue to knock on the door. With every LAN they attend, they seem to get closer with every attempt, edging closer to becoming the bride instead of the bridesmaid.

And with one of their fiercest opponents overseas, this may be the event we see TM break the trend.

At the last encounter between these two, it was ORDER who took an dominant 2-0 win over TM in the ESEA Mountain Dew League Playoffs.

But this seems to be the outlier.

Most games against these teams have been thrilling and tight, with no quarter asked nor given by either side. Yet it is ORDER coming into this fight with the historical advantage, holding a 7 – 4 match advantage over Tainted Minds this year.

MY PREDICTION

This game is the closer of the two Semis for a reason.

Both of these teams can get the victory on their day, but the question will be who will turn up. Will it be the overconfident ORDER, who overextend and have to rely on individual plays to save them from potential embarrassment? Or will we see the army at their best, waiting for the opportunity to pounce, giving the respect that their opponents deserve while punishing their slightest mistakes?

Similarly, what version of the brains will arrive at MEO come Saturday? Will it be the the bridesmaids, who can’t get out of the shadow of the Top 2? Or will they finally break their curse and finally get their LAN monkey off their back.

I expect a three map thriller with multiple overtimes and ORDER coming out the battered victors.

But never doubt those with Tainted Minds, as they will be coming out with all guns firing.

The Call: ORDER to win 2-1

GRAND FINAL PREDICTION:  CHIEFS v ORDER

So, if I am proven to be the all-knowing pundit that I am and the favourites make it through, how will the final play out?

The Grand Final will be a Bo5, meaning 3 maps are needed to qualify for the Regional Finals.

But who will be in the box seat in the favourites scenario?

For most, it’ll be ORDER to take home an easy victory.

But as I stated earlier, this iteration of the Chiefs have been looking good at LAN and have defeated ORDER before at a LAN Final before. However, if ORDER don’t get cocky, and get the early control of the game, then I expect it to be ORDER taking the win and booking their seats to Shanghai. If the Chiefs stay calm, survive the open salvo and force ORDER to make mistakes, then the Chiefs may just have it.

No matter what happens at MEO though, these two days of CS:GO will be packed full of intense action and nail biting moments throughout.

All these teams want to go to Shanghai for the Regional Finals, but only one can make it through this weekend.

Following yesterday’s feature on the open qualifier teams for the BenQ Zowie eXTREMESLAND CS:GO ANZ 2018 Closed Qualifiers, our focus today shifts towards the four invitees.

With a plethora of internationally-proven talent amongst the teams of ORDER, Legacy, Tainted Minds and The Chiefs, these squads and their individual players make up what many would consider the ‘best of the best’ in the Oceanic scene.

ORDER

Form: 2^nd ESEA Premier Season 28 (AU), 3^rd-4^th DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 Asian Qualifier, 3^rd IEM XII Shanghai ANZ Qualifier

It wasn’t too long ago that ORDER were making waves across the international scene, with the former Kings Gaming Club core roster often jet-setting overseas, competing against the world’s-best at events such as the IEM XII World Championships and WESG 2017.

Though we haven’t seen this roster keep up the same level of consistency as was seen since the inception of the ORDER organisation, the unchanged lineup remains a staple in the Oceanic scene, with the ability to fend off challenges from the nation’s up-and-coming competition.

“Coming in to this event, our expectations are, of course, to qualify to the regional finals, and from there to win and get to the main event. We made it to semi-finals at last year’s main event and would be looking to have a deeper run this time, with stronger results against the Chinese teams.”

“Our practice has been continuing as normal; while we haven’t prepared for the other teams specifically, we are focusing on bringing our own level up independently. We have looked at our map pool and made some decisions and generally been working on adding some ingenuity and further structure to our existing maps.”

“Grayhound are unavailable to play due to their participation in DreamHack Stockholm, so our focus moves to TM. As for new teams, I think Ground Zero have the pieces there to get some good results, and Legacy are always lurking for an upset.”

“Overall, the eXTREMESLAND qualifier is very important to us, and was my personal highlight in the Asian circuit last year. Shanghai is a beautiful location, and we would love to travel back there this year. Following this tournament, we will resume training to win any upcoming qualifiers that arise before Christmas.”

– Chris ‘emagine’ Rowlands, ORDER

My Prediction: I don’t think many people expect ORDER to struggle coming in to this tournament. They have the capacity to win against a side such as Tainted Minds, but also risk running close matches against Legacy and AVANT. Their finishing position will be reliant on how the bracket is seeded, but it would be a surprise to all if ORDER fail to make the top 4. 2^nd Place.

