A Path to Pro detailed for Overwatch League

At the end of last month, the Overwatch esports team posted an overview on how an Overwatch League hopeful might be able to play in the big leagues. Essentially, they announced that the Overwatch Open would continue but weren’t forthcoming with much info beyond that. Now, a lengthy blog post paints a much clearer picture of what we’ll be seeing in the immediate future — including some very interesting league changes which borrow heavily from the MLB.

If you’re familiar with the HGC and Open formats for Heroes of the Storm esports, the dual nature of Overwatch Contenders and the Overwatch Open will be very familiar. In the Overwatch esports amateur system, anybody with five friends can team up and register for the Open right now, even if one of them is a drinky bird hammering on a Torbjorn turret. Games begin in January. The format is Swiss, which ends with a seeded playoff bracket. Also like the HGC system, the winners of this bracket have the opportunity to join the higher-stakes Overwatch Contenders. But first, they have to prove themselves in the Contenders trials.

But unlike the Heroes esports system, there’s the Overwatch League at the top of the heap. A new system similar to the MLB’s AAA teams will help younger players with a lot of talent get ready for that pressure. Called the Overwatch League Academy Teams, these teams are partner teams to an Overwatch League team. Just like the Lehigh Valley IronPigs fosters players with the hope they’ll be called up to the major leagues by the Phillies, the San Francisco Shock Overwatch League Academy team is meant to prepare players to play in the Overwatch League with the Shock.

But there’s a wrinkle with this — teams won’t just face off against each other like AAA MLB teams. Instead, the Academy teams will be honing their skills against players in the semi-pro Overwatch Contenders.

I’m really not sure how this is going to play out. The issue is, it likely ends up in a scenario similar to the training montage comparing Rocky and Drago. The Academy teams will likely have access to big money institutional support from their League counterparts. Meanwhile, the random teams called up from the Open to play in Contenders might as well be chopping down a tree or punching a side of beef in a barn or whatever. It’s pretty obvious that the entire system is meant to create the best players possible for Overwatch League while Blizzard cavalierly chucks eggs into a single expensive basket.

However, don’t count out the semi-pro teams we’ll see in Contenders! In all regions, some esports organizations which already did well in past Blizzard-affiliated tournaments will get an invitation to join Contenders without going through the trial process. However most of these teams, especially FNRGFE and Rogue, had their best players scraped by League teams. They have the opportunity to scout some new talent before the signing deadline in early January. That’s well before competition starts in March.