With the start of the Overwatch League slowly inching closer, learning more about the potential pro players is incredibly important. After a surprising start to Overwatch Contenders Season 1, Esports Heaven sat down with EnVision Esports’ rising DPS player, Caleb "McGravy" McGarvey, to discuss the success of Overwatch League, their shocking win over Rogue, and much more.

Ello McGravy, how are things today? Scrims going well I hope?

Things are going well, thanks for asking. Quite the contrary actually, scrims have been pretty rough results wise, but in terms of learning and progress in the team, things are going great.

Jumping straight into things, statistically speaking, you had a solid performances in your win over Rogue. What was your mindset approaching a team with such pedigree? Did you feel like you were playing up to your potential that game?

The mindset was definitely pretty open minded and focused on just playing the best game we possibly could. We know Rogues dominance in the west, so win or lose as long as we showed a good performance I would of been happy. Personally I had a pretty good game, but I don’t look too much into the good things and try and focus on the bad things and continue to get better from there.

Let’s jump into the Rogue upset for a moment. For anyone who doesn’t know, EnVision took down Rogue during the NA portion of Overwatch Contenders Season 1. Taking down Rogue was obviously not an easy task, what was your biggest hurdle in dealing with Rogue? When did you know you had the series locked in with the win?

The biggest hurdle was definitely dealing with SoOn. Every good play I made, he did his best to one up me. Even though Rogue lost, SoOn had a really good performance and he definitely gave me troubles during some parts of the series. I never really thought we had the match locked down until the last minute or so of Gibraltar. Rogue’s a team you can’t ever count out until the game truly ends.

What was going through your mind when they took you guys to WatchPoint: Gibraltar? Were you personally worried at all?

Yeah, Gibraltar is historically one of the best maps for Rogue and their triple DPS comp in general, so heading into the map was definitely scary, but we knew that if we continued to play the way we had the rest of the series, we had a really good chance at winning.

(xQc and McGravey, photo credit: @McGravyOW)

Now, Envision did fail to qualify for Season 1, but you all managed to squeak in and took Team Liquid’s spot as they dropped out. Has this second chance changed anything for you? Are you personally coming at Contenders Season 1 with everything you’ve got?

Yeah, getting the second chance means everything and it has been fueling our motivation. We worked so hard and we just barely missed qualifying the first time and that bad taste is still in our mouths so we feel like we are out here to prove something.

In a brief interview with Seagull, principal game designer Scott Mercer spoke about some interesting topics. One of which was Mercy and how internally they are testing some changes to her and her kit. What are your thoughts on this and what would you like to see change about Mercy?

Personally I feel like the passive healing she gets one second after not taking damage is a little too strong and her Resurrection could use a little tweaking. I think my biggest gripe with Mercy is in comp and how the 1 tricks are rewarded, no player who plays 1 character and has a below 50% win ratio should be top 500.

LG Evil’s Avast made an interesting video on the overall map design Blizzard has gone with so far in Overwatch. What are you takes not only on the video, but more importantly the design of the maps in question?

I think Avast brings good points, but I think the reason Blizzard made maps the way they did is because they want Overwatch to be entirely unique. You could copy map designs from TF2 or CS:GO but they aren't going to fit the character cast of Overwatch, so I think they tried tailoring the maps to the style of Overwatch as best as they could. Are the maps perfect? Of course not. I’d be interested in a map designer where people could make changes to the maps and see how they play. Something like that could be really healthy for the game.

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Is there something about any of the maps in general that you might change? Any design ideas for a map that’d you like to see Blizzard try?

I’d change the spawns ever so slightly on problematic stall maps (2CP, Eichenwalde last point, etc.). But other then that, I don’t have too many complaints on the maps, as long as they continue to take the pros’ criticisms and ideas.

What are your thoughts on the overall idea of Overwatch Contenders acting as a developmental league? Do you think it could become sustainable? Do you think it would be healthy to have a serious and healthy ecosystem controlled by Blizzard in the Contenders scene or would you rather wait and see exactly how the Overwatch League goes and see if that trickles down to the developmental leagues?

I think it is paramount to have a sustainable Contenders league already in place by the time Overwatch League takes off. Not every pro is going to make the Overwatch League at the start and there are tons of players who deserve to keep their jobs. But as it stands right now, Blizzard doesn’t seem to care about those players. Basically anybody who doesn’t have the right contacts is going to be left out in the cold because of how exclusive the league is going to be. If Blizzard actually cared and really put time and resources into the Open/Contenders leagues and make it sustainable for orgs to pay salaries, that would definitely be a step in the right direction.

In your opinion, where do you see your the NA ecosystem in terms of strength right now? We’ve seen the World Cup and what that can bring, most notable Flash Wolves’ lackluster performance. Where do you think NA sits in the giant international pot? Is there a region that people might be sleeping on?

I think NA has massive potential to be the powerhouse of Overwatch, but the infrastructure and player base just isn’t there right now. We’ve been scrimming for about a month since our break and we haven’t had a single day of full practice because of cancels or just not enough teams to practice with. There is tons of individual skill out there, players just need the right system in place for them to thrive. Thats sort of the reason the Koreans are always so great at esports; they live and breath it out there.

Recently Inven Global did an in depth interview with Overwatch League Commissioner, Nate Nanzer, and CEO of the Seoul Overwatch League team, Kevin Chou. Could you talk a bit about your views on the Overwatch League as a concept? What is your opinions on the potential amount of travel that “could” come with the Overwatch League? Could this heavily hinder player performance or is this par for the course with professionals?

I think traveling internationally could definitely have an impact on players’ performance and mental health. It all depends on the amount of time they have to travel and then recuperate their sleep. For example, having a player from Boston flying to Seoul is a long way to travel and they will definitely be jet lagged for at least a couple of days. There has to be work arounds or time for players to rest.

In general, what is your stance on any changes on the standard Overwatch tournament format that you’d like to see changed? For example, would you like to see a revamp of the map ban system from Dreamhack way back when or is it fine where it is now?

I feel like I’m in the minority, but I love the new system that we use. It forces teams to be more diverse in their map pools. You can’t just be a Payload team or a King of the Hill team, you have to be able to play everything to win a series.

This question has been floating around the community for some time now and I wanted to get your take on it—what does “success” look like for the Overwatch League? In your eyes, what does the Overwatch League have to bring to the table to become successful?

I think the one big thing the OWL has is that it is truly going to be a global league. It hasn’t really been done before and it’s a big leap to take, and if they do it correctly, it could be the first esport to break into the mainstream in a major way. But there's still tons of flaws with the game itself, so working with the pros and fixing the stuff in game is crucial before they try and launch the game worldwide to millions.

Last but not least, why do you continue to play Overwatch? What about it really has sold you on esports and competition?

I love Overwatch. I’d do anything to do this for the rest of my life. Overwatch has the perfect balance of mechanical skill, teamwork and intensity. I had to work my way from the bottom to the top and there is always something I can be better at. There's always something to strive for.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLG’s of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.