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OWWC 2019
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2019 OWWC Power Rankings #46-#30 feat. BiggHungryPhill, Paulsible and TonelloTV

Connor KnudsenBy Updated:14 Mins Read

TGH Staff Writer, Connor “GoopyKnoopy” Knudsen, has partnered with Chase “Syphyt” McKenzie of Triumph Gaming and @Contenders_OW to put together the first-ever complete OWWC power rankings. These rankings will feature all 46 OWWC teams field and will include blurbs from various contributors across the competitive Overwatch scene. These contributors have a more in-depth knowledge of the team(s) they are covering and this is a great opportunity to spotlight that expertise.

Each team’s final rank was determined through a three-part process:

  1. First, the number of professional (OWL) and semi-pro (Contenders, Trials, Open Division) players on each team was taken into account, as well as each of those players success on their respective team.
  2. Each contributor was given the chance to give their ranking of the team they wrote for. Those were taken into account, although each contributor’s potential bias was considered.
  3. The final landing spot for each team was decided collaboratively by Syphyt and GoopyKnoopy after using the steps above to narrow down the results.

46: Bulgaria

After the committee was announced on June 19, this team has been completely silent. Popular Bulgarian YouTuber Konstantin “NoThx” Kanev has the potential to be a strong Community Lead for the team, but without any knowledge of their talent, no one can be sure what to expect from Bulgaria. – Connor “GoopyKnoopy” Knudsen

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Bulgaria

45: Paraguay

The Guarani Lions are here! This is the first time that we’re seeing Team Paraguay participate in the Overwatch World Cup, and while their social media is fun, I’m not seeing too much from their 7-man roster, unfortunately. According to their Twitter, the community scene in Paraguay is very small, so a lot of players are just now getting into Overwatch and other esports. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them higher on this list next year if they gain some experience. – Chase “Syphyt” McKenzie

44: Peru

Peru has a new and inexperienced roster with potential to evolve its players. They are led by Junnior “Keath” Abad Gamboa, a coach who was a semifinalist in SA Contenders 2018 and is a current Season 2 semifinalist (and possible winner).

Additionally, we have “Baskervile” at offtank from Team Scarlet, which ranked first in Trials and unfortunately didn’t have a good enough income to stay in Contenders. Teams should be aware of the flex support player, Carlos “Poke” Ephypani. He is currently playing for the Pingüinos who ranked third in the table in SA Contenders, is a player that evolves very fast throughout the season, and certainly will evolve even more. The rest of the roster has names with relatively little experience in the region – PecinatorK (@OWproSA)

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Peru

43: Egypt

This is the Pharaohs’ first time in the World Cup, so the good news is that there are no expectations from this budding Egypt roster full of young talent. Ehab “KritzZz” Elesh is currently playing for Inferno Game Zone, which has previously had some star power on their roster, but many of the other players have yet to make a name for themselves. – Chase “Syphyt” McKenzie

42: Chile

At the Tank role, Benjamin “Glitch” Riquelme and Roberto “Robtoxx” Flores Bello are the starters. Both because of their relevant experience in Contenders, compared to the rest of the options from the 12-man roster, and because of their playstyle. This is most relevant when talking about Glitch, currently on SA’s team – Pingüinos – and always performing well, with great and clever D.Va play.

At support, Javier “balti” Quezada and Dante “Aramis” Rivera Torres should be the ones starting. They already play together and are also Robtoxx and Christian “lowlife” Donoso’s teammates on Team Scarlet, which would be extremely useful when building coordination.

Lastly, at the DPS role, lowlife and David “debout” Beaupuits are in, that is for sure, but both occupy the same hitscan DPS position. This may prove problematic in terms of their diversity.

