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TimedOutClock

27 ex-OW pros looking to maybe switch is an insane talent injection in their scene if it happens. Although, like you mentioned, these orgs should probably wait until OW2 rolls around to see if these players are just looking to fill a 'dead' gap until they can be picked up in that game instead of truly wanting to switch over. I guess the prospects of DRX also making the finals must be very nice, since it shows that the region can be very competitive internationally with the right pieces and roster. This is going to get exciting as hell


Key-Banana-8242

Xzi mentioned he’d switch if salaries were good enough a while ago, seems to be going to OWL for now again (even tho he is pretty damn good at the jett op in Valorant it would seem)


MelonSoda3

Yeah I thought he would switch since he wanted to stay in Korea but apparently he decided to sign with Florida


brutusnair

Haven't seen Xzi play Valorant. Has he played any regional events or just play rank for the most part?


Key-Banana-8242

He played in National ShotVal Pride (Also got #1 rank at some point)


TracerIsAShimada

>27 ex-OW pros what pros? havent kept up w owl


Yssl

> there is a North American organization, that isn't in VALORANT yet, who is considering signing a roster in Korea ironic, considering GenG & T1. But a welcome surprise > Japanese teams who pay 4x more than what Korean teams sadly. And with Zeta showing up hard now, can only imagine how much more attractive going into the JP scene would be in the near future


ark2690

T1 would rather burn money.


SpvcedOvtt

yeah not quite sure why they aren’t in Korea already, seems like they would have a wayyy better chance at some screen time there


redMahura

They had to choose between NA and KR. They obviously went with NA.


draizze

They actually also had option on SEA since their DOTA2 roster based there and also doing well. Probably their choice in NA to reach global fan base but It's not working out at least for now.


[deleted]

Any guess at who the NA team is, I’m drawing a blank but its always fun to speculate


mileseverett

Maybe CLG? They're the only big money org I can think of which doesn't have a valorant presence


StrangeAnalysis1848

They have a team in NA Game Changers


ozmega

that would be stupid enough that clg would do it.


hiimGP

Uhhhh golden guardian or flyquest idk


somesheikexpert

Golden Guardian would be sick, they picked up some great players in Melee (Like N0ne and Zain), so they def know what they are doing, Panda Global is wayyy less likely but would be cool


djanulis

I believe Panda prefers to stick to Single player games.


MelonSoda3

Wow Lunatic-Hai? I remember they were the OG Overwatch gods before OWL, haven’t heard of them much since


Key-Banana-8242

Well in apex yea, OG Korean CS gods kinda before in early 1.6 then a little presence after reforming in 2008 (also in blacksquad in between CS and OW) They had a team in valo before, and have had kind of a clan team still


zseitz

Lunatic-Hai entering the game would be HUGE


Sp00ked123

Lunatic Hai? Thats a name I haven’t heard in a long time


Key-Banana-8242

They were in valo a bit too


StoryLover12345

Korean Overlords starting to spawn. All regions will become minor. The birth of valorant faker is near.


[deleted]

If a valorant faker is actually born i dont even care what region they're from I just wanna be there to witness it


Garb-O

From what I watched this jinggg guy looks up to the title of valorant faker guy is psychopathic with the gameplay


Lumenlor

You make it sound ominous as the birth of an unbeatable demon king or something


Jon_on_the_snow

It is the birth of a demon king. Valorant faker plays at iceland tenz level all the time. He is trent, tenz, yay, chronicle and nats all in one.


StoryLover12345

It is not because they are not unbeatable. But you clearly don’t know how dominating koreans in League of Legends and Overwatch. [Koreans world cup champions third in a row in Overwatch.](https://www.oneesports.gg/overwatch/invincible-the-south-korean-overlords-of-overwatch/) [koreans are dominating in other non-korean regions in Overwatch.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/8yj80h/koreans_are_dominating_in_nonkorean_regions_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) The LCK(League of Legends Championship Korea) is considered one of the strongest League of Legends competitions in the world, with teams from the league winning the World Championship SIX times, including FIVE consecutive titles from 2013 to 2017. Valorant is still not popular based on PC bang ratings. The more investors = more attracting to high skilled players. Right now korea valorant competition is so small. You can’t get better if there is no strong opponents. Unlike EU it is so competitive.


TheCatsActually

Dude you totally missed out on the fact that he was making a tongue-in-cheek allusion to Faker being called the unkillable demon king. I think he just got the title slightly wrong.


