Volamel
2017-05-31 09:46:32
Street Fighter 4 had Evolution 2014 Champion, Luffy, to write the book on his character of choice, Rose. Bisu, BoxeR, and Savior were all revolutionists in their respective races in Starcraft: Brood War. Competitors in esports will always look to explore and push the limits of their craft, no matter what the game.
The players on the cutting room floor hold some of the best narratives in esports. They are the ones that pride themselves in a perfection of a certain aspect of their play. Whether it be a strategy or a certain champion they use. Time and time again, these stories that encompass these players are incredible.
Even within Overwatch’s short time frame of roughly one year, we’ve already seen a steady growth at the beginning of some amazing stories of players who defy the odds and expectations and make an impact on the history of the game. They are the “founding fathers” in a way, of what the future of Overwatch could look like.
Coming from Tribes: Ascend and Shootmania it only made sense that Talespin was undisputedly the best Phrarah, at the time. Since his sudden departure from long-time team, Team EnVyUs, Talespin has many more contenders to deal with these days. His air superiority was literally unmatched in a way that was quite impressive. So, much so that in an interview with OGN Plus, Fl0w3r from LuxuryWatch Blue has even cited it as an influence on his own play.
Talespin was a part of EnVyUs’s storied run from the early beta up until his departure from EnVyUs in APEX Season 1. Talespin was the author of the modern day Pharah manifesto. He was a leading force into what we see today with some of the modern Pharah. He was one of the earliest definitions of personal prowess breaking the mold of the more dominant metagame.
The way flew around each map was also interesting. The creative use of Pharah’s Concussion Blast to help him not only traverse the map but also to help reposition himself. Talespin did start to really toy with the idea of a “low-hanging” Pharah played on the idea that the closer you are to the target, the easier it is to hit. Not to say that he somehow invented the ideas, but more so he helped pioneer them.
Talespin was unparalleled in the sky. The way he used the terrain to cover himself and his Mercy player, was key in his success. Some of the students that have followed Talespin’s footsteps include Mangachu from the Detroit Renegades and Fl0w3r from LuxuryWatch Blue. Mangachu’s Pharah is definitely influenced by some of the pathing that Talespin took early on in his Overwatch career. In a brief chat I had with Mangachu he mentions this as fact; “Oh yeah, [he had a] crazy amount of influence [on me]. During the closed beta he was pretty much the only stream I watched when he actually streamed. I would watch his POV whenever I could and was always excited to scrim against him.”
As the top Pharah at the time, it only makes sense that Mangachu took inspiration from the best. As for Fl0w3r, in his interview with OGN Plus he talks about learning to respect Pharah a lot more from watching Talespin play and how he incorporated the hero into his own play. Fl0w3r elaborates by saying; “I have to mention Talespin who is also my favorite player. Talespin actually inspired me to play Pharah more mainly. His Pharah was the pioneer of its kind no matter what the meta was. I saw Talespin's Pharah shutting down our Pine's Widowmaker constantly. That's when I felt Pharah is pretty viable when you are good.
Miro is the person who took Winston and explored some of his key mechanics. He is someone who innovated the way Winston players use the map and the certain specific ledges to their advantage. He pushed the limit of how people think about the verticality of Winston.
Again, even in a metagame where Reinhardt was the staple anchor tank, Miro and his team Lunatic-Hai tried to incorporate his skill on Winston into their style. Lunatic-Hai had to forge their style around what players they had. When you have a mechanical phenom on your team like Miro, it makes sense to structure the team with that in mind.
Miro did innovate how and where we expect Winston to be placed, but he also pushed his mechanics on the hero to the limits. Having precise detail on exactly how far his jump would take him and be able to chase down kills that no one else would be able too. Most notably leaping off the map on Ilios to kill a flightless Mercy with his ultimate, than being able to leap back onto the map as the cooldown resets.