The Chiefs

Form: 3^rd-4^th ESEA Premier Season 28 (AU), 1^st IeSF World Championships 2018 Australian Qualifier, 1^st CyberGamer Pro League Season 14

If it’s a team that’s got to prove themselves here, it’s the Chiefs Esports Club. Once-regarded as the powerhouse organisation in the Oceanic CS:GO scene, Chiefs have somewhat struggled to retain their top spot in the region since losing the likes of aliStair and malta to ORDER and Grayhound respectively.

The former Athletico pickup of Texta and flickz has bolstered this team’s ability to place in regional tournaments such as ESL AU&NZ Season 7 and ESEA Season 28, but the Chiefs still have some way to go in proving that they can challenge and defeat the rest of the top-tier teams in the region.

“Our only expectation is to win the qualifier. Although we don’t feel we’re the best we can be, we are still very confident against ORDER and TM.”

“Preparation for the event has been pretty standard; day-to-day team and individual practice. We haven’t really looked at any of the teams in the qualifier too much, as we know ORDER, TM and Legacy quite well already – we have mainly been focusing on us.”

“I’ve for sure seen some really positive signs from the Dynasty team, who have seemed to come out of nowhere in the last few events and performed quite well. They seem like they understand how to play as a team on a pretty good level, so I’m excited to see their progression.”

“For us moving forward, it’s just making sure we keep getting better and focus on qualifying for the next big international event, then performing well there. For me – that’s everything right now.”

– Tyler ‘tucks’ Reilly, Chiefs Esports Club

My Prediction:  I can see the experience of Chiefs fending off competition from Ground Zero, Dynasty and Surge, but when it comes down to it, I don’t know if Chiefs will be able to topple some of the bigger names. Regardless, we should still be seeing Chiefs progress through to the next stage. 3^rd-4^th is the most likely outcome.

Tainted Minds

Form: 3^rd-4^th ESEA Premier Season 28 (AU), 2^nd DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 Asian Qualifier, 3^rd Asia Minor Championship – FACEIT London 2018

The highest-rated squad on our shortlist of eight teams, Tainted Minds have somewhat slipped under the shadows of Grayhound’s success in the region. The guys in green have a plethora of international talent in the likes of yam, ofnu and zewsy from the days-gone of Renegades and Winterfox, and with the addition of bURNRUOK to the roster, it’s only a matter of time until Tainted Minds are to break through once again to the world scene.

After falling just short in making it to next month’s Valve-sponsored major in London as a Minor Champion, this might finally be the opportunity that Tainted Minds have been long-searching for.

“We’ve just returned from a boot camp in Poland in the lead up to the FACEIT minor and will use what we learnt and absorbed there to prepare ourselves for this event.”

“We’re looking out for namely the top teams; Chiefs, Grayhound and ORDER. Haven’t been keeping up too much with teams outside the top 4 so really not sure who could be a surprise but I know Legacy are definitely on the rise and the rest of the teams still should never be taken lightly.”

“We are really keen to secure a spot at the MEO LAN finals and will be gunning for the finals seed by taking it out. We’re incredibly grateful to Zowie for making this kind of format that we’ve been longing for a possibility. Only thing I’d want differently is more spots for the international finals held by eXTREMESLAND. I think we’ve earned it as a collective community and definitely are worthy.”

– Coach Fergus ‘ferg’ Stephenson, Tainted Minds

My Prediction:  It appears the stars might finally align for Tainted Minds. With Grayhound out of the picture, the path is paved for Tainted Minds to finally rise up to the challenge and make a name for themselves. However, they will need to watch out for teams such as AVANT and ORDER if they want to cement themselves on top coming in to the next stage. 1^st place.

Legacy Esports

Form: 5^th-8^th ESEA Premier Season 28 (AU), 2^nd CyberGamer Pro League Season 14, 5^th-6^th IEM XIII Shanghai ANZ Qualifier

Rounding out our four invitees for the eXTREMESLAND 2018 ANZ Closed Qualifier we have Legacy Esports – a last-minute replacement for Grayhound, who could not attend due to schedule conflicts with DreamHack Stockholm.

The former lol123 lineup has typically performed well in qualifying stages, and now that sterling has had some time to gel with his team, Legacy will need to act swiftly to secure a victory and make a name for themselves, rather than continuing to drift outside the region’s top four. The recent departure of coach SnypeR could throw a spanner in the works, but with plenty of talent on this roster, they should be able to at least put up a fight.

“We’ve been putting a lot of hours in to our game after losing to The Chiefs at CGPL. Our primary goal right now is on improving our own style of play – We’ve changed some roles on some maps (mostly CT side), and we are working on improving our communication as a team.”

“We haven’t had much of a chance to look at how to counter some of the other teams as of yet, but hopefully that will be better in the long run.”

“We are very grateful for the opportunity that eXTREMESLAND has given us. Our goal is to make it to the LAN Qualifier.”

