May 24, 2017 marks Overwatch’s official first birthday. For this one year anniversary, let's flip back the rolodex and curate some of the most exciting games and series throughout the year and list them so that new players and community members have something to fondly look back on.

The two themes this list is based around are in-game impacts and their implications. This past year has had great gameplay, whether it be flashy heroics or intelligent set-ups, been chock-full of impact plays. The flip side to that coin is why the match was important. You never want to ignore the context of a match. What was the metagame? Who was dominant? Was this an upset?

Make sure you are strapped in, because we’re cracking open the vault. Quad-Tanks, pre-”one hero” limit, nothing is being excluded here — and everything is up for grabs. These are ten of the most fantastic games of Overwatch to commemorate its first birthday!

10.) December 2016, MLG Las Vegas — Fnatic vs. FaZe Clan

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FaZe Clan faced off against Fnatic at MLG Las Vegas late last year. The metagame was more focused around triple-tank and even quad-tank with double support. Majority of the Offense heroes that were used at the time was Soldier 76 followed by Tracer. There was a notion that this was what you should play. Genji was definitely not as highly valued as it is now. FaZe looked at the meta and spat in its face. Their star player George "ShaDowBurn" Gushcha defaulted to his ace pick on Genji and showed that in the face of a dominating metagame, if you are so skilled on a pick, you can make anything work. FaZe Clan’s performance on LAN acts as proof that a strong team color can trump what might be or considered an overarching metagame.

9.) January 2017, APEX Season 2 — Meta Athena vs. KongDoo Panthera

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Meta Athena’s story was impressive coming into APEX Season 2. They were riding high from the promotion tournament on a 19-0 match win-streak. This match in particular from APEX Season 2 was really the “coming of age” of Meta Athena. Their tricky plays on Numbani and decimation of Roadhog star EVERMORE of team KongDoo Panthera gave them an intelligent swagger that persists with them still to this day. Not only did Meta Athena upset a very strong KongDoo Panthera, they did so with creativity and a great level of preparation. This 3-0 decisive win cemented their position within the league and jettisoned them into the Semifinals where they played Lunatic-Hai. If you’d like to know more about one of my personal favorite teams, you can check out a piece I wrote about them here.

8.) December 2016, IEM Gyeonggi — LuxuryWatch Red vs. Lunatic-Hai

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December brought us to IEM Gyeonggi with a mixture of some of the best international talent. This match in particular was between two rivals. We have LuxuryWatch Red and Lunatic-Hai. The story here revolves around the LuxuryWatch teams. For this tournament they combined some key factors from their two sister teams to create the best possible roster to face off against Lunatic-Hai. Overall, this roster shake-up paid off in great dividends as the team took on their South Korean rivals, Lunatic-Hai, and ended up taking them down 3-1.

7.) September 2016, Overwatch Open — Misfits vs. Rogue

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If we take a look back in time and we journey to August of last year, we were treated to the Overwatch Open, presented by FACEIT and Eleague. Misfits took on Rogue in the semifinal of the European bracket. The winner would then go on to play on television the next night for the largest part of the $300,000 prize. Misfits were easily the underdogs, having had to search for emergency substitute players, they settled on Ruben "ryb" Ljungdahl and Mikael "Hidan" Da Silva and Misfits came into the tournament untested. Rogue, on the other hand, came just off a huge win at ESL’s Atlantic Showdown and a strong performance earlier in the year at TaKe.tv’s TaKeOver. Not only was the tournament well produced, but the games were also amazing. The series went all five games and ended with Misfits sending Rogue to an early 3-4th place grave.

6.) August 2016, ESL's Atlantic Showdown — Team EnVyUs vs. Rogue

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This was the beginning of Overwatch’s El Classico. Team Envyus was on a rampage, going on an 57-0 win streak. The analysis desk for this particular semifinal of ESL’s Atlantic Showdown did not give good odds to Rogue; they came into this match as the definitive underdogs. The sentiment was that Envyus was fallible, but Rogue would have to have the performance of a lifetime to take down the first “Kings of Overwatch.” And what a performance they had! Again, spanning the entire set, game five on Lijiang Tower is a favorite of mine. Personally, when it comes down to Overwatch, the gameplay accompanied by the casters and the use of the story behind the players is what makes this game great. That map was painted beautifully with memorable moments and clutch plays. Ultimately, Rogue would end up dethroning Envyus and moving on to the grand final.

