Halo & EMEF Predicts: The Global Loot League North American & European, Middle East & African 25k Apex Legends Grand Finals

By Alistair "EMEF" & Arran "Halo" Brown

GlobalLoot League Apex Legends Series marks the first non-EA/Respawn-hosted event in Apex Legends’ lifespan, and the first online event with qualifiers to be played on custom servers. For a couple of teams, this event marks their first tier 1 Apex pro experience, after coming up in the unofficial T1 Scrim League, Apex.Pro League, or for some teams, the game’s in-game ranked ladder as their first competitive successes. Other teams will be looking for redemption after a poor and unrepresentative performance at the Apex Preseason Invitational in Krakow, and are finally getting a shot at redemption, and to the world the talent they had all along. For either kind of player, this event will define have extreme hunger in its competition, being the only big event in months, and we could not be more excited to see how it all unfolds.

Sources: The Paris Eternal Are Considering A Return To Overwatch Contenders

The Paris Eternal have been considering a return to Overwatch Contenders Europe and are likely to reintroduce their Academy team in the 2020 season, sources have told haloofthoughts

Sources: Element Mystic Are Looking To Expand Into League of Legends

Korean Overwatch Contenders powerhouse Element Mystic are looking to expand their organisation with a move into League of Legends, multiple sources have told haloofthoughts.

Sources: Gladiators Legion Are To Consider Leaving Overwatch Contenders

Written By Arran "Halo" Brown

The Los Angeles Gladiators are considering whether to withdraw Gladiators Legion from Overwatch Contenders and become the second Overwatch League team this offseason to announce they are taking a hiatus from the scene, sources have told haloofthoughts.

Sources: The Vancouver Titans Are Looking To Trade Main Tank Sang-Beom "Bumper" Park

The Vancouver Titans are looking to trade Main Tank Sang-Beom "Bumper" Park after signing Former Seoul Dynasty Main Tank Chang-Hyung "Fissure" Baek, multiple sources have confirmed to haloofthoughts.

Why Overwatch Contenders Players Should Consider Switching To Apex Legends

More professional Overwatch players should consider a switch from Overwatch Contenders and focus on professional Apex Legends! It's a strange statement to read if you look at the current position each game has in the esport hemisphere. However, with the Overwatch League currently in its offseason where most teams know who they want, the recent changes to Overwatch Contenders and with the professional circuit in Apex Legends soon to be announced. Now is the perfect time for players to consider the switch.

Sources: Element Mystics Head Coach Hee-Won "Rush" Yun & DPS Yeong-Han "Sp9rk1e" Kim To Join OWL Together

Element Mystics Head Coach Hee-Won "Rush" Yun & DPS player Yeong-Han "Sp9rk1e" Kim are joining the league together as a package and have multiple offers from Overwatch League teams, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to haloofthoughts.

The Apex Pro League Deserves To Be Involved In The Online Tournament Circuit For The Support It Has Given The Pro Scene So Far

The first professional Apex Legends preseason has been completed with the X-Games, Preseason Invitational and Twitch Rivals at TwitchCon in the books. With TSM taking the X-Games and Preseason Invitational and NRG and Sentinals taking their respective Twitch Rivals groups, we are now awaiting on the announcement of exactly how the professional circuit will work moving forward. While this is likely to be within the next few weeks, it is also the perfect time to take a look back at how one group have ensured that when the time came for Apex Legends to arrive at its grand esport destination, it's best players would be ready and prepared to play at the highest level. That group is the Apex Pro League and they deserve to be involved in the online events Respawn has planned.

London Spitfire Mutually Agree To Terminate Birdring, Guard, Nus & Jfeel's Contracts

The London Spitfire have started their off season roster shake up by mutually agreeing to terminate the contracts of DPS players Ji-Hyeok "Birdring" Kim and Hee-Dong "Guard" Lee, Main Support Jong-Seok "Nus" Kim & coach Jeong-Min "Jfeel" Kim.