– Egor ‘LONS’ Baranov, Legacy Esports

My Prediction:  If Legacy are to make it through to the top 4, then they will need to make sure they don’t get scalped by teams such as Surge or Dynasty. They have the depth and ability to make the cut, but I predict that if there’s going to be an upset, it will happen in a game which includes Legacy. 4^th or 5^th place.

With the qualifiers now underway, it’s only a matter of time before we see which of these eight teams will make the cut to the top four playoffs at the Melbourne Esports Open in a weeks’ time.

Will the invited teams prevail? Could we see some scalps and upsets perhaps? Be sure not to miss any of the action by following Snowball Esports on Twitter to keep updated with the latest esports news in the Oceanic scene.

Blank Blue

Although Blank Blue might live in the shadow of their sister team, Blank Esports, they are by no means weak. The team of local young guns will be looking to replicate the main teams Pacific success back home in Australia after falling excruciatingly close last season. A 2nd place finish in their group in Season 1 set them up for a favourable playoffs spot, where they beat JAM Gaming 3-0. However, at LAN, they fell down to Masterminds GC, who had stormed off an almost perfect 19 and 0 regular season on their way to the grand final.

“After restructuring and refocusing we’re looking to take our tournament run deep into Rod Laver Arena”
– Smash, Coach for Blank Blue

The team has only made one change coming into Season 2, with the addition of “Aetar” from JAM Gaming. Casting Season 1 grudges aside after being knocked out by Blank Blue in playoffs, “Aetar” will provide a boost in the hitscan DPS department for Blank Blue. “Micro” will be moving to the bench as a result of the change, but knowing substitutes in Overwatch, we could definitely see a bit of rotation between the two to shake things up.

“Smash”, Blank Blue’s coach told us that the team is positive and they are setting their sights on the finals again, “After restructuring and refocusing we’re looking to take our tournament run deep into Rod Laver Arena.” In a season where there’s so many teams in with a chance of making it to the Melbourne Esports Open LAN, Blank Blue will surely have a few tricks up their sleeves to make it there.

Dark Sided

Dark Sided had a very strong group stage finish, with a map record of 18-2, placing just behind Masterminds. However, they weren’t able to make it to the final as they placed 3rd. They had a very close semi-final with Drop Bears, but fell short with their 2 – 3.

“The team are confident they will get the win in the opening match.”
– Project, Coach for Dark Sided

In a trend that is becoming seemingly common among the teams, they have shaken up their roster with a completely new set of players for Contenders Season 2.

Coach “Project” had a few things to say about matchmaking vs tournament and growth in the Australian region:

“It would’ve been nice for the meta the players are on to stay relevant to their matchmaking experience but with Blizzard’s patching and tournament schedule that will never be the case. I feel this hinders the growth of the game and players as there is no support in this region to learn the multitude of heroes required to participate at the top level.”

On their opening match against Masterminds in week 1, “Project” stated: “The team are confident they will get the win in the opening match.”

Masterminds

Masterminds had an excellent run in the first season of Contenders and were on top after the group stages. However, they were not able to secure the win in the finals, with the Sydney Drop Bears proving too strong.

“We’ve never missed a LAN since the start of Overwatch in this region, and this Contenders season will be no different.”
– Polter, Co-owner of Masterminds

They have featured many roster changes this year such as “Knellery”, “Dalsu”, “Tails” and “Colourhex” all leaving the team.

The Masterminds co-owner “Polter”, spoke with us about these changes: “After finishing 2nd in season 1 a lot has changed for us during the off season with James “Taki” Daskalou being the only remaining player from that roster. To the naked eye it appears we have come off the worst from the latest roster shuffle, but we have some extremely talented players who are out to prove their worth against the best in the region.“

They are no doubt ready to take the title from Drop Bears as “Polter” explains their dedication to practising: “We’ve never missed a LAN since the start of Overwatch in this region, and this contenders season will be no different. We look forward to redeeming ourselves and taking 1st place in Melbourne.”

Masterminds certainly have a lot of motivation to win this season.

Sydney Drop Bears

In the group stages of Season 1 the Sydney Drop Bears were 0-4’d by Masterminds. However they then went on to become the inaugural winners of clean sweeping Masterminds right back with a 4-0 in the grand final.

“The team is extremely confident in our ability to defend our Australia Contenders title”
– Face, Coach for the Sydney Drop Bears

Interestingly, the Drop Bears picked up “Colourhex” from Masterminds in the off-season. Speaking of the roster change, Drop Bears Coach “Face” explained: “We picked up ‘Colourhex’ who has really lent a lot of flexibility and skill to our roster and has been meshing well with the team.”

On their focus for the upcoming season, he said: “Right now, we are primarily focusing on getting a grasp on the new meta and increasing our synergy together as a team. Moving into the new season, the team is extremely confident in our ability to defend our Australia Contenders title and we can only improve from here.”