5.) October 2016, APAC — Rogue vs. Lunatic-Hai

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This was, in every way, a David versus Goliath story. Rogue had a losing record against Lunatic-Hai during the group stages for China’s APAC Premiere. Both teams respectively made it out of group B as the first and second seeds, but they both would go the distance and meet again in the grand final. This time, Rogue showed up with something to prove and plenty of experience under their belt. Rogue, the western hopefuls, took on Seoul’s Golden Boys in Lunatic-Hai and in quite the dominating fashion, beat their South Korean rivals, 4-1 in the best of seven finals.

4.) October 2016, APEX Season 1 — Team EnVyUs vs. Rogue

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We return to Overwatch’s El Classico, Team Envyus vs Rogue. Envyus was left scrambling after the departure of Talespin and were forced to emergency substitute in Mickey as their sixth player. That information being leaked to Rogue beforehand lead them to pick Envyus in the group stage as Rogue’s first opponent. What happened next, no man, analyst, pundit or coach could have expected. In a stunning upset, Envyus won. With little to no practice with the entire team, Team Envyus’s puzzle pieces just fell together to create a mosaic of impressive play. However, this would only be the start of Envyus’s title run in APEX Season 1.

3.) January 2017, APEX Season 2 Grand Finals — Lunatic-Hai vs. RunAway

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Because of how high the peaks of this series was, I want to take Lunatic-Hai and RunAway in both parts: the quarterfinal and the grand final. The story was about “the almost was” and “could have beens.” RunAway could have been relegated and this series would have never taken place. Coming from a team on the brink to a team that graced South Korea’s Tiger Dome in the Grand Final of APEX Season 2. This led to their reverse upset at the Tiger Dome, where they failed to finish their food and allowed Lunatic-Hai to comeback. Being up 2-0 in a best of five, RunAway could have been champions. Lunatic-Hai, on the other hand, “almost were” the perennial second place team, but with resilience and a new found fortitude they were able to outlast RunAway in what almost was the upset of the year. RyuJeHong finally led his hand-picked roster to a well deserved first place finish.

2.) January 2017, APEX Season 2 — KongDoo Panthera vs. LuxuryWatch Blue

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Putting this match at number two was difficult. The sheer entertainment value of this alone could top someone’s “best of” list; what falls short about KongDoo Panthera versus LuxuryWatch Blue during APEX Season 2 was what happened after. Neither one of the teams really performed after that. That being said, this match was an absolute war. Going to the decider game five, KongDoo performed the unthinkable and managed to reverse sweep a dominant LuxuryWatch roster.

Even with an extremely good performance out of star carries Fl0w3r and Saebyeolbe, the entire LuxuryWatch roster looked gassed. EVERMORE of KongDoo Panthera would not be ignored, playing up to his moniker of the first player to ever reach 5K SR. That and with the dwindling momentum shift from game two onwards spelt disaster for the fan favorites. This series featured 3 star carries having the performance of their lives, 2 Genji reflected ultimates and a final fight that will leave you exhausted.

1.) October 2016, APEX Season 1 Team — EnVyUs vs. KongDoo Uncia

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"Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life" is a quote by Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde. This quote resonates within Team Envyus miraculous run through Season 1 of OGN’s Overwatch APEX League. After emergency roster swaps, after defeating Rogue in the upset of the year, Envyus took on KongDoo Uncia. The winner would then go on to face a weak and meager Afreeca Freecs Blue in the Grand Final. This semi-final match was the grand final we all wanted. A strong and stout KongDoo Uncia versus the cinderella storied underdogs of Team Envyus.

All lights were green for Envyus; everyone played their role extremely well and it showed with how well coordinated everything seemed to flow. The D.va Bombs, the Earthshatters — this game had it all. Yes, it did go the distance and that is a testament to KongDoo Uncia’s strength as a team, but it was as if Envyus was fated to win from the very beginning.

They would beat KongDoo Uncia, and then proceed to trounce over Afreeca Freecs Blue in the final, becoming the first foreign team to travel to Korea and win a major event. The well-oiled machine that was APEX S1 Envyus coupled with the narrative that surrounded them at the time, is what clocks this match in particular in at number one.

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, Abraham Engelmark, and OGN.