OverAchievers: A Conversation with Team India (Overwatch World Cup, 2019)

Have you heard of the Word-Association Game? It’s a two-player game, where one person says a word, and the other says the first word that comes to mind when they hear that word. For example, I could say sky, and you could say blue; I could say gaming, and you could say PC; I could say India, and you could say…? No matter which word you’re thinking of, I’m pretty sure it isn’t eSports. You must have something like spices, culture or history in mind, because yes, ‘India’ is not a name that usually pops up when one talks about eSports. It is a country mostly known for its deep-rooted history, diversity in cultures, amazing food, and of course, Bollywood, our film industry.

Welcome, everyone. I am Pratyush ‘Proilios’ Panshikar, and if you haven’t guessed already, I’m from India myself, which is why I’m very excited to bring you all this article today.

It’s been 3 long years since the Overwatch World Cup first began, and each new edition has always brought with it a longer list of participating countries. As the years have gone by, more and more nations have been able to breed fresh talent, to help them take a shot against some of the best Overwatch players in their respective countries. This year, Global Esports, an Indian organisation whose teams you may have seen in Contenders, decided to assemble some of the best Overwatch players in India, and send them on a journey to the World Cup at Blizzcon.

When I found out that my country is going to be participating in such a major event in Overwatch, I was curious to know more about our team, so I reached out to them via social media. Things worked out well, and I was able to talk to the players as well as the committee members about their backgrounds in gaming, the professional scene, eSports in India, and the World Cup, so there’s something for everyone to read about in this post.

Even if you don’t play Overwatch or don’t care much for the game, consider sticking around. This article is going to be more about the people than the game, so don’t hesitate to read on even if you’re not an Overwatch player!

Now, let’s start off with the meat of this post, and get to know Team India’s players and management staff:

Players:

1. Vatsal ‘NGHTMRE2k’ Uniyal (Main Tank)

Vatsal Uniyal hails from New Delhi, the Capital of India, and he fell in love with Overwatch before it was even released. He remembers watching footage of its gameplay online, loving its look, and keeping up-to-date with its progression from then on. He was keen on purchasing the title after its release, but since he was just a college student back then, he didn’t have enough money to indulge in the game; so his friend, Nishant, who bought and played the game upon his recommendation, ended up gifting him a copy of it as well. Ecstatic about getting his hands on the title, NGHTMRE2k began to grind the game. Slowly, but eventually, he got so good at it that he quit his job, which was in an advertising agency, to compete professionally in Overwatch. Global Esports gave him an opportunity to prove his worth, and he did, and that led to him not only playing for the org, but also becoming a manager for their CS:GO (Counter Strike: Global Offensive) and DOTA (Defence Of The Ancients) teams.

NGHTMRE2k told me how supportive his family, especially his mother and his brother had been from the very beginning, and recalled how he had received a barrage of phone calls from his relatives when he got selected for the World Cup. I could tell he was smiling even though we were talking on voice call, as he re-lived his cheerful moments of domestic glory. Really, when you’ve got your family backing you, what more do you need?

As a main tank player, it’s no shock that NGHTMRE’s favourite pro players are main tanks too…Bumper, because he loved his play during the Goats Meta, and Fissure, because he is really impactful in-game, are his top picks. I just love the contrast here. On one hand you’ve got Fissure, who’s smart, calculated and deadly; and on the other you’ve got Bumper, who’s gimmicky, hyper-aggressive, and the living embodiment of the term ‘YOLO’. Both are legends in their own right, and they’re also Korean, which is why I was surprised when NGHTMRE mentioned that he would like to play against South Korea at the World Cup. His justification? He wants to see “how Godly a team can be”. If you want to face off against the three-time OWWC Champion, be my guest, NGHTMRE. You’ll have to get far to do so, and I hope you do.

NGHTMRE2k’s Social Media links:

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nghtmre2k
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nghtmre2k
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nghtmre2kow

2. Nishant ‘Archangel’ Chhabra (Off-Tank)

Do you remember reading the name ‘Nishant’ somewhere else recently? Well, it was just a few paragraphs ago. NGHTMRE2k’s friend, Nishant ‘Archangel’ Chhabra, is also on Team India. He’s the one who gifted Overwatch to NGHTMRE in the first place, which led to them both reaching amazing heights in their eSports careers. However, Archangel’s journey with gaming began long ago in his school days, so let me take you back in time a little.

