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I’ve been watching the new season of Overwatch Contenders and each week there’s something that seems clear.
The teams are split into two sections, with Group A teams playing on Mondays and Group B teams facing off on Tuesday. The groups each have a different feel to them, with Monday matches often ending quickly with predictable results and Tuesday having slightly closer and often much longer matches.
There’s a stark difference between the play of each team and there are a few reasons for this.
Let’s just say you’re probably quite unlucky if your team has been put into Group A. You’re facing off against Sydney Drop Bears, who are dominating the ladder with 16 map wins and no losses. Watching them play makes you feel bad for whoever they’re up against, which is surprising because, even though they won the first season reasonably decisively, it wasn’t a complete landslide.
Part of the reason are changes to the team, including the addition of New Zealand’s Colourhex (Kelsey Birse) on DPS. He comes from B group team Masterminds, who did very well last season, picking up second place and having the highest seed, but who lost players in the break.
Watching him and the rest of his team play is like watching a higher tier of play compared to the other contenders, and it’s no surprise that the Bin Chickens pulled out rather than face them.
The Bin Chickens happen to be the lowest seed in Group A, having no wins. They’re the Contenders version of the Shanghai Dragons for fans of the Overwatch League. It seems particularly unfair that they would have to be in the same group as the Drop Bears, because the Bin Chickens are a brand-new team just trying their best.
The line-up was started by Zenasis (Shahill Krishnan) back in March this year, and while many of the players are no stranger to Overwatch, they’re not competition veterans like members of some of the other teams. Still, with experience, they can only get better.
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Legacy and Blank Blue are the two second-highest teams in Group A, the latter having already been handed a 4-0 defeat by the Drop Bears this season.
Legacy are yet to face off against the top team, with that match coming up this Monday, and while I’m not sure they can win it, they’re in the best position to break Sydney’s streak. Former Masterminds player Tails (Mitchell Burnett) joined Legacy this season and his impressive Hanzo has been a huge help to the team in this meta. CaramelKoala (Samuel Wood) is equally impressive at dishing out damage (and making me hungry) and the support duo of Strawbella (Isabella Chan) and Dench (Daniel Neukom) keep the team in good health for their matches.
As the only team in Group A left to try and take down the Drop Bears, Legacy have a lot riding on this next match. Getting the win will obviously help their map differential, but it would be a huge boost to morale to stick it to the highest seed between both groups. If they can’t do it, then it’s up to Group B to try to be the first to draw blood on these suped-up koalas, and it’s really hard to say if it’s going to be possible with how good the Drop Bears are looking.
When you look at Group B, there’s a good reason Tuesday’s matches usually take a bit longer. The teams have a lot more give and take and are generally closer in skill levels – no team has gone totally undefeated in this second group.
The current top of the B ladder, Kanga, have lost only four maps and have won all of their overall games thanks in part to another kiwi, Roro (Roawn Goldsmith) on DPS. They’re only a few steps ahead of Darksided, another top team, and the rest of the pack isn’t that far behind either compared to Group A’s differentials.
What this means is that worlds will collide when the groups converge for the top teams and the Sydney Drop Bears may finally find a challenge. Conversely, these other teams who had been facing off against relatively similar skill levels may find themselves unable to handle Sydney’s seemingly higher level plays.