In order to help you prepare for what will be one of the biggest NA Overwatch leagues to date, Pesto Enthusiast has taken the time to write down the following profiles of all six participating teams. All of these teams deserve to be here on their own right, but many are currently affected by issues such as recent roster changes, disappointing results and role swaps. Learn about whom to keep your eye on during the weeks to come, below:
Immortals
Fresh off their victory at the $100,000 prize pool Winter Premier, Immortals enter the Carbon Series as the favorites. To win the Winter Premier, Immortals had to go through every other team in this competition except for Hammers. Even though they lost games to both compLexity and Liquid in the qualifiers, they'll be coming into the Carbon Series with confidence to spare.
Historically, Immortals were known for their discomfort on King of the Hill maps, which they would ban out immediately when given the opportunity. However at the Winter Premier, where the map pool was set by the organizers instead of using a draft, GrimReality put on incredibly strong performances on Tracer and McCree, leading his team to victory repeatedly on KotH maps, and looking especially strong on Nepal.
With the Carbon Series using the APEX-style map pick system (teams choose the map but not the map type), and with the patch favoring faster, DPS-centered compositions, even more responsibility will be laid upon GrimReality's shoulders if the men in teal are to take the trophy.
Hammers Esports
Hammers enter Carbon with recent tournament wins under their belts as well. The team won the January Alienware Monthly Melee, beating fellow Carbon participants Liquid 2-0 and Luminosity 2-0, 3-2, and 3-0 over the course of the event. They then won the Haste Series, a smaller prize-pool event that wasn't contested by any other team invited to Carbon Series.
In the prior, more tank-heavy meta, Hammers built their engagements around extremely aggressive Reinhardt play. They often skipped the "poke war" that many battles start with. Instead, they sent Super's Reinhardt, backed by shields from Voll's Zarya and healing from Rob420's Ana, right into the enemy front lines before either team had the chance to break the other's shield. By changing the pace of the game, they threw their opponents off balance, and then cleaned up during the confusion.
With a new patch friendlier to two and three DPS compositions, and with their opponents now having had time to prepare for the force of nature that is Super's hammer, Hammers will have to be at the top of their game, or have a new innovative strategy up their sleeves, if they're to take the Carbon series.
Luminosity Gaming
Few teams have more cause to celebrate the end of the tank metas than Luminosity. LG were part of a three-team trade with Rogue and Misfits, and have made additional roster moves since, but despite a near-total roster overhaul, they were unable to find success during the tank metas.
Eissfeldt, who made a name for himself on Tracer and Soldier: 76, spent much of the past few months running a mediocre D.Va. Ube, who possesses a deep pool of projectile DPS heroes, spent more time on Roadhog since joining LG than he did on every projectile hero combined. With the new meta very friendly to Tracer + Genji dive compositions, this will be their best opportunity in months to put together a solid winning streak. One unknown is SuperPlouk; we've seen very little of his Winston, and that's traditionally the third pillar of the dive comp.
Luminosity have struggled to beat the other teams in this tournament. With the exception of Liquid, they have losing records against all of them. Will this patch signal a change in fortunes? With their DPS duo finally unlocked, there's certainly a good possibility.
compLexity Gaming
CompLexity are best known for two things: their use of Sombra and Harbleu's insane Roadhog skills. But with Harbleu's rumoured departure, and Winghaven no longer with the team, the compLexity that contests the Carbon Series will be very different from the one fans are used to.
CoL have been tight-lipped about who's going to be replacing their two departed tank players, but we do know that they haven't signed anyone new yet. They'll be running with two players still trialing out for permanent roster spots, which means we could even see different people on trial over the course of the event. With that in mind, it's almost impossible to predict how well the team will do overall, or even what kind of strategies they'll run. Will CoL find a pair willing to run the team’s old tactics, or will the roster change be the impetus for them to drop Sombra?
One thing that is looking up for CoL though: after many months of tank metas, the TJO duo should both be able to run DPS heroes on the current patch. Nerfs to D.Va mean that we're likely to see Nicolas spending less time on her and more time on the DPS heroes he's known for.
Renegades
Renegades will also be playing with a stand-in, after the departure of manOFsnow. Renegades looked incredibly strong early in the Winter Premier qualifiers, but then benched manOFsnow mid-qualifiers to play with kyb, who suddenly became a free agent with the dissolution of Reunited. The team never looked the same after the roster shuffle, and even after restoring manOFsnow to the starting roster, they failed to pick up enough wins to make it to the live finals.
Depending on who Renegades bring with them as their sixth player, we could see any number of compositions. J3sus and Mangachu are capable of running both off-tanks and DPS heroes – J3sus on hitscan and Roadhog, Mangachu on projectile and Zarya – so both three DPS compositions and three tank compositions are on the table. The best option is likely one that lets J3sus maximize his time on Tracer, as he's got a sublime highlight reel with her.
If Renegades can recapture their form from the first few games of the Winter Premier qualifiers, they'll be a serious threat to everyone else at the tournament. But playing with a stand-in, we won't know their ceiling until we finally see them in action.
Team Liquid
The weakest team on paper, Liquid will be facing an uphill battle just to justify their invitation to the series. They have losing records against every other team at the event except, curiously, for tournament favorites Immortals.
Since the earliest LANs, Liquid have been a team good enough to qualify for events, but not good enough to make a deep run in them. Commentators have long asked why this is the case; MESR is a highly regarded main tank, while Rapha, id_, and DaHanG are all respected Quake veterans. The team clearly feels the need to make a change though, as they'll be trialing cYpheR, another former Quake player and a member of the disbanded ANOX team, with Minstrel benched for the time being. Rapha will switch to Lucio and cYpheR will run DPS.
Is this move the one that will put Liquid over the edge? cYpheR will face a trial by fire as Liquid face many of the best teams in North America.
These are the six teams that will be playing weeks on end, in one of the biggest Overwatch leagues in North-America so far. Tune in later today, at 5:30 PM PST/8:30 PM EST/2:30 AM CET, over at https://www.twitch.tv/carbonentertainment, to watch the first matches of what should be a great tournament.
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