Do you know how this grown-up term called ‘priorities’ plagues every ounce of our decision-making skills whenever we have to make important life choices? Well, for Archangel, that was never a problem. He had his priorities straight when he decided to save his lunch money so that he could spend it to play CS:1.5 (Counter Strike: 1.5) at the gaming café after school. He put in a ton of time to improve his skills, and was able to advance to CS:1.6, and play it on a professional level. He later transitioned to DOTA 2 (Defence Of The Ancients 2) as well and played it professionally until he got his hands on Overwatch, which he claims was “what God wanted”. He got to an extremely high level of play, and assembled a team to compete in LAN tournaments with. Back then, there wasn’t a big professional platform to follow, and no established meta, which is why Archangel and his squad simply played to their strengths. As time went by, the roster was disbanded, and Nishant started playing for other teams. He found it hard to manage his personal life as well as keep up with the competition, but he continued working hard and stayed strong. A few months later, Global Esports took him onto one of their teams, with whom he secured second place at his first Community Cup. Unfortunately, he had to take a break from his new team soon after due to the untimely passing of his father. After taking a few months of personal time, Archangel joined Global Esports’ Team Phoenix. He connected well with his teammates, played in multiple LAN tournaments throughout the country, and even took a shot at Open Division, Overwatch’s Tier-3 professional platform. Simply put, after spending around 15 years in the eSports industry, Archangel has proven himself to be a great player and a solid teammate with unparalleled mental fortitude.

It’s no surprise that he’s not intimidated by any of the other teams in the World Cup. He told me he’s not afraid of losing, and I think that’s a great mindset to have.

Archangel’s Social Media Links:

• Twitch: https://twitch.tv/archangel
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GEArchangel
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archangelow1/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GEArchangel

3. Girish ‘DJDestiny’ Das (Off-Tank)

From the southern Indian city of Chennai comes Team India’s second off-tank player, DJDestiny. At a very young age of 19, Girish Das is an IT engineering student, and has currently taken a break from his studies to participate in the World Cup. He has been playing Overwatch since its beta phase, but in its early days, he did so on console. He was just a regular player who dreamt of playing eSports professionally, and got the chance to pursue his dreams when the NVIDIA GeForce Cup was announced in India. Excited at the opportunity to compete, DJDestiny took up the challenge of transitioning from console to PC, which was not easy to say the least. He said that his aim was terrible and that he couldn’t do anything in the beginning, but I’d say he landed on his feet; wouldn’t you? Back then, Girish was not confident in his abilities, but one of his former teammates, Judged, saw a ton of potential in him and got him into a private team so that he could compete to his heart’s content. So Judged, thanks a lot for gifting India such a talented off-tank player! If it weren’t for you, DJDestiny wouldn’t have tried out for the World Cup and cruised through the selection process.

DJ’s family, especially his father, whom he had told about his passion for eSports early on, were really happy and proud when he got onto the team. At this point I think it’s important to address the fact that not everyone receives the kind of support our players have from their loved ones. If you’re one of those people, don’t lose hope. DJDestiny believes you can convince your kin that your goals are achievable by working hard and getting results. Every small win will contribute to your cause, so stay strong, and keep grinding!

Coming to the World Cup, DJ has his sights set on a very specific team. He’s extremely keen on playing against Thailand, since their off-tank player, Mickie, has always been a great inspiration to him. Everyone knows how positive and motivating Mickie is, and DJDestiny tries to be like him and keep his team’s morale up as much as possible. I’ll be rooting for you in that matchup, Girish!

