Failed to make top 8 ewc

Losing to ball one trick

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - EMEA Stage 3 - Regular Season

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - NA Stage 3 - Regular Season

Chills (source)

i KNOW this has been said a million times but I was watching the Liquid vs Kafe match and I realised that it is really unfair that if you force your cat to peel for someone and use the tether, you only really get the maybe 2 second window before the cat can use it again. Like if you think about lifegrip, it's something that you can force out prefight, you can play around it, you can (try) kill the lifeweaver so it's not an issue. But on cat, it's infinite lifegrip to any position on the map at any time, with basically no cooldown. It really, REALLY isn't fair and it goes against the games whole ethos. Overwatch is about trading, building advantages, positioning, and then going crazy with your mechanics. Cat tether nullifies most of that in my opinion.

The reason why i say a meter and not just a cooldown is because I think if it was on a short meter like 2.5 seconds (with a slow recharge), it could be used like dva matrix, where it has offensive and defensive uses, and you have to aware of what might happen that you need to use it for. Sure you could fly bastion in and drop him somewhere, but then you couldn't take him out for a while, or you couldn't magically save your ana from a dive. It also makes you need to think about where exactly you're going to drop people. It isn't just free positioning. A note on the meter as well, if it drained while you were in the third person view at all is something to be considered. It's movement speed and a third person view. Maybe it should be on a resource even if you're not tethering someone, considering how Viol2t was using it in the finals against TM. Also, it heals! I think people forget about this, it's constant, free healing along with everything else it does.

That's all.

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - EMEA Stage 3 - Regular Season

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - EMEA Stage 3 - Regular Season

OWCS Major 1 is added for 2024 since the date and event matches Champions clash for 2025-2026.

• English Streams Rebounded Spectacularly: After losing a third of its peak audience in 2025, English broadcasts surged +169.1% to achieve a record-breaking peak of 155,795 viewers.
• Co-Streaming Fueled the Explosion: This turnaround was directly driven by a shift toward community casting, which expanded unique broadcasting channels from 80 to over 250 YoY.
• Sustained Japanese Growth: Japanese viewership climbed consistently across a three-year horizon, growing +138% in 2025 and hitting a new peak of 75,058 in 2026.
• Untapped Hyper-Growth Markets: Arabic and Spanish streams led 2026 growth with staggering gains of +315% and +281%. Expanding local talent pools and dedicated co-streaming hubs will instantly capture these infrastructure-starved communities.

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - NA Stage 3 - Regular Season

I saw this post today and after I wrote a reply, I decided to just make it its own post because I think more people should hear it. I have a longer post I've been working on about these things, but for now I'm giving the short version of my manifesto on win rates, pick rates, and balance discussions by OW players, redditors, and content creator coaches.