The Sydney Drop Bears sound confident and are looking to fight tooth and nail to keep their title as the current Contenders Australia champions.

Season 2 of Overwatch Contenders Australia starts tomorrow, Monday 2nd July at 12pm AEST. Tickets are now also available for the grand final at the Melbourne Esports Open – find them here.

You can catch more Overwatch Contenders coverage throughout the season here on Snowball Esports, as well as following the action on the Overwatch Contenders Twitch channel.

Written by Ann “Luna”.

Dignity

Dignity is Contenders biggest unknown this season. “Express”, a top 500 player from Canada, bought the slot taken by Noc Predators and built the team from the ground up. There’s been criticism behind the roster, due to the fact they bought in, but they are looking to prove they can hold their own in Contenders, and take it further.

“The talent on our team is outmatched because of the dedication of each player and vision to improve”
– Express, Owner of Dignity

Taking some of the leftovers from Season 1 roster changes, Dignity lines up “Deo” (Serenity), “Specialkid” (NoC Predators) and Render (JAM Gaming) from Season 1 alongside upcoming talent “Yui”, “Mini” and “Cazzette” for their starting 6. While these names don’t really stand out among the big guns, their talent comes from “the dedication of each player and vision to improve.” Dignity aren’t just looking for short term success. Team owner “Express” said Dignity have “the best available talent and a couple of hidden gems who will be superstars in the future.”

Dignity want to surprise the competition with this line-up, and keep on improving week on week. “Express” expressed that he was “pleased with our results and overall improvement in the buildup to Contenders”, and said that “we are looking to prove that we are not a new team looking to sabotage the OCE scene but to sabotage the results of the other teams in turn of our victory”. While other Contenders teams might know a few things to expect from this lineup, it’ll be a viewers delight on Monday to see what they are truly made of.

Kanga Esports

Kanga Esports dealt some blows to other teams in Season 1. Qualifying for playoffs, they took a map off 1st seed Masterminds before falling in the quarter-finals. During the season, they beat SereNity and Tainted Minds, but overall looked looked shaky in a lot of their matchups, not being able to close out maps.

Heading into Season 2, they’ve overhauled their roster. The departure of “Ziggy” left a hole in their their Flex role, but they are flexible. Main support “Davi” has flexed to Offtank, with the team bringing in “Junglejazz” to fill the support gap. However, the most intriguing signing is “ChroNoDotA” replacing old main tank “pzza”.

“We are grinding harder than ever before to win this season, with the org’s full support to make it happen”
– Haydz, Owner of Kanga Esports

While it’s not uncommon to hear about OCE players using VPNs or groups to play on US West, Singapore or Korean servers for a better matchmaking experience, you hardly hear about the reverse. “ChroNoDotA” hails from Arizona, USA, and from all accounts, has absolutely been tearing it up in scrims even with the ping difference.

Speaking to team owner “Haydz”, he said that “the boys are grinding harder than ever before to win this season, with the org’s full support to make it happen.” Obtaining the services of a US college star, and ex-Team Singularity (from EU Contenders) coach “Maid”, Kanga certainly have the org’s support behind them and the makings of a top 4 team.

Legacy Esports

Legacy are one of the only rosters to keep most of their team intact during the offseason. Last season for Legacy was a case of ‘sweep or be swept’, with all of their series ending in 4-0 either way. While they were a good roster, they didn’t have that extra edge teams like Sydney Drop Bears had, eventually falling victim to them in the first round of playoffs (again in a 3-0 sweep).

“I think we have a lot to show with our new roster this season and am looking forward to playing with the team”
– Poom, DPS for Legacy

However, for Season 2, they’ve made some great changes. The additions of veterans “Kiki” (for “Skull” in Flex) and “tails” (for “Wuvo” in DPS) will help solidify a classy roster. Both players were on Masterminds in their grand final run last season, with “Kiki” having also represented Australia at the Overwatch World Cup. He was also on the very successful Blank Esports roster which has dominated the Oceania and Pacific regions.

In saying this though, “Kiki” is on the way out, having decided to hang up the headset on competitive Overwatch in recent weeks. He will still play on while Legacy try to find a replacement. Even with this setback, spirits are still high in the Legacy camp. DPS player “Poom” (formerly “CaramelKoala”, who made final 16 for World Cup Trials this year) thinks that “[Legacy] have a good chance of making it to the LAN finals this season, as we are training hard and the meta suits our players.” With or without “Kiki”, Legacy will try and find success this season and cement themselves a spot in Melbourne.

