Overwatch Documentary: Why Fusion University is So Dominant

[0:00] Intro- Fusion University vs. Team Envy

I'm just going to dive straight into it and explain how this whole thing started. So while watching Fusion University against Team Envy, the quarter finals of North American contenders, I heard some sound bites from the casters that really intrigued me and sparked my interest. Here's an example of one thing I heard: “Elk and Alarm have never lost a match together.” Yea a support duo that has been undefeated since playing together like WHAAAT, What does that even mean, a support duo that has never lost a match together like why is nobody even talking about this why have I never heard about this before. Then I kept watching, and I noticed that were was a lot of hype behind Fusion University, and they were the clear favorite in their match.

Then the casters reveal that Fusion University have won the last two contenders finals and not only that, they did it while never losing a match, 16-0. At this point I'm completely freaking out I'm like what the hell is going on here, I mean you have a team that is going for a 3 peat. Yes, this is definitely really interesting. So the match didn't even start yet I mean this was the casters just giving some context, so I decided to watch my first ever Contenders match, and it was Fusion University and Team Envy.

After watching the first map, I knew Fusion University was special. They seemed so polished it was like they were ahead of the curve. And then they actually start losing momentum, and they fall behind 2 maps to 1 to team envy. They are 1 game away from losing their entire playoff run. Let this sink in. They are about to lose for the first time ever in contenders. But something happens, they turn on a switch, and I know that switch when I see it because I've competed and watched so many competitive matches before and that's the clutch switch. Fusion University has a button they press, and everyone just gets in the zone and pops off, and that's exactly what happened. They clutched it out and won the next 2 maps in a row.

Now it was amazing watching Fusion University keep their composure and clutch it out, and then I hear another sound bite from the caster. [5 map set] yes apparently this isn't the first time Fusion University goes to map 5 and clutches it out, as a matter of fact, they do this time and time again. About 40% of their matches in contenders has gone to a game 5, and they have always managed come out on top. Now, this is where I'm like ok how in the hell does Fusion University keep pulling this off. I want to get to the bottom of it because what I watched was amazing and then on top of that, Fusion University has this whole storyline behind them of how they been dominating contenders from the start, and I just want to uncover the truth.

What is their secret to being so good at Overwatch? I treat this documentary as a detective trying to solve a mystery. I went into the documentary blind with absolutely no knowledge about Fusion University, and at the end of the documentary, I formulate my own opinion with the evidence I was presented with and give my explanation to why I believe Fusion University is such a special group. This video right here is documents my entire journey from beginning to end so sit tight and enjoy the show.

[4:41] Mykl interview

Alright so at this point I need to learn more about Fusion University, I need to understand their background and their story in order to start this whole thing. Although I need to do a ton of research on my own, It would really help to be put on the right track and talk to someone who would know about this stuff. I need someone in the Overwatch community who follows the competitive scene, and then that's where it hit me. The person I needed to start this whole documentary was my very own best friend and overwatch personality KINGMYKL, he's been following the overwatch scene since day one, and he's accumulated thousands of subscribers by uploading a video every single day on his channel. I knew I had to talk to him about this documentary and really take in everything he knows about Fusion University.

[12:50]I asked for help! (Reddit segment)

Ok so the first mission is complete, mykl gave me a lot of information I can work with and really gave me a direction going into this documentary. I learned a lot about Fusion University's history, and I understand what it takes to finalize this project, and that's trying to contact anybody I possibly can that's associated with Fusion University. However before I do that, my next step was actually to get another source of information about Fusion University, and I went with the best possible approach. Asking you guys. So yea I literally got on Reddit and asked you guys this simple yet complicated question. I said “Fusion University has won the last 2 contender seasons, have the best game record in both groups, are currently 5-0 in matches, and just destroyed today. Top 3 reasons you guys think they are so good?” The number one answer with the most upvotes said this

“Elk and Alarm are the best support duo at least in NA Contenders, maybe in any Contenders region. They must be really good at coaching hires as they are on their third coach in 3 seasons and the first two are both in OWL now. Also, Fusion as a whole org is very well run and are willing to put more resources and money into their academy team than most. They also just have a winning tradition.”

