It was a dark and stormy evening. The wind was blowing hard enough for the snowflakes to be falling upward and the bus was so crowded I could smell what the elegantly-dressed lady next to me had had for dinner. I was already annoyed at getting held up at work, before getting jammed in traffic. Now that I was stuck and had to text my date “I'll be late.” I was absently tapping my foot, filled with regret about getting an apartment in the students' area of the city, rather than downtown.

This is when I heard someone behind me whisper with a weird English accent in my ear “I know what troubles you.” As I was about to turn around accidentally burying my elbow in him, I stated that “What troubles me are assholes who can't mind their own business.” He continued, “Don't turn around. They shouldn't see us talking. RadoN.”. The last part startled me as I had told no one about my secret identity. I had no option but to listen so I murmured with the side of my mouth, “I'm listening.”.

“Others have noticed it too, but, just like you, they don't know what to do,”  he continued and as I was about to ignore his warning and turn around asking what in the world he is jabbering about, the anonymous man finally got to the point. “All those top Korean players left out of the Overwatch League... what an absolute waste of talent. It's like those owners haven't even talked to MonteCristo, before building their team.”

“The number of organizations in the League just isn't high enough, and the owners thinking Korean players are faceless robots and don't have emotions isn't helping,” I interrupted him in a slightly annoyed manner. As the streetlight flashed green and the bus started moving once again, the English accent continued, “But I have the solution—and you, RadoN, have a part to play, along with seven others. You need to come up with a team of non-OWL players who could win the whole thing. Explain your reasoning for the choices and from there on I'll work my magic.” As the driver slammed the breaks without a warning, everyone standing shuffled their feet to avoid losing balance or simply tilted and bumped into the person next to them since the bus was so crowded no one could fall on the ground. The doors opened and the street noise flooded the vehicle and I heard that same accent distancing itself, not murmuring anymore, say “When you're done, you'll know what to do.” I turned around, but all I saw was the crowd leaving the bus and the faces of others, eager to get in. I suspected a guy with hoodie and an enormous bang to be the 'English accent', but I couldn't be sure that's him.

Even though I wouldn't miss a date and a good night of sleep, even if the fate of Korean Overwatch depended on it, in the morning I called my boss with a fake cough and told him that I've caught a nasty flu so he shouldn't expect me. About sixteen hours, two Dominos calls and an unrecorded amount of piss breaks later, I was finished with my list, but I still had no idea what to do with it. I took a nap hoping for the providence to enlighten me of what the guy meant by “I'll know what to do”, but I still had no clue when I woke up. I decided the best way to deal with it is to send it to the only person that would know what to do with it, my editor ... And here we are.

While the above story may or may not be true, a gentleman with English accent did indeed contact me to put together a team of non-OWL players who could compete in the league. He did not demand it to be a Korean squad, but being the avid Korean fellatio enthusiast that I am … The team -- along with seven others, imagined by Harsha, Pasch, Yiska, Barroi, Volamel and Elbion -- will participate in a fantasy tournament, named the OWL Pellets, which you can read more about by clicking here. Below is the team I came up with.

STARTERS

The focal point: Recry

A team's focal point(s) will receive the largest portion of team's resources, which said player(s) utilize to boost their effectiveness when it comes to dealing damage and creating opportunities (plays) for the team.

Recry is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the most talented players in the Overwatch scene right now. He may lack the in-game IQ of someone like birdring, but he can make up for it and have just as much of an impact on the game utilizing his mechanical prowess. Due to the state of the metagame and being paired with ArHaN, lately, he's been pigeonholed into being a Soldier 76 main. However, prior to that we've seen him deliver devastating performances on multiple other characters, even if that was some time ago at this point. It is hard to say how much of that was of his own volition and how much is on TaiRong's decisions as a coach to play around the Genji specialist rather than Recry, but it definitely won't be the case on the “Gangnam Magpies”.

On this squad, he would be the main star, allowed to pick whatever meta-relevant character he can excel on and receive all the resources and freedom he needs to carry as hard as he can. His role in the team would be much more reminiscent of what AF Blue did throughout APEX S1, with ArHaN being the co-stars in compositions based around projectile DPS characters, rather than the last few seasons. Still, being the clear number one option, rather than a part of a duo, will certainly put more burden on him than he's ever had to bear, but the author believes his talents are more than enough for the job.

Notable characters for Recry: McCree, Reaper, Soldier 76, Pharah, Hanzo

Related: Recry, the Korean boogeyman

Core players: Lucid and Kris

The core players affect the style—or as Koreans call it, the color—of the team to a significant degree. And while they are far from pure roleplayers and will bear the responsibility of carrying more than their own weight, they will not be the go-to receiver of the lion's share of resources and attention, who is Hoon in this case. Instead, their task is to provide stable performances, creating space for the squad's primary carry or carries.

