November 11th 2021
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 We will do our best to update, appreciate sending updates to @TOesports 

 Toronto Esports has today announced the appointment of Ridouan “ioStux” Bouzrou as Head Coach, joining from New York Excelsior’s XL2 Academy, and Joshua “Axel” Lee as Assistant Coach.

“In the brief time ioStux has been with the team, they have had an impressive performance in the recent Overwatch BEAT Invitational™ over Last Night’s Leftovers to win the tournament.” Said Axel. “We hope that he continues to lead the Toronto Esports Club with his incredible game knowledge and strong competitive mindset towards future victories, and we are excited for what’s to come.”

Both coaches have already developed a good working chemistry according to President Ryan Pallett. “Axel and ioStux are working well together” he said. “They have a very complimentary skillset; Axel brings a wealth of knowledge from his experience in coaching League of Legends; a game in which his teams achieved impressive results. We are extremely happy to have two great coaches joining our team, and can’t wait to start competing again.”

Both Axel and ioStux are integrated in the practice schedule, with ioStux set to join Axel in the Team House in the coming days.

 Boston Uprising sign Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth as a two-way Player with Toronto Esports

Today Boston Uprising and Toronto Esports have announced the acquisition of Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth from the British Hurricane. The 19-year-old Main Tank player will join Toronto Esports for Season Three of Overwatch Contenders North America. Fusions starred for Team United Kingdom at the Overwatch World Cup, including an impressive victory over tournament favorite Team USA, and very competitive matches with Team South Korea and Team Canada, culminating in a 4th place finish, the best result for the UK team in OWWC history.

"Fusions performance hasn't gone unnoticed.” Said newly appointed Head Coach Ridouan “ioStux” Bouzrou. “We expected greatness and he delivered. We are all very excited to work with him."

“I have always watched Fusions with great interest” Said President Ryan Pallett. “He has had a lot of success already for such a young player. He demonstrates a leadership and maturity well beyond his years, and we are all so pleased that he will be competing for us this year.”
Fusions will begin team practices this week with Toronto Esports Club, as they prepare for Overwatch Contenders Season 3.

Toronto Esports Club today proudly announces that Min Seob “Axxiom” Park and Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse have been promoted to the Boston Uprising first team roster and will compete in Season 2 of The Overwatch League.

“Having two more players make the step up to Overwatch League is something that all of us here are very proud of” said President Ryan Pallett. “It is a testament to their professionalism and work ethic that their daily efforts have been noticed by Boston Uprising and they have been called up.”

“Axxiom was a standout player for us from day one. His attitude, work ethic and team-oriented approach really embody what Toronto Esports and Boston Uprising are founded on. He is a winner and a leader; much of the credit for our Season 1-2 Contenders NA success has to be credited to him and we could not be more proud of him.”

“Colourhex was brought in only a short time ago, but we are equally proud of his progression. Starting from the AUS/NZ region on Sydney Drop Bears and now quickly making his way into Boston Uprising’s first team shows his incredible capabilities and talent. During the relatively short time Colourhex was with us, he showed he has the right mental makeup, attitude and team-first focus to become a top top DPS player in Overwatch League.”

Today Toronto Esports Club and Boston Uprising and their fans can celebrate the achievement of these two players. We will all continue to follow their careers and cheer them on as they compete for Boston Uprising in Season 2 of The Overwatch League! #TorontoUP #BostonUP !
 

 Toronto Esports Club pays tribute to Kruise

Toronto Esports today pays tribute to Harrison “Kruise” Pond as he departs for Paris to compete in the Overwatch League season 2. Kruise was an integral player in the TO Contenders squad, one that earned a runners up prize in season 1: North America, one of the teams best ever results.

“When I first met Kruise upon his arrival in Toronto, I immediately noticed his strong personality.” said president Ryan Pallett. “He was arriving a little bit later than our other players who were also big personalities, but when he entered the practice room it was clear that he was going to be a leader on the roster. Day after day his leadership continued to unite and inspire the team. He was always positive, always pushing his team mates, and always keeping the energy and morale balanced. Overwatch is an incredibly competitive and pressure packed scene, and you need players like Kruise to really lift the team to perform on the big stage in the biggest moments. We all know Kruise will be a great player in Overwatch League. Everyone here sends him our congratulations, and we will be cheering for him in season 2 of The Overwatch League!”

Toronto Esports announced today the transfer of Dalton Bennyhoff to Los Angeles Gladiators Legion for an undisclosed fee.

“Dalton is a tremendous player, and just a great kid all around” said President Ryan Pallett. “He has everything is takes to be a top top-level player. Most importantly he has a fantastic attitude and work ethic. He is always looking for small ways to improve his game, to get every little bit better. It’s a quality that I know will serve him well. I think LAGL will be a good new home for him. LAG has been a class organization from our perspective, so we see him continuing to push even closer to becoming an OWL competitor. Everyone here at Toronto Esports wishes Dalton a great future, and we will be following his progress closely!”

We are excited to announce two new additions to our roster: Gabriel “Swimmer” Levy and Hunter “Dino” Traupe. The support duo will be added to the roster for Overwatch Contenders Season 3. Swimmer will be taking on a Main Support role and Dino will continue to act as a Flex Support player.

Swimmer is a new face in the Contenders scene and has shown a great deal of hidden potential in his try-outs. He stood out with his vocal shotcalling and his eagerness and willingness to learn, and we are very excited to have him join our club.  Dino is slightly more familiar with the Contenders scene, having a wealth of valuable experience that he can draw on and share with less experienced team mates.  He has a great positive mentality and a eager attitude towards the game.