BoohooMan's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint Competition

The latest instalment of Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series arrives on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One on Thursday 4th October with Ghost Recon Breakpoint. To celebrate the release, boohooMAN.COM are giving you the chance to win £2,000 cash, a 50” 4K LG TV, Xbox One X console, plus Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint on Xbox. Ten runners up will win Ghost Recon Breakpoint on the Xbox One.

Through The Apex: An Interview With Penta's Herman "Nesh" Kobrin, Matthieu "Oraxe" Ribiere, Jack "Wacko" Middleton & Team Manager Iris "Tea" Ho

By Arran "Halo" Brown

The Apex Legends Preseason Invitational at the Alvernia Studios in Krakow, Poland, introduced fans to some of the scenes best players when they invited 80 different teams to take part in their 80 event on the 13th - 15th of September. It allowed developers Electronic Arts and Respawn to show just what developer back major tournaments will look like when the games pro circuit comes into effect soon. One of the teams who were invited to the event were Penta, who I considered as one of the teams to look out for during the tournament. With an experienced roster across multiple esports titles Herman "Nesh" Kobrin, Matthieu "Oraxe" Ribiere and Jack "Wacko" Middleton, are a team that have been together from the games early days of Apex Legends, playing in the European Apex Pro League and one that will need to be on many analysts radars after an impressive performance and an 8th place finish. Today the boys alongside team manager Iris "Tea" Ho, have sat down and answered a few questions following the Preseason Invitationals conclusion. 

The Best Of Burbank: The Best Overwatch League Games At The Blizzard Arena In The Opinion Of DoA, MonteCristo, Puckett, Sideshow & Wolf

By Arran "Halo" Brown

Burbank, California has been the home of The Overwatch League during its first two seasons of existence and with the San Francisco Shock beating the New York Excelsior 4-0 last weekend, it marked the end of an era in Overwatch Leagues short history as it hosts as the leagues last game has been played at the Blizzard Arena and the Shock and Vancouver Titans now head to the Grand Finals at the Well Fargo Centre in Philadelphia in one weeks time. After that, the teams finally make plans to arrive in their home cities and the league goes international.

EMEF's In-depth Breakdown Of The Krakow Preseason Invitational

(Picture courtesy of EA)

By Alistair "EMEF"

This weekend saw the first Major-level tournament of Apex Legend’s life cycle, located in Krakow, Poland, where 80 teams competed for their share of 500,000 USD. Hosted internally by EA and Respawn, organisers spared no expense in making the event as special as possible for the Apex Community, and to add as many members to their ranks as possible. Overall, I think everyone would consider this event a resounding success.

EMEF & Halo's Guide For The Apex Legends Pre-Season Invitational

Krakow Apex Legends Preseason Invitational marks the first EA/Respawn-hosted event in Apex Legends’ lifespan. For some teams, this event marks their first LAN experience, after coming up in the unofficial Apex. Pro League (APL) as their first competitive successes, and are finally getting a shot at proving to the world their talents on the big stage, being unable to do so for the first 6 months of the game. For others, however, LAN events are where they have historically shined in other major esports titles such as PUBG, Overwatch, and Counter Strike, and they look to continue their legacy in a fresh title. For either kind of player, this event will define the rest of their Apex Legends career, and we could not be more excited to see how it all unfolds. 

Sources: North American Contenders Team Wave Check, Have Been Signed By Simplicity

Multi game esport organisation Simplicity have signed the coaching staff and playing roster from North American Contenders organisation Wave Check, sources close to the deal have confirmed.

Ramblings Through The Halo: The Overwatch League Needs To Embrace Players With Attitude

Aches, Doublelift, Karrigan and Perkz. These are just some of the names that fans from other major esports know as players that have incredible talent but who are also known to trash talk anyone they feel deserves it, even if their respective esports fanbase see their comments as being controversial. On Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles Valiant's Kitkat Rivalry Weekend Homestand, the Atlanta Reign's Flex Support Dusttin "Dogman" Bowerman became the first player in the Overwatch League to take on this mantel, and it's something that the Overwatch League is in desperate need of. As it needs more players who are willing to provide public trash talk.

