Overwatch World Cup Grand Prize
Days away from the biggest video game competition of all time -- a staggering $30 million is being handed out at the Fortnite World Cup Finals at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City -- Benjy 'Benjyfishy' Fish, 15, has only one goal in mind.
This video showcases the best plays from the grand finals of the 2019 Overwatch World Cup between Team USA and Team China. Subscribe to our channel! Each member of the Grand Prize-winning team, selected by the jury, will receive a brand-new 3D printer worth approximately €2,500. Members of the Community Favorite team, selected by Overwatch players across Europe, will receive some framed Overwatch artwork signed by the Overwatch development team. The Overwatch World Cup (OWWC) is an annual international Overwatch esports tournament organized by Blizzard Entertainment, the game's developer.The tournament format has varied in each year, with the most recent one involving a preliminary stage in which national teams competed against others in a single-elimination tournament system to claim the five qualification spots in the group stages. This is the 3 rd iteration of the Overwatch World Cup since its inception in 2016. The 2016 Overwatch World Cup had the biggest prize pool of the current bunch. South Korea won the tournament three years straight (2016, 2017, 2018). Anaheim is the chosen location to host the Overwatch World Cup every year. Epic Games announced the Fortnite World Cup back in February 2019 and immediately grabbed headlines with its $30 million prize pool. Since the start of the qualifiers in April, 40 million people have jumped from the party bus hoping to make it to the World Cup held at Arthur Ashe Stadium in.
He wants to buy his mother a house.
'I would like to buy a house for my family,' Benjy said. 'We have always been renting since my dad passed away when I was 8 months old, so it would be nice to be able to help out.'
Living with his mother on a small river isle in the United Kingdom where there are no cars and everything must be transported by cart, Benjy is cut off from most of the world. In his bedroom -- the only bedroom in the cottage-like house nestled near a river -- he connects with those he would never meet in his daily walk of life by playing Fortnite, staying up into the wee hours of the morning until the sun bleeds over the riverside.
His mother, Anne, sleeps behind the couch in the living room, her bed and desk scrunched together in the rented home she shares with her son. Although it is a modest living situation, she does her best to support her youngest of two children, working three jobs to let her son continue being a kid.
What began as a simple hobby he shared with school friends -- similar to millions of teenagers around the world who have been playing the free-to-play game -- has turned into a life-changing moment for both Benjy and Anne.
At the start of 2019, Benjy made a list of goals for him to complete this year, including joining a professional esports organization, surpassing 5,000 followers on Twitter and qualifying for the event every kid dreamed of playing in -- the Fortnite World Cup.
As of Wednesday, Benjy, who signed with NRG Esports in March, has just over 145,000 followers on Twitter and is qualified for both the singles and duos events at the World Cup.
'Benjy won [an online tournament], which was a $10,000 prize fund,' Anne said in an interview with ESPN. 'That was my first inkling that Benjy was actually good at the game. I was in bed at the time and couldn't believe it at first and ended up not sleeping all night.'
The only obstacle standing in Benjy's way from completing his list of goals, for a time, was Epic Games.
Before Epic Games changed the rules, the age restriction for entering one of its life-changing-prize-money tournaments was 16. Benjy would play well enough to make it to the grand finals of big events but wasn't allowed to compete for prize money because of his age. In a game in which some of the brightest stars are just entering high school, the age limit would have prevented the U.K. teenager from competing until 2020.
Luckily for him and the rest of the teenage talent in the Fortnite scene, Epic Games officially lowered the age limit to 13 in February, just as Benjy was beginning to make a name for himself in the online world. After becoming eligible to compete in the World Cup, it was time for him to get to work. Over the span of 10 weeks of qualifiers, in which some of the top names in the game such as Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins and Team Liquid's Thomas '72hrs' Mulligan failed to advance, Benjyfishy qualified four different times.
Although players can officially qualify only twice, once in the solo division and once with a teammate in the duos division, Benjy and his duos partner, 14-year-old Martin 'MrSavage' Foss, placed well enough in three separate qualifiers to earn tickets to New York City for the $30 million tournament.
Growing up in a place not created for high-speed internet connections, Benjy thought he would one day be playing a different kind of sport. Although his older brother introduced him to gaming and enjoyed games like Guitar Hero, Benjy was an athlete in the making.
He played rugby, cricket, soccer and 10-pin bowling, showing a special aptitude for the latter, which he started playing at age 3. On the desk in his room, propped next to his computer and streaming equipment, a myriad of bowling trophies showcase what might have been his future.
