Hello and welcome (back) to The OverSeer! My name is Proilios, and today, we'll be going over the Atlanta Reign's roster for Season 3 of the Overwatch League. Yesterday, I posted my thoughts on the Shanghai Dragons, and some common feedback I got was that I'm underrating their DPS line. That's fair, to be honest. The Dragons are pretty stacked in the damage department, but I thought I should account for a few factors that kept bothering me repeatedly, so I mentioned them in my DPS section. Regardless, I want to assure you that I'm as sold on that damage lineup as most of you guys are.
Moving on to the topic at hand, I placed the Reign 8th in my end-of-season power rankings for 2019, and this year, they still have a lot of last year's players, in addition to a few new faces. Let's take a look at each of them based on their roles, and then decide how well Atlanta is likely to do in 2020.
Moving on to the topic at hand, I placed the Reign 8th in my end-of-season power rankings for 2019, and this year, they still have a lot of last year's players, in addition to a few new faces. Let's take a look at each of them based on their roles, and then decide how well Atlanta is likely to do in 2020.
TANK
The Reign currently have Gator and Pokpo on main tank, and frd and Hawk on off-tank.
In 2019, Gator was on a two-way contract between the Reign, and their Contenders team, Atlanta Academy. He's had a pretty good track record in the Tier-2 scene, being proficient on Rein and Winston during Goats (a comp he and his Open Divison team came up with), and also playing a competent Orisa in recent metas. We also saw him play a great Sigma during last year's OWL Playoffs, which is a testament to his versatility. I think it's great that he's been promoted to the Reign's main roster, and even if he doesn't look like a top-tier main tank at the OWL level, I think he'll be one of the better ones this season. Alongside him is Pokpo, who was the starting main tank for the Reign for pretty much the entire season last year, other than a couple of maps when Gator was subbed in for him. I think Pokpo is a solid main tank as well; his Orisa is great, his Winston is good, and his Reinhardt...I mean, Pokpo is the Reinhardt I would want alongside me in my comp games (I'm an off-tank main). He creates a ton of space, swings when he's bubbled, and shows restraint when things aren't looking too hot. It's great that he's still on this team, and will definitely have to compete with Gator for the starting spot if he wants to see more playtime this season.
Frd (whom I got to have a chat with last month) was subbed in for most (or all) of Stage 4 last year, where he played a pretty good Roadhog. In addition to that, he also plays a decent D.Va, but I think there are a ton of good off-tanks out there who can outclass him, so I don't think he's going to be one to stand out or do wonders this season. Hawk was Gator's tank partner on Atlanta Academy, and they've got a ton of synergy together. Whenever I've watched this team play though, I haven't focused much on Hawk, so I can't comment much on his abilities, but since he's been placing well in tournaments alongside Gator, I think he should be above-average, if not better, at the Contenders level. I think we can assume he's somewhere in the middle-of-the-pack compared to the other off-tanks playing this season, so let's go with that assumption and round off our observations.
I believe the Reign have a pretty good tank line going into Season 3. Their main tank slots are very well-occupied, with there being some question marks, at least in my mind, about their off-tanks. Based off of my own observations and also considering these players' track records, I'd say this will be at least a Top 10 tank line, with the chance of going Top 5 if Hawk ends up being really good.
DPS
The quartet of Erster, babybay, Edison and SharP makes up the damage line of the Reign for 2020.
The standout DPS player from this team in 2019 was Erster, a consistently amazing projectile and flanker player. Other than his Brigitte play, Erster was one of the few players who made Genji work on a few maps, popped off on Doomfist during the Playoffs, did a good job on Mei on a regular basis, and got a ridiculous amount of kills whenever he played Hanzo. His versatility is something a lot of players in OWL lack, and I'm sure it will help him be an ever-present player in Atlanta's starting lineup. Babybay joined the Reign in Stage 2 last year, and he has been a mainstay in their starting lineup ever since. He is a great aimer, and I think he's a consistent player, but I don't think he'll stand out to the crowd that much compared to many other hitscan/sniper players in the League. There's way too many talented faces out there for me to call babybay a top-tier hitscan player, so don't expect him to pop off a lot, but remember that he's still quite consistent and reliable in-game.
