Blizzard is inviting some of the most well-known Overwatch players from more than 50 different countries to participate in the first Overwatch World Cup.
And it has hand-picked some of Britain’s best eSports players and streamers to take part and represent their country. Some of those include the following:
- Mark “Valkia” Purdy, streamer
- Seb “numlocked” Barton, captain of Creation eSports
- Mark “Phantasy” Pinney, Team EndPoint
- Kruise, REUNITED
- Kyb, REUNITED
- Marcus “Realzx” Vining
- Robin “WarSpiritUK” Aird
- Wacko
- Hayes
- Two members of Velox
- Dids
- We’ve also heard Soodle from Team Xenex and Marcus Bell have been invited, but as of yet we have not seen confirmation of their invites
(if we’ve missed anyone, please help us update this article by letting us know in the comments section below this article or via ENUK’s Twitter).
Blizzard says it has nominated “a mix of representatives from each participating country” to potentially participate in the Overwatch World Cup, including “pro gamers, skilled community personalities from the area, and local players who’ve climbed the ranks in Season 1 of competitive play”: Players who have ‘distinguished themselves within the community’.
“Players are nominated based on a variety of criteria, including their skill, in-game performance, community standing in the country and more,” Blizzard said in a statement. “Our goal was to select a well-rounded group of players for the community to choose from to represent their country or region.”
Kruise told eSports News UK who he’d like to play with:
@eSports_News_UK The team I am looking to play with is @numlocked @Kyb_b @Realzx_ I don’t mind who the other two are, we can win for sure.
— Kruise (@KruiseOW) August 8, 2016
From this Thursday (August 11th), Overwatch players will be able to vote for who the want to see on their country’s team roster.
After voting is over and each country’s players have been selected, teams will face-off in the Overwatch World Cup best-of-three single-elimination online qualifiers, starting in September.
16 teams will progress to round-robin group stages, and single-elimination finals will take place at BlizzCon in November.
Here are the countries that will be taking part:
Here are some of the invited UK players we’ve spotted so far, so you can follow them and vote for who you like come August 11th. (if we’ve missed anyone, please let us know in the comments section below this article or via ENUK’s Twitter).
gonna count on your votes on the 11th represent the UK! ???? pic.twitter.com/9AFsJubSge
— Seb Barton (@numlocked) 5 August 2016
Get me on that team UK bois pic.twitter.com/4X3xKh0SYf
— phantasy (@phantasyftw) August 5, 2016
?? I will be needing your votes soon! ?? pic.twitter.com/kDo5SRazby
— Kruise (@KruiseOW) August 5, 2016
I’ve been nominated to represent Team UK in the Overwatch World Cup at Blizzcon 2016! Voting starts Aug 11th, will need all your help! 😀 😀
— War Spirit (@WaRSPiRiTUK) August 5, 2016
Lets go, TeamUK hype? ?? pic.twitter.com/i5eHJOQmJz
— Marcus (@Realzx_) August 5, 2016
Looks like I got nominated for the Overwatch World Cup, FeelsGoodMan
— Dids (@M_Dids) August 5, 2016
Click the below image to see a full enlarged copy of the invite:
Elsewhere, details of the Overwatch Atlantic Showdown have been revealed.
Picture credit: Valkia via Facebook
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
