Following our interview with Overwatch Contenders UK casters Tridd and Dezachu, Esports News UK sits down with fellow caster Jack “Jaws” Wright for his predictions this weekend.
Contenders is a competitive Overwatch competition managed by Blizzard, operating at a level below the Overwatch League (OWL).
The season is now close to its climax, with the finals taking place at LAN arena Alvernia Planet in Poland. George Moncaster asks Jaws about the teams, and their chances of winning.
Esports News UK: Do British Hurricane have a lot to worry about?
Jaws: I think the only thing they have to worry about is the adaptability and the odd pocket picks that CIS Hope can bring out. If they do their research and play reactively they will do well, as their hero pools are fairly big.
Do you have any favourites?
Personally I enjoy watching CIS Hope due to their ability to seemingly pull out anything. Mei is bae. Although Hurricane have players like Kragie and Kyb that can really just take control of the game very quickly.
What has been the biggest surprise for you in terms of team performance?
Angry Titans have been a nice surprise for me. They have not shown crazy innovation, but they know how to push a series to 5 games. So that match-up should be a blood bath.
Which team do you think has the best potential?
I think currently Hurricane has the best potential, alongside CIS Hope. So it’s pretty crazy that they are facing off. Having an org as big as C9/London Spitfire behind you is an insane benefit.
I know they have been boot camping and that is going to help a ton. There are no real weak links in CIS Hope either, I hope at least one of them gets picked up for a team in OWL.
What can we expect to see from the LAN event?
Hopefully we will see maps that were not played, I can’t really say for sure if that is going to happen but I know CIS Hope love to throw spanners in the works. More Mei please as well.
How can teams benefit from the event on the whole?
I mean, the players are going to be able to show they are OWL material as that is what Contenders is all about.
There are definitely some stars in the making right now, they just have to prove they can play on the live stage first!
Finally if you had to name one team to win, who would you choose and why?
I can’t really name a team as I think they all look so close. But I am hoping for a Hurricane vs Gigantti finals from a story point of view. The stacked org/roster vs the returning champs with Davin wanting to claim the win again. But if CIS Hope and AT get through as well that to will be an amazing series.
Thanks to Jaws for the interview! You can follow him on twitter here, and follow Overwatch Contenders here.
George has been writing general content for about two years now, and is now branching out into gaming and esports. He also runs a Twitch and YouTube channel and is currently at university.
"My first pieces were published on my stream network site TheBNN who have a small blog that's quite general," George said. "It was initially Overwatch mechanics and updates, but has begun to spread into other areas and other games.
"I also used to do a little remote casting for amateur CSGO teams, which I still do on rare occasion for a few orgs through Broadcast.gg. I'd really like to get some on camera experience with esports, and hope to cover content at LAN events or even end up hosting desks."
