Expansion teams are unknown territory for the Overwatch League. Even expansion teams that have looked good in the past (AKA Vancouver) are a bit of an unknown going into Season 2.
Chengdu is possibly the biggest mystery of all. The Hunters feature a grab bag of Contenders players, a couple players from the Chinese World Cup team and a couple players that haven’t played in a year. The latter category is probably the most intriguing. Lo “Baconjack” Tzu-Heng and Zhang “YangXiaoLong” Zhihao were great back in the day. However, they spent 2018 playing PUBG. Therefore, no one knows how well they will get back into the game. Chengdu has a lot to prove. Here are some things that they can focus on to prove that they have what it takes.
Photo Courtesy of Flash Wolves
Being consistent is absolutely huge in the world of professional Overwatch. Many a team has struggled in the past just because they would have one or two inconsistent players that would drag the whole team down. An expansion team, especially one as enigmatic as Chengdu, is likely to have this issue. Baconjack and YangXiaoLong are likely contenders for the unfortunate title of “inconsistent drag down player”, but there are other question marks as well.
Many of the players on the team come from different teams, and it remains to be seen how well they will work together. Most of the players came from Chinese Contenders. Li “Yveltal” Xianyao and Ma “LateYoung” Tianbin were both on the Chinese World Cup roster, and none of the players on the team have stood out as being especially poor either. Consistency, on the other hand, is another thing entirely. Consistency could become a problem with so many different levels of experience. t should be stressed that an inconsistent team rarely does well in Overwatch. A team like Chengdu should have consistency as its main focus.
Photo Courtesy of the DeLorean Motor Company
This shouldn’t be too hard. The market for the DMC-12 is still thriving, which gives the team a good basis for Doc Brown’s time tested design. Then, just put Baconjack and XangXiaoLong at the wheel and…
Okay, okay, in all seriousness, getting Baconjack and XangXiaoLong back into form should definitely be a top priority. PUBG and Overwatch are very different games, and these two have been playing Fortnite’s gritty older brother for the past year. Meanwhile, Overwatch has been constantly changing since 2017. Getting them back into their winning form could take some time, especially when one considers how OWL is much tougher than any tournaments back in 2017.
With proper practice and a lot of grinding, these two could get back to form by the time the season rolls around. And when that happens teams better watch out. Because Baconjack and XangXiaoLong were both very good back when they were on point.
Photo Courtesy of the Chengdu Hunters
An expansion team going full Las Vegas Golden Knights and getting to the finals would be a great story, but realistically that’s probably not gonna happen.
Expansion teams generally should try to focus on building up a solid core for the coming years. Admittedly some expansion teams look primed to potentially compete. Chengdu will have to work very hard and improve drastically in order to get to that level.
There is a very real chance that the Hunters will struggle in their first season. This may not be the preferable result, but it also wouldn’t be too terrible either. The first season will give the Hunters ample time to establish a core of players. They could then improve themselves around this core and attempt to compete in the coming years. It may not be the flashiest way of doing things. It is, however, a tested strategy that has been used by many teams in both traditional sports and esports. This should be the general plan of attack unless the team unexpectedly sets the world on fire.
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Featured Image Courtesy of The Chengdu Hunters
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