DJDestiny’s Social Media Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_girish_das_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girish.das.75

4. Aman ‘Cruzi’ Vivek (Hitscan DPS)

From the southwestern port city of Kochi, Kerala, we’ve got Cruzi, Team India’s Hitscan DPS player. Aman Vivek has been gaming for a long time. He was 3 years old, in fact, when he played his first video game; a popular side-scroller called ‘Dave’. He continued playing games as the years went by, and that’s maybe why he developed an interest in graphic design, which he started learning after passing his 12th grade exams. Parallel to this, Cruzi had also started playing Overwatch, and really wanted to compete at a LAN tournament once he got to a high level; this was a wish that Global Esports granted him, and he went on to win the first ever LAN competition he played at. It was difficult for him to then decide whether to try his hand at 2D content creation as he’d planned earlier, or to pursue eSports even further, and for now, he’s going with the latter. After playing with Global Esports for more than 2 years, Cruzi decided to try out for Team India and made it into the roster.

Being another lucky player to have been blessed with a supportive family, Cruzi could wholeheartedly resume his journey to greatness. To those who don’t get the same kind of support back home, he said, “Just keep practising, honestly”. If you don’t have resources, improvise. For instance, if you don’t have a great PC at home, try and watch videos online to learn about the game as much as possible, and apply what you learnt at a gaming café. This is some really interesting advice, and can open up opportunities to a much bigger pool of aspiring gamers.

Now, here’s a transcript of the rest of our conversation:

Me: Who’s your favourite pro player?

Cruzi: Surefour.

Me: Who’s your favourite streamer?

Cruzi: Surefour.

Me: Which team are you looking forward to facing the most in the World Cup?

Cruzi: Canada, because it has Surefour.

Okay, maybe I’m simplifying things a little, but yes, Cruzi idolises Surefour, the Canadian Hitscan player. He absolutely loves watching him play, has gone through all of his guide videos on YouTube, and is a big fan of his streams, where Surefour answers a ton of game-related questions posed by his followers. That, and he has insane aim and a great mentality, which Cruzi appreciates a lot. That’s why he’s keen on playing against Team Canada, so that he can meet his idol and see how he matches up against him. If that ends up happening, I won’t be rooting for Surefour for sure.

Cruzi’s Social Media Links:

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/notcruzi
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GE_Cruzi
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cgtsukano
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AvM1AvNe

5. Monish ‘Cyx’ Kumar (Hitscan DPS)

No no no, this guy is not the Grandmaster Roadhog player from the North American servers. Team India’s very own Cyx is a Grandmaster hitscan player, who has had quite the journey in eSports so far. Monish Kumar used to live in Qatar. Playing CS:1.6 was one of his favourite pastimes, and even though he was quite good at the game, he had no clue about eSports, since they weren’t big in the Middle East. It was when he came to India and lived in Chennai for a few years that he was exposed to the world of professional gaming. After becoming a fan of professional CS:1.6, he began following a few teams and grew to like one player in particular… Antonio ‘cyx’ Daniloski. Unfortunately, this young player of just 20 lost his life in a car crash, and it left quite a big impact on Monish.

Time went by, and he moved back to Qatar, where he started playing League of Legends and got to Platinum 1, a rank that only the Top 5% of LoL players usually achieve. At around that time, one of his friends gifted him a copy of Overwatch, and he began grinding the game on the EU servers. Soon after, he moved back to Chennai, and decided to take a shot at the NVIDIA GeForce Cup (which is where DJDestiny started off his journey too). Back then, Cyx went by the name ‘Water’, but at one point, he felt he should change his name to pay homage to his favourite Counter Strike player. Essentially though, Cyx kept on grinding in the Indian Overwatch scene, tried out for the World Cup, and got selected for the team.

To get to such a high level of play, Cyx spent a lot of time watching Kabaji’s streams on Twitch. He was already quite good mechanically because of spending more than 4,000 hours on Counter Strike, but he wanted to improve his gamesense, and who better to learn that from than Kabaji? One of the most educational, cerebral and respected figures in the Overwatch community, Kabaji is someone you should absolutely watch to learn hitscan play as well as gamesense from, according to Cyx (I couldn’t agree more). When Monish’s parents noticed a massive increase in his screen time, they were annoyed that he was playing games all day, but when he started playing at eSports tournaments and getting wins, they slowly started getting involved with what he was doing, learned more about the game, and became quite approving of his efforts. Yielding results and encouraging your parents to get involved in your work is what you should do, according to Cyx, to get them to support you in niche industries like eSports. Not a bad idea at all, and since Monish spoke with experience, you know he wasn’t messing around.