The rest of the answers just reassured me to stay on the track I was heading to and one other thing. The names Elk and alarm were all over the Reddit post which means Its a must to get an interview with Elk or Alarm. Without an interview with either of these guys, I would never be able to get key insider information that would help me complete this documentary it just wouldn't be possible. So the next step was contacting everybody associated with Fusion University for an exclusive interview that would help me better understand why they are so dominant.

[14:18] Contenders Finals Games

[17:00] Elk interview

They did it; Fusion University pulls off the threepeat cementing themselves as a dynasty reigning supreme over all of contenders, they beat Atlanta academy 4 maps to 2 and on top of that, they remain undefeated going 24-0 in contenders history. After messaging everybody I could, I got in contact with the one person who can truly explain the historic success attained by Fusion University, and after many conversations with the Fusion University staff, I got the opportunity to interview none other than Fusion Universities shot caller, Elk. Now getting Elk on board for this documentary was extremely important for me because he was on every Fusion University Championship roster, he's the leader and the brains behind the operation, and if there's one person who can truly give me inside access to Fusion University, its Elk.

[35:20] Ajax interview

Wow, that was just simply amazing. I learned a lot from this interview, it was really informative especially coming from the perspective of Elk, this historic run we've been talking about is literally his reality, he's living in it and just to have the chance to talk to him and pick his brain is truly incredible. Now before I talk about what went down in the interview and give my thoughts, there's one more person I wanted to talk to and this person was also important because he would add another perspective to the documentary, and like mykl said I need to gather information from all angles, so I did message coaches i messaged ex-players, unfortunately Elk was the only person I could get a hold of and even getting him was a miracle, but I did get one more person to interview for the documentary, and this is where things might get interesting.

The person I'm going to interview next is none other than Atlanta Academy’s team leader and strat caller Ajax. Now, this would help me get in the mind of a person trying to prepare for Fusion University, a difficult task since they never lost so how do you prepare for a team that has never lost, how do you formulate your strategy. I also wanted to compare notes between Fusion Uni and other organizations in Contenders, see how their approaches and preparation may differ from one another and really analyze the situation through multiple perspectives.

[51:24] The Finale (Answering the Question!)

So After all the research and evidence, I've gathered throughout this documentary, I'm going to answer the question of Why Fusion University is so dominant to the best of my ability. This has been a very long process, I've spent so many nights rewatching the interviews and doing my own personal research in order to give you all the best answer I possibly can. First, let's start with Elk and Alarm. This support duo is undeniably the best duo in Contenders. They been on Fusion Uni together since day one and experienced all 3 championship seasons.

Individually Alarm is absolutely insane, already projected to be the next Big Star in the OWL, analysts and casters believe the day he turns 18 is the day he will be moved up to the Fusion OWL roster. There have been many moments where Alarm actually provides the most damage not only done on his team but done in the entire game. He's out damaging DPS monsters on his team like WHORU, Zacharee, AND the other DPS players on the other team, and he's not even a DPS player, he's a support main. Not only that, Elk whos the shot caller of the team stated that Alarm is basically his right-hand man when it comes to decision making in game, he always runs the plan by him first because Alarm is considered a phenomenal player in regards to game sense, strategy, and game knowledge.

Alarm seems to have the full package with his mechanical skill mixed with his decision making and game sense, easily a franchise player to build an entire team around. Now personally moving on to Elk, I believe this guy is a genius on a strategic level and on a social engineering level. Elk doesn't see Overwatch the way a normal gamer sees Overwatch. Before playing the game, Elk was into playing strategy games which over the years built up his problem-solving capability and algorithmic capacity accounting for many different variables at hand. Overtime, Elk, is naturally going to be ahead of the curve at processing what's on his screen, analyzing the obstacle, and providing a solution to that problem. His experience of doing this over and over again in the past is why he seemed like a natural at being a strat caller in Overwatch.

His gaming background paired with his charisma allows him to lead. The aura he brings whenever talking to him portrays confidence, and psychologically this translates over to his teammates when they hear a call by Elk being made. For example, if Elk says we're going to go straight and then flank left, his voice subliminally boosts the confidence and morale of the team which directly affects the way his teammates react to his calls. His voice subliminally activates his teammates playing with more vigor, intensity, and assertiveness. When Elk makes a call, the team follows the call because they feel a sense of security and command in his voice which really brings out a rallying effect on Fusion University which leads to a unified, cohesive unit.