As Swimmer is a young and upcoming talent, and Dino a more experienced player, we are confident they will blend well together as the Toronto Esports Club roster takes shape ahead of an important 3rd Contenders season in North America.  Both players are integrated into team scrims in preparation for the upcoming Beat Invitational season 5 taking place this weekend. 

Toronto Esports is announcing the addition of DPS player, William “Asking” Vetter to the starting roster for Overwatch Contenders Season 3. Asking’s performance on 6nakes of European Contenders has caught the attention of many and we believe that he has the talent and potential to grow even more with the correct work environment and team support.

With the addition of another powerhouse player to our roster, we’re super excited to hit the upcoming Overwatch Contenders Season 3, running! We hope the 6nakes fans will come show support as Asking begins his journey to make his impact on the North American league.

 We at Toronto Esports are excited to announce the acquisition of DPS player Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse to the starting roster for Overwatch Contenders Season 3. Colourhex has had a dominating performance with Sydney Drop Bears as a start DPS player in the Australian region for Contenders, going undefeated in the regular season.

We hope that the Australian fans will continue to support Colourhex as he makes his transition to the North American region as we eagerly wait to see his debut in Overwatch Contenders Season 3.

Toronto Esports is formally announcing the departure of Flex Tank player JunHwan “GuardiaN” Jo from our Overwatch Roster. Overwatch Manager Tommy “itsToye” Yeung commented:

“We want to thank JunHwan for his time and professionalism which played a huge role in our success last season. GuardiaN has strong leadership qualities which are rare to find in the Contenders scene. We are excited to see where his talent leads him next as we bid him farewell and wish him the best.”

With the recent signing of Hasan “crakinlakin” Alfardi taking the starting position of Flex Tank on the roster, Toronto Esports will continue to round out the remaining of the Contenders Season 2 with high expectations.

Don’t miss out on the final game of the regular season this Thursday, August 2nd at 10:30PM EST as we face off against Team Envy.

https://www.twitch.tv/overwatchcontenders

Toronto Esports is formally announcing the addition of Hasan “crakinlakin” Alfardi to our Overwatch Contenders roster.

We are excited to see the return of a familiar name to our roster, as crakinlakin was a huge part of our success during Toronto Esports’ run through Open Division when Contenders was first announced. When reached for a statement, current Head Coach of Toronto Esports, Seung Hyun “ViViD” Park commented:

“From the start of the Trial, crakinlakin was a player who grabbed the hearts of all players as if he were on the team. He went through a lot of competition with us last season with the team, and finally returned to Toronto once again. I`m looking forward to his performance in the team. He is a cooperative player and a fluent player in team play that helps teammates.”

Upon Hasan’s recent release from Fusion University, we saw a great opportunity and reached out to him to rejoin the core roster that made our previous Cinderella run through Open Division. Team Manager Tommy “itsToye” Yeung, also added, “He was an important part of our success before Contenders, and with his innate synergy with the team we are already seeing great improvements in practice.”

The fans will get to see Hasan’s return match tonight!

Toronto Esports VS NRG
8:45pm EST

https://www.twitch.tv/overwatchcontenders

We are excited to announce an incredible addition to our roster:

Jeffrey "Vizility" de Vries - DPS - EU

Jeffrey made a splash in the last season of Overwatch Contenders EU with team Orgless and Hungry his skill, talent, and efforts have not gone unnoticed. He will be joining fellow DPS players, Dalton "Dalton" Bennyhoff and Charlie "Nero" Zwarg, to round out the roster.

Manager Tommy "itsToye" Yeung says, "Vizility has shown an incredible work ethic in the short time that he's been recruited to the team. With his exceptional mechanical skill I'm sure this is the extra bump we need to take us over the top this season!".

Head Coach, Seung Hyun "ViViD" Park also adds, "He has a calm personality and is a model player, also various experiences on the European stage and he had been a World Cup player for Netherland. I expect his creative play will bring great benefits to the team".

With the ever changing meta of Overwatch becoming more apparent, the addition of yet another powerhouse DPS player to our roster will help us be more well rounded for any future curve balls that may come.

Please cheer for us in the active Overwatch Contenders season as we aim for the top! #TorontoUP

 Toronto Esports today announced the appointment of a new Overwatch Head Coach. Seung Hyun Park, formerly of 02 Ardeont joins the team as they begin preparation for Season 2 of Contenders.

“We're pleased to welcome ViViD as the new head coach of the Toronto Esports Overwatch team.” Said General Manager Sam “Hexo” Bouchard. “Having only worked with the team for a brief period of time he has already showed a great amount of game knowledge and a stellar attitude which will be really beneficial to the team.”

President Ryan Pallett also expressed his pleasure at the appointment, while also thanking outgoing Head Coach Ronald Ly. “ViViD will be a terrific addition to our support team. Having a coach who can speak Korean and English will be of great benefit while our Korean players continue learn English. We are sad to see Ronald leave, but we know he has a bright future in the Overwatch scene, and we wish him all of the best in the next stage in his journey”

Toronto Esports is formally announcing the departure of our Tank player Jung Hoon "Pumple" Lee from our Overwatch roster.

In our time short together, Pumple had played an integral part in our team, and it is largely through his efforts that we can say we have made such a strong initial showing in Overwatch Contenders 2018.

We thank Pumple for his time and dedication on our team. We have amicably part ways moving forwards and we wish him the best of luck in all future endeavors.

“Pumple is definitely an amazing and talented player who is capable of great things and I’m sure we will be seeing more of him in one way or another in the future.” Said Sam "Hexo" Bouchard, Overwatch team manager and assistant coach.