Since his debut in APEX, Lucid has been one the best flex-support players and playmakers in the world. He's never quite been able to match the elites. Fans have seen him consistently perform at the level just below them each season of APEX, regardless of the overall quality of his own teams. And while flexing on DPS characters has produced questionable results, which is likely one of the reasons he didn't get picked up by an OWL team, Lucid has been great on traditional support heroes. Next to his consistency, the other best quality about his play is the clutch factor he brings to all of his teams. In late game situations, with the clock getting close to zero and the pressure building up, Lucid has showed a propensity to perform at an even higher level than usual.

Similarly to Lucid, Kris has also been one of the top individual players and playmakers within his position for several seasons now. He's lacked the same degree of consistency, but that can easily be attributed to Lucio's dependency upon teammates for his own individual performances. He may lack the leadership and shotcalling most Lucios tend to offer, but he compensates for it with his ability to score kills and initiate highlight-worthy plays.

Notable characters for Lucid: Ana, Zenyatta, Mercy Notable characters for Kris:  Lucio, Zenyatta

Roleplayers: Panker & NoSmite, Sayaplayer and Void

These players fill a supportive role, regardless of their positions. Even though heroes have somewhat defined roles within tactics, those are by no means final and different individuals' talents allow them to utilize characters’ strengths and abilities in different manners. The roleplayers tend to utilize theirs to provide support to their teammates, rather than straight-up take destroying the enemy.

The main tank position was the one which got hit the hardest by the migration to OWL. While the other positions still feature several of the top Korean players, this one is completely depleted. Excluding RunAway due to the OWL Pellets rule, the main tank position has been almost completely depleted in Korea. All the proven names, as well as a number of bright prospects, are already on an OWL team. As such, my first pick for the position is a player who hasn't played lately, but used to be hailed as one of the best in the region in APEX's inaugural season. However, rather than praying for him to return to his shortlived form of devastating playmaker, I'm going to utilize him for his more defensive nature. One of his prime strengths as a player was that he rarely made mistakes that would cost his teams the fight. This would be a good fit to the already aggressive and prone to playmaking players listed above.

However, as his wasn't as effective past APEX S1 and we haven't seen him since APEX S3, the team will have NoSmite waiting on the bench and ready to go, should Panker fail to fit or adapt. The X6 tank is no stranger to being one of the driving forces behind a team's success and, even though the sample size is somewhat limited, he was also one of the best statistical performers on Winston throughout APEX S2, as per Winston's Lab. Fitting into a more supportive role might be an issue, but if that fails, the squad should be able to make enough space for him as the second option. Sayaplayer and Void may have skill sets for them to be the main stars of some teams, but in the past, they've done great job at being supportive roleplayers.

Notable characters for Panker: Reinhardt, Winston Notable characters for NoSmite: Winston, Doomfist, Reinhardt

The rest of the more supportive roles will feature Sayaplayer and Void. The Meta Athena player will come over due to his versatility so he can pick whatever hitscan character the squad needs next to Recry in the damage dealer positions. Even though he's considerably more skilled and versatile, he'll be this squad's EscA when it comes to the resources at his disposal. If need be, or he's just on fire, his skill set would allow him to step up and take over the game as the primary carry from what should otherwise be a more supportive and less demanding role in terms of output, something EscA was rarely, if ever able to do.

Similarly, Void will be joining the team to fill a more defensive niche and all the flashy multi-kill plays will be a surplus to requirement, rather than something the team needs for the win. And if the metagame demands it -- as it seems to for the moment -- his past play and skill set have indicated that he is capable to take up on a more demanding role within the team's setups. With a chip on his shoulder for getting left out of London Spitfire, he'll likely be looking to play better than ever and prove his former team made the wrong decision.

Notable characters for Sayaplayer: Tracer, Soldier 76, Widowmaker, McCree Notable characters for Void: D.Va

BENCH AND COACHING

Off the bench, “Gangnam Magipes” will be primarily looking to get firepower support from specialist who can step in during a particular metagame or patch shift.

Substitute players: ArHaN, Decay, Twilight, Hoon, DNCE.

My criticism toward ArHaN's play is just as well documented as my admiration for Recry's talents. However, the Genji-specialist with a hard-carry mindset few others have shown is still one of the most skilled Korean players on the hero. For that alone, he will be a valuable substitute player, but with the latest D.Va changes he could finally embrace the hero and start playing it. While the sample size is limited, his time on the pink mech in the past has been quite impressive, relative to the level at the time.

Related: Time for ArHaN to step up or step down

Decay's Tracer has been one of the bright spots in Uncia's gameplay since birdring's leave, and Winston's Lab stats agree with this as he's one of the highest ranked players on the hero. It's hard to tell how much of that is as a result of KongDoo leaving the team in a terrible spot and focusing on Panthera, and to what degree is it just his talent shining out of the black hole that his team was, but it's enough for the author to pick him up as a bench player and have him tested at the higher level.