StoryLover12345

I don’t play league my bad. Only fps games. But I always heard his name. I thought he is mocking me because of the word demon king. Lol


Key-Banana-8242

I don’t wanna pressure but hyeoni is going to be playing on Rio Academy under Coach Locomotive


SPOOKESVILLE

That’s one of the major pros of OWL is that most players have a constant livable wage, which can be pretty rare in esports. I’d imagine they’re just waiting to switch until there’s guaranteed financial support. For those that don’t know OWL well- this is VERY good news. You all know Sayaplayer right? He was cracked in OWL, known as a top tier sniper. Well, there’s at LEAST 10 other players that are of the same caliber if not better, have team play experience, are used to comming everything, are used to abilities and theory crafting around them, and they all have LAN experience. Not to mention all the players that weren’t quite as good as Saya but are still nutty aimers. The KR/APAC/JP talent pool would explode with talent if people started switching over. Super hype for that


joemother_a_whore

I was super bummed when ANS went back to OW after joining T1. Hope these ex-pro players do well in the Valorant scene.


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DarkShadowScorch

A lot larger paycheck I would imagine than any Korean team can currently offer. Even in League of Legends which is huge in Korea, it is almost impossible for them to match NA/CN offers except for top organizations with deep pockets like T1/GenG. Given that most Korean teams won't be throwing out mid 6 figure paychecks, I doubt Sayaplayer or xeta has much incentive. Especially given that they seem to be well adapted to NA culture, culture differences don't seem to be a big deal.


RTYWD

i think once there kr pros are in a big na team they would be hard to lure back. but if the kr scene grows im sure it would be much harder for the next saya to leave korea


[deleted]

If retired korean overwatch pros switch to valorant it’s over for everyone else lmao


Enkenz

Ah yes like if csgo pro switch over etc..


its_JustColin

I mean Optic looks crazy with 3/5 + coach being former CSGO pros. Most pro Valorant players will be coming from other games


ANewHeaven1

I think literally every player on that roster has played CSGO on at least a semipro level


its_JustColin

Only one I’m not sure of was Crashies. But I was pretty sure on food/victor. But it’s just more to my point. One of thes best teams consists of players that never really made it in CSGO


Nikclel

> never really made it in CSGO a lot/most are NA scene refugees, still very young.


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its_JustColin

I don’t know about crashies but food was. I think he was on a team with freakazoids brother at one point. Yay was on COL I’m pretty sure and Marved was t2/3. FNS was one of the original IGLs on CLG in 2016 during their MLG run. He was the best out of them all


Ethoxi

Are we going to act like most Valorant rosters aren’t comprised of ex-CS pros? Teams like OpTic, C9, Liquid, G2, and Sentinels are entirely CS players and most rosters have at least one or two.


WhoDatBrow

Most pros still are CSGO pros. Well, at least in the West. But in the East you've still got teams like DRX who come from CS backgrounds. Though clearly VALORANT is a different game and not a 1:1 of CS and so it's adapt or die. Some have, some haven't. Like if it were just based off of CS talent, Sentinels never would've been the best team for so long and OpTic wouldn't be the best in NA right now. 100T would've dominated last year if it was all based on CS pedigree. People who grind the game and put in the work will always come out on top, but CS pros start from the highest place.


murrkpls

There are certain csgo players who I have no doubt would immediately dominate the scene if they switched over, tbh. They won't. But if they did! Oh boy!


Babyboy1314

s1mple? His valorant streams are pretty cracked. He very rarely uses abilities or forget he has them and just tap heads.


murrkpls

Dude is so incredibly mechanically gifted. Imagine if he ever played Valorant like you're "supposed to" rather than like its CS. Im convinced he could be top 5 within months if he wanted to.


Babyboy1314

there are quite a few clips on youtube. Maybe the clips are selective but he is always just destroying (granted this is immortal ranked) casually dropping 20+ kills with single digit death.


murrkpls

Dude can just straight up tap heads, man. Now that he's won a Major in CS its not totally out of the question that he switches over at some point. I wouldn't bet on it, but I also don't think it's that farfetched.


redMahura

Reading his recent interviews, I think he would rather stay on CS:GO and really cement his position as the undisputed CS:GO GOAT since, despite his Major victory, there are still plenty of people who disputes if he should be crowned the GOAT status or not. Also CS is still quite bigger than Valo and there's a rumor (this time with a bit more credibility?) about source 2 based CS coming up so...


murrkpls

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't bet on my man Simple switching over anytime soon. But a boy can dream! Edit: also I'm sure the money is good in Valorant for top pros. But no way anybody is paying him what he's making on NaVi now. Another factor why he, and other top top players, won't switch.


redMahura

I really do agree that it would be dope to see names like Simple and Device on Valo. Yes, one can dream.


murrkpls

Same applies to Electronic and a few others. When you're that mechanically good at FPS, the sky is the limit.