Now officially joining Toronto Esports will be Min Seob "Axxiom" Park, previously known as "Quinas", to occupy our main Tank position.
With Axxiom`s acquisition, Toronto Esports will continue to fight through the remainder of Overwatch Contenders with high expectations.

“I`m thrilled to welcome Axxiom to the team. He is the perfect fit as a main tank for us, he is able to communicate in both languages and brings a tremendous amount of energy to the squad. Players should keep an eye out for Axxiom, he’s going to make a big entrance without a doubt.” Said Sam "Hexo" Bouchard.

Axxiom will make his debut on Wednesday, March 28th against Gladiators Legion in Overwatch Contenders 2018 at 9pm EST

Toronto Esports has today announced their official roster for the Overwatch Contenders Season 2.

"I'm ecstatic to be working with such a talented roster, this group of guys has shown so much potential and we couldn't ask for a better team to represent us this contenders season. They're all so young and hungry to compete, I expect great things from them and I know I wont be disappointed." Said Sam "Hexo" Bouchard, Overwatch Coach and Manager.

• JungHun "Pumple" Lee - Main tank - Korea.
  
• JunHwan "GuardiaN" Jo - Flex/tank - Korea.
  
• Charlie "Nero" Zwarg - Flex/dps - USA.
  
• Dalton "Dalton" Bennyhoff - DPS - USA.
  
• JinSeo "ShU" Kim - Flex/support - Korea.
  
• Grant "Moth" Espe - Support - USA.
  

"I'm very excited to be able to work with the core of our previous roster once again and with the addition of a few new names, I'm sure they will do great things in contenders." Said Overwatch General Manager Tommy "itsToye" Yeung.

Toronto Esports has recruited GuardiaN (ex-Lunatic Hai), Pumple (ex- Foxes), and ShU (ex-Meta Athena) to round out their roster as Tommy "itsToye" Yeung adds, "Their valuable experience from the korean region will help lead and develop the younger players on the roster".

Going forward you can expect to see more of the team as they will be moving to our new gaming house in Toronto. We hope to bring you guys a team to cheer for and be proud of. #TorontoUP #BostonUP

 Toronto Esports has today announced that they will be participating in Overwatch Contenders 2018 and will be partnering with Overwatch League’s Boston Uprising. “We're super excited about entering Contenders with what is our strongest roster to date” said Sam Bouchard, Overwatch Coach and Manager. “Our organization has come such a long way and hopefully this big step that we are taking will be a good representation of our hard work and dedication to the Overwatch scene.”

“We are excited to announce our partnership with Boston Uprising in bringing together this roster of amazing players into Contenders Season 2.” Said Overwatch General Manager Tommy Yeung. “We're happy to work with the core members of our previous roster once again, and with the addition of a few more talented players we're confident this roster will shatter all expectations, just like Boston Uprising did in Overwatch League”

President Ryan Pallett also echoed his excitement about entering this well-respected competition. “Last season’s Overwatch Contenders qualifiers represented a great achievement for our organization. We are thrilled that this opportunity arose to once again prove that we are one of the strongest Overwatch organizations. I am also grateful that Kraft Group Overwatch has recognized our record in developing great Overwatch Talent. They have proven to be one of the leading organizations in coaching and player development, so we are thrilled that together we will continue to develop the next wave of great Overwatch League players. Our roster is almost complete, and we will make an announcement shortly.”

Toronto Esports has today announced the departure of their Overwatch roster, with all players set to join Overwatch Contenders Academies (to be announced).

"The recent success that our team has accomplished has not gone unnoticed, and we're happy to announce that our players have all been picked up by various Academy rosters” said Overwatch General Manager Tommy Yeung. “CrakinLakin was the first to be announced with Philadelphia Fusion Academy; stay tuned for more news on the remaining members of our roster. It is a bittersweet goodbye, but this is a fantastic opportunity for the players. We wish them the best of luck on their new teams and hope to see them shine in the upcoming contenders season.”

Because of the timing of these transfers, Toronto Esports have decided to forego the remainder of the current Overwatch Open Division.

“Toronto Esports has always taken immense pride in the strength of our Overwatch roster” said President Ryan Pallett. “This roster was no different. We knew we had assembled an exceptional group of players well before they started picking up a lengthy list of tournament wins including an Open Division Title. We are sad to see them move on, but we are happy that they have been able to progress their careers with us. Our process of building a roster is one that often takes several months, so unfortunately the timing of these transactions means that we will not be able to continue in this season of Open Division as we would not be able to assemble a roster that would meet our and our fans high expectations. We wish to thank our fans for their ongoing support and assure them that we remain committed to competing in Overwatch at the highest level. The process of rebuilding a championship roster has already begun, and we know our next roster is one that our organization and fans will be proud to stand behind!”

 Toronto Esports has today announced the acquisition of Korean tank player Byong Ho “Panker” Lee from Team Kongdoo (Uncia Division). Details of the transfer remain undisclosed.

“I’m very happy to have Panker join our amazing roster of players.” Said Overwatch manager and head coach Tommy Yeung. “It’s very rare to find a player who understands his hero pool as well as Panker does. His playstyle is very aggressive, which can be a downside for some tank players, but after watching him perform in a structured environment it is clear that his perspective of the game is far beyond most players we’ve come across in the past. Adding onto his immaculate mechanical skill, his “untilting” attitude and infectiously happy mood always brings a smile to the team even when games are tough. The perfectly juxtaposing nature of his play and his personality makes him both a fearsome opponent and an incredible teammate to have.”

Panker has arrived at the Toronto Esports Club team house and is in training with the team as they prepare for the upcoming Overwatch Contenders Season 2.

 Toronto Esports Club management paid tribute to Lucas “Note” Meissner and Mikias “Snow” Yohannes, following their transfers to Boston Uprising.

