The Best Teams in the OWL
Blizzard's genre-defining Overwatch sparked a maelstrom of support and dedication upon its release. From Korea to China, North America to Europe, Players from around the globe competed against one another to see who among them was the best.
This competitive spirit predictably evolved into what we now know as the Overwatch World League. Here the greatest competitors compete for a myriad of cash prizes, glory, recognition, respect, and, most importantly of all, the coveted Overwatch World Cup trophy.
In this article, we're going to talk briefly about some of the most renowned collectives of heroic champions. The organizations they play under, their accolades, and the team's players.
Runaway
The Runaway roster is the first to many a viewer's lips when discussing the greatest OWL teams of the present.
The roster has had a bumpy run their beginnings during APEX Season one, but in recent times they've come back swinging harder than ever before.
They have locked down both competitive seasons of 2019 and placed third in this year's gauntlet.
At present, they only have three active members on their roster, with a fourth inactive substitute waiting in the wings. This current dominating roster consists solely of players from South Korea:
- Kim "Mag" Tae-Sung
- Kim "Assassin" Sung-Wong
- Lim "F4zE" Si-Hyun
- (Substitute) Yoon "Runner" Dae-Hoon
San Francisco Shock
Another world-class caliber team, San Francisco Shock took the 2019 season by storm, almost always finishing up in the top two at events.
With the backing of Esports giants NRG, the success of SF Shock was more of a when than an if. NRG has been putting together the foundations for this team to succeed all the way back since the inception of the Overwatch World League, and it's good to see those efforts paying dividends.
SF Shock is so good, in fact that to date, they are the only OWL team ever to complete the fabled Golden Stage, not dropping a single map for the entirety of stage two this year.
Their harrowed and legendary roster consists of:
- Jay "Sinatraa" Won
- Matthew "Super" DeLisi
- NamJu "Striker" Gwon
- DongJun "Rascal" Kim
- Mingo "Architect" Park
- Grant "Moth" Espe
- Hyobin "Choihyobin" Choi
- Myeong "Smurf" Hwan Yoo
- Minki "Viol2t" Park
Vancouver Titans
Founded in September of 2018, the Vancouver Titans are very much a new team in the crucible of chaos that is the OWL.
Well, not new. They are formed up of the Runaway roster from the Korean Contenders 2018 Championship, an event that this roster won.
Like SF Shock above, Vancouver Titans hold a historic world record of their own. As of the end of 2019, they maintain the record for the longest regular-season match streak win. They won a massive 19 matches in a row, they won Stage one playoffs, and came up just short to the aforementioned SF Shock in the battle for the 2019 Season trophy.
Their record-holding roster is made up of:
- Minsoo "SeoMinSoo" Seo
- Chunghui "Stitch" Lee
- Hyeonwoo "JJANU" Choi
- Juseok "Twilight" Lee
- Chanhyung "Fissure" Baek
- Jehon "ryujehong" Ryu
There are many more world-title contenders in the OWL, but these three exemplify and represent, the best of the best, and display what it takes and means to be a champion.