Lucas “Mendokusaii” Håkansson resides out his life’s dream on the age of 19 years outdated. Every week he will get to take to the stage of Blizzard’s newly transformed Burbank Studio in California to compete within the Overwatch League as a part of OpTic Gaming’s Houston Outlaws. Once dwelling to The Tonight Show, the freshly topped Blizzard Arena stands as testomony to each the spectacle that esports has turn into and the sum of $696 million the industry was projected to make in 2017.
During the primary week of stage two of the Overwatch league in February this 12 months, Spectators watched the motion unfold on the world’s three large screens, which wrap across the gamers on stage like an LED-heated embrace. As the Houston Outlaws started their match towards the London Spitfire, the displays bathe the assembled crowd within the calming, summery tones of Ilios – a map impressed by Greece and the Aegean Sea. Ten minutes later the identical screens burst right into a vibrant shade of lime inexperienced, inflicting the group to roar because the Outlaws take the sport towards the stage one champions. Another feather for Håkansson’s cap.
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Despite his younger age, the professional participant has already been on a hell of a journey. While rising up in Sweden, he rapidly determined that his could be a lifetime of aggressive gaming, or bust. He picked up Counter-Strike on the age of 4 earlier than getting his personal Steam account for his sixth birthday – which let him broaden his repertoire. As he moved into his teenagers he started attempting his hand at Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Natural Selection 2. However, faculty would show an impediment for the teenager as he grappled along with his faltering psychological well being and failed lessons. But gaming supplied a much-needed launch for Håkansson, and he was additional impressed to attempt his hand at streaming after watching common streamer Byron “Reckful” Bernstein.
“I got into streaming [entirely thanks to] Reckful, actually.” Håkansson tells us. “Dealing with depression and anxiety when I was young, I watched a ton of Reckful, who at the time was extremely open about his emotions and his opinions. This really helped me get out of my shell to actually pursue something I wanted in life. For me, that was competing in games, and I started doing that by playing Counter-Strike competitively, and streaming each step of the way. That didn’t quite work out, and I decided to focus 110% on Overwatch as soon as it was announced, with the intention of building a stream and going pro.”
The precedent days of Håkansson’s aggressive Overwatch profession proved to be shaky. Despite happening a run of 9 competitions undefeated within the area of a month with workforce IDDQD, the workforce that grew to become the Dallas Fuel of the Overwatch League, he ended up leaving as each events agreed it was the best choice. Other highpoints noticed him be a part of Rouge’s predecessor MyDong and FaZe Clan earlier than becoming a member of the London Spitfire’s predecessor Cloud9. While he had established himself as one of many early scene’s most gifted and versatile gamers, Håkansson struggled to stay at any workforce for a protracted interval.
While discovering the perfect workforce was troublesome, Håkansson’s livestream would stay a constant outlet for the Swede because it continued to develop. It is simple to turn into disarmed should you ever tune in as you’re greeted by an abundance of references to anime, together with a video clip of his father dabbing to alert him that somebody has subscribed, rising his earnings. While the stream is enjoyable, there may be additionally the sense of a deeper bond between Håkansson and his viewers as he picks up conversations that had been left at one other time limit, discussing subjects akin to psychological well being with full openness.
“I think the bond is there because of how I choose to run my stream, I’m very open with my viewers about my emotions and opinions, exactly like Reckful was when I watched back then,” Håkansson explains. “But I also try to connect with my viewers by talking to them, not only on stream, but also of the stream and behind the scenes, finding out more about who they are, what kind of people, how their situation in life is. Actually getting to know the people in my fanbase really helped me understand what kind of people I have that enjoy watching my stream and enjoy me as a person.”
The teen on these streams carefully matches the one we see at stay tournaments. Before one among Cloud9’s matches at OGN’s Apex sequence in Korea in 2016, Håkansson led his workforce with a 1-2 dab transfer earlier than the sport. While he’s at present out of motion on account of issues along with his knowledge tooth, larger-than-life celebrations are prevalent within the Overwatch league proper now and we marvel if he has something comparable deliberate for his return. “You know, I actually asked my teammates to do this, and every single one of them said no,” Håkansson remembers, remembering the routine. “I couldn’t even argue or try to defend the dab; they just said no.”
Unfortunately, 2017 began off in a means that by then was all too acquainted for Håkansson, as he discovered himself stepping down from Cloud9’s energetic taking part in roster. The announcement of the Overwatch League the November earlier than additionally led to an uncomfortable transition from the sport’s present aggressive state to that of the Overwatch League – tournaments grew to become fewer with ESL, DreamHack and even Activision Blizzard’s MLG dropped assist, which led to some main esports organisations dropping their groups. With solely 12 groups introduced for the opening season of the league, together with the disappearance of different main squads like Rouge, Fnatic, and Team Dignitas, Håkansson discovered himself in the identical sink or swim state of affairs he was in as a toddler.
“It was scary, for sure. Not knowing about your future, not knowing if your countless hours of grinding and dedication will actually pay off,” Håkansson says. “It was a scary time but also an exciting time, I grinded like never before and just played hour in hour out, back to the old 16-hour schedules of gaming I had back in closed beta.”
Practicing inside the sport additionally proved troublesome as Jeff Kaplan and his Overwatch workforce publicly tackled criticisms of the sport’s matchmaking system, which had a knock-on impact. As many execs are likely to occupy the Top 500 of the aggressive ladder, a lot of them had points with the reveal trailer for the Overwatch League, which marketed the ranked function as an achievable aim for any participant with ambitions of getting seen and going professional. “I think the current state of ranked is just getting worse and worse with every patch; major changes have to be made for it actually to be competitive, one tricks, sub-par matchmaking, trolls, throwers etc.,” Håkansson says. “There are just so many things that hinder the potential quality of a game, and it’s very depressing at times.”
“I think the current state of ranked is just getting worse and worse with every patch; major changes have to be made for it actually to be competitive, one tricks, sub-par matchmaking, trolls, throwers etc,” Håkansson says. “There are just so many things that hinder the potential quality of a game, and it’s very depressing at times.”
The issue of “one tricks” is especially divisive inside the sport’s aggressive neighborhood. On the one aspect, many argue it goes towards the character of the sport as Overwatch is predicated on countering the enemy groups arrange, however the different aspect says that punishment for enjoying a singular hero could be a harsh means of dictating the best way somebody performs a sport they paid for. In Håkansson’s view, the sport’s issues stem from motivation to play. “I think it just needs a rework, maybe longer seasons, moving gold skins away from ranked and into the arcade, so the only people who play ranked will be the people who play to win,” Håkansson says. “There won’t be anyone who plays ranked just to get a golden skin. Giving the players more incentive to play to reach higher ranks than Top 500, like rewarding rank one with a cool, unique skin or player icon.”
The prolonged schedule of grinding didn’t go to waste as Håkansson characteristically pulled by means of. On October 31, 2017, Optic Gaming revealed the line-up for his or her Overwatch workforce, the Houston Outlaws, with Håkansson’s identify on the checklist. “I felt amazing, of course,” Håkansson tells us. “Teammates I love and get along with, great players, good friends, and of course, the coolest brand and colour scheme in all of Overwatch League.”
Going ahead, Håkansson is optimistic that the League will proceed to develop and that the sport will discover some concord to the participant’s suggestions. “I think the future of Overwatch is very bright, I was very vocal about a lot of flaws in the game just to have almost every single one of them adjusted, if not completely fixed,” Håkansson says. “There are so many good changes, and so many good things to come. I’m extremely excited for the growth of Overwatch as well as Overwatch League.”
Top picture credit score: Houston Outlaws
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