• Because silver-GM players have 50% personal win rates, pick patterns are not just a bias on win rates, they are fundamental to their production. There is no such thing as an unbiased win rate.
  • If every player were a one trick who never got banned, all heroes would have a 50% win rate outside of champ and bronze.
• If kiriko, cassidy, or sojourn were picked in the same way heroes like junk, pharah and sym are picked, their win rates would skyrocket. Yet we consider pharah and junk situationally strong, while the heroes who don't have hard counters are ironically considered weak precisely because their counters are soft so they don't trigger their player to swap.
• In most ranks, the strength of individual heroes is immaterial. You are all in the same rank. You are a diamond D.Mon, playing against a diamond Junker Queen. It doesn't matter that D.Mon is way stronger than JQ right now. You're both diamond. The game can, by definition, go either way. The important balance questions are whether it's fun/healthy for a hero to be in the meta and be seen in many games, and whether the value they get feels commensurate with the skill they take.
• Strength is contextual. Tracer seems to have shot up this season despite not getting any buffs. It's probably because doctrine and support sombra both synergize with her well. Other dps heroes naturally fell because they're getting crowded out by heroes who are stronger with sombra and doctrine. This is similar, but not exactly the same as those heroes getting weaker.
• The best information we can get from win rate and pick rate stats comes from differences. The differences between patches, the differences between ranks, and the differences between regions, for example. All of these ways of looking at these stats give us a lot more interesting and useful information than just their raw values.
  • There are, of course, some cases where we can be confident raw wr/pr data says what it appears to. Doctrine, sombra, genji and tracer this season have very very high pick rates and win rates. Thus, they almost certainly don't have the pick patterns that tend to produce high win rates, yet they have extremely high win rates. These heroes are clearly stronger than the average other hero in their role right now. But tracer didn't get stronger on her own, sombra made her stronger, so we still have to look beyond just the stats to understand what's going on. One could say that definitely makes tracer strong, but in games where doctrine and sombra are banned what does her win rate become?
• Some heroes can be strong and be healthy for the game! Way too much of the balance discussion is about which heroes are stronger than average and which are weaker than average, and therefore they must get nerfs and buffs respectively because every hero must be equal. Personally, I'm of the opinion that Overwatch recently has been rather balanced. Strong new hero releases are hotfixed fairly quickly to parity and it's okay if they're strong for the half a season where they're new. The important balance discussions we need to have should be about which heroes belong in the meta or have been out of the meta for too long, or in it for too long, and other things of that nature.
  • For example, I am someone who thinks Cassidy gets too much value compared to the skill he takes, particularly with flash. I think his value-ceiling exceeds what his skill-ceiling justifies. He is too well-rounded and being a counter against heroes that are typically more difficult/interesting/complex/fun makes him a fun-vampire. Even when not playing against the heroes he counters he's reliably strong anyway. Now, a reasonable person might take the counter position that he is a "necessary evil" to keep dive and high-mobility heroes from dominating the meta. Or they might argue that the simplicity of his kit makes him a very good onboarding hero for new players. I think that he can serve those functions without being quite this strong on all fronts. This is the kind of reasonable discussion we should be having. Instead, the discussion gets shut down from the jump by people who insist that cassidy is weak despite his strong consistent presence in the picks of top 500 and OWCS players.
    • The argument explaining why Cassidy can be strong despite his win rate is mathematically sound, but it is involved and can be counterintuitive even for those who have a strong background in math or stats. Additionally, players' egos are wrapped up in their mains' strength. A weaker hero means they're personally more skilled and also more likely to get buffed in the future. Many many times I've made points that are just how the math works without any specific claims about a hero, and I still get a dozen downvotes because some players take the fact that raw win rates are not everything as an attack. So, now we're having a silly discussion about stats and math, often with people who are intent on misunderstanding, when the important discussion we should be having is about things like skill curves, fairness, and fun. And, as I'm saying, it's not actually essential that we answer the question, "is he stronger or weaker than the average dps?" I'm not really motivated by wanting him to be exactly as strong as every other hero. I'm motivated by my feeling that he is too strong for the skill he takes, and he is strong in ways that I feel are unfun. This is not a quantitative discussion for either person in the argument, but we're both pretending it is.
  • The flip side is a hero like tracer. There have been seasons where she is too strong and seasons where she is too weak. But I think it's generally agreed that she should have a place in the meta. She is a high skill ceiling hero that is a lot of fun to play and losing to her doesn't usually feel like she got free value with little effort. Last season she had a high pick and win rate in GM+ and I think that's entirely appropriate for her, and Overwatch would be a lesser game if the hero in that spot were heroes like Widow or Roadhog.

Like I was saying, I have a larger manifesto I'm working on that gets into all the nitty gritty about how win rates are produced and all the stats stuff I do find genuinely interesting. But for the purpose of balance discussions, I just wanted to make this post saying that we've lost the plot when we argue under the premise that the best form Overwatch can take is one where every hero has equal pick rates and a 50% win rate. The important balance questions are about skill curves and fun. Win rate discussions very often bury those important questions.

Saw that this Dallas Fuel feature wasn't posted here and wanted to share it here after just seeing it today.

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - Korea Stage 3 - Regular Season

I remember during owl season 1 there was a game where one team was playing hog and the other team was playing dive. They were playing on junkertown and when the winston jumped onto the point to stall, the roadhog whole hogged and yeeted the winston off the map. Am i delusional or did this actually happen, and does someone have the link?

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - China Stage 3 - Regular Season

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - China Stage 3 - Regular Season

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - EMEA Stage 3 - Regular Season

Streams
https://www.twitch.tv/ow_esports
https://www.youtube.com/@ow_esports

Reddit-stream

Schedule

This thread pulls match data from this liquipedia page. If it's out of date, you can help by updating that page. If something is wrong or missing please ping u/Watchful1 in the comments.

