In this series from GosuGamers, we are going to introduce you to some of the best players that Overwatch has to offer. A lot of the current top players have competed at a high level in various other games and genres before joining the Overwatch scene. These player profiles aim to provide you with information on their previous competitive history (including team history) as well as a brief overview of the player's Overwatch preferences. Let's have a look at world's best Overwatch team: IDDQD.
Gaming History
As with many other professional players in the Overwatch beta, Lucas “Mendokusaii” Håkansson has been playing for a long time. His first entry into gaming was with the original Counter Strike, when he was only 4 years old. At the age of 6 he got his own Steam account for his birthday, and ever since then he has been an avid gamer. It wasn’t until 2012 that he first started showing up in competitive environments, although without the intent of becoming a professional player. While he was good at Counter Strike: Global Offensive, he didn’t find it very fun and therefore had no interest in going pro. The majority of the time he spent playing in CS:GO was with friends on teams Internets Nya Knugar, Team Actic and Balderdash Gaming in ESL Counter Strike: Global Offensive leagues throughout 2014 and 2015.
Continuing with this trend, he played on Ataraxia some time in early 2015 in the open ESEA League Seasons 18 & 19. No notable results came of these tournaments, but Mendo wasn’t playing them seriously anyway. While he was incredibly good at CS:GO, to the point that he had people saying it wouldn’t be long before he was on a professional team, he just didn’t find the game enjoyable. It didn’t hold his interest, and as such he had no desire to take his skill to a professional level.
After his stint in CS:GO, Mendo dipped a toe into the waters of Natural Selection 2. Over the span or several months in 2015, starting in April and ending in October, he played in many amateur tournaments, again mainly for fun, with his friends, but again didn’t truly enjoy the game. It was another game that he was good at, but like CSGO not one that he wanted to take to the next level competitively. Then Overwatch arrived. As Mendo was getting exhausted with CS:GO, he found the reveal trailer for Overwatch. The concept drew him in quickly, as it had everything from the games he enjoyed, but amplified. As well as that, the teamplay focus with the variety of combos the game offered appealed to him greatly.
Mendo was lucky enough to get into beta one in one of the early phases. The game was everything he had hoped it would be, and his enjoyment finally gave him the drive he needed to go 100% tryhard to become a pro player, even going so far as to take a year off school for it. He quickly proved his raw talent, and his great potential to become one of the top players in Overwatch. Towards the end of the first beta phase he formed the team VÄLFÄRD with friends from his days in CS:GO, playing in the offense/flex position. Despite their results not being the best, they showed scope for improvement and were picked up by SK Gaming by the time the second beta phase rolled around. Although they were picked up by an organization, the team participated in no tournaments and eventually Mendokusaii left to represent team REUNITED.gg, where he continued his play in the offense/flex role. The team had several good results with Mendo on it, and this caught the attention of IDDQD as they looked for a replacement for Taimou after he was kicked for communication issues.
Mendokusaii ended up joining the team, and has been a crucial component of their countless victories over the past weeks. Despite having joined the team later than everyone else, he feels as if he’s always been there, sharing a strong bond with his teammates. In particular, he and TviQue share a strong kinship. Frequently joking with each other and memeing it up in Twitch chat, it’s sometimes hard to tell that these two players aren’t actually brothers.
Quickfire questions:
What is your favorite skin? I dont really care that much, most skins that I bought with gold were decided by my stream.
New Widowmaker scope or old one? New, you see a lot more. But apparently new one was a mistake tviqueFeels
Coolest ultimate in your opinion? What makes it cool to you? I have no clue, I havent really thought of it in that way before.
Overwatch Credentials
VÄLFÄRD (December 10th, 2015 - February 1st, 2016)
SK Gaming (February 1st, 2016 - February 27th, 2016)
REUNITED.gg (February 27th, 2016 - March 8th, 2016)
IDDQD (March 8th, 2016 - Present)
- 87% winrate
- 6th highest earning Overwatch player
- Half of the notorious TviQuokusaii/MendiQue duo
- GosuGamers Weekly EU #2 - Seventeenth to Thirty-second Place
- GD Overwatch EU Laststand - Fifth to Sixth Place
- GoodGame Overwatch Cup #1 - First Place
- GosuGamers Weekly NA #6 - Second Place
- GosuGamers Weekly EU #7 - First Place
- GosuGamers Weekly NA #7 - First Place
- King of the Watch NA vs. EU - First Place
- GosuGamers Weekly EU #8 - First Place
- Metatrone Overwatch Cup #1 - First Place
- GosuGamers Weekly EU #9 - First Place
- King of the Watch Europe #6 - First Place
- GosuGamers Weekly EU #10 - First Place
Looking at them today, you'd never guess Mendokusaii hasn't always been a part of IDDQD. IDDQD doesn’t feel like a team of players as much as it feels like a group of friends just playing a game. Everyone seems to gel well with each other, and a lot of this can be attributed to Mendo and TviQue’s relationship. The two essentially play the same role, and at times their camaraderie is so high they feel like brothers. Frequently streaming at the same time or raiding the GosuGamer’s Twitch chat with their kebab memes and copypastas, Mendo and TviQue are two of the most charismatic players in Overwatch. They are the face of IDDQD, and from the outside appear to be the glue that holds it together. Mendo is especially charismatic, as he frequently banters with teams he’s playing against even in the deciding game of a series. However, while his jokey personality and Twitch chat memeing may make it seem otherwise, Mendo truly burns with a passion to be the best in Overwatch. On his stream, he has said that he plays Overwatch 10 hours a day, every day. He is a player that is willing to put in the practice and has fun doing it.
Whether or not you like Mendokusaii’s behavior, you cannot deny that he is one of the best players in Overwatch right now. Not just because he’s on the best team, but because he consistently performs above and beyond expectation. Players will always be talked about as being strong for being consistent, even if they are not the flashiest players. At only 17 years old, Mendo achieves a feat that few others are able to during their professional career: he is an incredibly flashy playmaker, and yet he almost never seems to have an off game. Whenever the need to perform arises, Mendo always steps up to the plate. His skills on Tracer and Genji are near unmatched, and his Widowmaker is so terrifying it is almost expected that he’ll be getting a kill every time someone crosses his sights. Whether it be a 4 man Pulse Bomb or a Genji Quad Kill, Mendokusaii is always on point and making sick plays.
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