Looking Up: A Chat with Boink on the Outlaws' Difficult Season
By Matt Buchholtz ·
"It's really hard to keep up when you're trying to play at the level that the best teams were playing at last week," Boink of the Houston Outlaws speaks on the challenges of a shorter season, the current meta, and how the team stays positive during a winless Stage Two in the Overwatch League.
Season Two of the Overwatch League has been a challenge for many teams. The incredible Los Angeles Valiant—who ranked second in the league during the Inaugural Season—saw a winless Stage One. The Florida Mayhem and Houston Outlaws both ended Stage Two without a win. While winless stages did happen in Season One (only to the Shanghai Dragons), it seems like the teams enduring these results are more and more surprising.
To figure out what could be setting the stage (pardon the pun) for more winless seasons, we sat down with Daniel "Boink" Pence of the Houston Outlaws. 3-11 in Season Two but 0-7 in Stage Two, Houston’s star-studded team has felt the pressure of a winless stage and provided some insight on why we’re seeing more goose eggs in Season Two.
“Well, first of all, I would say the number of matches,” said Boink regarding why there may be an increase in winless stages for teams in the Overwatch League. “There are only seven matches, period. So last season we had ten [matches] per stage. So, that’s a very important thing to consider; how many matches you have to prove yourself. If we had three more matches, maybe we get two wins, maybe we get three wins, maybe we go 3-7 instead of 0-7.”
While the amount of matches definitely makes a difference in the ability for teams to obtain a win, Boink wasn’t putting the reasoning on scheduling alone. The star support player from the Outlaws also noted an increase in the level of play in Stage Two. Boink made the observation that not only have more teams been added to the overall pool (eight expansion teams joined for Season Two), but that many teams have identified their core players and have shed any excess. This decision has lead to more consistent teams and rosters, with less experimentation. With only the best players in, playing their best strategies, teams are playing at their optimal levels.
Additionally—as noticed by many a fan—the difficulty of schedules vary heavily from team to team. With only seven matches in the stage, it’s impossible to make each stage even. For instance, the Atlanta Reign had to play the New York Excelsior not once, but twice in Stage Two. Facing a top-tier opponent multiple times can make it much harder for any team to find success.
“Like Valiant last [stage],” commented Boink. “No matter what you say, they had a really tough stage in terms of strength schedule. I think we had a really tough Stage in terms of schedule this Stage.”
Yet, teams can fluctuate as well. Boink stressed that also, sometimes a win might just not be in the cards.
“Even if you had a good stage, you might have a bad stage next time,” he said. “If you hit the bad weeks while you’re playing [mid-tier] opponents, it’s easy to go winless. Even if you play well against a top opponent, you still might lose… It’s really about playing your best against the weak opponents so you can secure those wins.”
When asked if the current three tank, three support meta may have had affected teams that were more dominant in the 2-2-2 days, Boink offered a couple of takes.
“I’d say since the meta has kept the same, it definitely affects players’ mentality when it comes to playing the game overall. If it’s the same role, and they didn’t like it before Stage One and they don’t like it now, it could reduce their desire to compete or something, or play extremely long hours. I don’t know, That’s not necessarily my case. Maybe some people have that, maybe they get burned out with playing it.”
“Two, maybe some teams weren’t good at [the current meta] to begin with,” he offered. “It’s really hard to catch up once teams are far ahead, you know. As you catch up to them, they start evolving, start changing the meta, and suddenly you have to catch up to that, too. It’s always changing, even just very slightly, and it’s really hard to keep up when you’re trying to play at the level that the best team—like the [Vancouver] Titans—were playing at last week, trying to catch up to them, and suddenly they change something completely, and you’re like, ‘Well, I gotta do that now.’”
Throughout the interview, Boink remained positive; a most impressive feat, especially in the age of quick quips and anonymous trolling on the internet. So, we checked in with the support player on how he is able to keep motivated and not let the challenging stage get him down.
“Honestly, just relying on your teammates,” credited Boink. “Yes, things are going to go poorly here and there, but it’s all about always looking forward and making sure that you can go to next week, and that you’re always confident. As soon as you’re unconfident, I think you’re always going to lose. So you have to remain confident that you’re going to win no matter what, no matter who your opponent is. And you just rely on your teammates to pick you up when you’re down.“
Have no fear, @forceboink's Lucio is here! ??https://t.co/LuSb8IqG7W pic.twitter.com/Apw0LfZBUo
— Houston Outlaws (@Outlaws) September 16, 2018
Additionally, Boink thanked the fans from Houston for their support.
“The fans do a really good job,” he said. “We get so much support. Like the amount of tweets I’ve gotten so far, even though we’re 0-7, is just everyone saying ‘We love you, keep healthy. Stay calm. We’ll do good next stage.’ All the support is amazing, and it really helps us out a lot.”
Not in the playoffs for Stage Two, the Houston Outlaws have a bit of time to reassess and strategize before June’s Stage Three. Their next game won’t be an easy one, seeing them face the NYXL on June 7th.
(Feature Photo courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)