As of now, all teams are set for Overwatch League Season 2. Let’s recap what was revealed so far.

Washington is now Washington Justice with Full Rosters!

Washington decided to go with a very patriotic with the USA by announcing the team branding as Washington Justice with the colour red, blue, & white alongside their team colours.

Courage, honor, loyalty, sacrifice. But most important is justice ??

We're stoked to be a part of #OWL2019 and we can't wait to show you everything we've got! #JusticeIsServed pic.twitter.com/9I8OEo1xdd

— Washington Justice (@washjustice) December 3, 2018

The team is owned by Washington Esports Ventures, a sports organization founded by Mark Ein, owner of the Washington Kastles of World Team Tennis.

In a series of tweets, Washington also announced their full rosters which comprised of players from Korean Contenders, ex-Shanghai Dragons, ex-Seoul Dynasty, & North America Contenders. Here’s the full list of players:

1. Corey “Corey” Nigra – DPS (previously Gladiators Legion, NA Contenders)
2. Ethan “Stratus” Yankel – DPS (previously NRG Esports, NA Contenders)
3. Kim “SanSam” Hyang-ki – Off Tank (previously Meta Athena, KR Contenders)
4. Mun “Gido” Gi-do – Flex Support (previously Seoul Dynasty, OWL 2018)
5. Riley “Fahzix” Taylor – Support (previously NRG Esports, NA Contenders)
6. Cho “Hyeonu” Hyeon-woo – Support (previously WGS Armament, KR Contenders)
7. Cheon “Ado” Ky-Hyeon – DPS (previously Shanghai Dragons, OWL 2018)

Where there is unity, there is always victory ??#JusticeIsServed pic.twitter.com/5mmiYsiVbw

— Washington Justice (@washjustice) December 6, 2018

I’m just glad to see Ado is back in the OWL scene. Though Shanghai did not win a single map during OWL 2018, he was a really good DPS player.

Overwatch League Releases Opening Schedule During New Episode of Watchpoint

With all the teams having announced their team branding & rosters, the Overwatch League broadcasted a 2+ hour special of Watchpoint, a show to preview upcoming matches.

In this special Watchpoint episode, the casters and analyst of OWL which include Soe, Puckett, Bren & Sideshow made their own analysis of the team rosters & predictions of OWL 2019 outcome. They certainly did not mince their words.

There you have it. ?

These are your #OWL2019 opening week matchups!

Which one are you the most hyped for!? pic.twitter.com/vPUOZOW9vn

— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) December 6, 2018

You can watch the whole recording of Watchpoint on Twitch here. During this episode, they worked with the V for Foundation of Cancer Research to raise awareness and donation for cancer research. We thank the people in Overwatch League for including this foundation as part of the episode.

Malik also took the chance to interview Sleepy & Danteh who used to be teammates together but now are on different teams; as well as the Atlanta Reign CEO & President who told everyone that he main D.Va but was very bad at the game.

The show introduced significant format changes for OWL 2019 which will start 14 February. These include the following:

• Four-day matches instead of three per week due to the increasing number of teams.
• All-Stars now will be played at the end of Stage 2 instead of Grand Finals.
• There will now be road games, where the teams will be playing at their home turf instead of Blizzard Arena 100%
• The top 6 teams will move to the playoffs. The bottom six team will compete for the other 2 spots for playoffs.

Valentine’s Day next year can’t come soon enough!

Overwatch Won Best Esports Game in The Game Awards 2018

The Game Awards gave the “Best Esports Game” trophy to Overwatch, beating out other games in the category like CS:GO and Dota 2.

Best Esports Game goes to… @PlayOverwatch! #TheGameAwards

— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 7, 2018

Gamer’s Choice Awards – Profit, Monte, DOA & Goldenboy won Awards

As the year almost ends, more awards are being awarded and I’m glad to see more Overwatch players & casters getting the wins.

Named as the first ever network gaming and esports awards show, the Gamers’ Choice Awards was announced earlier this week. Profit took home the award for Fan Favorite Esports Player of the Year, while Monte & DOA took home the Fan Favorite Esports Caster Duo of the Year!

Congrats to @MonteCristo & @ggDoA for winning the very first #gamerschoiceawards
For Fan Favorite Esports Caster Duo of the Year!
?? pic.twitter.com/kbDSrqEnhu

— Gamers' Choice Awards (@gamerschoicetv) December 9, 2018

Congrats to @ProfitOW for winning the very first #gamerschoiceawards
For Fan Favorite Esports Player (Overwatch) of the Year!
?? pic.twitter.com/tDNohzwWmR

— Gamers' Choice Awards (@gamerschoicetv) December 9, 2018

Goldenboy snagged another award for Fan Favorite Esports Host of the Year. Congratulations to everyone!