Avant Gaming

Along with JAM’s spot, Avant Gaming also acquired their roster from last season, before changing a few things up to really shape the team into potential Top 4 contenders. Last time Avant were involved in Overwatch was 2016, where the team hovered around the Top 8 teams in Australia. The roster back in those days featured players like “Taki” (now on Masterminds) and “Tongue” (now on Blank Esports).

“We think we’ve got a pretty good shot at LAN granted we come top 2 in the group.”
– Whipply, Team Manager for Avant Gaming

Avant kept “Crimsonwolf”, “SleepEasy” and “Legabril” from the old JAM Gaming lineup. The addition of “Dalsu”, who has LAN experience from Masterminds in Season 1, will be crucial in this season. The new talent in “Winter” (from Reflex in Open Division) and “Addy” (formerly on $krylla, who qualified for Contenders Season 1) round out a strong lineup filled with talent and experience.

Team manager “Whipply” mentioned the team were “feeling pretty confident going into the seasons…[with] everyone working really hard and getting good results.” About making the Melbourne Esports Open LAN finals, they think they’ve “got a pretty good shot granted we come Top 2 in the group.”. In a group containing grand finalist Masterminds, Dark Sided, the new look Kanga roster, and Trials teams Serenity and PIXL Esports, Avant are looking to turn some heads and make big impressions on the Contenders scene.

The final edition of our Team Spotlight series will feature the Finalists from Season 1: Blank Blue, Masterminds, Dark Sided and winners Sydney Drop Bears. You can catch more Overwatch Contenders coverage throughout the season here on Snowball Esports, as well as following the action on the Overwatch Contenders Twitch channel.

This changes the final standings of the tournament and they have been updated to:

This means the seeding for the upcoming Contenders Season 2 Australia tournament changes drastically, and sees PIXL esports replace Surge Esports Club, who have had their qualification removed.

Understandably, Surge Esports Club are gutted. “Atom” had this to say:

“Unfortunately the team has been relegated from Contenders season 2 due to some complications with other teams and the resulting modification of standings. We tried our hardest and in the end it just wasn’t quite enough. While this is obviously disappointing for the players and management involved, our morale is not broken. We will recoup in Open Division and come back even stronger next season.”
– “Atom”, Surge Esports Club

“Atom” also let me know that Surge do not have plans to release any of the players at this time.

Find the full details of the change at Blizzard Esports ANZ’s official announcement here.

Tainted Minds

Tainted Minds had a season to forget in Season 1 of Contenders. They failed to pick up a map win the entire tournament, only managing to scramble a draw against Kanga Esports. There was no such disappointment in Trials though, with the team going undefeated in all 5 series with a 14-6 map differential.

“[We will] grow throughout the season and be worthy of our position as a Contenders team”
– Solomon “JJJJ” Spearritt, Tainted Minds Contenders Captain

Tainted have replaced old tank “Fullmetal” with Season 1 sub “Trisimail”, with “Godsworld” also being shown the door for “Oxidize”. This roster proved to be successful in Trials, even taking down Serenity who swept them 4-0 last season. A new and improved roster, plus a new attitude towards preparation will allow the team to “grow throughout the season and be worthy of our position as a Contenders team” according to captain “JJJJ”.

For Tainted, “it’s been a long and bumpy road.” The team is hoping to place Top 8 this season and prove to the community that they have earned their spot. With the issues that plagued them in Season 1 behind them, they can only go up in Season 2.

SereNity

SereNity had it a bit better in Season 1, but not by much. Their only series win was a 4-0 against Tainted Minds. While they took maps off Kanga Esports and grand finalist Dark Sided, they weren’t able to string together enough form for a series win. Another run through trials saw them qualify with ease with a 4-1 record and a 14-7 map differential, only falling to Tainted Minds in a tight 5 map series.

“[Our] biggest strength is that we are constantly adapting and striving to improve.”
– Noxious, SereNity Team Manager

Heading into Season 2, SereNity have a point to prove. They had the makings of a great team last season. They’ve decided to not tinker with the formula too much, bringing in “Oily” from NoC Predators for “Archaius”. Keeping the core of the roster the same could prove to be crucial. With so many teams shuffling players around, having a bit of stability can be the difference when the chaos starts and having faith in your team synergy.

According to team manager “Noxious”, “SereNity’s biggest strength is that we are constantly adapting and striving to improve. This season will be all about displaying their development from last season, with “better put together strategies and strong execution throughout the team.”

Surge Esports Club

Sometimes, a bit of luck is all you need. That motto which perfectly describes Surge ESC’s first 2 seasons in Overwatch Contenders. In Season 1, they qualified off the disbandment of $kyrlla, leaving the 5th spot in Trials open. They were only able to pull out 2 map wins against JAM and NoC in Season 1, failing to win a series. They did manage to scrape through Trials even though they had a negative map differential. However, among all this luck, to qualify in the first place, you still need to hold your own, and that’s exactly what Surge has done.