Twilight has been one of the better supports in the Korean scene, but the reason he'll be recruited to the team is his Sombra play on CONBOX. As a traditional support player he brings a more supportive style than Rascal's play on the hero, but very much effective. As one of the best players on the hacker at the time, Twilight was one of the main reasons for the squad reaching their first APEX Ro8 during the tournament's third season.

Hoon will be the final one-trick type of player whose talents the squad will be utilizing. His play on Zarya is as much of a hard-carry performances as anyone has delivered in the Overwatch professional scene. As the primary force behind Meta Athena's 20 Bo5s winning streak, he's already shown that he can be a valuable asset if the metagame allows him to pick his hero. Unfortunately, as he's painfully mediocre on other characters, situational substitute is best suited for him.

Related: Theorizing the ultimate Hoon team

In complete opposition to the rest the team's bench, the last pick is DNCE. Throughout his time with KongDoo he's been a top performer in three different positions. APEX S1 and S2 showcased him as a hitscan dealer and for a brief time some excellent performances as a D.Va player. Since then he's been one of the better flex-support players. Similarly to Lucid, he is one of the players who are easy to tag as 'clutch' due to the number of late game occasions on which he's stepped up for his team. Unlike the other four bench players, he's also shown a more supportive and team-orientated playstyle. Should one of the players on the team fail to fulfill his role or fit the system properly, DNCE will be ready to step in.

Coaches: Gambler and Bubbly

The best known and most successful Korean coaches have already found job within the League, but in “Gangnam Magpies” I'm going to use the utilize Gambler and Bubbly as coaches. The two don't have much experience at the position, but they've been the primary shotcallers for two of the smartest Korean teams. Even though Uncia has been barely relevant since APEX S2 and LW Blue failed to pick up another trophy—or reach a final for that matter—since IEM Gyeonggi, both teams have showcased the ability to adapt on the fly with, respectively, Gambler and Bubbly at the helm.

The Korean respect for structure and hierarchy, combined with Gambler's success and Bubbly's limited experience at the position will hopefully provide them with enough of an authority until they prove themselves with their work. The two coaches with the amount of talent on the roster will hopefully be able to make a strong starting lineup and figure out a working strategy, even if the author didn't end up doing too good of a job as the team's GM.

STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES AND EXPECTATIONS

As evident by the individuals' playstyle, excluding Recry, the squad I have assembled could be viewed as a mini Lunatic-Hai and overall is comparable to Seoul Dynasty. The followed model is similar to the one Korea's golden boys showcased during APEX S1 & S2. While some of the firepower from the supportive elements is lacking, the team has a more skilled focal point in Recry. If he is able to perform at a high enough level, and the metagame fits him, the “Gangnam Magpies” could possibly outperform Dynasty or any other OWL team. However, if the patch favors set of characters which he's unable to carry on, the squad will likely lack the firepower to match the elite OWL teams. That is of course, if they are able to develop the teamplay to get there first. While the lineup features enough supportive style of players for the natural playstyle to occur on its own, one can never bet on chemistry between six players working out.

One of the other main qualities I've bet on is experience among the players. Everyone has played for at least two seasons of APEX and gotten to face some of the best teams in the world. This, in addition to the coaches, should be able to make up to a degree for the lack of a proven shotcaller. Kris, Lucid, Sayaplayer and perhaps even the main tank player could all take the reigns, but none of those has recorded good results doing it or been able to learn from someone who has first-hand.

Another noticeable theme in the roster is the versatility among starters, as the only player who is unproven on more than one character is Void and even then D.Va has been viable within the metagame for the better part of a year with no signs of going away. It is often said that one of the few guaranteed things in life is that one's circumstances are bound to change. This is particularly true with Overwatch as Blizzard has been far from shy about forcing the metagame in a direction they deem better for the game's health. As such—while on a particular patch versatility may not be a direct contributor to one's success—long-term, versatility and the ability to shift playstyles is particularly important to players' and teams' ability to stay relevant competitors.

“Gangnam Magpies” features a core of versatile players, who will be ready for those changes, backed by strong and relatively one-dimensional players to provide off the bench firepower when the metagame fits them.

Overview:

Supports: Kris, Lucid, Twilight*, DNCE* Tanks: Panker, NoTime*, Void, Hoon Dealers: Sayaplayer, Recry, Decay, ArHaN*

* indicates a player who's able to play multiple positions

Photo credits: OGN, Blizzard, Animalia Life

About the author: Hello readers, I go by the ID RadoN! I’ve been following different games within the esports industry ever since finding out about it in 2009. The titles that I follow closely for the time being are Overwatch, CS:GO and Quake, while occasionally dabbling in some other games as well. If you wish to reach out, follow future content, or simply know more about my thoughts on esports and gaming, you can find me on Twitter at @RadoNonfire.