Miro almost takes the style of a Genji player and applies it to his Winston play. It always seems like he can attack from above or even from behind you, his aggression with what was considered a more team oriented tank pick, at the time, is innovation itself. Someone who took Miro’s teaching even further is janus from LuxuryWatch Blue. He showcased some of the first aspects of cleverly using the map to his advantage. interesting Winston “hover points” which allows him to hover above a certain slope of the map’s terrain without losing his Leap damage.
Another overlooked student to Miro’s Winston was Butcher. Back in Season 1 of OGN’s APEX League, Butcher was one of the only other Winston players’s that I recall that started to catch on to some of the early positional changes that Miro started to introduce. In a more modern vein, Mano from Afreeca Freecs Blue has been touted as one of the better Winston players in Season 3. Miro will undoubtedly will have a lasting effect on the Overwatch landscape. His creative positioning will stand the test of time and will continue to be pushed farther by his fellow Winston enthusiasts.
Libero of Meta Athena could be the largest supplier of creative Overwatch innovation. They both have shown a creative take on Mei, abusing some of Blizzard’s map design and physics. More importantly, Libero becomes an early prodrome of Sombra and possibly even an Hanzo. With the prominence of Sombra on Control, Assault, and even the first capture points on certain Hybrid maps he could be credited as one of the first players to show her strength. He is not only the brains behind some of Meta Athena’s craziest flanking routes and subverts, but Libero is also a key proponent of why Meta Athena went on such a historic run in APEX Season 2.
In a now lost interview with GosuShop, Libero credits himself with the Mei boost on Dorado; “Sometimes when we are studying and analyzing maps, one of the players comes up with a new tactic. I came up with the Mei Ice Wall tactic in Dorado.”
With Hanzo, he was a large factor in Meta Athena’s “double sniper” composition attacking the first point on King’s Row. He has also found a use for Hanzo’s bow during the last point on Dorado. Libero arrived early to the party for Hanzo, at least in Korea, and choice to use him in a different light than what the West was using him as. Libero was more focused on the “pick potential” of Hanzo. With the new changes to Hanzo in the newest Overwatch patch, we could definitely see a return to grace for Libero and his Hanzo pocket-pick.
Not only did he shine a light on Hanzo, but he was one of the earliest users of the Sombra pick on the attack. Most notably on Hanamura’s first point, where he abused the verticality and flat land of the choke point that many people hold the break the defense wide open. This undoubtedly played a role in spawning the trending Sombra play that we currently see.
One of the students’s to Libero as a teach would be someone like Twilight from CONBOX Spirit who took Sombra early on in Season 2 and tried to use her on certain Control maps. This continued through CONBOX Spirit’s relegation run where Twilight started to rely heavily on the shutdown potential that Sombra brought to the table.
These are your tactical and strategical leaders at the forefront of Overwatch today. These are also the players who will continue to pressure the metagame and challenge it at every turn. Not only will Overwatch continue to grow, but that growth will, in turn, allow more bright minds to take the tools that Blizzard gives them and innovate the game. The next generation of influencers could even herald a completely different outlook on the way we play within each map. The more Overwatch is played at the highest level the more people are going to use the entire map to their advantage and leverage certain aspects that people may have overlooked in the past.
What ever may come in the future for Overwatch, embrace the ideas of the people who dare to take a more creative outlook on the game. Poor execution does not take away from the core concept of a tactic or strategy. Some players to keep your key on in the coming months would be someone like OneFact from MVP Space. He has shown a strange affinity for Bastion that almost is reminiscent of Soldier 76. He plays the high ground well and could be on the cutting edge for Bastion. It will certainly be interesting to see where heroes like Reaper and McCree fit back into the grand scheme of things with all of the PTR changes coming in the future. Once more experimentation happens with them, we can be sure to see them rise in relevance in the coming months.
The former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs had a touching quote that sums up most of Overwatch’s innovators; "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." These are your leaders, these are the players who’ve pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible. With such a diverse game, the possibilities of innovation and growth are almost endless.
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 and OGN.