As has recently been discussed on TGH, the Houston Outlaws have just finished their season in the middle of the standings less than one month ago. Already, however, the Outlaws have some future plans, hopes, and aspirations for their off-season. Thanks in large part to the Outlaws’ YouTube series FOCUS, we have access into what the team has learned from season one, their biggest challenges from it, their favorite OWL memories, favorite in-game moments, and what their plans are for the off-season.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM SEASON ONE?
JAKE – A lot of small lessons. Especially how to perform more consistently.
CLOCKWORK – Be your very best on more than one level. Be stress-free (eat healthy and exercise properly) and be the best person you can be.
LINKZR – How important it is to take care of yourself. How to balance life around the League.
TAIRONG – Assembling immediate feedback system for players.
COOLMATT – Maximizing and using time efficiently.
RAWKUS – How to become a better teammate. Supporting teammates when they’re down is probably one of the best things you can do.
MUMA – How to prepare properly for matches.
FCTFCTN – Maximizing everything you do
BOINK – How to study the game, fix problems, and even how to figure out your own problems.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
SPREE – Trouble dealing with stress and pressure from losses and taking losing personally.
LINKZR – Understanding the team and how they want to play.
TAIRONG – Uniting everyone’s game sense and knowledge for winning.
COOLMATT – Adaptation. Meta-shift exposed our weaknesses, and we failed to adapt. Need to develop flexibility in the future if we want to be successful.
CLOCKWORK – Preparing for matches for six months straight. OWL is like a long-distance run, and not a lot of people have the stamina to do it..
RAWKUS – Finding a great Tracer player. Playing well on Tracer relies a lot on experience.
FAVORITE MEMORY
MUMA – When we beat Dynasty. Miro was a player I looked up to a ton, and being able to beat him was really nice.
LINKZR – The whole experience, moving to America, playing in a part of this League.
TAIRONG – Whole experience
JAKE – Not only one thing. A lot of little experiences adding up to one big one.
SPREE – Lemons for Leukemia Challenge was really fun!
COOLMATT – Making Stage One Playoffs.
BOINK – Against London in Stage Two; Got to play the majority of the maps.
CLOCKWORK – It’s hard to pick one moment. Collection of small things adding up to one big event.
FCTFCTN– When I first got the message to play in the OWL.
FAVORITE IN-GAME MOMENT
Photo via Instagram, courtesy of outlawsow
LINKZR – Playing Torbjorn on attack on Blizzard World.
CLOCKWORK – Playing Pharah on Eichenwalde against Seoul; hit crazy airshots that nobody else saw.
COOLMATT – Stage Three Blizzard World against Dallas Fuel: killed four people before point, won the game, and got Player of the Day.
RAWKUS – Against Boston in Stage One before playoffs on Eichenwalde. Gamsu emoted and basically helped Outlaws to win the series.
JAKE – Beating Seoul Dynasty at the end of Stage Two. Played Junkrat successfully in a bunch of places we didn’t practice for.
PLANS FOR OFF-SEASON
RAWKUS – Focus on health and travel.
FCTFCTN – Travel, see family, work on health.
TAIRONG – Be there for my players.
LINKZR – Taking my girlfriend to movies, Santa Monica, Glendale, etc. then practice.
SPREE – Take time for myself and grind on Overwatch. Also stream Realm Royale and try to get really good at it. Maybe have a vacation and go back home to see my family.
CLOCKWORK – Visit family and my close friends that I haven’t seen in eight months.
BOINK – Stop living day-to-day and try to look at the big picture.
MUMA – Focus on trying out for World Cup and streaming a lot.
COOLMATT– Nothing concrete yet. Chill, take it easy, and visit family.
JAKE– Get into streaming more and taking more time to rest.
I think there is something we could all learn from the Houston Outlaws’ takeaways from Season One. Taking time for oneself allows them to achieve more than using all of your time for one enterprise. This can go for our own Overwatch practice, too. If you find yourself getting angry and not contributing to a team, it is perfectly fine to take a break for however long suits you. Personal health is a good foundation for any pursuit.
The answers to these questions were paraphrased from the Houston Outlaws’ YouTube Channel Series FOCUS for brevity and clearer reading.
Please be sure to check out the Houston Outlaws YouTube Channel, and while you’re online check out TGH YouTube Channel, Twitter, and Facebook!
