The Atlanta Reign announced today that they have signed support player Dusttin “Dogman” Bowerman from their Contenders team, ATL Academy. This comes after a strong Contenders performance for the Reign’s academy team, securing a second place finish after a strong regular season performance in their inaugural season.
The Jebait
Early Sunday, Dogman announced via Twitter that he was no longer with ATL Academy and was currently looking for a new team. This sparked immediate controversy in the community as he had found great success with his former team. These successes included helping to secure a playoff spot and putting up an impressive performance against the league powerhouse, Fusion University. Although the team fell short of first, their performance was such that fans were devastated to hear that Dogman no longer had a spot on the team.
Later in the day the Atlanta Reign put out an official response to the fans’ disappointment with a video from player development coach Cas “Casores” van Andel. In the video, Casores states that Dogman is not a good fit for the team due to reasons such as him “memeing too much” and the fact that “his bed smells.”
The video ends when Casores asks people off camera if they have anything to add, at which point Dogman steps in frame in an Atlanta Reign shirt and states “Let’s get this bread!” The video transitions to the announcement of his addition to the Reign’s main roster as “let’s go dude!” is heard in the background. To the great relief and excitement of the fan community, the ruse was revealed.
What This Signing Means
Dogman is the third support player signed to the Atlanta Reign along with Steven “Kodak” Rosenberger and Petja “Masaa” Kantanen. This move allows the Reign some flexibility in the support role, and should take some pressure off of Kodak and Masaa if needed. Dogman also brings a long and involved history within the Overwatch community as a player, team manager, commentator and desk personality and podcast host, so his contributions to the roster go well beyond in game play and should positively affect several areas of the team.
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