Overwatch Contenders Trials have begun, with the regular season starting in March

By nearly any metric the Overwatch League has been a resounding success thus far, but what about the other Overwatch esports Blizzard outlined in their Path to Pro? That question was answered with a shiny relaunch of the Contenders website, including a solid schedule and some roster info already laid out.

The announced rosters for Contenders are already pretty decent. The Academy teams are sprinkled throughout their various regions. Most are centered in North America, of course. However, this may be a mixed blessing. Since other regions don’t have these handpicked squads of players not quite ready for prime time but already signed, this gives teams less of an opportunity to muscle their way from obscurity through the open division.

However, the handpicked squads alone offer a glimpse at the matches we’ll be seeing going forward, and they’re going to be good. A common theme among the Academy teams is bigger organizations securing amazing players too young for eligibility — players have to be 18 before they’re allowed to take the stage. Korean wunderkind Fl0w3r, who was impressive to watch on the Korean Overwatch World Cup team, is joining the NYXL’s Academy, only passed over for the big leagues because he’s too young. The British Hurricane took FunnyAstro, a phenom who mains Lucio. The Fusion University team managed to nab zachaREEE, a similarly heavily scouted Tracer player from the Detroit Renegades who just turned 17.

The Renegades are continuing on without him, though. They and Kungarna are the odd men out — the only two teams competing in season one of Contenders not guaranteed a slot, they’re still trying to hang in the League by playing through Trials. The Trials began a couple days ago, and will continue until the first weekend in March. The teams guaranteed a slot in Contenders are looking good too. The Envision squad we saw through the brackets last year is still going strong, having picked up Buds, the sole player from FNRGFE who wasn’t signed to Overwatch League.

The regular season of Overwatch Contenders begins March 11th in North America and Europe. Trials are already underway to see who will join them. You can see the rosters as they form on the teams tab of the Contenders site.