OWL 2022 Power Rankings - #17 Vancouver Titans

As a fully rebuilt team, the Vancouver Titans come in at our #17 spot for the 2022 Preseason Power Rankings.

The Vancouver Titans have much to prove this season, and are using an certain strategy to do so. The team was formed in late November of 2021 and has since added two rookie players. Each player individually shows plenty of promise, but it is uncertain how they will do as a team. If there were even one veteran Titan to build off of, it may be a different story. The uncertainty keeps fans from getting their hopes up.

Vancouver Titans 2022 Roster

Vancouver is sporting a team of five Overwatch League veterans of which have questionable experience. Most of their veteran league players are coming off the bench of their former teams, settling to start on a bottom three 2021 team. What gives hope in this roster is that every player has proven themselves to be more than a bench player, even if not quite at the level of playoff team starting players.

Tank

Nick “False” Wiseman

Three time Contenders champion False is going to be the sole Tank player for the 2022 Vancouver Titans. For most rookies, it's going to be difficult to play Tank in a solo Tank meta. That is even more so the case when referring to Off Tank players such as False. If there is any player that could take to the role naturally, its going to be this player. He's been as star for the last few years in Contenders, always in the discussion of Contenders promotions as the last couple of seasons have rolled around. As a Canadian player, its fitting for him to debut in the league as a Vancouver Titan. What the Titans lack is meta flexibility.

They're relying on the highly aggressive meta that has formed in the lead up to Overwatch 2's official release. Unless Flase has been brushing up on his Reinhardt and Winston in the offseason, the Titans have put the weight of the uncertain on the back of a rookie Off Tank leading a fully rebuilt team. If the Titans manage to do even relatively well this year, False's name will be high on the Rookie of the Year prospect list.

Support

Petja “Masaa” Kantanen
Jeong-su “Aztac” Park
Robert “Skairipa” Lupsa

The biggest question anybody may have is how a team with Masaa can be this low on the power rankings. Well, as we all saw in the 2021 Overwatch League Grand Finals, an All-Star level support line featuring Masaa can only get you so far. So even if Aztac wasn't fresh off the Toronto Defiant bench, and Skairipa had Overwatch League experience, its not going to have the biggest impact on this team. Credit where its due, Skairipa was a fantastic Support player for British Hurricane for half a year, taking two Contenders championships and two runner up spots. Despite being one of the best Contenders Supports in 2020, Aztac hasn't seen much play in the Overwatch League. He's still unproven, and can't be put on a veteran level with certainty. His former practice and coaching from a year with the Defiant is what hopefully puts him on that level.

This Support line is shaky, and like the Tank “line” puts all of the pressure on a single player. Masaa is expected to play flawlessly through the season while his two teammates hopefully train up quick enough to make this a competitive team.

DPS

Luka “Aspire” Rolovic
Niclas “sHockWave” Jensen
Maximilian “Seicoe” Otter

This is where the bench really comes out swinging. Aspire is the dark horse DPS of the Overwatch League. His time with the Toronto Defiant in 2021 was originally planned to be a short stay. Every time he got the chance to prove himself though, he did it. Possibly overshadowed by his teammate Heesu's flashy performances, Aspire was a consistent threat to enemy Supports, and we even in 1v1s with some of the best DPS in the league.

On this team, sHockWave's name will be the one that comes up the most at the start of the season. Coming off the Philadelphia Fusion bench, sHockWave has already proved what he's worth in the Overwatch League. In fact, this isn't even his first stint with the Titans. He was drafted as part of their 2020 rebuild roster two seasons ago. After spending time on Fusion University, he returned to the league with the Philadelphia Fusion. After years of fans saying he has more to show, this is where he's really going to have to prove that he's more than a high level Contenders player.

Seicoe is one of the best EU Contenders DPS players of all time. He has four Contenders championships to his name, and won three in a row before being picked up by the Titans. One troubling fact is that he has little to be compared to. Not many of his teammates or opponents from Contenders have ever seen the Overwatch League, and therefore his estimated performance in the league is unequitable. He has an experienced DPS duo to work with, so growth of the season is very likely to happen. What is uncertain is whether Seicoe will be taking the bench position for a majority, or at least first part of the season.

Coaches

Steven “Flubby” Coronel
Ali “Pew” Anwar

The low point of the team. The two least reputable coaches in the Overwatch League. With limited experience before becoming coaches of the Vancouver Titans, its been hard for these two to make anything work. A roster with so much potential may fall flat on its face because there is minimal development behind their skills and functions as a team. Suffering time after time, its completely possible that these two are growing and learning as well, but things have only gotten worse for the Titans the last two seasons, and these two have been at the helm the entire time.

Vancouver Titans 2022 Power Ranking

Potential. That is word to define this team. Though an object will not be put in motion unless acted upon by another force. This team needs something more than what they have. They need a star captain, or championship winning coach. All this potential will go to waste with the same forces acting on them that have made measly steps both forwards and backwards the last two seasons. If the Titans stay as they are, they will only be able to rely on individual talent.