“It has been an immense pleasure to work with both Note and Snow over the past six months” said head coach and manager Tommy Yeung. “Both players have shown incredible growth as players and as teammates, and I’m proud to see that their hard work and dedication has been noticed by a great Org like Boston Uprising.

"I’ve always said that Snow has one of the highest potentials amongst the players I’ve worked with. I’m sure that with the help of the Boston coaching staff he will develop even faster in the future. What he might lack in experience he makes up for easily in his drive and work ethic. Snow is the type of player who will always rise to the occasion, when playing strong opponents he drastically improves and there is no better place for that process than OWL.”

“Note has been the unsung hero for most of Toronto Esports’ roster. From the day we first trialed him, he’s met and exceeded every expectation that I could’ve had. His maturity and work ethic is something that is rare to find in a talent pool of such young players, and is somebody I trusted to take the role of Team Captain. I have no doubts that Note will continue to be the solid bedrock that will allow Boston to build their roster upon.”

President and Founder Ryan Pallett also paid tribute to two of Toronto Esports longest serving players. “When I first met Snow and Note, the first thing that I noticed was their calm and polite demeanor. I knew that this levelheadedness would be a massive asset to our team in pressure situations, and that turned out to be exactly the case. When we faced our toughest opponents in big tournaments, these two players led the team by example, and never let difficult situations affect their play or attitude. They deserve a lot of credit for Toronto Esports success in 2017, and there are no two players more deserving of selection into The Overwatch League.

They will certainly be missed, as they are irreplaceable. However everyone at our organization is incredibly proud of them and happy to see them progress their careers even further. We wish them the utmost success with Boston Overwatch, and we look forward to seeing them show their class in the first season of Overwatch League.”

Toronto Esports have announced today the signing of Korean DPS free agent Nam ‘Poro’ WooSuk on undisclosed terms.

“Poro is one of the most dedicated players I have ever come across.” said Overwatch Coach and Manager Tommy Yeung. “He has a great drive to improve, an infectiously happy attitude, and has proven himself to be a spectacular teammate. I have no doubts that he will become a crucial factor in the teams’ success moving forward as we tackle the changing meta of Overwatch, and stronger competition.

Poro will be integrated into the Toronto Esports Team House this week and commence preparations with the team for the upcoming Overwatch Contenders Season 1.
 

Toronto Esports has today announced that Chris ‘HuK ‘ Loranger will be leaving his role as co-owner and general manager with the club. This follows news announcing that HuK has taken on role as President of Gaming for the newly announced Kraft Group owned Boston Overwatch League Franchise.

Huk spoke fondly of his time with the club in a statement:

“First of all let me say thank you to Ryan Pallett for providing me the opportunity to be part of Toronto Esports. Both as an owner and as GM it was an exciting and new path I haven't explored before. We as a company, and Ryan and me as people all grew together and learned a lot during our time together. I want to say thank you to all the fans, players, and staff over the time I have been with Toronto Esports and wish them the best in the future.”

The sentiments were shared by co-founder Ryan Pallett:

“Toronto Esports is sad to see HuK move on, but are equally as happy for him to be moving into such a fantastic opportunity with the Kraft Group. His knowledge and experience were key in seeing the company off to a successful launch, and a highly successful first year in competition. Together we have built a foundation for great growth and success in the years to come. On a personal note, I thank Huk for his hard work and commitment, congratulate him on his new role, and wish him the utmost success in his career going forward”

 Toronto Esports has announced the transfer of Jaru to Envision Esports for an undisclosed fee.  "This was not an easy decision for the organization" said President Ryan Pallett.  "But, in the end we felt this was in the best interest of both parties.  Jaru is a tremendous young talent, and has a bright future ahead of him.  We are sad to see him leave, but we wish him the best and will be keen followers of his progress in his career."  Toronto Esports will now undertake the task of finding a new DPS main player, with tryouts already underway among a growing pool of global talent.

Toronto Esports is declaring today that DPS player, Jason "Jaru" White, will be on-loan with EnVision eSports in preparation for the remainder of their Overwatch Contenders run. Jaru will be in EnVision`s company for one week`s time. We hope that he will be able to perform to their high expectations, and be of considerable value to them this very competitive weekend.

 Miracle on the Rift: Toronto Esports miraculous run into the NACS open qualifier finals
By Max Greenwood

Counter Logic Gaming. Echo Fox. Toronto Esports. One of those seems like an odd name out, but after an implausible run deep into the League of Legends North American Challenger Series (NACS) open qualifier late last year, the relatively new Toronto Esports is putting in work to solidify their name as a top-tier organization.

With a stacked roster of pros including Hexo and Guilte playing and winning tournaments every month on the main Overwatch team, Toronto Esports has an eye for talent. Although the Blizzard shooter is a main focus, League of Legends (LoL) has to be on the radar for any organization – it is the biggest game in the world after all. There is also widespread Canadian talent in the professional LoL scene, especially from this city. Team SoloMid starters Biofrost and Wildturtle are both from Toronto. Expanding into other games seems like a natural way to develop the Toronto Esports brand; still though, it took a hail mary message from the University of Toronto’s (U of T) LoL team for a connection to take place.

The idea of regional esports representation is distinctive and incredibly interesting. Most esports are localized entirely to one or two cities, such as Santa Monica, California for North American LoL. City representation has huge market potential but lacks support.

Gabe “Invert” Zoltan-Johan loves the concept of city-esports relationships. He is the current analyst for the U of T LoL team, and the person that first reached out to Toronto Esports with a strong assertion.

“If you’re committed to this regional project,” wrote Invert. “Do you want to meet to talk about the best LoL team in Toronto?”