Cyx’s Social Media Links:

• Twitch: twitch.tv/wtf_water
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Water657
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaterTheFire/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hashtagmonish/

6. Chirag ‘kcot’ Gupta (Flex DPS)

Another player from New Delhi, Chirag Gupta is a final-year law student who’s taking a break from his studies to represent India at the World Cup. He used to be a TF2 (Team Fortress 2) professional, but when the game started dying out, he decided to “jump ship” with a few of his friends, and purchased Overwatch. After grinding on ladder and reaching a high rank, kcot met Archangel, who helped him get into the eSports scene. Seriously, Archangel almost feels like the Nick Fury of Indian Overwatch right now.

One of the highlights of my conversation with kcot was his beautiful explanation on why he thinks eSports aren’t big in India right now. Most people label our sub-par internet infrastructure as the main obstacle to eSports, but kcot believes that the people’s mentality here is an even bigger hindrance to the gaming scene than that. He told me that the general public just laughs at those who say they play video games for a living, because they don’t consider it a viable career option at all. This mindset also means that much fewer people end up investing in eSports, which naturally leads to less money being part of the equation. Because of this, a lot of people in India are skeptical to support budding eSports players, and that makes it really hard for aspiring talent to make strides in the right direction.

I mean, this guy killed it with his explanation right there. He also had some very interesting advice to offer those who want to get into eSports but don’t get enough support back home. Kcot believes that no matter if anyone’s backing you up, you should just try to get noticed in the field. If you are really good at playing a particular eSport, someone will notice your talent, and that’ll get you one step closer to where you want to be. This is some tried and tested advice, since kcot himself got into professional Overwatch only because Archangel, who had already spent over a decade in eSports, saw how well he played and referred him to Global Esports. Despite having no experience with competing internationally in Overwatch, kcot thinks he can rely on his raw mechanical skill as well as his vast hero pool to help propel his team through the various rounds of the World Cup, and I hope he’s right about that.

kcot’s Social Media Link (He streams fairly often):

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/kcotow

7. Sparsh ‘SoulHunter’ Oza (Main Support)

I was super excited when I found out that Sparsh Oza is from Mumbai, my home, and the ‘City of Dreams’. Since the age of 10, Sparsh has been playing video games with a lot of dedication, and has spent over 10,000 hours each on CS:GO and DOTA. After getting Overwatch and playing in a few LAN tournaments, he realised that his play was quite impactful, and wondered if he had a future in playing the eSport professionally. A main support player who can flex to tank if needed, SoulHunter entered the World Cup tryouts, proved his worth, and cemented his spot in Team India's roster.

For him, getting into the team was “a dream come true”. He knows it sounds cliché, but it’s the only way he thought he could put it. SoulHunter’s family was “in tears” when they found out about his selection, since it had always been their dream to see him perform on an international stage in either sports, or since their acceptance of it, eSports. SoulHunter could reach this point in his life because he was willing to explore his options, and believes that if more people did so in India, our eSports scene would really go big. Right now, things are pretty slow even when it comes to our eSports tournaments, since very few of them, like the ESL, are conducted on an international level. If more people show interest in them, they can scale up and widen their scope, and that’s what SoulHunter wants to see happen.

This PMA-exuding main support is looking forward to facing Spain in the World Cup if they get the chance. They had a showmatch a few months ago, where India had to play on the European servers, which have high-latency connections with our country. Needless to say, India lost the match, or more accurately, got obliterated, and SoulHunter would like a rematch against Spain to see what happens on neutral ground. On the other end of the spectrum, he really doesn’t want to face off against South Korea, and when I told him that a few of his teammates were keen on doing so, he just laughed a little as I went over their roster before telling me “kcot can match Carpe”. For those of you who don’t know, Carpe is an incredibly talented South Korean hitscan player who is known for his immense clutch potential; and SoulHunter is confident that kcot, who plays both hitscan and projectile DPS, is mechanically as good as him. That’s some serious faith in your teammates, Sparsh. It’s great to know how well the members of Team India are bonding with each other and have developed respect for each other’s skill sets.