Even then, his mother was right beside him, their makeshift team ready to confront the world.
'My mum has always supported me with whatever I was passionate about and helped me pursue those interests,' Benjy said. 'For example, when I was competing in 10-pin bowling competitions, we would travel every couple of weeks to get coached by England coaches. My mum helps a lot for me and works behind the scenes to support me.'
Benjy's career in traditional sports came to an end when he was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease and Sever's disease, ailments that affect his knees and feet. This led him to play more computer games, where he could be seated for the duration of play, as a new outlet for his competitive side.
After winning his first tournament, he became the talk of his school, his teachers not believing he actually made money playing a computer game. Soon, it felt like the days were getting longer and the nights shorter, as Benjy did his best to juggle the life of a professional gamer and a 15-year-old kid trying to make his way through the school year. At times, he would fall asleep in the classroom, the strain of competing in tournaments becoming too much to handle.
Seeing her son struggle, Anne knew he needed a change in his life.
This is generally the part of the story where the parent tells the child to quit with the silly video game career and focus on work. Not Benjy's mom. She suggested homeschooling, allowing him to stay up later and wake up during the afternoon so his body wouldn't break down from the stress and lack of sleep. The decision worked out, as Benjy qualified for the World Cup Finals a few weeks later.
At the World Cup Finals, Benjy is one of the favorites in both the solo and duos divisions. Looking at the rest of the field, he expects to be challenged by his teammate MrSavage and another U.K. teenage prodigy, FaZe Clan's Kyle 'Mongraal' Jackson, in the solos competition, which will close out the event on Sunday, with the winner walking away with the title of world champion and $3 million.
When Epic Games announced the Fortnite World Cup last year, it wanted to develop a competitive gaming scene different from other esports. Instead of franchising like Riot Games' League of Legends or Blizzard's Overwatch or relying on the star power of the players who helped Fortnite skyrocket in popularity in the first place, Epic wanted to create new stars. With an open-qualifier system and by lowering the age limit to 13 -- League of Legends and Overwatch have age limits of 17 and 18, respectively -- Epic Games has made it clear it wants to give anybody from anywhere the opportunity of a lifetime.
Benjy is that anybody from anywhere, coming from a town that small towns would call tiny. Those late nights when he was alone in his room, pitch black except for the light emanating from his computer as he tussled with strangers from across the globe, he was never actually alone. His mother was there every step of the way, a door away, snuggled behind the couch, supporting and watching with a careful eye.
'I actually get very emotional just thinking about it,' his mother said when asked how she'll feel watching him play at the World Cup Finals. 'I will be incredibly nervous for him, but words can't describe how proud I am of what he has achieved, and his dad, David, will be watching over him.'
Since Benjy was a child, Anne has always wanted a place of their own. At the Fortnite World Cup, she will get to see Benjy finally have a place of his own -- on the stage, in the place where he belongs.
As he plays for $3 million and the chance to become a world champion, Benjy won't be playing by himself. His mom will be there too, as she always has.
As she always will.
Overwatch World Cup 2019 Betting Insights
The Overwatch World Cup 2019 is just around the corner and national teams are high on the meme train to BlizzCon 2019. Every single national twitter profile is taking stabs at reigning champion South Korea or the OWC organizers in what seems to be an all-out meme festival. Meanwhile, the National Committees have announced the rosters and eligible players of all 47 contestants at this year’s World Cup.
Overwatch World Cup Teams
Before we dive into the analysis, we have to consider the apparent lack of commitment by Blizzard Entertainment and the Overwatch World Cup organizers regarding the funding of the eligible Overwatch World Cup teams. In fact, two of the 42 eligible teams selected through the Overwatch World Cup 2019 voting have already stepped down from the tournament citing the financial difficulty and lack of support by the organizers.
Team Argentina and Egypt gave statements earlier this month that they are dropping out of the tournament. Team Romania also gave a statement citing similar reasons but has since removed the statement leaving the faith of the Romanians in the Overwatch World Cup unknown.
Finally, Team Singapore went down the crowdfunding path and started a GoGetFunding page to bring their team to California this year.
There is some hope, however, as Blizzard announced the SEA Invitational tournament in Hong Kong with a grand prize of… you guessed it: Airfare and accommodation for one team at the Overwatch World Cup 2019.