“[We believe we can] secure our top 8 spot and show the Oceanic region that we can compete.”
– Joshua “Vero” Rolon, Surge ESC Captain

There’s been a little bit of roster volatility in the Surge lineup between seasons. “Fate” is the only returning player from their Season 1 lineup, although “Vero” was part of their earlier Trials campaign. As recently as the final weekend of Trials, Surge have been changing things up in various roles after the departure of recently signed “Qvn” and “WillX”, as well as team captain “breeZy”.

With this roster, new team captain “Vero” believes they can “secure a top 8 spot and show the Oceanic region that we can compete. After our admittedly poor performance in season 1, we’ve restructured our roster and we believe that we can take on some of the top teams in Contenders.”

Bin Chickens

The only team to qualify from Open Division this season, Bin Chickens were also the only team to go undefeated in the Open Division swiss bracket. However, after being knocked down into the losers bracket by Peeps Angels in the first round of playoffs, they were forced to run the gauntlet. They got their revenge in the losers bracket final, and while they lost to Interstella in the grand final, they qualified for Trials. In Trials, they got up over Interstella and PIXL, with which the forfeit of Peeps Angels and Alter Ego was enough to secure their spot in Contenders.

“[Our roster is comprised of] Div 2’s best and brightest”
– CounpoN, Bin Chickens Team Manager

As team manager “CounpoN” puts it, Bin Chickens are comprised of “Div 2’s best and brightest”, with veterans “LUSH”, “Bus”, “Zenasis” and “Leveret” leading rookies “Autumn” and “Styrel” through Australia’s biggest league. Flex player for Bin Chickens “Styrel” joked that we should “expect some swift 0-4’s as we transform into Binned Chickens throughout the season”

The team is looking to carry their dominant Open Division form into Contenders, and while the level of competition has gone up a few notches, the team is confident of possibly causing an upset or two this season.

The next edition of our Team Spotlight series will feature the middle-of-the-pack teams in Avant Gaming, Legacy Esports, Kanga Esports and Dignity. You can catch more Overwatch Contenders coverage throughout the season here on Snowball Esports, as well as following the action on the Overwatch Contenders Twitch channel.

League and CS:GO have dominated the Oceanic esports scene for the last few years, but Blizzard are looking to shake things up.

The first season of Overwatch Contenders Australia saw popular organisations like Legacy, DarkSided and Masterminds battle it out against independent talent like Serenity, Alter Ego and Noc Predators. With a final LAN taken out by the very okka-sounding Sydney Drop Bears, Contenders Australia exploded out onto the scene, and in Season 2 it’s only going to get bigger.

Presented by ESL Australia. Overwatch Contenders is a 6 week league, where 12 teams from around Australia duke it out for regional pride, international visibility, and one of the biggest prize pools in Oceania. While there’s no direct promotion from Contenders into the hallmark franchise, the Overwatch League, it’s used as a breeding ground for regional talent. The prize pool is around $60,000, with the winners taking home a handy $10,000 cheque.

The format sees the teams battle it out in a 4 map series. They play one of each style of map:

• Control – which requires teams to capture a point and hold it;
• Hybrid – which requires attackers to capture a payload and escort it;
• Assault – which requires attackers to capture 2 separate control points and;
• Escort – which requires attackers to escort a payload through the map before time runs out.

The team who completes each map the fastest wins the map. If the series is tied 2-2 after the Escort map, teams play out a tiebreaker Control map to settle the score. Season 2 of Contenders Australia sees a complete new map set across the board, including the first competitive appearance of Overwatch’s newest Escort map, Rialto.

Similar to how the OPL used to work, teams can qualify for Contenders through the amateur Open Division scene. The top 4 Open Division teams got a chance to prove themselves at Trials against the bottom 4 Contenders teams from the previous season. Season 2 Trials saw Tainted Minds, Serenity and Surge Esports Club retain their spots, while amateur team Bin Chickens knocked out Alter Ego from the top division.

Those weren’t the only changes to the Australian Contenders scene over the break. JAM Gaming sold their spot to Avant Gaming, who make a resurgence into the scene after disbanding in 2016. Noc Predators also sold their spot to Dignity, an independent organisation run by ExpressOnRs, a top 500 player from Canada. The Masterminds of old have disbanded, with the org running a completely new unannounced roster for the 2nd rendition of the tournament.

The top 4 teams from Contenders Australia Season 2 will play off in a best of 7 finals series at the Melbourne Esports Open in September this year. Masterminds, DarkSided and Blank Blue – who all made the Season 1 finals – are yet to reveal their rosters, and a possible shakeup could see new teams heading off to Melbourne.