Theres been a lot of talk about this for years, but if ever there was a time it would be now. They have lost two of their star players in Proper and Stalk3r, a third star player in Hanbin has essentially vanished off of the map similar to how Proper and Stalk3r did when they first started becoming disgruntled even though the current meta would likely be more effective with Hanbin over Someone. There have also been posts from Falcons players joking about how they will "come back in stage 4" which may very well indicate a lack of interest and resignation, possibly due to a known region swap.

Right now EMEA has only three partner teams compared to the four of NA and KR. Even with an expansion for next year (likely Geekay receiving a partner spot) Falcons could still slot into EMEA easily for a total of five partner teams in the region, though this depends on any expansions the scene has in the next season. I think this is the likely plan, because there just doesn't seem to a future for Falcons in Korea. Many of the top stars of the region already have bad experiences with them, and their current team looks like the completely lack any motivation. A region swap may be the best outcome for the team, and allow for a new team/teams to join the Korean region and take up a partner spot (I know people want GenG but I do not trust Arnold at all after the mess he made in EMEA).

Overall, thoughts? Do we think its finally happening, or do Falcons double down. I doubt they leave OW, though I suppose it is a possibility. OW has been a central to their esports operation, literally carrying them in 2025 to the number one spot in the EWC club championship, and with it being one of their most successful esport brands until this year I highly doubt they drop it entirely. That said, they have spent a decent amount on it and in 2026 did not receive the return they were likely hoping for. Maybe they do shutter the entire esport? I doubt it.

Idk, I'm coping. it was great to see zarya vendetta again, but seeing it dismantle VP was so sad. I begged kevster to get up mid match and fight, and there were flashes, but ultimately just crazy this squad with this talent lost. Im worried they cant break this ceiling. Maybe kevster peaked, or maybe he just needs to get back on tracer, Landon felt a little quiet today, eisgnom was getting bullied and abandoned. Seico looked better on bastion than tracer. I think Mr x brought up a good point that if kev was getting so many enemy resources poured into diving him, and the vp couldn't find wins in the teamfight elsewhere while that was happening, then what was happening?

May just be a coaching problem, but VP felt all over the place today, and left key members isolated often.

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - Korea Stage 3 - Regular Season

Streams
https://www.twitch.tv/ow_esports_jp
https://www.youtube.com/@ow_esports_jp

Reddit-stream

Schedule

This thread pulls match data from this liquipedia page. If it's out of date, you can help by updating that page. If something is wrong or missing please ping u/Watchful1 in the comments.

I’m looking to attend the grand finals my first LAN tournament, do we know if there had been any info about when exactly tickets would go on sale? It honestly looks like we might have to book flights and accomodation beforehand.

For anyone who has travelled for a LAN before, how far before the tournament were tickets released? How quick do they sell out? Is it worth going?

Thanks :)

Hi all - might be a dumb question but I honestly don't know where to start looking. Are there any tournaments for Emerald players? Where can I look to find a group or try outs? I'm a support main and would love to find a solid team to practice with. I play PC only, I'm open to role queue or open queue (if there's tournements for that). Thanks!

Overwatch Champions Series 2026 - NA Stage 3 - Regular Season

Streams
https://www.twitch.tv/ow_esports
https://www.youtube.com/@ow_esports

Reddit-stream

Schedule

This thread pulls match data from this liquipedia page. If it's out of date, you can help by updating that page. If something is wrong or missing please ping u/Watchful1 in the comments.

I've enjoyed Vendetta, just reached level 50 with her, and wanted to try something else. I figured Anran might be fun since at a glance she plays a bit like Vendetta. As someone who has less than 2 games on her, what tips can you give? Both for play style, common mistakes, dos and dont. And perhaps players to watch play and pick up on?

As a Reaper main, playing Reaper into Winston combo is dogshit this season because of bullet size nerf. Bastion is also dogshit since you need to hold your reconfigure for Winston to engage and you can't do much damage with basic primary due to bullet size nerf too. Same applies to Cass and Shion and other hitscan. With that 2 sec reduced on bubble it makes me feel like he has infinite shield. And with doctrine's attack speed buff, winston is now a boss being tanky and lethal.

Just checked the stats and his winrate is now climbing faster than Dmon to the top diamond - champ. Most of the time the team has winston wins the game. How do I play as dps in this situation? Especially when enemies has monsters like Sombra, Doctrine, Kiriko impossible to kill. I feel having so much less impact in the game as I used to.