Report: Monkey Bubble To Host 18 Nation European Cup Fundraiser For The Competing Overwatch World Cup Teams

Overwatch tier 2 event organisers Monkey Bubble have finalised a 18 nation tournament as a warm up for the Overwatch World Cup and that provides an opportunity to help fund teams outside of this year’s top 10 to attend the Overwatch World Cup, a sources close to the negations has told HaloOfThoughts. 

Preparing The Seige: A Look At Europe and North American Contenders At The Raleigh Major

The final Major on the Rainbow Six Siege calendar has arrived, with the 16 top teams in the world all preparing to enter the Raleigh Convention Centre from August 12th to compete for the honour of being the first winners of an American major. Here at HaloOfThoughts, we are going to break down what to expect coming in.

Atlanta Reign Off-Tank Dong-Hyung "Daco" Seo Is Still With The Reign, Despite Branding Removal.

Atlanta Reign Off-Tank Dong-Hyung "Daco" Seo is still apart of the Reign organisation and has not been told he will be released from the organisation, despite him recently removing all Atlanta branding from his social media pages, sources with knowledge of the situation as told haloofthoughts.

Aces High: An Interview With London Spitfire DPS Jun-Young "Profit" Park

With the Overwatch League and the London Spitfire in the home stretch of the 2019 season, attention is starting to head towards the playoffs in both the play-in tournament and the playoffs to make the Grand Finals. Stage 4 has started off strongly for the Spitfire, despite the teams surprising loss to the Florida Mayhem they sit on a healthy 3-1 record going into their final 3 games of the stage. Today’s Aces High features an interview with the teams star DPS player who's been able to return to the heroes he's known for due to the arrival of Role Lock and is the current Grand Finals MVP Jun-Young "Profit" Park.

The Undervaluation of Hyo-Jong "Haksal" Kim

What if I told you that Hyo-Jong "Haksal" Kim of the Vancouver Titans is the most undervalued player in the 2019 season of the Overwatch League? You are likely to think that this is a bad take and usually you would be right. However, despite having a very strong season so far, Haksal is the most undervalued player in the league this season!

Why The Philadelphia Fusion & The Guangzhou Charge Trades Makes Sense

LANimals assemble and let Fragi frag, these are the two slogans to come from the recent trade where the Philadelphia Fusion traded Main Tank Joona "Fragi" Laine to Guangzhou Charge for Flex DPS Findly "Kyb" Adisi last week. The Charge also on the same day brought the contract of Off-Tank Bischu to complete their stage 4 roster. While a lot of people are confused by the trade, haloofthoughts will look to break the trade down that was reported here first.

How London Grounded Themselves In Stage 3 & Need To Take Flight In Stage 4

When you think of how good the London Spitfire is, your first thoughts are likely taking you back to stage 1 and 2 of 2018, the incredible stomping during the playoffs when they took aim at the Gladiators, Valiant and Fusion on their to winning the inaugural season and the fact they have at least 3 world-class players in their positions in Fury, Gesture, and Profit. 

The MVP Case For Jin-Hyeok "Dding" Yang

With the stage 3 finals of the 2019 season now upon us, we are at the perfect point to start thinking about the end of season awards and which players deserve them. The league MVP is the most prestigious award a player of the league can have and by definition its awarded to "the player judged to be the outstanding player in a sport during a particular season or championship". One player that this applies to is the Shanghai Dragon's Flex DPS Jin-Hyeok "DDing" Yan.

