On the 27th March 2018 competitive fans of Overwatch got the news we’ve all been waiting for. The announcement of the returning Overwatch World Cup for 2018, for the 3rd year in a row.
Starting in Season 9, Blizzard would track the average Skill Rating (SR) of each countries top 150 players. The top 24 nations at the end of the period would then be invited to compete in the 2018 Overwatch World Cup. With the finals being held in November at non other then BlizzCon itself! After the success of both previous years Overwatch World Cup, it was no surprise how quickly each countries community and players where to get behind it.
From March to April we saw the Country Qualification period, which saw Australia secure its spot once again in the top 24. You beauty! (Sorry to our cousins in New Zealand who didn’t make it, better luck next year my dudes!)
Throughout May our committee was established which was made up of General Manager (selected by Blizzard), Coach (selected by the country’s top 150 players) and a Community Lead (which went to an online vote by all players in the country).
This saw Australia filling the roles with:
- General Manager: Andrew “RQT” Haws – Former Shotcaller/Captain of the Australian 2017 OWWC team & BLANK Esports
- Coach: Jordan “Gunba” Graham – Assistant Coach for Los Angeles Valiant & Former support player for the Australian 2017 OWWC team & BLANK Esports
- Community Lead: Oasis “Oasis” Nip
June to July saw the top 24 countries run their Player Tryouts to find the best of the best to represent them in the coming group stages. After weeks of trials with Australia’s best (which was also streamed by heaps of the players, an absolutely great watch!) the committee had the difficult task of narrowing down the players to a Top 20, then even further to “The Final 12”
The 4th of July 2018 (Happy Independence Day America!) on the Australia 2018 WC Twitter page @AUSWC2018 the final 7 players where announced to represent Australia in the Thailand Group Stages for the Overwatch World Cup from August to October.
Introducing the 7 players representing Australia:
Trill
- Current Main Tank for BLANK Esports, competing in Contenders Pacific
- Main Tank for Australia 2017 Overwatch World Cup team
Punk
- Captain and Off Tank/Flex Role for Dark Sided, currently competing in Contenders Australia
Hus
- Current DPS/Flex player for BLANK Esports, competing in Contenders Pacific
Yuki
- Current DPS player for Dark Sided, currently competing in Contenders Australia
- Played for Australia 2016 Overwatch World Cup Team
ckm
- Current DPS player for BLANK Esports, competing in Contenders Pacific
Akraken
- Current Support players for Sydney Drop Bears (Season 1 Contenders Australia Champions), currently competing in Contenders Australia
Custa
- Current Professional Overwatch Support player for the Overwatch League team, Los Angeles Valiant
- Does a mean shoey
The boys will be representing Australia in the Thailand Group Stage against China, Spain, Denmark, Sweden (last year rivals) and Thailand. With the top 2 teams of the group moving on to the top 8 to play at BlizzCon in November. According to the Blizzard website our first match is against Spain on September the 13th.
Be sure to get behind the 2018 Overwatch Australian World Cup Team. The committee has done an amazing job with the team selection with Australia looking stronger then ever, looking to progress even further this year to show off the incredible talent that Australia has to offer. You can support and follow the team on Twitter @AUSWC2018 for the official team page, or follow the committee and players separately. We will be doing our best at GameOnAUS.com to keep everyone up to date on the Australian Team progress throughout the Overwatch World Cup 2018, but its up to you cheer them on! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!