This post isn’t because of any particular dislike against the current rework, but this is just my take on a Roadhog rework that I think can be fun while balancing him in some areas. Both the right click shot and Trash Compactor ability are still here, the primary fire has been changed so that it’s more effective in neutral, I did a pretty unique take on the damage reduction for Breather to address concerns there, and even the one-shot hook combo is still possible albeit it will take a lot more skill but also be more rewarding. Below is just an overall summary of my idea, but at the bottom is a Google Docs link for anyone interested in the specific details of it.

First off, my idea is that his primary fire will be turned into a much more toned down version of Whole Hog. It’ll have 24 bullets that do 50 damage per shot, has no knockback, has no recoil, the pellet spread will be changed to Scrap Gun's even wider circular pellet spread from before the rework, and it will be turned from a hitscan weapon into a projectile weapon so that isn't too oppressive. All the while still keeping his right click shot, which I gave a few minor buffs. This way his primary fire has better neutral and poke pressure, but it wouldn't be too oppressive at midrange let alone long range, which is what the right click shot is for. Though this primary fire can still shred people up close and can also shred through any barrier short of a Reinhardt shield pretty quickly. 

As for how his Trash Compactor ability will still be here with the right click shot back, just clicking right click will shoot the right click shot. But holding down the right click will activate the Trash Compactor ability which will be on a 10 second cooldown like it is right now.

As for a way to retain his hook one shot combo, I'd make it so that his hook can be canceled at any point in time after you hook a target. So for this idea, in order to land the one shot hook combo, you need to cancel the hook at right click shot's optimal distance and then also aim for the head. So it's a high risk, high reward in that you sacrifice pulling the enemy further out of position in order to try and land the combo. Conversely, as a reward for killing an enemy with this combo, I'd have it reduce hook cooldown by 3 seconds. I'd also make it so that for one second after you hook a target, Roadhog would also gain a 2.5x headshot multiplier for ONLY the right click shot. This would be to further incentive going for this more risky skill based combo since it would allow him to one shot a wider range of heroes that he couldn't even before the rework. Also the hook will drag enemies 3 meters in front of you like before instead of 4.5 meters.

Moving onto Breather, I'd have its healing, duration use, and cooldown reverted back to what it was before the rework. HOWEVER, the damage reduction buff now starts off significantly weaker but progressively gets stronger the longer you hold down Breather. Furthermore, the damage reduction buff now lasts after Breather is finished depending on how long it was used for. So for example, if you only use Breather for 1 second, for a little over 1 second afterwards he starts with a 25% damage reduction buff. If you use Breather for the full 3 seconds in 5v5, for the next 4 seconds he begins with a 75% damage reduction buff. HOWEVER, during this period, the damage reduction will steadily begin to weaken until it reaches 0%. This is identical to how Overhealth works in that it slowly disappears over a duration of time. This way he can actually be a tank and walk forward to pressure space without getting melted. But at the same time, he has a pretty short window to fully utilize it and won't be an unkillable damage sponge. Also this requires Roadhog to commit a lot of his Breather resource, so he'll be without a lot of his healing if he walks in too recklessly.

Since Whole Hog is now a toned primary fire, my idea for his new Ultimate will be a stronger version of Pig Pen called Pig House. It'll deploy over a 12 meter radius that inflicts heavier damage than Pig Pen, which also ignores armor, and slows down movement even more than Pig Pen. The real twist is that anyone who takes continuous damage for 3 seconds from Pig House will then be stunned for a full second. So this really places urgency on enemies to get out of Pig House as soon as possible. The Pig House will still be a destroyable object with 1200 HP, and it will last for 15 seconds if it isn't destroyed early. So this gives Roadhog a way to control or deny space, especially narrow chokeholds. Also this would pair extremely well with the Here, Piggy Piggy perk in that you can constantly hook people back into the Pig House.

For anyone who wants to get into the specific details of this idea like the numbers and percentages, they are all in the Google Doc link below. There are also other ideas, minor buffs, and quality of life adjustments in there that I didn't mention here. In the Google Doc, I've divided each part of his kit into separate tabs that are appropriately named.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14mXm-WospR25qIHNq1OKyjsQkm2aimbRgusyEkCOe3Y/edit?usp=sharing

Anyway, that's just my two cents on a rework for him. Hope y'all like it and any thoughts on it would be more than welcome.