Guangzhou Charge Trade Finley "Kyb" Adisi For Joona "Fragi" Laine, Trade cash for Hyung-Seok "Bischu" Kim

The Guangzhou Charge have traded DPS player Finley "Kyb" Adisi to the Philadelphia Fusion for Main Tank Joona "Fragi" Laine and also traded cash considerations for Los Angeles Gladiators Off Tank Hyung-Seok "Bischu" Kim, sources with knowledge of the trade have told haloofthoughts. 

Report: How 2-2-2 Will Affect The Overwatch League & Contenders

The 2-2-2 Composition lock will be implemented prior to stage four of the Overwatch Leagues 2019 season but will not be used in Contenders until either The Gauntlet or the first season of 2020, league sources have told haloofthoughts.

Sources: The Shanghai Dragons Have Completed A Trade For Toronto Defiant's Off Tank Kang-Jae "Envy" Lee

The Shanghai Dragons have acquired Off Tank Kang-Jae "Envy" Lee from the Toronto Defiant for cash, league sources have told haloofthoughts.

Report: Samsung Morningstars Main Tank Simon "Chubz" Vullo Has Been Banned From Overwatch Contenders Europe For Two Weeks Due To Toxicity.

Samsung Morningstar Main Tank Simon "Chubz" Vullo has been replaced by Richard "PIPou" Buscemi, after Chubz's was banned by Blizzard for the first two weeks of the season.

Report: The Overwatch League Will Not Be Implementing The 2-2-2 Composition Lock For Stage 3

The Overwatch League have confirmed to all 20 teams that their will be no composition lock for stage 3 of the 2019 season.

Report: Florida Mayhem Are Close To Signing WGS Armament’s Gargoyle, Karayan & O2 Blast’s Myunbong

The Florida Mayhem are reportedly close to signing WGS Armament tank duo Beom-Jun “Gargoyle” Lee, San-Ha “Karayan” Choi and O2 Blast Support player Sang-Min “Myunbong” Seo from Contenders Korea.

Burning Blue: An Interview With Main Tank Min-Seok ”OGE” Son

With their homestand complete and the Dallas Fuel firmly locked in for the stage two playoffs, I’ve spoken to OGE about some of his current thoughts the homestand weekend, the Houston Outlaws, the Fuel right now and the All-Star/Overwatch World Cup.

Barely A Gang, Definitely Not Outlaws: A Look At The Houston Outlaws In Their Current State

Ultimate Weekend Dallas is in the book and while it was the homestand for the Fuel, it was also a chance for the Houston Outlaws to play in their home state for the very first time. The outcome for Houston wasn’t what the team wanted, with their first result being a 4-0 loss to Seoul and then losing the Battle of Texas to the hometown boys Fuel 3-1, thus continuing the abysmal early season for the Outlaws. We’ll be going through where everything has gone wrong for the Houston Outlaws and how they can’t go Texas Hard or Ante Up!

Halo’s Expectations: Budlight Dallas Homestand

The first of two team home events is here with the Dallas Fuel hosting their homestand weekend at the Allen Event Centre on Saturday and Sunday. With their being a sold out crowd of 4,500 expected for each day, it’s time to go through what I expect to happen over this weeks games

Report: Atlanta Reign Off Tank Dong-Hyeong “Daco” Seo Was Benched Due To Behaviour

The Atlanta Reign allegedly benched their starting Off Tank Dong-Hyeong “Daco” Seo for the first two weeks of stage two, after the team had reached their limit with his behaviour.

Report: Envy Release Mads “Fischer” Jehg After Accusations Of Leaking The Uprising/Valiant Trade

North American Contenders academy team Envy released DPS player Mads “Fischer” Jehg from their roster, after Envy’s coaching staff accused him of being the player who leaked information to the Boston Uprising players about the now failed Uprising-Valiant trade.

Report: How The Uprising & Valiant Trade Broke Down

On March 22nd a four player trade between the Boston Uprising and the Los Angeles Valiant involving the Uprising's Main Tank Cameron "Fusions" Bosworth & DPS William "Asking" Vetter and the Valiant's Main Tank Pan-Seung "Fate" Koo & DPS Kyle "KSF" Frandanisa, was due to be officially completed and announced, ready for the start of Stage Two. However, sources have advised a series of events that was dictated by the Los Angeles Valiant, that lead to the trade being cancelled.

