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Guangzhou Charge Esports Betting Online
Following the inaugural Overwatch League season in 2018, eight teams decided to enter the mix for the start of the 2019 campaign. Most of those teams were international in Blizzard’s attempt to expand the reach of the league, with six of the eight expansion franchises coming from outside the United States. Of those, three are from China, and now China has the second-most Overwatch teams of any country. The Guangzhou Charge are one of those expansion teams, and they will look to do Southeast China proud.
Guangzhou Charge Owners
The Charge are owned by the Nenking Group. The company is a conglomerate with a broad consortium of business interests, and they are one of the most powerful entities in their part of China. Over the last decade, they have expanded into sports ownership. Nenking bought a basketball team in the CBA back in 2010, and they added Hong Kong’s basketball and football teams to their portfolio back in 2016. The Charge are their first dip into Esports.
Guangzhou Charge Roster
Rather than sign a bunch of Overwatch League veterans to their team, Guangzhou decided to go in a different direction. The Charge signed just one player with prior experience in the Overwatch League to their roster, and they will put their faith in players that were either playing in Contenders or a part of regional leagues last year.
Hotba was the lone veteran that Guangzhou signed before the season started. He was a devastatingly effective D.Va player on last year’s runner-up, the Philadelphia Fusion, and he is looking to continue his success with the Charge. Hotba is the only flex tank on the roster, so he will be a permanent presence in the lineup.
Four players joined Guangzhou from Korean team Meta Bellum, and they will be out to prove themselves in the Overwatch League. Meta Bellum finished in the top four in Korea in each of the last two seasons, but their inability to make it to the finals even once has some questioning whether or not they will make it.
From Meta Bellum, Rio will be Guangzhou’s main tank. He was a solid enough performer for the team not to sign another tank, leaving the squad somewhat at risk if either he or Hotba have to miss time. There are two supports from Meta Bellum too in Chara and Rise. Chara is the team’s captain, so he is likely to be a constant presence as the team’s main support, while Rise is likely to be the team’s primary Zenyatta. The other player from Meta Bellum on this roster is Happy. Happy was a very good hitscan DPS in Korea last year, and he is a fantastic performer on Widowmaker.
Rounding out the supports are OnlyWish and Shu. OnlyWish is one of two Chinese players on this roster, as he played for LGD Gaming last season. He is a Mercy one-trick, but he may play in certain spots. Meanwhile, Shu is seen as a very good flex support, and he has the skill to hop on a hitscan DPS champion too if the Charge are looking to mix things up.
Eileen, Kyb, and Nero are the other three DPS players on the roster for Guangzhou. Eileen is the player that people are most excited about. He was very good on Genji at the 2017 Overwatch World Cup, and he led his team to two second place finishes in Chinese Contenders while a part of LGD Gaming. Kyb was on London’s Contenders team, the British Hurricane, and he was known for playing DPS champions that like to get up close and personal. Nero was teamed up with Shu on Toronto Esports last year, and those two should have synergy.
Guangzhou Charge 2019 Preview
This is one of the more intriguing rosters coming into the season. While we can’t say anyone is a real unknown commodity given their performance in other leagues, it will be interesting to see how many can handle the step up in competition to the Overwatch League. I believe they will have good synergy, but the talent might not be there, and that will lead to Guangzhou battling to get into the playoffs at the end of the year.
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