In general, the team has potential but might not be able to make it to the next phase of the OWWC, even when compared to other SA teams such as Argentina and, mainly, Brazil. However, that is a team not to underestimate. Lowlife, debout, Glitch and balti are all playmakers only waiting for a chance to show the world how good they can be and the impact they can have. – Felipe “TonelloTV” Tonello

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Chile

41: Malaysia

Team Malaysia are back, having taken a break from their first debut in 2016. The Malaya Tigers, however, don’t have much to go on. While many SEA teams have several players competing in PAC Contenders, the Tigers don’t have much Contenders talent. They do, however, have a very promising location, meaning that their scrims from other teams in SEA might lead to some unexpected upsets this year. – Chase “Syphyt” McKenzie

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Malaysia

40: Mexico

When it comes to teams outside of the Blizzard Top 10 to keep an eye on for this year’s OWWC, Team Mexico should be on everyone’s radar. At the tip of the spear, leading the front line on the main tank role is Ex-San Fransisco Shock member, David “Nomy” Lizarraga. While the rest of this roster may be less widely known, they’re certainly not to be underestimated.

If Samuel “Sam” Orozco can bring out his impressive Pharah play, and “Sh0ckwave” can maintain his peak performance level, they’ll be able to wreak an absurd amount of damage at long ranges to even the best of teams. Couple this roster’s experienced tank play and the explosive DPS potential with the consistent and intelligent support play brought by players like Emmanuel “Reptile” Neyra, and Team Mexico has a real chance of dishing out quite a few upsets. – Paul “Paulsible” Morrison

 

39: Italy

Team Italy is one with some experience, but perhaps not enough to bring them World Cup glory this year. They are led by Samsung Morning Stars streamer and player, Edmondo “DragonEddy” Cerini and their coach Tommaso “joYnt” Gavioli. These two provide most of the semi-pro experience for the team, although some of the lesser-known players have their chance to come up big. – Connor “GoopyKnoopy” Knudsen

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Italy

38: India

The 2019 Overwatch World Cup will be Team India’s debut should they qualify. Not much is known about this team so far. Like most first time teams, there is not a lot of information out there about most of the players on the roster. However, “Cruzi” is a DPS player for Global Esports, a team currently competing in Pacific Contenders. Cruzi has not seen a lot of playtime for Global Esports, but they are one of the top teams in the region. Being part of the team speaks to the caliber of his play, and it will be interesting to see how Team India will fare should they make it in. – Kate “Sybil” Shepard

37: Kuwait

The Blue Camels have arrived. Kuwait has taken its first step into the World Cup, and their roster is full of talent. Flex DPS talent and also GM of this roster is Abdullah “Lorpq8” Al-Otaibi, who will be a force to be reckoned with in prelims. He played previously for the Osh-Tekk Warriors, who won the Overwatch Saudi Regional Tournament last year with a prize purse of nearly $160,000.

Following him from the Warriors is Head Coach Nasser “ToxiNTV” Al-Rujaib. While a lot of other players are relatively unknown, this roster has real star power in its coaching and DPS roles, so stay tuned for big plays centered around Tracer and Genji. – Chase “Syphyt” McKenzie

[Update: Dbsy has reportedly stepped into the GM role for the Blue Camels in place of Lorpq8.]

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Kuwait

36: Ireland

I spoke with Community Lead, Connlocks, who was happy to say a few words about Team Ireland, so I’ll let him introduce you to the Celtic Wolfhounds instead.

“There’s a lot of talent on our roster, which only grows stronger the more we watch these guys play together. We opted to try out players from all over Ireland this year, meaning both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland players were eligible. This led us to find players like “Buckle,” our hitscan dps player from Belfast, who absolutely frags out every chance he gets.

Our main goal so far has been to take our fans on a journey with us, to put on a great show along the way, and to shine a light on our players and help them progress on the Path to Pro. I think we’ve held this up quite well so far with our social media team working overtime to bring out great content, but we’re not done yet.

We may not win the World Cup this year, but you can be damn sure we’ll win the heart of every fan. There’s a lot of great competition this year, we have a lot of potential, and I feel we can really learn a lot from facing off against the greatest countries in the world.”

Everyone has a bit of Irish in them, after all. So, why not support the #Underdogs? – Siarnaq

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Ireland

35: Switzerland

What Team Switzerland lacks in competitive experience, they make up for in potential synergy. Their most experienced player comes in Wave Check main tank, Esteban “Helv” Fernandez. Their coach, Aris “LUFT” Galli also has a fair share of competitive experience as a player, which could help to develop the rest of the team.

