FINALLY. After weeks of no news, Vancouver’s franchise in the upcoming second season of the Overwatch League is on tap.
A post by Dextero.com’s Bill Cooney says the Vancouver entry into the Overwatch League will make itself known to the esports universe on Saturday, Dec. 1 with a launch party in the Sportsbar at Rogers Arena at 1:30 p.m. (at the same time, the National Hockey League Canucks will host the Dallas Stars).
The squad is owned by Canucks Sports and Entertainment and is one of eight new teams added for the second season of OWL; preseason matches start Dec. 3, and the regular season is scheduled to begin on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14).
A previous post on Dextero by Joe O’Brien showed a grainy screen grab of an apparent reveal of the logo and colours of Vancouver’s team, although a tweet by ReadySetPwn says that while the colours are likely legit, the Yeti logo is “fake.” According to Dextero, the name will be the Titans and the colour scheme features the exact blue-and-green palette the Canucks use. If confirmed, at least the branding will be consistent.
No word yet on the composition of the West Coast contingent, but league rules state each team must have a minimum of eight players signed by Dec. 1; whether any names will be revealed during the Dec. 1 unveiling is conjecture at this juncture. Speculation by Dextero’s O’Brien says the OWL Contenders Korea Season 2 champions RunAway have been signed to compete in OWL and may be the players on the Vancouver franchise.
If the rumours are true about the entire RunAway team being on Vancouver’s roster, this piece by Ethan “Premier” Shin has some thoughts on how they might perform.
Calgary-based Luminosity Gaming, which runs teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and Fortnite, had been connected to the effort; as of this post, though, there is no news on its site about any involvement it may have with Vancouver. Regardless, despite the last-minute nature of all this, it appears the Titans (or whatever the team’s nickname will be officially) are ready to step into the Overwatch League spotlight.
– Bo Ramone