Invert wanted more avenues for his team to succeed, more tournaments to practice in and more support from a real organization. Toronto Esports did a bit of research and confirmed Invert’s braggadocio: this team was indeed the best in the city.

The U of T team comes off as mechanically talented albeit a bit raw. The squad competed in the uLoL collegiate tournament in 2016 and had a fantastic regular season, but was knocked out by crosstown rivals York University in the playoffs. Determined to find victory, the team formed again in 2017 but lost multiple starters.
A newcomer was jungler Casey “YummiBananas” Woo. As this new 2017 squad adopted the Toronto Esports brand, Yummi was admittedly hesitant. “This was our first sponsor or pickup. We didn’t think we were worth it,” he said. “Anything would have been good for us because we were a small team.”

Those fears were laid to rest when they competed in their first tournament under the new representation. LAN WAR X took place in Oshawa, Ontario and Toronto Esports made quick work of it, winning outright and taking home $800. The prize was nice but it wasn’t the most important recognition of the night; the team now knew they were talented enough to not only represent their school, but also their city.
“What better way to represent Toronto then to wear that moniker of Toronto Esports?” Invert says, letting his city pride shine through. “Being that everyone is from this city and now a part of this organization, we’re showing what we can do.“
Yummi agrees. “There’s not enough professional esports in Canada,” he says. “I feel like playing for a city gives us a better image.”

After the LAN in Oshawa, the team wanted more of a challenge. Every year there are open qualifier tournaments in LoL, and the champions are invited to join the NACS, the league directly below the pros. Once you make it to the NACS, the League Championship Series (LCS) swings into view.

Toronto Esports registered for the qualifier with mixed hopes of what would happen. They wanted to win but at the same time gain experience against what essentially amounted to be professional teams, including CLG Black (Counter Logic Gaming’s challenger team) and Delta Fox (Echo Fox’s challenger team). These teams were a far cry from the low-tier players they matched up against in Oshawa; these were esports goliaths.

The team felt understandably hesitant on how they would fare heading into that December 2016 open qualifier. Invert remained confident though; even in the face of a potential CLG Black matchup in the second round.

“I have text message proof to the [Toronto Esports] owners when the brackets came out,” laughs Invert. “They told me ‘oh man you’re facing these guys?’ and I said ‘well I think we’re going to coast through.’”

Toronto Esports rolled through first round opponents CC Esports and moved on to play CLG Black. Invert kept the team motivated, knowing that Toronto Esports had beat four of the five team members already at Dreamhack Montreal earlier in 2016. At Dreamhack, Toronto Esports played as Flashpoint Air and CLG Black was Team Checkpoint. Toronto Esports knocked them into the losers bracket, and though CLG Black would claw back and win the whole thing, it was enough to instill confidence in the team for these open qualifiers.

When that first game against CLG Black came, Toronto stuck with comfort picks. It was a BO3 and CLG Black was predicted to not drop a single game, so Toronto didn’t have room to fool around with gimmicky strategies.

Right from the beginning, Toronto was dominant. Firing on all cylinders, Yummi showed his diversity as both a carry and a support jungler. In both victories against CLG Black, Yummi was involved in over 85% of the kills.

Invert sounds like a proud dad gushing over his son as he looks back on these second round matches, particularly game one where Yummi carried with Lee Sin.
“It was a clinic. [CLG Black] had no idea what was going on,” says Invert. “Yummi was curving skill shots around everyone. It was literally a joy to watch.”
CLG Black actually ended up trying to stop the bleeding and pick Lee Sin for themselves in game two.

“It worked well for us,” says Yummi. “When the second game came and they picked away Lee it gave me even more confidence to play better.”

The whole team played well leading up to the finals, with Yummi and teammate/ADC Terry “Erry” Park performing especially well. After breezing by squads ILYSB (Stripped) and Team Secret, Toronto Esports found themselves in the finals with a chance to become a challenger team in the Spring 2017 Split. The only thing in their way? Delta Fox, a team owned by Rick Fox with massive funding and resources.

“In the Delta Fox match, we all mutually agreed that our jungler and mid were skill-wise a lot worse than theirs,” admits Yummi. “Beating them? I’m not to sure, but we could have gone to game five.”

Though Toronto Esports came out firing, it wasn’t enough. Toronto fell in three straight grueling games. The games were tight, but Delta Fox controlled the map as their mid-laner Damonte played late-game carries and top laner Allorim brought out uber-tank Poppy all three games. As each game lasted on average more than 43 minutes, these scaling damage and tank team compositions were too much to overcome.

Invert was disappointed his team lost, but not because they played badly.
“[LoL developers] Riot Games did a disservice by allowing the finals to happen on west coast servers,” Invert sighs. “Any skill balance was thrown off by an imbalance of the lag that each team had.”

It’s hard to argue that things would have been drastically different if the finals were played in a LAN setting with 0 ping, but the principle is important.

“You leave the players with a sense of what if. That’s really devastating,” says Invert. “Players come out of it thinking they missed out on an opportunity because of things that were out of their control.”

Yummi chimes in. “We were at a disadvantage because of the tournament servers. We believe that was a big problem to winning.”

Unfortunately, this lack of agency is not new to Invert. “It’s a tough situation, but any solution needs to start from the top,” he says. “Riot needs to take more control on whatever is under the Challenger Series.”

The miraculous run deep into the Challenger Series qualifiers from Toronto Esports was over. From decimating established organizations all the way to organizational problems in the finals, there was a lot to learn and take home from the tournament. After the qualifiers ended, Toronto Esports parted ways with this University of Toronto LoL team, but it’s hard to believe that at one point this squad of mostly first-year students were three wins away from becoming an entrenched part of the storied LoL professional league.

