The Overwatch League is trying something new to kick off the 2023 season. Rather than have Overwatch League teams participate in pre-season matches like the Inaugural Season, the OWL will host its first ever Pro-Am Tournament. Dozens of tier two teams battled through a grueling double-elimination bracket in order to secure a spot in the Pro-Am, and a chance to showcase their skills on the big stage. 32 teams entered between NA and EMEA, and now only seven will compete on March 23.
[Related: Shanghai Dragons Announce 2023 Roster]
The North American bracket featured a healthy balance between familiar faces and brand new competitors. Notably there was one team that was missing that Contenders fans expected to be a favorite to win the qualifier. Odyssey was one of the few teams that found themselves left without a paddle thanks to a few players leaving mere moments before the roster lock deadline. With such a dominant team missing, a new team would need step up to fill the void left by Odyssey’s departure.
DPS: Rene “K1ng” Rengal, Elliot “Tr33” Chu
Tank: Nick “False” Wiseman, Michael “Mikeyy” Konicki
Support: Diego “Vega” Moran, Christopher “cjay” Smith
Flex: Collin “Syrus” Anderson
With several former OWL players, Maryville was certainly seen as one of the favorites to glide through the NA Qualifiers – and wow did they roll. Before the Grand Final the Saints lost just two maps, one to Redbird Esports and the other to the eventual second place Trick Room. Lead by the DPS phenom Tr33, the Saints looked unbeatable throughout the tournament. The Saints have a good chance to upset some of the lower-tier OWL rosters, and after watching some of the leaked scrims that went around this past week, they could even make some of the tougher NA teams sweat.
DPS:
Pummy, Mason “Boat” Earle, Michael “Excal” Kim
Tank: Boston “Infekted” Fine, Cameron “anyhow” Rice
Support:
MagicM8Ball, Mason “Anghell1c” Herwegh, Deitrick “Hanbei” Radford
Trick Room was one of those dark-horse teams that finally hit their stride at the right time. Trick Room is a team packed with familiar Contenders players like Boat, Excal, MAgicM8Ball and Anghell1c that’s looking to finally take the next step. They looked fantastic in the Qualifier, and even took down Redbird Esports in a tight 5-map series. It will be fascinating to watch this team take on the OWL teams and see if they can build on their second-place finish.
DPS: Landon “Vision” Monteferrante, Daniel “Grathen” McGrath
Tank: Rick “GIG” Salazar, Shawn “Movingfish7” Reddy, Saad “Saadist”
Khan
Support: William “Lyar” Ohlstein, Steven “Renko” Saucedo
Redbird Esports is a name that is synonymous with success. In the past few Contenders seasons, the Redbirds have consistently taken or fought for the top spot in any event they enter. Spearheaded by former OWL tank GIG and backed by a veteran backline in Lyar and Renko, Redbird Esports should prove to be a worthy opponent for OWL teams at the Pro-Am.
DPS: Cameron “Wub” Johnson, Xavier “Zeruhh” Zambrano, Armando “Doomed” Abarca
Tank: Riley “cuFFa“Brown, Jonathon “CLEAR” Foraker
Support: Charles “Neptune” Ryan, Matteo “cal” Mazzuco, Dimitros “Otters” Karanikas
Timeless was another team that felt burnt from the roster lock as they lost one of their key DPS players Park “Arrow” Min-seok. Luckily Timeless was able to band together and pull through the lower bracket in order to earn a spot at the Pro-Am. A plucky underdog team, Timeless is looking to make a mark on both viewers and OWL teams as they step up to bat against the best teams in NA.
DPS: Julian “Rokit” Pizana, Joshua “Chopper” Song
Tank: Jacob “Crimson” Martin, Julian “Kami” Bevien-Guevarra, Domenic “Krawi” Akrawi
Support: Travis “Yimitra” Nguyen, Abheek “Abheek” Patra,
Grapes
The last in to the Pro-Am from the NA bracket is WISP – a team that is very familiar with placing 5th. Despite their past stumbles, WISP is a team that found success early in Overwatch 2. When Krawi was brought up to OWL, his absence was certainly felt. Now he returns with a vengeance as he is sure to square off against his former team the Vegas Eternal. Look for this DPS line of Rokit and Chopper to do a lot of the heavy work for this scrappy WISP roster.
It is a head-scratcher as to why EMENA received only two slots while NA received five, as there were still some competitive rosters in the EMENA bracket that barely missed a Pro-Am bid.
DPS: Ibrahem “Quartz” Alali , Ahmad “Youbi” Alyoubi, Abdulelah “LBBD7” Alfaifi
Tank: Alhumaidi “KSAA” Alruwaili
Support: Osama “Nutella” Abdullah, Mikkel “Slay” Nielsen
Twisted Minds is a team that got its start in the Saudi eLeague environment and found its way into the EU Contenders scene. Though they struggled in the Run It Back Contenders tournament, Twisted Minds has a talented roster that can put a hurting on under-prepared teams. They refused to drop a match in the qualifier, and are certainly a team to keep an eye out through the Pro-Am. Also fun to watch: KSAA makes his return to the OWL stage after a rough rookie season on the Vancouver Titans.
DPS: Dominic “Hybrid” Grove, Nikolai “Naga” Dereli
Tank: Timber “kraandop” Rensen, Mikkel “Molf1g” Djernes
Support: Kristian “Kellex” Keller, Benjamin “Xerion” Nambruide
The names may be familiar, but no this is not an official OWL team. Team Peps has been a team that has served as a sort of “home for dropped OWL players”. The DPS pair of Naga and Hybrid are poised to make some noise in this Pro-Am as they get a pseudo-second chance to compete in OWL. The only non-former OWL players, Kraandop and Xerion, are the two names to watch in this roster. They’ve been in Contenders for some time, and are surely going to do their best to leave a lasting impression on those teams who may need subs throughout the year
Featured image courtesy of the Overwatch League
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