You can expect more Overwatch Contenders content from Snowball in the lead up to the season starting on on July 2, with games on every Monday and Tuesday afternoon starting from 12pm AEST. You can catch the action on Twitch.

This time we look at the action from Week 1 of the Oceanic Pro League Split 2, 2017 in what turns out to be a very mid-and-ADC focused edition!

Trending up: Claire, Mid, Legacy

Claire had, in my opinion, a borderline disastrous split 1 saved only by some incredible team-fighting on Viktor in an iconic victory over The Chiefs. But the Claire we saw against Sin last weekend looked a far sight better than the Claire who tied Seb for most first blood deaths given up during the regular season (in six fewer games, no less).

After game 1 Sin might have had fair cry to say that they had been cheesed. But execution matters and the mid-lane Fiora that Claire produced gleefully accepted an early lead by punishing a clumsy Sin collapse, then used it to draw pressure around and away from objectives like few things other than a fed Fiora can. Game two saw a bit of a return the “oopsie” Claire that we’d seen in the beginning of the year, but game three was the important game. He started with an importantly quiet first 15 minutes, staying even with Ry0ma’s Syndra and more importantly keeping him in lane and not letting the one-shot machine roam around the map and pick up gold on unsuspecting (or suspecting and helpless) bot-laners. So while Carbon and Tally accelerated the early game, Claire picked up contribution after contribution and ended up one of four unkilled Legacy players with a 72% kill participation on the final game.

Trending down: Blinky, ADC, Avant

This might feel a bit harsh to a member of the only team sporting three shiny points but I really expected more out of the AV botlane and specifically Blinky this go-around. It’s not just the abnormally large number of “High, wide, and not very handsome” Ashe arrows including a couple of truly baffling misses at all-but-point-blank range, though that is significant at this level. It’s not just the damage discrepancies, which though i’ll give a Varus-pass for game 2, there was a mere 900 damage to champions advantage for Blinky in game 1, though that was also significant. My disappointment with Blinky this past week was the early deficits he faced in lane. They were small, collectively only around 300 gold at the 10-12 minute mark. But when you have a split’s worth of experience in the league, including playoffs and you’ve just returned from spending several weeks in Korean solo queue, you don’t expect narrow leads and break-evens in the first 15 minutes against lowskillplayer on his debut. You expect more. I expected more.

Trending up: Triple, Mid, Avant

On the bright side of Avant’s 2-0 over TM is Triple. Triple is really good at League of Legends, news at 11. Clearly the best-performing player on his team and a really good shout for the best performing player of the week. Triple really brought it all this week – good laning, pressure right round the map, good farming (nearly finished on a flame horizon in game one) and impressive basic statistics. Triple’s gold lead over Shok really jumps off the page in game one in which he’d built up a 1000 gold lead at just eight minutes and the direct comparison had ballooned to 2.4k gold immediately before the disastrous baron call that turned the game on its ear.  A less spectacular but more workmanlike game 2 saw him bring home a just under 78% kill participation and honestly it is this ability that you really crave on your mid laner. We’ve all seen Triple pop off. What I loved about his game 2 was his ability that despite Ceres being the one to be the flashy playmaker on his Renekton-with-a-side-of-Lee Sin, it was Triple who dealt the most damage and Triple bringing the highest kill participation. Triple showed us both sides of being a carry – the spectacular, and the subdued. Though subdued almost feels disrespectful to the great showing he put on.

Trending up: Raid, ADC, Abyss

After this last week of games I have this vision of Looch in my head that is less of him as a great mid lane player than it is him as a literal security blanket that Raid wraps himself in so that the bad monsters don’t hurt his ADC gameplay because we haven’t seen Raid like this all year. This was a real return to split 2 form where he was arguably robbed of the Rookie of the Split by the aforementioned Looch. Abyss’s ADC was absolutely phenomenal against a surprisingly strong Regicide lineup. He put out comfortably over 700 damage to champions per minute across the whole series and just shy of 1000 per minute in the final game. These are super-giant-doggy-sized damage numbers. He added to this a huge flame horizon on Chenyboy in a losing effort in game two and only 7 deaths in the series, the fewest in his team. Although his damage numbers are admittedly a little augmented by three Varus games, this is itself encouraging in a different way as he spent almost the entirety of last split on Ezreal and Jhin and it’s nice to see something new from him. Looch himself was impressive so if these two can put forward this kind of showing consistently, Abyss will not just compete, but threaten, every time they hit the rift.

5) Dr Only or Only Hyde?

By all accounts Tainted Minds jungler Only had the breakout performances his widely touted potential had promised during League of Origin. This is fantastic news for him and encouraging news for a Tainted Minds roster looking to emerge from the mire they found themselves in during split one.