 Toronto Esports has today announced the release of Matt “Dellor” Vaughn from their organization, citing breach of contract. The circumstances of the dismissal relate to an incident where Dellor used abusive and discriminatory racial language while streaming. “Toronto Esports is an organization built on inclusivity, and we have always had a zero- tolerance policy for any forms of discrimination.” Said President Ryan Pallett. “Immediately upon learning of the incident, the player was interviewed, admitted to the offence, and was notified that his contract with the organization was being terminated”

Interview with Declan Ballinger, captain of the recently acquired Toronto Esports Paragon Team

By Max Greenwood

MG: Tell me about your role with the T.O. Esports paragon team.
DB: So I play jungle in Paragon, and I’ve always played jungle in every MOBA I’ve tried. I worked my way through Paragon and eventually made my own team called Carbon Esports. We built up our reputation in tournaments like PCL [Paragon Competitive League]. Eventually we were noticed by Toronto Esports and they picked us up. We had one of the members of TO Esports contact us, and we just had a quick chat as they got to know a bit more about the scene. It slowly worked up to the acquisition and they picked us up.

MG: I, like many others I’m sure, are fairly new to Paragon. Can you draw a comparison to other games?
DB: Any MOBA really. Smite is probably the closest due to the third person perspective, but the nice thing about paragon is that it has the unique element of verticality. There’s a Z and Y-axis, going up and down, so you have to aim properly and have better mechanics in that sense so it’s got a lot of potential. There’s loads of little intricate mechanics that you can abuse in game. Just the simple mechanic of aiming up and down is a huge difference. Lots of dashes and jumps that go upwards so you have to predict these and you have to aim upwards. There are loads of matchups that are fun to watch in a 1v1. We’ve seen lots of demonstrations of this in the PCL with huge 1v1 outplays that are really hype.

MG: You are the primary shot caller of the team. What is your leadership style like?
DB: In general we’ve always had a more passive play style than any other team, we sit back and farm up a lot. We generally do everything a bit more efficiently then others. I call out rotations to my team, try to make sure they’re in the right lanes at the right times, where they need to go, make sure they get the most efficiency from their farm and call when we go for small objectives such as the raptors or if we’re going to invade their jungle and take their white camps or their green. We just get more farm then keep farming up until we get a slight lead where we can start to force more objectives. We prefer scaling up to late game, and that’s my objective when making calls.

MG: Why the conscious decisions to remain efficient and slow rather than take risks?
DB: We have gotten to the point where we can snowball on risks and capitalize on mistakes, but it’s very rare for that to happen. We know one mistake, especially against a very good team, can throw the entire game. At the highest level, teams make very few mistakes and good teams know how to snowball out of control.

MG: What are some other team strengths, and even weaknesses?
DB: My players are very mechanically strong. I’m very happy with their individual performances. They can 1v1 anyone in their according matchups, as long as it’s fair. They also know how to farm well. The only thing they can work on in general is just where to be and when to disengage but that’s what I’m there for. If there’s a bit more intuition it allows me to free up my time and I can focus on my own mechanics, because I do spend 80% of the game talking and making sure everyone is in the right place. That can be a bit cumbersome to the comms though.

MG: Whats the team’s prep for tournaments like?
DB: We do scrims almost every day. We put as much practice into those as we can and we make sure we have several planned strategies and several drafts. We have preplanned drafts for every threatening team, and then we basically just go into it and try to do our best with the best attitude we can. We hope we can learn more at this stage then flat out win it. It’s all good and well to win it but we need to keep learning at the moment until the scene grows and we get bigger tournaments.

MG: Can you tell me about the tournaments you’ve played as TO Esports so far?
DB: As soon as TO Esports picked us up we wanted to of course show our best. We didn’t want to test new things because we didn’t want to slander the name, so we went in with as much practice as we could and when we got into the finals against OxygenNA in our first tournament as Toronto, we were nervous because we had lost to them a few times. We snowballed out of control though, 2-0 with very nice wins and a really good start for us as TO and we’re very proud of it.

MG: What else in terms of tournaments is coming up for the TO Esports Paragon team?

DB: It always goes with the same three week rotation which we have had for the past few months now. It’s been the PCLNA tournament which is this weekend, where we play on the NA server, which is difficult for us being an EU based team, then the next week is the PCLEU tournament. After that is usually a free weekend, but that weekend is usually filled with some sort of community tournament. It’s not usually something we play as a five in, it might be something where we separate into individual teams and play with four other community members. We play a double elimination tournament over a couple days and it’s really good fun.

MG: Anything else to add?
DB: I’m very happy to be acquired by Toronto. It’s a huge thing for us; we didn’t see it coming really. We were very excited to get started with them. Especially being one of the stronger teams, we did feel like we deserved after everything we worked for. Big organizations are looking into the game so we hope there is a big future for it.

 Toronto Esports is excited to announce that it has finalized it’s Overwatch roster with the addition of Cynic, Snow & Mac. Cynic, an experienced main tank has had various successes in his Overwatch career thus far and we’re excited to have everyone playing around him. Snow, the flex support from TeamOfSnow which later signed to Kingdom Esports & now Renegades, is coming off a brief break from esports, and since his return we’re seeing constant mechanical improvement. Lastly, Mac – coming from Method, as a main support he is phenomenal, his Overwatch IQ and positive attitude has been an instrumental part in our 3 tournament wins since we’ve finalized the roster.