SoulHunter’s Social Media Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulHunter2214
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozasparsh

8. Megh ‘PrimalMage’ Patel (Flex Support)

Vadodara, Gujarat, also had a player to provide to Team India, and that is Megh Patel, a computer engineering student who’s going to be competing professionally in eSports for the first time. Until a few months ago, he was just a guy grinding on ladder, dreaming about going to the Overwatch World Cup one day. When he saw a post online, which said that open tryouts were being conducted for Team India, he applied for them and did surprisingly well. Never did PrimalMage think that he would actually be in a position to get to Blizzcon, but now, here he is.

Megh told me that his selection for the World Cup means a lot to him, and that it’s a great honour for him to be able to represent his country. Despite his sudden transition to eSports, his family was supportive of his efforts, and everyone around him had started looking up to him. A lot of people don’t get the same kind of encouragement though, and PrimalMage has some advice for them. If you’re one of these people, Primal suggests that you grind the game as much as possible but fulfill your real-world responsibilities at the same time. For instance, during his exams, Primal simply logs on to Overwatch for a couple of FFAs (Free-For-All) a day, and doesn’t touch the ranked mode. This does cause his SR(Skill Rating) to decay, but it’s a necessary trade-off for him, since he needs to maintain his scores. So kids, make sure you study hard even if you love playing video games; and adults, your 9-to-5 pays the bills, so make sure you give it your all at work, come home, relax a little, and then prepare to grind the game.

Once he gets to the World Cup, PrimalMage really wants to face off against Team Singapore, since their main tank, Sachokk, is good friends with him. Also, during Season 8, when Primal used to play a ton of Winston (yes, he’s a really good tank player too), he found it difficult to win when he was forced onto the off-tank role, since he wasn’t very good at D.Va. It was the Dive Meta back then, so, he decided to learn D.Va, and watched a ton of gameplay from Xenofly, the current off-tank player of Team Singapore, and was able to climb to grandmaster with just the latest hero in his arsenal. Although he won’t be playing tank at the World Cup, PrimalMage is keen on seeing how his team will match up against Singapore’s. Luckily, we’ve got a great tank line on Team India too, so he shouldn’t be worried. As a flex support who understands tank psychology and is great at ult management, PrimalMage might be a threat no-one sees coming. We’ll have to see how well his skill set works in Team India’s favour.

PrimalMage’s Social Media Links:

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/primal_99
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megh.patel.99/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100019430916531

9. Rahul ‘Eminence’ Hinduja (Flex Support)

After playing Bomberman at around the age of 9, Rahul Hinduja realised how much he enjoyed playing video games, and expanded his reach from popular titles like Pacman and Sonic to pretty much “everything under the sun”. He played on PC and a lot of consoles, and that made his interest in gaming grow even further. Eventually, he got into DOTA, and played the eSport on a national level, as well as at a few international tournaments. Later, when DOTA’s popularity decreased, and there was a lack of sponsors on the market, Eminence moved on from the game and found Overwatch, through which he got in touch with Global Esports. Something “just clicked” with them, and Emi worked alongside the org to host a Community Cup in April, 2018, which was a massive success. This was quite encouraging to Rahul, and he decided to stay on and work with Global Esports. After moving from Chennai to Mumbai, he is now their Chief Operations Officer, and also one of the members of Team India.

Being part of the team as well as the management has its perks, and Eminence got the chance to attend the Overwatch League Grand Finals at the Wells-Fargo Centre in Philadelphia this September. The CEO of Global Esports, Salbatic, was with him too, and Emi said they had a surreal experience at the venue. Naturally, they were fanboying out after seeing the likes of Jayne, Surefour and ryujehong in-person. Rahul’s business trip turned out to be way more eventful than he thought because of this exciting detour, courtesy of Harrisburg University, with whom Global Esports has been working. Luckily for them, Harrisburg Uni is also hosting Team India for their boot camp, and for those of you who don’t know, their team (HU Storm) is quite well-acclaimed.