Otherwise, they have a couple of players from Swiss Esports org, SILENTGAMING, that could have some potential synergy. We’ll see if this team really has #NoMercy on their opponents in the coming weeks. – Connor “GoopyKnoopy” Knudsen

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Switzerland

34: Greece

It’s been two years since we’ve seen Team Greece in the World Cup, and it’s time for the Trojan Horse to ride to victory. Leading this year’s charge will be Head Coach Ilias T. “iLka” Kaskanetas, former coach from teams such as Winstrike, ATL Academy and currently Angry Titans. His success in the Contenders scene gives me a lot of hope for this country coming into the early stages of the World Cup, despite having a star-studded roster to build around. What we’ve seen from them in live scrims tells me they’re going to be a very fun team to watch. – Chase “Syphyt” McKenzie

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Greece

33: Philippines

Their only Contenders player is Joshua “Grandeesauto” Ogame who plays support in Contenders but is on off-tank for the OWWC team. This makes his anticipated performance hard to judge, honestly. Overall, I’m not really expecting much from this team, but their staff is very driven and dedicated which could go a long way in a World Cup with a relatively new meta. – Jing Hao “Avalon” Liang

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Philippines

32: Saudi Arabia

2019 marks Saudi Arabia’s first appearance in the Overwatch World Cup. Of the group, only off-tank Alhumaidi “KSAA” Alruwaili has Contenders experience, as he currently plays with European Contenders team Young and Beautiful. Two other members of the roster, Abdulmalek Mohammed “KssarPlayz” Al-Dwaireg and Muhannad “BeCanBauer” Baharith, come from the Saudi Overwatch team Osh-Tekk Warriors, best known as the winners of Saudi Arabia’s first Overwatch tournament.

Besides that, the only other player with notable experience is Bader “Boostio” Mehaini (not to be confused with the streamer of the same name), who has played on several teams since early 2018. All in all, Team Saudi Arabia is very much a fledgling team this year, but their presence at the World Cup offers an opportunity to demonstrate a handful of Middle Eastern Overwatch talent. – Darby “soundchecck” Joyce

31: South Africa

This is the first time South Africa have been able to field a team since the inaugural OWWC, where they were unable to make it through the qualifying stages. The scene in South Africa has developed significantly since then, and the ZA Barbarians roster is stacked with talent from this scene. They’re notably drawing players from Energy Esports, unIDentified, and Goliath Gaming, three of the top-ranking teams in the region.

Both “Visions” and “Senticall,” who played on the 2016 world cup team, are back in 2019 – and even if you don’t recognize the name from the world cup, Senticall should ring some bells as a force on the EU ladder who made a name for himself as one of the first ZA players to reach Top 500 EU. ZA are used to playing with a high ping, being located so far from the EU servers, so look for a big step change in performance against their EU counterparts when they get to LAN. – Phill “BiggHungryPhill” Moxley

30: Japan

Team Japan combines a fair amount of veteran and fresh talent for their roster this year. Kaito “kenmohororo” Yoshida and Sean Taiyo “ta1yo” Henderson both return to the fray from 2018’s squad – in ta1yo’s case, it’s his third year in a row representing Japan. The bulk of the remaining roster comes over from Pacific Contenders team Green Leaves, which put on a reasonably average mid-table performance in their last season.

Rounding out the group is NA Contenders veteran Robert “HaKu” Blohm on support, and ex-JUPITER main tank Kazuki “SamuraiD” Nouno. Though Japan fell in the Incheon qualifier last year, the combination of Green Leaves synergy and experienced talent could both work in their favor this time around. – Darby “soundchecck” Joyce

OWWC 2019
Image Courtesy of Team Japan
The next few sets of rankings will be released over the course of the next two weeks. Stay tuned between now and then to see where your country finds itself in our rankings. Until then, check out our other Overwatch related content over at The Game Haus and find your country’s social media accounts on our comprehensive list.

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Follow me on Twitter: @GoopyKnoopy I would love to dialogue with you about anything I’ve written! 
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The Game Haus would like to thank all of the contributors for their time and effort towards putting this list together. We are so thankful for this amazing community of experts from all over the world!

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