A lot is currently happening, and so it has become increasingly hard to keep track of everything that happened in a week. To help with that, we have compiled this Competitive Recap.
Released every week we will try to congest every tournament and important news that has happened since the last recap. Whether you are interested in the bigger news, or want to stay updated on changes in teams, you can always tune in on Thursday to see if you missed anything.
Important News:
Round 1 of ESL's Atlantic Showdown qualifiers are over; round 2 starts August 1st
ESL's $100k Atlantic Showdown is well underway. The final round of qualifiers will finish today, after which we will know the 8 teams going to gamescom for the Grand Finals.
Top 500 leaderboard system is live, now you can grind while you grind!?
This feature, a leaderboard of the top players, was promised a while ago and they started integrating it this week. For now, top 500 players can only be identified through a special icon next to their name in-game, but in the future Blizzard will make the whole leaderboards available for viewing on their website.
ESL is crowning the first Kings of their Hill today?
ESL has decided to add yet another Overwatch event to their hosting schedule. Besides their Go4Overwatch cups, and the ESL Atlantic Showdown, fans of Overwatch (and Hearthstone) will now also be able to tune in to ESL's own King of the Hill series.
Overwatch gets sporty in new Summer Games Update?
We got a surprise update this week when Blizzard released a seasonal event regarding the Olympic Summer Games. Until the 22nd of August, players will be able to play Lucioball (think Rocket League) as well as collect all sorts of new cosmetics from Summer Games Lootboxes.
Unique GosuGamers Content:
Dear Blizzard: A Letter on Observation?
In this piece by Scr1be, the observer mode of Overwatch is analyzed and questioned with an eye on the future. The author considers improving the observer system to be one of the biggest priorities, and he explains why in this well-written editorial.
Player Spotlight: Zebbosai, Brains and Aim?
For those of you who have followed our coverage for a long time, this Player Spotlight might look familiar. We are making an effort to get back to a regular schedule of giving the individual pro players the attention that they deserve, through our Player Spotlight series.
Interview with Misfits Nevix: "I don't fear playing against Cloud9, EnVyUs, or any other NA teams."?
Leading up to the biggest event so far, the Overwatch Open by FACEIT and ELEAGUE, we will be providing you with all sorts of coverage including interviews with the teams and players. First up, this interview with Misfits' Nevix.
Short Cuts is our series that aims at educating you about the various lesser-known ways of navigating around the Overwatch maps. In this edition, we took a look at Route 66 and a special jump that might save your life plenty times over.
The Polls of July: Recap and Analysis?
In this new monthly series, GosuGamers summarizes the results of the most interesting quickpolls we asked you to answer. We hope that this recap will give you another perspective of what some interesting questions were over the last month of Overwatch.
Tournaments:
The second round of qualifiers, where we drop from 32 teams to just 8, is ending today. Earlier this week, the EU qualifiers concluded with Misfits, REUNITED, Creation eSports and Rogue earning a ticket to gamescom, and yesterday the first two NA teams were also decided: EnVyUs and Cloud9. Tune in later today, at 21:00 CEST, to find out the final 2 teams that will still have a chance to win it all.
The second rounds of Open Qualifiers for this grand event took place this week. With a $300,000 prizepool, they had no problem filling up another two 32-team brackets (one for EU and one for NA). With all the big teams participating, we do advise you to check out the VODs!
The second Overwatch Cup by BTS had some of the best NA teams return for some more great competition. Team Liquid had one of their better event runs, and they might even take it all in the playoffs tomorrow (though they will still have to go through Cloud9, EnVy and TSM so maybe not...).
Minor Transfers & Team News
Luminosity Gaming picks up European team, 2sTroNk
There were signs that LG and their roster weren't going to stay together for much longer, and this week the news came that Luminosity picked up a whole new roster altogether. The third NA organization to do this, the picked up European 2sTroNk and are planning to relocate them to the USA. What about Seagull and his boys you ask? There's some good news further down this list.
NiP signs Finnish phenoms SG-1
Another legendary eSports organization has entered the Overwatch scene. Swedish Ninjas in Pyjamas decided to pick up the Finnish roster of SG-1, a team that has consistently played together since the closed beta. Let's hope that they will get their real breakthrough soon, with the backing of NiP as solid support.
The guys over at 1SHOT finally completed the deal with Method.gg, and will now be playing under their roster. Method.gg is a solid org that until recently focused mainly on World of Warcraft.
Team Liquid sets sail with newly updated roster
Team Liquid hasn't had the best of runs lately, and this is mainly due to the unstability of their roster. Some good news however, as the team has signed contracts with 2 more players, while they continue to find the right sixth player for the job.
NBA legend Shaq's org NRG signs old Luminosity
As mentioned above, the mix^ roster quickly found a new home after their contract ended with LG. NRG, the organization famously backed by NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, entered the Overwatch scene with the pickup of this valuable roster.
H2K signs roster featuring Overwatch veteran Esper
As everyone who is knowledgeable of eSports knows, some players will move around a lot before they find the right roster and team for them. In this case, Esper teamed up with players like Fire and JSR when they started playing under the name of Kids Next Door. The roster was quickly picked up, and H2K is their new home.
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