Sources: Boston Uprising In Talks To Acquire Hangzhou Sparks Cai “Krystal” Shilong

The Boston Uprising are in talks with the Hangzhou Spark for Flex-DPS player Cai “Krystal” Shilong, after a failed attempt to trade for Los Angeles Valiant duo Pan-Seung “Fate” Koo & Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa. Sources have advised that the Boston Uprising have turned their attention to Krystal and are looking to acquire him via trade to bolster their DPS core.

Aces High: An Interview with DPS Hee-Dong “Guard” Lee

When the London Spitfire announced they were signing Guard as the teams newest DPS player joining Birdring and Profit this off season, most people expect him to be playing a supportive role as the team’s third DPS. Guard formerly of Element Mystic from Contenders Korea, has come into the Overwatch League and shown that there’s more to his play than just his famed Sombra and Tracer and when he was introduced into the starting line up in place of Birdring after an 0-2 start, he gave the team another weapon to utilise in his ability to Sombra in Goats and adapt to the team needs on the likes of Brigitte. London have gone on to win 3 of the 4 full games that Guard has played in and now look set to going forward with him in the starting line up.

Through The Apex: A Beginners Guide To The Early Pro Meta

As we go past the first month of Apex Legends, we’ve been fortunate enough to have already seen a number of tournaments being played. The biggest events so far have been the two days of Twitch Rivals Streamer Challenge and DrDisrespects CodeRed tournaments. Kings Canyon have so far run over everyone in their path, as a combination of Dizzy, King Richard, Mendokusaii & Ninja won day one of Twitch Rivals and both CodeRed tournaments and Scott’s Totts consisting of Mendokusaii (Again), Nmplol & OverpoweredOW on day two of Twitch Rivals. With so much tournament play being had so early in the games cycle, it’s given us a great example of what the professional meta could look like in both the best legend compositions and the best guns in the game.

Apex Legends: NA Twitch Rivals Streamer Challenge Event Day 1

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the best on two weeks, you should be fully aware that Respawn Entertainment has hit the ground running with their new Battle Royale game Apex Legends. Having hit 25 Million players in the first 8 days of release, not only have Respawn gone after Fortnite's title as the best Battle Royale game in the market, they are also going to support the game as an esport and will start to do this with the Twitch Rivals was 50k Streamer Challenge Event.

Aces High: On Guard & Krillin It, Behind Robin & Coach Kim’s Flight Plan

As of February 14th in Burbank, California, the 2019 season of the Overwatch League beings with the London Spitfire starting the defence of their inaugural league title against the team they beat in the Philadelphia Fusion. While the off season has been a busy time for most teams around the League, London have had the rare opportunity of only requiring to make a few moves to the team that many consider as one of the strongest.

Halo's 2019 Pre-Season Power Rankings

As many power rankings showed last year it can be hard to hit the nail on the head with a dead certainty for title contender and who may languish around at the bottom of the league but the countdown is on and with the season starting in less than a month, it's pre-season power rankings time with every analyst and fan having their own opinions of which teams are the best and looking likely to get win the entire season. With this I've dropped my power rankings into the masses and see where we end up once the season has played out. There are now Twenty teams in the league and all twenty have locked in their rosters for the opening games for the season, which provides the chance to take a look at the teams and evaluate their chances.

Halo's Headlines: Top Stories Going Into The 2019 OWL Season

On February 14th the 2019 season of the Overwatch League starts again with the London Spitfire taking on the Philadelphia Fusion in a rematch of the 2018 finals. The off season has been long and full of drama with roster moves being made by all twelve original franchises and the eight new expansion franchises selecting their players for the new season. With a little more than month left until the season begins, we’re going to take a look at some of the bigger stories going into the new year.