Volamel
2023-10-28 07:01:00
The Overwatch World Cup has always felt like a great opportunity to learn about new stories in competitive Overwatch. So, Nyohl, could you share with us your story? From War Pigs to being nominated for a domestic award, what was your road like to compete in the Overwatch World Cup?
My road to competing in the Overwatch World Cup is sort of complicated, I started playing Overwatch when I was 12 years old (2018), and one year later I joined the South America Open Division. Playing as DPS, we managed to get into Contenders South America, where I played for UP Gaming, that’s when we finished 4th place in the Overwatch Contenders 2019.
1 year later, in 2020, we disbanded and I started playing in a team with friends, and even though we didn’t have good results, it was really fun playing with them.
I had to transition to the support role in that team because we didn’t have many support players in the South American scene at the time.
And War Pigs at the time was looking for a new support player, because Evil, their previous support player for them, wanted to stop playing Overwatch to pursue a Career in the VALORANT competitive scene.
That’s where I joined the team and we placed 2nd place in the Overwatch Contenders South America Season 1 (2020).
In Overwatch Contenders South America Season 2 (2020) we had some problems at the start since one of our DPS stopped playing Overwatch, and our other support joined another team, but luckily Ludwig was looking for a team at the time, and we also got Evil to play Overwatch again.
The Overwatch Contenders Season 2 (2020) was a pretty decent season for us, since we improved a lot during the months that we played together, and we were really confident to win the tournament, but unfortunately, I had some internet issues in the playoffs, and because of that we got eliminated by And They Say (Xfel, Svenko and TheSeriusGui team)
When we got eliminated I remember that at the time, I was really sad since we were playing very well in scrims and had a good NA Contenders coach, but luckily they announced Overwatch Contenders Gauntlet SA, so we were looking forward to that tournament.
Even though we got eliminated, I got some spotlight and was nominated for the 2020 Brazil Esport Award (Prêmio eSports Brasil), I was really happy at the time, because I had to start grinding a new role in a new team and in just 3 months I got recognized for my skills, and that made me really happy.
In the Overwatch Contenders Gauntlet SA we won against every team in the tournament, with a score of 4-2.
The Grand Finals of that tournament holds a special place in my heart since we were playing against people who weren’t exactly from SA. They had a lot better scrims, and because of that, everyone from SA was cheering for us.
In the next year (2021), they cancelled the Overwatch Path To Pro in our region, so I just moved with life, played some VALORANT, met some good people there and that was it. But everything changed when Blizzard announced the beta of Overwatch 2 PVP.
I got really excited at the time and started streaming Overwatch daily, until the launch of Overwatch 2, the game was really fun but what we were really hoping for was the tournaments that Blizzard would bring us here in the South America scene, but that didn’t happen, the only thing that they brought was the Overwatch World Cup.
That is a great opportunity of course, and that’s the main reason of why I’m still playing this game, but I was hoping for more.
When they announced how the Overwatch World Cup was going to work, and that we had to play Overwatch World Cup 2023 Brazil Open Trials, we gathered our team together and ended up winning the tournament, with Dalca (Tank) , Ludwig (Flex DPS), Shawnoff (Hitscan DPS) and Pardal (Main Support) as my backline duo.
The Team Brazil tryouts were kinda confusing for me to be honest, we didn’t have to play mirror compositions, we were free to adapt how we felt like and in the end I just accepted it and just went with it.
When Honorato announced that we would represent the Brazil national team, I was really happy. It was a similar feeling to being nominated for the Brazil Esports Award but even better.
Team Brazil and the South American region has always had an incredible fan base, but English coverage has been scarce. For those who are unfamiliar with some of the players on your team, could you describe each of your teammates with one word and why?
Sure, I'll start with my teammates that I played with for 3 years, they are Ludwig and Dalca.
Ludwig I would say that a good word for him is "loyal". He is like a person who really keeps his word and does what he's told to.
Dalca is the most "flexible" I would like to say since he adapts very well on all environments that he's in and is a pretty chill person.
Neil is the veteran of the team, and played for Brazil in the Overwatch World Cup 2017 and 2018. I remember watching him at the time and being toxic like "this guy is feeding", I was platinum at the time, ahahah.
The best word for him is probably "veteran".
Xfel and Svenko I really don't have many thoughts about them, I've only played with them for a few months but I think that the best word that describes Xfel is "persistent", while Svenko word is "flexible", just like Dalca.
TheSeriusGui is the most chill person in the team in my opinion, just like Svenko and Xfel I've only played with him for a few months, so for me the best word for him is "chill".
Word on the street is that the meta for the Overwatch World Cup is going to be a little weird. Are there some strange compositions that you and the guys have been seeing in practice?
To be honest, there are some weird compositions, but in my opinion there is a meta composition that will dominate a lot and will probably be played in all matches of the Overwatch World Cup.
Speaking of, how is Team Brazil preparing? Are you guys doing a boot camp prior to travelling to California? Are you all preparing any special strategies to tackle some of the big names in your group?
We are trying to prepare the best way possible, we discussed doing a boot camp in the north of Brazil in Paraíba, to play with low ping on NA but unfortunately, that didn't work.
I don't want to talk much about special strategies, you will have to watch and see. We may surprise some of you
Speaking of, Group B includes Team Australia, Team Canada and Team United Kingdom. How confident do you and the team feel about your chances of making it out of the group stage?
When they got announced we were really confident since it's the more balanced group in our opinion, we do have the chance of beating everyone, but we know that it will not be easy.
Lastly, this is your debut in the Overwatch World Cup. As a representative of Team Brazil, what does this World Cup mean to you? Is it exciting to be able to play for your country?
It represents everything.
Every night that I played this game until the sun rose, every time I cried because of this game, every time that I would not be with my family or friends.
It's time for me to prove that it was all worth it.
This is going to be my first LAN and I think I'll be quite nervous, but I do know that we as a SA region don't have any obligations of winning it all, and I am focused on getting a good result knowing where we came from, and maybe someday they will bring SA tournaments back.