A stable presence in the jungle will be just the starting point that TM fans would like to see, as some torrid early games hindered their efforts as split one progressed. Only turned in what were at-times putrid performances, including getting thoroughly manhandled in one game by his lightning-rod of a rookie jungler counterpart from Exile 5 in Guts before rallying to take that set. He’ll want to leave his Split 1 performance behind him and carry his Origin performance into the split. To that end, it’s good that he was able to work closely with tgun while on NSW duties and the two will look to form a strong pairing to accompany rising top lane star Praedyth.

4) Abyss have almost run out of excuses

After picking up a major sponsor and the recent announcement of their ownership investment, this roster, like TM, then secured a young promising top laner and stable veteran support to solidify their squad. The pieces are all there to finally succeed after sixth (after tiebreakers, don’t give me that tied-for-4th PISH when you 0-2 the tiebreaker games) and seventh-place finishes in their first two OPL splits. Looch and Pabu are encouraging solo lane talent, and Rosey is for my money one of the two or three best choices they could have made to unlock the Split 2 2016 edition of Raid. The only remaining question mark was Seb, who was unquestionably one of the 2-3 worst performing players in the entire league last split. If Seb can have a bounce-back performance, then the team is all but set. With that said, though, I remain to be convinced by Looch’s return and I’m far from encouraged by Seb, who is best described as erratic. I would love to be wrong about this, so I’m excited to see them show it on the rift but if they don’t end up getting it together they may have scant few excuses left to account for why.

3) Don’t sleep on the big two top laners

Somewhat lost in the shuffle of the oceanic top lane this split were the historical big two top laners of Swip3rr and Tally. While neither had the breakout split or got to take home the trophy as Chippys did, both veterans brought a deceptively high level of play. Tally seemed to undergo a transformative period in he produced more and more assured tank play. His engages sometimes left a little to be desired but beyond that Tally really began to reach a new level where competency became proficiency. This move to evolve his level on a multitude of play styles indicated an acknowledgement of one of the real strengths of Swip3rr that Tally would benefit from adding to his game.

For his part, Swip3rr continued to display his usual level of play that I feel has become underappreciated. For my money, Swip3rr is still the most meta-resistant top laner in the region and has a deep understanding of how to carry his team when he is not actively carrying the game. Looking back at the gauntlet and comparing how he and Ceres each handled a Fizz with an early lead really shows the stark difference between Swip3rr and OPL top laners not named Swip3rr, Tally, or Chippys. Swip3rr’s big advantage is that he puts up respectable numbers while earning a comparative pittance of gold. The big two Oceanic stars may have a new challenger in Chippys but as impressive as the Dire Wolf has been he’s still not yet the five-tool players in the region that Swip3rr and Tally are.

2) Gut-check time for The Chiefs

The Chiefs have lost games before. The Chiefs have lost series before. The Chiefs have lost playoff games before. Admittedly not many of each, but never before had they lost a playoff series in Oceania, as anyone who watches the OPL is keenly aware. Until Sin, that is. Sin Gaming put forward a workmanlike first two games, running a train through The Chiefs’ bottom lane before The Chiefs spectacularly regained momentum in two bruising victories to knot the series at two. But then uncharacteristically the Chiefs, like a 24-hour McDonalds, didn’t close. They were unable to counteract the mounting pressure of the Fizz elsewhere on the map and got smothered out of the game. As gutting as it would have been the series loss also presents a fantastic opportunity for The Chiefs to really show their quality and put out a display of mental resilience that they’ve not yet needed to show. History has told us that The Chiefs take losses personally and I think they’ll come into this split with a chip on their shoulder and a lot to prove.

1) Dire Wolves vs. Chiefs HYPE~!

This series is, not to put too fine a point on it, going to bloody pop off. The final standings from last split coupled with the performance of the two teams would indicate that it may not be a particularly close series. However the deeper you dig back through the split, the more exciting it gets as you realize the number of unanswered questions this series still has. The prevailing logic that would lean towards a Chief win is “Form is temporary, class is permanent” but the two teams didn’t meet each other in playoffs so even form is misleading to an extent. What jumps off the page is that the Chiefs squad that the Dire Wolves wiped the floor with in what was the fastest series win in league history by my count is not the Chiefs that they’ll meet this weekend. To this end, one notes that the Dire Wolves have not yet beaten the main roster of the Chiefs this year, having lost to them in week one. But thinking back to their Week One meeting serves as a reminder that the Chiefs have not yet beaten this iteration of Dire Wolves either, as Shernfire was serving his two-week suspension. In fact due to the same suspension issue with Korean accounts we have not yet seen Chippys-Shernfire-Phantiks-k1ng-Destiny face off against Swip3rr-Spookz-Swiffer-Raes-EGym and that makes this series truly exciting.

That’s the OPL Take 5 for this week. Hit us up with what you’re excited to see for this week of games!