After Stage One of the Overwatch League, every team has defining characteristics. The community likes to make jokes and memes about the teams as well as specific players in a non aggressive manner. This article is a roundup of the best jokes and memes from Stage One of the Overwatch League.
Atlanta Reign: The New Dallas Fuel
Last season of OWL had Dallas as the fan favorites, mainly because of the popular players that were on the team at the time. Both Félix “xQc” Lengyel and Brandon “Seagull” Larned were on the Dallas Fuel last season, they were popular Overwatch Streamers that pulled a lot of viewers when they went live. These players being on the Dallas Fuel, as well as other factors, made the team fan favorites to the average viewers.
Now the Atlanta Reign are in that position, mainly because of Daniel “dafran” Francesca. He is another very popular Overwatch Streamer that has been part of the community since the game came out. Dafran has become everyone’s favorite player, his jersey has sold the most out of everyone in the league and isn’t going to stop anytime soon. The Atlanta Reign is also the most cheered team on Twitch in Bits; last season the Dallas Fuel held that title.
Boston Uprising: Krafting Success For Free
The Boston Uprising parent organization, the Kraft Group, has been exposed for underpaying and being unaccommodating to their players on the team from last season. This has turned into a joke around the community, with even OWL players chiming in:
no im just not on boston
— danteh (@danteh) March 11, 2019
Not only that, but one of the players on the team, Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth, has also become a joke in the community. Fusions’ head is considered boxy and often compared to Minecraft character models. This has lead to people on Twitter making light-hearted jokes.
Fusions Minecraft @BadPachimari uhh I had other attempts with the mural that didn’t go so well on the left side… I hope this gets some traction (please no hate I think Fusions is the best western main tank) pic.twitter.com/dciDUrwn4E
— zaehn (@samuraiturtle31) March 5, 2019
@DragoNommz Fusions straight-up looks like Steve from Minecraft pic.twitter.com/xyYskPEpXB
— Abbott “Micro Maid March” Absol (@AbbottAbsol) February 15, 2019
Boston made Stage One playoffs despite being considered a low tier team at the beginning of the season. Fusions led the team to victory with his incredible shot calling and team play, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to joke about though.
Chengdu Hunters: Quickplay Kings
The Chengdu Hunters quickly became favorites this stage because of their sporadic play style and reluctance to play the meta. Chengdu will often times play three or even four DPS at a time with one tank and one or two healers. Multiple DPS in a team composition is often attributed to Quickplay in Overwatch, the casual game mode where people play what they want and do what they want. People that have played Quickplay will know that most people play DPS characters and not worry about a well rounded team composition. Chengdu exploded out of the league with this disjointed play style to try and counter the meta composition GOATS, to varying success. This play style is led by Ding “Ameng” Menghan on his signature Wrecking Ball, but it turns out he can also play a really good Reinhardt, despite looking awful on it at the beginning of the season.
Ameng: Yottachad
Ameng had a stellar performance on Reinhardt against the Vancouver Titans. This was a surprise to many because Ameng had been written off as a Wrecking Ball “onetrick” and not very good at Reinhardt. Despite losing the game against Vancouver, Ameng gained a new level of respect in the community and he was dubbed “Yottachad” .
Despite the loss, fear the Ameng. pic.twitter.com/Sbm7Jvyrqy
— Bad Pachimari (@BadPachimari) March 11, 2019
I just saw a reddit comment that deadass said
“Interesting way of saying getting mental boomed by being tossed around in the neutral by yottachad Ameng”
HAHA the stream last night was too powerful, @super_OW and @Avast_o have infected everyone with their vocab LOL
— Josh Wilkinson (@SideshowGaming) March 11, 2019
Vancouver Titans: Babysitting Bumper
The Vancouver Titans have gone undefeated this season. However this isn’t due to methodical plays and calculated fights. The main tank Sang-beom “Bumper” Park has shown a very reckless play style that somehow pays off because of the rest of his team. Bumper has been called a “Five year old toddler with five babysitters” by Sideshow and Avast, two casters/analysts for professional Overwatch.
This is accurate https://t.co/fjnOfrz3WL
— Voices (Ethan) (@Hearin_Voices) March 19, 2019
Bumper has even been accused of throwing, in a lighthearted way. At one point Bumper charged off of the side of Volskaya Industries in an attempt to stagger a Baby D.Va. There is no questioning the play style of the Titans because they have gone undefeated so far this stage, but it can be joked about.
Los Angeles Valiant: We Are 0-7
This joke is due to the Valiant’s new #WeAre7 slogan. This slogan basically means that the fans, viewer and supporters of the Valiant are the seventh player on the team. However it turned into a joke after the Valiant lost seven games in a row and everyone started typing “We are 0-7” on social media and in Twitch chat. This even appeared on the Valiant’s own Twitter account, tweeting the new joke.
We are 0-7
— Los Angeles Valiant (@LAValiant) March 9, 2019
The LA Valiant are the only winless team in the league now, but they are making changes to get their first win next stage and continue to get wins. No team should have to deal with the weight of a losing streak, but that’s the game and it’s up to them to improve. If the Valiant’s Twitter can joke about it then everyone else can, right?
Paris Eternal: “KRUISE IS A FEEDER”
The Lucio player on the Paris Eternal, Harrison “Kruise” Pond currently has an incredibly high death average after Stage One. Kruise is currently sitting at 5.23 deaths per ten minutes. This number is higher than most other Lucio players in the league right now. For comparison, Wonsik “Closer” Jung from the Dallas Fuel averages 3.32 deaths per ten minutes and Benjamin “BigGoose” Isohanni averages 4.89 deaths despite being an aggressive player.
There are the statistics and there is Dusttin “Dogman” Bowerman from the Atlanta Reign. During Atlanta’s match against the Paris Eternal, Dogman yelled out to the croud “Kruise is a feeder!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XclmZuolQ-w?start=0&end=30
This quickly became a joke in the Twitch chat and whenever Kruise died chat would spam the quote. Whether or not Kruise is actually feeding in those instances has become less important than when he dies in general. The statistics don’t lie, Kruise does die a lot as Lucio, but it could be due to the rest of his team dying around him. Or it could be the other way around, who’s to say?
Conclusion
Stage One is almost over and the jokes from the community have been rolling in. Dafran sold jerseys, Bumper hard threw, Ameng evolved like a Pokemon, the Valiant are winless and Kruise definitely fed. If the banter and memes keep rolling in then more of these roundups are inevitable.
Need More?
Did we miss a meme? Tell Ethan @Hearin_Voices
Featured image courtesy of @It_pirate
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