Coming in hot from GC Busan WAVE is Edison, who is a talented hitscan/sniper/flanker player. I haven't watched him play a ton, but from what I've seen, he's truly incredible on those sniper heroes. He has a very unique playstyle, because unlike most players, who mostly go for one-shot kills, Edison often resorts to multiple, less-charged shots to kill targets with Hanzo and Widowmaker. I don't know if he plays like that all the time, and I may be totally wrong here, but it's what I've observed; and it is surprisingly effective. Also, I've only heard good things about Edison online, so I'm confident that despite his lack of success in Contenders, he's a great player, which is why I'm expecting him to really pop off in OWL this year. When your team is mediocre but you're touted as one of the best, you know you've got something special in you, and it's really similar to how everyone looks at Corey. His team wasn't very good last year, but he was incredible. That's how I look at Edison right now, and I hope he lives up to our expectations. The final DPS player with the Reign is SharP, who's a Swedish hitscan/flanker player. Similar to Edison, I haven't seen SharP play a lot but have heard only good things about him, so again, great expectations. I think his strongest suit is probably his tracking, and I look forward to watching him play for the Reign this year.
It's odd for me to be hyped about certain players when I haven't watched them play a lot, but the Reign's DPS lineup, no matter how little I've watched some of them play, looks very scary to me. Erster is a jack of all trades and a master of some, babybay is plain reliable, Edison is a fantastic sniper, and SharP is a great tracker. I can even see some bifurcations in my head about which heroes you'd field these players for. I'd probably put Edison in for Widow/Hanzo, SharP for Tracer/Sombra, and babybay for Reaper, maybe? Erster would just be in all the time. That said, I feel that these 4 players are easily a Top 5 DPS line for 2020, and are possibly even Top 3. I'm really excited to watch them play, but let's move on to the supports lest I continue praising these damage dealers for the rest of the day.
SUPPORT
The support duo of Masaa and Dogman will form the backline of the Reign in Season 3 of the Overwatch League.
Masaa is well-known as one of the more aggressive Lúcio players out there, and what I like about him is that he maintains a good balance between taking aggressive angles and peeling for his teammates. He can also play a decent Mercy when needed, but if he gets the opportunity to play the Wall-Riding Wonder Lúcio, you can be sure he'll take that chance. I think he'll be fine going into Season 3.
The sole flex support of this team, Dogman (whom I also had a chat with recently), stood out to me for his aggressive Moira play last year. He was very much focused on dealing damage and finishing off kills than keeping his team up, which actually worked in their favour in Stage 4 and the Playoffs. Dogman is mechanically adept, and although he's not top-tier at either Ana or Zenyatta, he's still pretty good on them, and can have some pop-off moments despite the circumstances. Also, one thing I've noticed about him is that when he's in the zone, he can carry fights single-handedly, no matter what hero he's on. These days, he's also been playing Baptiste on stream, and he's doing very well on that hero too. That said, I think he's going to fall behind a little bit considering the rich flex support scene OWL has in place for 2020, but not by a lot for sure. I still have confidence in his Moira, and now, Baptiste play, but it remains to be seen how well he does on Ana and Zen as well.
To summarise this support duo, I think they're good players by themselves, but since this role is pretty stacked this year, they might not be as noticeable as some other pairs out there. I feel like adding a second flex support that specialises in either Ana or Zenyatta would be a good idea, since although Dogman isn't bad at them, his team could use some players with more oomph on those heroes.
THE RAW LOOK VS. REALITY
On paper, I think the Reign can easily make the Play-Ins with this squad. Their tank line looks solid, damage dealers look versatile and amazing, and supports are well-synergised and experienced. I think they should upgrade their support line to improve their chances of making Top 6 this season, but even if they don't, it's not like they won't make the Play-Ins.
Realistically speaking, and considering that more than half the team has been playing together for around a year, I'd still bet on the Reign making the Play-Ins and not the Playoffs. There have been rumours that they're adding a couple of support players to their roster, and if that ends up being true, Top 6 doesn't seem too hard for them, but I think they're a little volatile right now. They're an emotional albeit fun-loving team, and with all the travel involved this season, they need to work harder to maintain their mental health, due to which I'm dropping their rank a couple of spots. The travel part is true for basically all the teams, but from what I gather, Atlanta is a little more on the emotional side and has a couple of big personalities, which is why I'm weighing this factor in a little more for the Reign than for most other teams.
To sum up my thoughts on the Reign, I think they're a #7 or 8 team, and will definitely make the Play-Ins in Season 3 of the Overwatch League.
I hope that the points I made were comprehensive and that you liked them enough to forward this article to more OWL fans. For any points you wish to express your disagreement with, feel free to use the comments section, but remember to be polite and respectful to keep the conversation healthy. If you want to read more reviews like this, please subscribe to my blog (button on the top right)! My next article will be about the Guangzhou Charge, so do subscribe to be updated when I post it. Thanks a lot for reading, and I hope you have a nice day!
Comments
Post a Comment