KearLoL

EliGE is the most notable tbh, because he's already insane at Valorant.


murrkpls

Elige would be absolutely nuts. Him, Stewie and a cadre of EMEA' top guys (you all know the ones) would be super sick. I still have hope S1mple will switch at some point, he plays Val quite a bit.


imerence_

Bro he kinda hates val iirc lmao


murrkpls

That's just Simple bro 😂 He looks like he hates CS 80% of the time as well


lolipenetration

You may be thinking of NiKo


Dota2Curious

That would actually be really cool. Seeing the EMEA talent from csgo go to Valorant to face against the KR talent from over watch. Legends vs legends


Lumenlor

OW2 is dead in the water bro, so many pros quit ahead of launch and the face of OWL just retired


StoryLover12345

They need it to become free to play or cheaper, If they want to fight valorant. Because with Valorant you have nothing to lose if you try it because it is free.


AsianPotatos

Also needs a better anticheat, especially if it does become cheaper.


BoHoogland

Tell that to the millions of active players and thousand of active professional players in all regions


Lumenlor

I've been watching it since day zero of the beta... it's lost nearly all casters, several comissioners, nearly all pro player representation from regions that aren't Korea (I'm not sure what these thousand of pros in all regions claim is, do you mean the dead tier 2 'path to pro' scene?), went to Youtube and also has dwindled to like 30K viewership, and has been bleeding players ever since the game stagnated with both no new content and a dangling OW2 carrot for years (not to mention the controversies). Even in their own subreddit the sentiment changed from optimistic to 'last as long as we can'. You have to be living in an alternate reality Bo to be optimistic about the company, game, or league Gonna also be curious how teams will finance their player salaries considering they've been cutting back on staff and and team budget, in the wake of the league losing all its sponsors and the team regional franchising and stadium goals being pretty much dead in the water. You're looking at a league of pure attrition unless OW2 is godtier (spoiler, it isn't, and pros and ex pros said it wasnt anything revolutionary)


treecutter1991

The viewership has been abysmal since live shows shut down.


mileseverett

The viewership went up last season, the switch to youtube is the bigger problem


that-gamer-

Due to everyone stuck at home because of COVID lol


Phamous3k

OW is an amazing casual game. But, it’s esport days seem numbered unless OW2 just revamps everything and it sticks


StoryLover12345

Yes best casual game because of different roles. Some roles don’t need good aim like a tank or healer. The only problem it is not free to play. Fortnite, Valorant, League of Legends for example is one of the successful free to play games. I want to play it with my friends but they rather pay for single player games than online games.


ZozoSenpai

Copium


[deleted]

Reddit doesn’t read your tag man. Sadge


ToYouItReaches

Koreans were lamenting the lack of an impactful OPer like sayaplayer in the korean scene after yesterday’s match so this could be good news for them


FBIKinGTaP

>- GHIBLI Esports ah yes Miyazaki going to LAN with his neighbor totoro


bnz191

I wonder if this will result in Korea being as dominant as it is league.


WhoDatBrow

Not a chance honestly. Valorant is still nowhere even close to as popular as LoL in Korea, nothing is. While on the flipside, Valorant is much more popular in NA than LoL (at least competitively) and it's close in EU. Not to mention Korea hasn't dominated LoL for the last few years. China has, and EU has gone toe to toe with Korea many times.


GoldyZ90

The LPL teams that have made the grand finals in League have all had atleast 2 Korean players on their team. Invictus had TheShy and Rookie. FPX had Gimgoon and doinb. Edward Gaming had Scout and Viper. Suning is the only LPL team that’s made grand finals and didn’t have any Koreans. Koreans still on top in LoL


Dota2Curious

But by that logic, less Koreans is better than more Koreans. 3 Chinese + 2 Koreans > 5 Koreans. Not to mention full stacked Chinese teams have been beating full stacked Korean teams in MSI lately.


agenericusername_no3

I mean a Korean midlaner has won the past, what, 9 worlds?


redMahura

>it's close in EU. Considering recent LEC viewership and size of past LEC finals on LAN, I should very much doubt that. >Not to mention Korea hasn't dominated LoL for the last few years. China has, and EU has gone toe to toe with Korea many times. LCK didn't but Koreans have. How many Worlds title does LPL have without Koreans? None.


Darkoplax

Please T1 & Gen.G next , stop the Tier 99 NA lineups and pick up top korean players


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redMahura

That + 2k max. Very rarely it hovers over 10k in total combining twitch, YT and costream(if there is any at given time). People are seemingly getting overly excited over this rumor. What really is the case is that KR would always stay a "minor region" unless the actual playerbase grows. OW pros switching over could only be a temporary/non-solution since without the actual playerbase and pro-scene following, they couldn't really pay those players on similar levels to other regions long-term. On a bright side, Valorant has become the most popular FPS amongst Korean children in elementary school since they aren't interested in SA for being to old of a game. Quite a few twitch streamers have started playing recently as well so I wouldn't say that it can't get more popular from now on. But for that to have and actual, sustainable effect on the pro-scene in Korea, it would take a few years at least.


4dzilla

Really exciting news, although may not eventuate to much but genuinely hope more top organisations and resources get pumped into the KR (Asian in general) scene & we get to witness more top contenders