Toronto likely to be next Overwatch League team announced - Upcomer
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Toronto likely to be next Overwatch League team announced

This article is over 6 years old and may contain outdated information

News of new teams coming into the Overwatch League for season 2 are coming in quick and fast now. As of 2 weeks ago, the Overwatch twitter account announced Atlanta and Guangzhou as future teams. Along with the more recent Paris announcement, it seems like we are on the brink of a fourth team being confirmed for next year. But this time, it’s a Canadian team located in Toronto.

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A future Toronto team?

Coming from a report on over.gg, it seems like sources close to the Overwatch League think that Toronto is most likely to get an expansion team for the league. This makes sense, as there is a big Canadian Overwatch fanbase and yet no Canadian Overwatch League team. Toronto also seems the most likely city, considering their size and connection to all sorts of sports. They already have a hockey, soccer, basketball and baseball team. Two of those teams are the only Canadian teams in their respective league.

That means that it would be three if this Toronto Overwatch team came to fruition. With there being plenty of Canadian Overwatch players in the main league, this could change a lot. Some players may ask trades out of homesickness, even if it was just at the end of each Stage. Some others may want a fresh start on an expansion team. Either way, new teams make new challenges.

Who will be in charge?

These sources claim that the owner is unknown, but the team that would be in charge would be former Overwatch team Splyce. This former professional Overwatch team was founded in 2015 and disbanded mid-2017. While all their players were released and became free agents, some notable players were on that team. Overwatch League regulars Babybay, Clockwork and iRemiix were all former players on Splyce.

While the confirmation on Toronto isn’t released yet, there was a confirmation on more teams being added before the first season ended. With the rumored six teams being added with a large buy-in along with the success of the season, this seems very close to complete. As I mentioned in my Contenders article, the questions now are: which players from Contenders and free agency are going to play in Overwatch League next season? We can ask this for some teams, but Toronto being the option for Canada, what will be their roster? Will it be mainly Canadian, or will it be more of a mix? Will the main stage get a premade Contenders team? Or will it be unknowns making their name on the biggest Overwatch stage possible?

Team Canada as of 2017, making it far in the competition. Photo by Blizzard.

What does this mean for the league?

As I mentioned before, this means nothing but good for fans. With the Overwatch League World Cup arriving soon, a Toronto team would be perfect for the league. No matter what happens, the Canadian fans will want to watch more from their players. A Toronto team would take those Team Canada fans and make a great new fanbase. As of this most recent update in Overwatch, the player icon pool finally got the Canadian flag. The only thing to make it better was to add another Canadian item but most importantly into the competitive scene.

Author
Image of Michael Czar
Michael Czar
Polish-Canadian game enthusiast. I've been entrenched in gaming for as long as I can remember, with my first game being Pokemon Yellow and my most played games being Borderlands 2 and Overwatch. I have a degree in Film Studies, but writing about esports just makes my job all the better.