Talk about unexpected news. The Philadelphia Fusion have signed popular streamer and DPS player Philip “ChipSa” Graham.
What it's like when an Overwatch League team plays around a Doomfist?
We're about to find out.
Please welcome the greatest, least-unlucky, Doomfist in the world – @ChipSa_OW!
📺: https://t.co/hpijalH4rT pic.twitter.com/PPHzDWqrvE— Philadelphia Fusion (@Fusion) November 26, 2019
Not so unlucky
ChipSa played in the past in tournaments, from the middle to the end of 2016, but transitioned to full-time streaming afterward. After a long time doing so, he gained recognition for getting to the top of the competitive leaderboards in Europe. Not only was it impressive, but he did so primarily playing one hero: Doomfist. Even with how Doomfist has fallen in and out of the meta, he persevered and kept grinding on that hero. Statistically, he is one of the best Doomfist players in the world.
However, questions had lingered about how to compare ChipSa to the rest of the world. How does he compare to other popular streamers like last season favorite Daniel “dafran” Francesca?
Not without controversy
With this signing, some of the Overwatch community is annoyed and disappointed. While ChipSa is good enough for the league, a lot of fans were sad other players in the Contenders scene or international scene were ignored, especially with some standout players in this past World Cup still not being signed, such as Doomfist player Lucas “Leaf” Loison or Netherlands DPS player Jeffrey “Vizility” de Vries.
However, there is likely one big reason ChipSa made it in over those two players: a connection to Christopher “ChrisTFer” Graham, an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Fusion. ChrisTFer is ChipSa’s brother and certainly put a word in to the team for acquiring him. This signing seemed to have sent a message to the community that being a popular streamer can outweigh playing on true teams for many years.
And while people might compare ChipSa to other streamers that entered the league, two of the most popular ones did have intense experience in the competitive Overwatch scene beforehand. In ChipSa’s case, that experience is just from ranked and half a year of competition three years ago. Although, we don’t know if he trialed and outplayed the other names mentioned.
How does the Fusion look with ChipSa?
The Philadelphia Fusion have a Doomfist specialist now. They had DPS play that hero before, but nobody really stood out on him in previous years on the Fusion. But the main questions that will arise with ChipSa are — will he even get played? And can he work well on a mixed roster team?
If they can get him to work with the team, he could be a nice trap card to play against teams expecting to face his teammates. But considering ChipSa is a player who has been known to get angry at the game, this signing could be just a “name” acquisition too.
Published: Nov 27, 2019 11:25 am