Eight Overwatch World Cup teams are eligible for the prize at this tournament: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament with the winner taking home the only prize. The rest will have to manage.
Overwatch World Ranks
This year there were several changes to the tournament structure (check out our Best Overwatch tournaments section) and the Overwatch World ranks. Teams were awarded points based on their previous year’s performance in a weighted point-ranking system.
The Top10 teams based on this system will receive full full coverage for round-trip airfares, ground transportation, and double-occupancy hotel accommodations by Blizzard for the whole event.
The 5 top teams out of the ten will also receive a direct BYE into the Overwatch World Cup.
The remaining five will have go through the Preliminary tournament along with the other 40ish teams for the remaining 5 slots.
Overwatch World Cup Rosters Breakdown
The Top10 Overwatch teams we just mentioned are also first up in our OW Roster Breakdown section. They are:
1. South Korea
2. Canada
3. China
4. France
5. United States
6. United Kingdom
7. Australia
8. Sweden
9. Russia
10. Finland
Let’s take a look at the five teams with direct slot into the World Cup, starting with South Korea.
The South Korean National team is the current and tri-peat reigning champion at the Overwatch World Cup having won each and every one to date. This year they feature another monster squad made up of seven Overwatch League player three of which are playing in the OWL Grand Final next week. When it comes to odds and bets, you will not need our betting guide to figure out this is your top and safest bet in either outright or accumulator bets.
Overwatch World Cup Winner
Focus on the most favourite teams in this Overwatch World Cup 2019
This iteration of the South Korea dream team is most likely to play in the final and and is the absolute favorite of winning the whole event.
Next up is Team USA as the closest contender for the Overwatch throne. The team features three San Francisco Shock players: Jay “sinatraa” Won, Matthew “super” DeLisi and Grant “moth” Espe. They are also reinforced by LA Valiant’s Indy “SPACE” Halpern and Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa to form a formidable OWL counterpart to the Korean squad.
Overwatch World Cup Rosters
Together with South Korea, these two teams are the one two overall favorites at the whole event and likely to meet in each other deep into the event.
The dark horse in this S-tier selection of teams is Team China. Their strength comes from the heavy squad synergy rising from the fact that the national team is pretty much a copy-paste of the Chengu Hunters. Coach Xingrui “RUI” Wang selected his entire Hunters squad to represent China after last year’s near miss at the World Cup finals.
Finally, teams Canada and France are the last two with direct seeding into the main event. Both of these teams feature formidable squads packed with OWL professionals but they don’t quote stack up to the likes of USA, Korea and China. The remaining five teams with full coverage are all decent in some way but lack that oomph of the top three we singled out. Finland and United Kingdom are worthy of singling out as the same tier level as Canada and France.
With potentially seven known teams (theoretically) for the main event, let us take a look at noteworthy teams in the Preliminaries that would take the final three slots.
Brazil comes first to mind when thinking about a likely contender for a slot in the main event. Most of the squad is made up of the South America Contenders winner Lowkey Esports including coach Yuri “Insanityz” Ribeiro. The synergy between the squad cannot be understated and they are one of the top picks for coming out of the Preliminaries.
Denmark comes to mind 2nd when analyzing player potential and high skill in the roster. Mads “fischer” Jehg and Anders Henningsen from HSL Esports are reinforced by Kellex and Shax straight out of OWL with Victor “Scaler” Godsk rounding out the roster. Denmark similarly to Brazil is a blend of Contenders champions and OWL professionals who seek to make this trip to the Overwatch World Cup glorious.
New Zealand is the final squad worthy of mention in our Rosters Breakdown. A blend of players from the finalists in Australian Contenders teams Order and Mindfreak are reinforced by Boston Uprising’s Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse to create a decent team worthy of a spot at the main event.
Let us recap
• The squads of South Korea, USA and China are most likely to play in the final/semifinal of the Overwatch World Cup.
• Finland, United Kingdom, Brazil, Denmark and New Zealand are most likely teams to make it to the main event
The Overwatch World Cup 2019 schedule is yet to be disclosed regarding the Preliminaries. As the tournament is over a month away betting providers are yet to give us quotas and odds on the upcoming matches. Nevertheless, check our Top Esports Betting Sites and check back regularly with them in order to catch the early esports betting bonus offers available before the event kicks off.
The Overwatch World Cup 2019 kicks off November 1st at the Anaheim Convention Center during BlizzCon. You can catch all the action with Blizzards newest Overwatch World Cup Viewer app.