15 days is all that is left before the start of Overwatch League’s Season 2. Online and offline, players and fans are starting to feel it. Social media is starting to get excited and power rankings are all over the internet (you can even see ours here!).
In this series, the Houston Outlaws’ roster has been picked apart and looked at under a microscope to help people get to know them better. On previous pieces of this series, we talked about their DPS and their tanks. This time, all the attention is on the players that are keeping their teammates alive, the backbone of every team. It’s time for the supports to get the spotlight.
Courtesy of Overwatch League
Name: Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty
Birthday: June 16, 1996 (22 years old)
Country: United States
Jersey Number: 1
Twitter: @Rawkus
Twitch: itsrawkus
Houston Outlaws’ Zenyatta specialist. His preferred hero pool is composed of heroes like Ana, Zenyatta, and Sombra. He was signed as part of the Outlaws’ original Inaugural Season roster.
His life in professional Overwatch began when he got together with a group of players that played together often in the competitive ladder. They formed team Ohno and proceeded to participate in a big number of qualifiers. After a month on the team, he was called and signed by FaZe Clan with one of his teammates. He stayed with FaZe for more than a year. With the team, he proceeded to participate in a various major competitions like Major League Gaming Vegas and the Overwatch Open. Still on FaZe Clan, he played in Overwatch Contenders Season 1, and used his 2nd place title as the key to get a spot in the Overwatch League.
Overwatch World Cup 2017 was also his apparition in this competition. With Team USA he managed to score first place in the Santa Monica Qualifiers, but were swiftly disqualified by Team South Korea in the quarterfinals at Blizzcon. He also participated in 2018’s World Cup and after getting first place again in the qualifiers, they got disqualified in, again, the quarterfinals. This time, however, it was done by Team United Kingdom in the biggest upset in professional Overwatch history.
Houston Outlaws RAWKUS TOP PLAYS! (Overwatch Season 1 Highlights)
Courtesy of Overwatch League
Name: Chris “Bani” Benell
Birthday: September 28, 1993 (25 years old)
Country: Canada
Jersey Number: 3
Twitter: @BaniOW
Twitch: baniow
The Outlaws’ main healer and the team’s star Ana and Mercy player. His hero pool is made up of Ana, Lucio, Mercy, Zenyatta, and Sombra. He has been part of the Outlaws’ roster since before the start of the Inaugural Season.
His career in esports began with the launch of Overwatch. His first team was called Devastation, a team with no records online. After a swift move over to Team Brother, he participated in many weekly competitions and qualifiers, but they never achieved the results that he expected, which made him move over to Gale Force Esports. He stayed for a short time on this team, but he still managed to win a minor tournament and play on the Overwatch Rumble Qualifiers.
With Overwatch League getting close, he decided that in order for him to achieve his goal he would need a team that was going to participate in Contenders. With his mind made up, he joined FNRGFE. He played on Overwatch Contenders Season 0 and 1, and ended both seasons in 4th place, the same result the team got in the BEAT Invitational Season 2. These results got him into the Overwatch League.
Bani also has been part of Overwatch World Cup history. He played in 2018’s World Cup with Team Canada. On the Los Angeles Qualifier they secured their ticket to Blizzcon with 2nd place, just behind Team USA. They were able to defeat Team France in the Quarterfinals, but they were disqualified by Team China in the Semis.
Courtesy of Overwatch League
Name: Daniel “Boink” Pence
Birthday: May 13
Country: United States
Jersey Number: 13
Twitter: @Forceboink
Twitch: forceboink
Houston’s best and most specialized Lucio player. He joined the roster as part of their Inaugural Season squad.
His professional Overwatch career began when he founded his own team, Oink Oink HERE COMES BOINK, which he used to participate in the iBUYPOWER Invitational 2016. He passed the qualifiers but ended up being disqualified in the first round. After this, he decided to join a more established team and joined Gale Force Esports. With this team he played in a number of tournaments like Rivalcade, Overwatch Rumble and the HTC Community nights. In every tournament he participated, he achieved a high position at the end. With Overwatch League being his main objective, he joined team FNRGFE along with Bani, Austin “Muma” Willmot, Matt “coolmatt” Iorio and Matthew “Clockwork” Dias, all who are now his teammates in the Houston Outlaws after a successful result in Overwatch Contenders Season 0 and 1.
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