Overwatch League Pros Answer: What is Your Gameday Routine/Superstition?
By Max Mallow
In the run up to the Overwatch League Grand Finals, DBLTAP asked pros from across the competing teams about the state of the game, their own journeys to professional Overwatch, and more.
What's your pre-match/day of match routine?
Grant "moth" Espe, San Francisco Shock: No pre-match routine besides drinking something caffeinated.
Sean Taiyo "ta1yo" Henderson, San Francisco Shock: I used to meditate for like 5 minutes before a match, but since joining SFS I really don't have the pregame time to do so. I'm trying to find a new routine to fit my environment.
Minki "Viol2t" Park, San Francisco Shock: I take a shower every match day. And I drink coffee.
Jooseok "Twilight" Lee, San Francisco Shock: I take a shower every match day.
Dong-eon "FITS" Kim, Seoul Dynasty: My routine is having hot water and [a] hot pack to warm my hands and body. I also play KovaaK to limber up.
Hyeon-woo "Toyou" Lim, Seoul Dynasty: Nothing special — but I do sleep more than eight hours. Keeping in shape is important.
Seung-tae "Bdosin" Choi, Seoul Dynasty: I don't have any.
Gael "Poko" Gouzerch, Philadelphia Fusion: For my pre-match routine, I like to wake up fairly early and make sure to eat a healthy breakfast so I don’t get tired later in the day. Then I like to play a few games of Tetris and depending on how good I feel, I would either warm up and practice in competitive matches or just chill before the official match. After that, we usually do a few internal maps in scrims to warm up our team play before our match starts.
On a normal day, I usually wake up at 9 a.m., I either stream or chill in the morning until 12 p.m.
Then I meet with the rest of the team and do VOD review for one hour, until 1pm. We play three blocks (two hours each block of practice against other OWL teams) a day. We have a one-hour break between each block so we have time to do discussions and/or eat. I finish the practice day at 9 p.m., then I usually go to the gym, then a short run if I’m not too tired. Go to sleep at midnight and I do that six days a week!
Daniel "FunnyAstro" Hathaway, Philadelphia Fusion: For my pre-match routine, I typically just try to emulate a normal practice day. I keep my regular cycle: get good sleep, wake up, and eat at my normal times. I don't do anything particularly special for game days.
Jae-gon "LeeJaeGon" Lee, Shanghai Dragons: Generally, before each match, we will have a scrim for 2 to 3 hours; to calm down, I’ll take a walk 20 minutes before a match.
Byung-sun "Fleta" Kim, Shanghai Dragons: Before each match, we will have a scrim. To release fatigue, I’ll take a walk and do some stretching exercises.
The Overwatch League Grand Finals Weekend runs Oct. 8-10, culminating with the Grand Finals championship match Oct. 10. Make sure to catch all the action at YouTube.com/OverwatchLeague.
This article is the result of a partnership between DBLTAP and Activision Blizzard.