Unfortunately, Toronto Esports has had to part ways with NGVisator. In Overwatch, teamwork is an absolute necessity for any successful roster. Unfortunately, we simply had too many different personalities on the team and couldn’t find the cohesion we were looking for. NGV is a phenomenal player whom I’m certain will have success in the remainder of his Overwatch career.

-John Strizzi, Overwatch Head Coach

 Toronto Esports have today announced their expansion into their 3rd title, with the signing of competitive Paragon team, formerly Team Carbon. "We are very pleased and excited to be entering into competitive Paragon" said General Manager Chris Loranger. "Paragon is a game with huge potential, and is a game we have been playing and enjoying for quite some time. In addition, the Carbon players share our philosophy of camaraderie and teaching within their community; they are a great group of guys, and we are thrilled they have signed on with us." Toronto Esports Paragon team will commence training immediately, with weekly tournaments already on the horizon.

Toronto Esports Paragon Roster:

BeCertified - Offlane
Bloodmordius - Jungle
Yo_im_Mikey - Mid
Nimp - Marauder
shadoN - Support
Undeadpilot - Sub
Rustrus - Sub

 Toronto Esports Club and Raiders Esports Centre have today announced an exclusive partnership, the first of its kind in Canada. “All of us at Toronto Esports are extremely excited to announce our partnership with Raiders, the biggest esports centre in Toronto.” Said President Ryan Pallett. “It truly is a dream venue, that has been providing the best online and live esports viewing experiences in Canada. Soon, Toronto Esports will be bringing some of the best professional players in the world to Raiders. Together we will be creating incredible experiences for Toronto’s esports fans.”

“Raiders E-sports Centre is very excited to announce our partnership with Toronto Esports!” Stated Raiders Owner Daniel Hu. “We were inspired by Toronto Esports ambitious goal to become a local Esports team for Toronto’s top talent and to represent Canada. Soon, Toronto Esports will be bringing some of the best professional players in the world to our venue. We look forward to working together and creating incredible experiences for esports fans across Canada.”

 Toronto Esports has today announced the signing of professional Overwatch player Note.  "Note  is everything that you`d want from a professional esports player." said coach John Strizzi.  "He`s coming from Brother which has produced stellar results, he brings the right attitude and is simply dominant in-game if he`s left uncontested. He`s such a consistent player I think any esports organization would have jumped at the opportunity to have him play for them."  Note, who fills the Offtank/Flex role, has been incorporated into full team training as of last month.

BIO:

Note
Lucas Meissner
Age: 18
Hometown: Barrie, Canada
Position: Offtank/Flex

Toronto Esports announced today the signing of professional Overwatch player Onigod. The Norweigan player, formerly of Team Reunited, has signed shortly after the disbanding of the Europe based team.

"I think Onigod definitely brings a lot to the table in a multitude of ways” said Overwatch Head Coach Johnathan Strizzi. “He has the mechanical skill, he has the positioning and the experience. He gets along great with the rest of the team. It's not everyday you have a big-ticket player signing with a young organization. It should go without saying that we're extremely happy to have him. We are ready to put Toronto on the map"

General manager Chris Loranger, who was instrumental in the signing, was also pleased with the acquisition. “Today I am extremely happy to welcome our newest member Onigod to Toronto Esports. Toronto Esports has been around less than a year, but with the start of the new year we are excited to turn a new page and bring our team to the next level. With Onigod and some revamping of our old roster we will continue to strive to be the best team in Overwatch, with our main focus in Esports as a whole to be the most dominant Canadian and Toronto based team. We have some big plans coming up which we will be happy to share with you in the future, until then stay tuned and I hope you are excited as I am for what is coming up.”

Onigod, who will be moving into the Toronto Esports team house in February, also expressed his excitement at joining the team. “I am really happy to be joining Toronto Esports. I feel like we have lots of potential, and we are going to prove that soon. I’m also really excited about moving to Toronto and meeting all the members of the team and getting set up in the team house. I feel like we will have great success.”

Onigod will be integrated into team scrims as of this week, and will be preparing to move to Toronto in the coming weeks.

BIO:

Onigod
Stefan Bjørdal Fiskerstrand
Age: 19
Hometown: Alesund, Norway
Position: DPS

Toronto ESports has announced Lazykore as the winner of the 2016 Overwatch Player of the Year Award.  "Congratulations to LazyKore for winning player of the year. Lazy since day one has a been a perfect example of what it means not only to be a good teammate but a good friend. He has worked hard, earned his spot on the starting roster after being a sub, and throughout what I can only assume was a frustrating process, has been positive and respectful to of all players and staff. Much love and congrats once again!"

Ryan Pallett paid tribute to Lazykore in this statement:  "Lazykore embodies the values that Toronto Esports was built on.  Hard Work, Dedication, and Teamwork.  There is no player more deserving of the 2016 Toronto Esports Overwatch Player of the Year Award.  Everyone, from the Players, to the Staff and Managers, today all pay Lazykore the utmost respect and honor.  Congratulations Lazy!"

Toronto Esports has today announced the signing of the highly rated University of Toronto League of Legends team.

"We are more than happy to finally announce our next move in Esports!" said General Manager Chris Loranger.  "League of Legends has been at the forefront of Esports for a few years now and naturally we are very excited not only to sign a team, but a very talented and one of the best LoL collegiate teams in the world."  

Currently the top rated Eastern collegiate team, U of T LoL has been gathering recent momentum, capping off a strong summer by garnering a top 4 finish at DreamHack Montreal in September.