CONGRATULATIONS TO @GoldenboyFTW
For Fan Favorite Esports Host!!#gamerschoiceawards pic.twitter.com/46S9mrnrRY

— Gamers' Choice Awards (@gamerschoicetv) December 9, 2018

Striker Gets Released By Boston Uprising, Gets Picked Up By San Francisco Shock

In a world where the GOATS tactic rule the meta, the Boston Uprising has released their star Tracer player, Striker.

This came as a surprise as it was for Striker & Mistakes -who was also released by Uprising- that brought the team to their amazing performance in Stage 3. Boston now has 2 DPS in their team, blase & Colourhex.

Today we bid farewell to @STRIKER_OW.

Thank you for your hard work and we wish you the best with @SFShock.

?: https://t.co/fO6NyQd29K pic.twitter.com/nd5UYedZOD

— Boston Uprising (@BostonUprising) December 3, 2018

Striker, being the amazing DPS as he is, has found a home with San Francisco Shock. This addition can be considered a shock factor as San Francisco now have a total of 6 DPS users in their team.

Chef @ShockCrusty is cooking something special for Season 2 of @OverwatchLeague…

One ingredient was missing… Until now pic.twitter.com/dhO5Rq6tGx

— San Francisco Shock (@SFShock) December 3, 2018

I’m not sure what is Shock trying to achieve. Perhaps they have the answer to the current GOATS meta, but having 6 DPSes in a team is a bit much. We’ve seen Sinatraa being benched quite a lot last time during OWL 2018. Maybe we’ll see some sick plays from Shock next season, but this certainly raises questions among the community.

Boston Uprising Signed alemao

Alemao might be the first South America Contenders player to make it to the Overwatch League. Signed as the main support for Boston Uprising, alemao will fight alongside AimGod & Kellex who was the previous support duo.

Bem vindo, @alemao182!

We’re happy to have you as a part of #BostonUp. pic.twitter.com/dmD4tocNcY

— Boston Uprising (@BostonUprising) December 5, 2018

Alemao was previously with based tryouts, a team formerly known as Brasil Gaming House. The team had won both Season 1 & Season 2 of South America Contenders. I do hope more talented players from South America will make it to the league!

ZachaREEE Joined Dallas Fuel

In the latest addition for Dallas Fuel, we have ZachaREE who is now Dallas Fuel’s Flex DPS.

Give a warm welcome to our 10th player and new flex DPS, @zacklombardo! ?? pic.twitter.com/QUIAi9hahD

— Dallas Fuel (@DallasFuel) December 3, 2018

​ZachaREE is only 17 years old, and at his age he has represented Team USA in the Overwatch World Cup 2018. He was also the DPS player for Fusion University, the team that won both Season 1 & Season 2 of North America Contenders.

ZachaREE’s name had been on the mouth of the community what’s with him being 17 and showing massive talent as DPS, particulary as Widowmaker. We have a lot of Widowmaker stars currently in the Overwatch League.

Dallas Fuel now have 4 DPS in their team; ZachaREE, Taimou, EFFECT & aKm. Though not as many DPS as San Francisco Shock, we wonder whether Dallas Fuel have also found an answer to the GOATS meta in the coming season.

Showmatch Between Seoul Dynasty & Guangzhou Charge

Seoul Dynasty announced a Pacific Challenge exhibition match between Seoul Dynasty & Guangzhou Charge.

ANNOUNCING THE PACIFIC CHALLENGE!

Are you ready to watch the #SeoulDynasty take on the @GZCharge?

Tickets go on sale today at 4PM KST! Check back on our SNS for the link later today!!

Come & watch your favorite players before they head off to @overwatchleague! pic.twitter.com/uh2qCORnXA

— Seoul Dynasty ? (@SeoulDynasty) December 11, 2018

This is not just an online challenge. In fact, this event sounds more like a fan meet than anything. The friendly showmatch will be held at the Incheon Paradise City Hotel on 29-December-2018, 5pm Malaysia time/ GMT+8. This will be the final event for the fans to meet their players before they the country for OWL 2019.

There will also be a private fan meet and performance by Kpop/HipHop group, Epik High. Another interesting tidbit to note is that not only the fans will be able to meet the players, they can also take photos with the players “styled in the latest trends”.

I wonder what will Ryujehong looked like in the latest trends what with his latest hair do. (Thank you to gatamchun for the translations)

Seoul Dynasty to hold a friendly showmatch with Guangzhou Charge https://t.co/FzzMUNGFGJ

— ??? (@gatamchun) December 11, 2018

It’ll be two more months to OWL 2019 in Los Angeles. You can bet there will be more news and updates during the off-season. Stay tuned to Kakuchopurei for that.