To prepare for an event as big as the Overwatch World Cup, you need some scrim partners, and for Team India, the Philippines has been a regular. Since he has seen this team evolve and improve, Eminence would like to face off against them at Blizzcon. The man is not without fear though; he really wants to avoid facing any of the Top 5 seeds of the year, probably with the exception of the UK, since Goats isn’t meta anymore. I mean, you can hope and pray to slip past the Top 5 all you like, Emi, but they’re in the Top 5 for a reason. If your squad plays well enough, you’re surely going to face off against at least one of them at some point!

Eminence’s Social Media Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmisCrib
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmisCrib/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emiscrib/

Committee:

1. Dr. Rushindra ‘Salbatic’ Sinha (General Manager)

Since the early age of 3, when he completed his first video game (Chip’s Challenge), Rushindra ‘Salbatic’ Sinha has been hooked to gaming, and got into eSports back when he was just in school. He started playing CS and DOTA at LAN tournaments in as early as Y2K, and gathered a lot of experience along the way. When school work started catching up to him, Sal took a break from eSports, and started playing MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) instead, like World of Warcraft and Ragnarok Online. In fact, he fell in love with Ragnarok so much, that he built his own private server, which grew to become the #1 private Ragnarok server in the world. Later, when he got into med school, an Australian company expressed interest in buying the server from him, and since med school requires a lot of commitment anyway, Salbatic made the sale. While training to be a doctor, he also began learning web and app development, and eventually decided that he had to give his passion for technology a shot. So, he moved to San Francisco, worked in the tech space, and then graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business (2017). Armed with everything he needed to indulge in his passion for gaming, Salbatic co-founded Global Esports. A “doctor by profession and a gamer by passion”, Team India’s general manager seems a perfect fit for the job.

He’s really passionate about his work, and had been silently determined to send India to the OWWC for a long time. At DreamHack, Mumbai (2018), he finally sat his team down and told them about his goal, saying that they would manage to achieve it even if it seemed far-fetched. For nearly a year, Salbatic led Global Esports in interactions with Blizzard, showing them how talented India was in Overwatch, and that led to our country being made eligible for the World Cup. It was a surreal experience for Salbatic, and he doesn’t think words can describe what it means to our squad to wear our national colours and represent our country.

He also told me that eSports had a late start in India, one of the reasons being the sizeable initial investment you have to make in the space. He too, agrees that Indian parents aren’t very accepting of eSports as a career option, and although that attitude is changing, Global Esports is working towards speeding up the process. Salbatic strongly believes that you should stay close to the gaming and eSports spaces if you want to make a career in them. Start off part-time, and if you’re able to prove yourself, try and go into it full-time. Once you achieve success, there won’t be a reason for anyone to oppose your decision.

Salbatic’s Social Media Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RushindraSinha
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rushindrasinha/

You can also reach out to him via any of Global Esports India’s social media pages.

2. Ashwath ‘Ashr’ Ravee (Community Lead)

Let’s go back in time about 30 years; imagine a 3-year-old boy, sitting down on the floor, with a smile on his face, a spark in his eyes, and…an NES controller in his hands…yes, that’s Ashwath Ravee, Team India’s Community Lead, who has been playing video games since before he even began school. Ashr feels that buying a console for him at the age of 3 was one of the best things his parents have ever done for him, since it changed his life in such a great way. He went from being a kid playing Super Mario on the NES to an enthusiastic young man competing in multiple eSports professionally. For those of you who don’t know, Ashr has represented India in Quake, been part of one of the best guilds in World of Warcraft, as well as competed in many local tournaments in Overwatch. With a massive mound of eSports experience on his back, Ashr has now taken his place as Team India’s Community Lead for the OWWC, 2019.

As his title suggests, Ashr has to keep the Overwatch community engaged in Team India’s activities, but in addition to that, he also stays in touch with community leaders from other countries, handles correspondence with Blizzard, and does a little bit of coaching. Despite being so heavily invested in eSports, he’s still on the fence about how much time he wants to spend on them, since he’s a little older than the average eSportsperson (which is why he’s jokingly called ‘Old Man’ by his peers), has got his own company up and running, and is also about to join the Married Man Meta. In his own words, “Sometimes I wish I was ten years younger, so I could just dive into it (eSports) head-first and not worry about anything else”.