"I am personally very exicted to have the U of T League of Legends team joining us." said President Ryan Pallett.  "As an organization with local roots, for us to be signing the top local LoL team, and a great group of guys from Toronto, it just couldn`t have worked out better"

The full League of Legends roster will be as follows:

Alvin - Top

Yummibananas - Jungle

jhEEsh - Middle

Erry - AD Carry

JayJ - Support

Susice - Substitute

The team will entering competition immediately at the upcoming LANwarX this weekend (Nov 25-27) in Oshawa ONT. http://lanwarx.ca/  and will continue to compete for U of T in intercollegiate competition.

 Toronto Esports has announced the departure of support main player Arc by mutual consent.  "Arc has been a leader and a shot caller for Toronto Esports, I am sad to see him go but thankful for the time he has given us and wish him the best of luck, not only to him but his family as well" said General Manager Chris Loranger.  Further attesting to his impact on the team, President Ryan Pallett comments,  "Arc was a very important character on our team, and he will be missed.  He has been key in allowing our Overwatch roster to progress to high tier play.  We all wish him the best of luck in the future"  Tryouts are now underway for support main players, announcement will be made once a player has been selected.

 Toronto Esports capped off an undefeated weekend with a 2-0 run that saw them qualify for the BaseTrade Overwatch Cup Finals.  After winning the Competitive Overwatch League Watchpoint Cup on sunday with a 4-0 run, the team looked to continue their momentum in the BBTV Qualifiers.  After receiving a 1st round bye, the team defeated Brazilian team KEEP gaming in convincing fashion, advancing with a 2-0 performance.  The qualifying match would see them face perennial top 15 NA team I`m Your Huckleberry, and the match lived up to its billing.  Toronto Esports opened with a convincing 3-0 victory on Nepal, but were narrowly defeated on Hollywood despite a strong final push after the first control point in the second round.  The third round turned out to be a nail biter, going down to the second runthough on Numbani.  On attack, with one final push, TES were able to win an extended all out brawl, to take the payload in the final seconds, clinching the qualification.

"I am extremely excited about our team qualifying for the second week of the Base Trade tournament" said team captain Miguel "Arc" Hernandez. "The guys and I have put in countless hours of work to make it this far and grow as much as we have. Ever since I joined Toronto Esports our goal has been the same. This tournament is just one step for us in the right direction towards where we want to be. There is a lot of work ahead of us and plenty of good teams to play, but I am confident in our body of work, and feel we are ready to face the challenges ahead of us. I couldn`t be more proud to be the captain of this team." 

Team management viewed this result as a crucial stepping stone for the team.“The basetrade qualifier was just the start, the team has a ton of potential that is yet to be unveiled” Said Overwatch manager John "Icy" Kazura.  "I am extremely happy to see our team performing so well so soon" Said General Manager Chris "HuK" Loranger.  "We have a great group of guys who have constantly been improving at an exceedingly fast rate. This is a small but necessary first step to reaching our goals of being a top OW team."

The BaseTradeTV Overwach cup Finals will air Oct 16, at 11:00 am EDT on  https://www.twitch.tv/basetradetv.

For more tournament info click https://www.basetrade.tv/basetrade-overwatch-cup2/

For final qualifying tournament results click http://www.gosugamers.net/overwatch/tournaments/11379-basetradetv-cup/3155-qualifiers/11381-qualifier-1/bracket

Toronto Esports has announced their new acquisition Sam 'Hexo' Bouchard at the Tank position. Along with this signing, will come some major role swaps for the Overwatch pro team.

"I am happy to announce that we are signing a very experienced player in Hexo. Not only is he a competitive OW player but former LCS owner." Said general manager Chris Loranger. "While we sign Hexo, our former tank player Arc will be moving to support. Arc is our main shot caller and saw himself being more effective playing the support role, something we agreed with. Moving forward we hope to see even more improvement from the team." Hexo, who has been training with the team for the past 2 weeks, will be inserted into competition immediately, with the team scheduled to compete in the GosuGamers North America weekly on September 25.

Toronto Esports today has announced the departure of main support player Bandit from their Overwatch pro roster.

"It is with sadness and regret we are saying goodbye to our original main support 'Bandit'." Said General Manager Chris Loranger " Although the departure was mutual,

it is still something we regret to see happen. We wish Bandit all the best going into the future!"

A testament to his contribution, President Ryan Pallett comments "Bandit is a model professional, and someone who any team would be lucky to have. We are sad to see him leave, but understand

his desire to do what he feels is best for his career at this moment. We will continue to follow his career, and wish him the absolute best for the future."

"It`s a great honor to be signing such a young and talented gamer." Said Chris Loranger. "One of the biggest obstacles with young and talented players are their attitudes, Jaru is someone who not only is a team player but has the maturity of someone far older. I am very excited to see how far he can go." Jaru will begin training with the team immediately, and is expected to participate in the GosuGamers North American Weekly tournament on Sunday, September 18th.

After a lengthy selection process, Toronto Esports is proud to announce their debut competitive roster:

We are happy to announce Toronto Esports, it has been a long time coming with a lot of hard work but we are excited about the future and will do our best to represent and make our city proud."  
-Chris Loranger, Overwatch General Manager

Toronto Esports has announced today their partnership with Chris “HuK” Loranger as Overwatch consultant manager. “Huk is a person who I’ve personally been a fan of for a long time” Said Toronto Esports President Ryan Pallett. “He’s local, living in Toronto, and that’s important to us, as we want to build a local club top to bottom. He is also a top 500 ranked North American Overwatch player as well as an established Overwatch caster, so I can’t think of anyone we would rather have for this job." “I am very excited to be part of Toronto Esports” says Loranger. “Overall Canada has always had a very strong Esports community, but it has been overlooked in many areas. Creating a local team for Toronto fans to cheer for with local roots is something I feel very passionate about." Huk will be tasked with helping assemble the clubs professional Overwatch roster and coaching staff.