This was all seen before Elks rise in the Overwatch Competitive Scene if you look at his season 1 statistics. He was placed in the 50s, and he climbed all the way to 79 with a broken laptop. He said he started to consistently climb once he got a mic which shows how effective he is at communication and steering his teammates in the right direction. Fusion University couldn't have paired two individuals together any more perfectly, Elk and Alarm complement each other in every way possible.

Next thing I want to talk about is Fusion University’s coaches. Fusion University in total had about 3 coaches including the one they have now which means all their previous coaches have gotten jobs in the Overwatch league. Aero who coached for a couple of months is now on Dallas Fuel, and paJion whos coached for 8 months is on Vancouver Titans. If you look at the coaches Fusion has brought in, their resumes are always very impressive and stacked with experience.

Experience is key to being successful in competitive play because having a coach who's been in every situation multiple times helps the team formulate a diversified strategy which is good for adapting on the fly as well. Having coaches with experience also shows that they work well with players on a personal level and that's really something that's important nowadays that many teams seem to overlook. Coaches must have a good personal connection with their players in order to really inspire them and push them to be at their best. Fusion University has always performed at their best, and with 2 coaches being in the Overwatch League proves how well they are in all aspects, from strategy, experience, knowledge, and personal connection.

Next is the Superstars Fusion University recruits to their roster. Now we all know how Korea has been dominating esports, and this is still consistent in Overwatch. Almost 60% of the players in the league are from South Korea and Fusion University has specifically acquired Korean Superstars which includes the notorious WHORU. According to Ajax, he was just simply dominating on genji relying on his mechanical skill just being better than everybody else and literally nobody could really stop the havoc he was wreaking.

You also have players like Bernar, Changsik, and Na1st who play their specific roles on the team and perform highly enough for Fusion to win. Fusion Uni also recruited Zacharee who was a DPS player who got picked up with Dallas fuel, and he played a major contribution to Fusions early success. Putting these championship rosters together shows how insane these players really are, but let's give credit to the Fusion University Org.

The Fusion Uni organization has managed to have completely different rosters for all three contenders seasons and still managed to never lose a game. This credits the scouting and recruiting ability of the organization because they are able to assemble the perfect roster time and time again. Elk also mentioned that the players themselves sometimes scout potential fits for the team. This emphasizes the transparency and open relationship between the management staff and the players. Having a healthy and good personal relationship across the board establishes a comfortable and productive environment to be a part of.

Fusion University has figured out a way to establish a healthy environment for their players which lowers their stress levels to maximize player performance efficiency. They have a system in place where their main goal is to focus on player progression, building them up to be good enough for the Overwatch league. Oddly enough this is interesting because this system does not focus on winning contenders like other organizations yet that’s exactly what they seem to do every season. Their primary focus is to mold and shape their contenders players to get to that overwatch league skill bracket, and this method is evidently more effective than primarily focusing on just winning contenders. This can be explained in 2 ways.

One since their main focus is building their players and helping them become better players; they are actually putting a lot less pressure on their players since their not stressing winning but just asking for improvement. Other orgs are asking for their players to win it all and maybe that's adding some pressure and stress on these players. Also naturally, Fusion University players are being planned for the long term because one day they are hoping to play for Fusion in the Overwatch league which means they are being more patient and playing for the future rather than the present. When you do that as a player, you become A LOT less frustrated with yourself when making a mistake and instead you're willing to fix those mistakes and improve.

Patience is a key factor for Fusion University’s success because they are known for being a team that goes to game 5’s and come out on top. Patience and Stamina is critical to remain focused throughout a long series even after playing 4 maps where you have to put 120% effort into it. Then you have to go to a game 5 and give even more to come out on top and Fusion University has that championship mentality that makes them so clutch in these game 5s. They have a winning tradition and culture where losing isn’t even on their mind. They play like their the best because they think they are the best and when you think you are the best you play like a champion. Think of a free agent in the NFL who just got signed to the Patriots. Once you're signed under the Patriot's organization you’re naturally going to assimilate to your environment, an environment where you’re pushed past your limits and losing isn’t an option. This is what Fusion University has done, they’ve established a dynasty like we never seen before and this is why I believe they are so dominant.