Age is just a number, Ashr, and I’m sure you know that. This will be news for most of you, but our community lead is a big fan of the South Korean support legend, ryujehong, who is one of the older players in the Overwatch League. Aged 28, jehong, as he is popularly called, is famous for revolutionising the use of Ana in the game. His skill ceiling on the hero and his humble attitude are a great inspiration to Ashr, who has played flex support professionally himself. Even though ryujehong won’t be playing at the World Cup, there are are a few matchups that Ashr is hoping to see India in, like one against Canada, where he said he might instruct his team to teabag xQc just to see his reaction. Bold move. (If you’re not an Overwatch player, don’t worry about not understanding what I just wrote. It’s complicated). Good luck for the World Cup and any of your future endeavours, Ashwath! The Overwatch community is always here for you.

Ashr’s Social Media Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashwathravee
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealAgod

3. Vasu ‘Method’ Chaturvedi (Coach)

Vasu Chaturvedi bought Overwatch in a classic, slightly old-fashioned way, standing outside the video game store and waiting for the game to be released. After buying one of the first post-release copies of the title in India, Method began to grind the game, became an amazing DPS player, and was taken onto a team to compete at ILG Bangalore in 2017, which was his very first LAN tournament. Turns out Ashr was also on this team, and he was rather impressed at how Method showed no drop in his performance from scrims-to-stage. This experience made Method realise that he had tremendous potential in this game, and he went on to compete and win accolades at several Overwatch tournaments throughout India. It’s no shocker that going into eSports full-time was his next step. He currently works at Global Esports, and simultaneously captains their team, Phoenix. The Indian World Cup squad is lucky to have someone who has got a ton of on-stage as well as off-stage eSports experience as their guide and coach. (For those who wish to understand Overwatch coaching better, Method recommends you to check out Peak, who streams regularly as well as uploads analysis videos on YouTube).

Method’s coaching philosophy involves him spending a lot of one-on-one time with the players, helping them fix the minor mistakes they make in-game. He believes that if everyone just errs less, the team will operate better as a whole. Concocting a perfect amalgam of hard work and discipline and adding a dash of brutal honesty is what Vasu does best, and it seems to be a great formula for a coach to feed to their team. He believes that his coaching ethic combined with the whole squad’s thirst to prove themselves and their country to the Overwatch community will help them gain ground in the World Cup. If they end up doing well, it’ll inspire a lot more eSports talent in India, find its way into mainstream media, and show people around the country that the gaming industry holds many viable career options in it. One “breakaway team” can change it all for us.

Regarding their World Cup matchups, Method really wants India to have the best performance among the South East Asian teams like Japan and Thailand. He believes that their dominance over the rest of the SEA teams will be the first step in proving their worth to the global audience. Plus, he hopes to develop some interesting rivalries along the way. That makes sense, since rivalries are always fun to witness and talk about for the community in general, and serve as extra motivation for returning players. That’s a lot to achieve, and topping the SEA charts may seem like a crazy target for a first-time World Cup entrant; but don’t forget, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s a Method to this madness.

Method’s Social Media Link:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/vasuchaturvedi

Team India has a wonderful roster. They’re positive, hardworking, dedicated, and hungry for a challenge. I am super proud that my country has this level of talent in eSports, and I hope we end up being a dark horse in the World Cup this year; so if you’re from India, do follow our players and staff and show your support; if you’re not from India, doesn’t hurt to check out some emerging talent, does it? Do check out each team member’s social media links, hit them a follow, and find out more about them!

Thank you so much for the read. I’m thrilled at the opportunity of introducing Team India on a more personal level to the rest of the world. I’d like to thank each of my interviewees for their time, and I hope I can write more articles like this in the future. Do let me know if you enjoyed this post, share it around with other ardent fans of the Overwatch World Cup, and subscribe to my blog so you get alerted when I upload new articles!

This is Pratyush ‘Proilios’ Panshikar, signing out.