a staple, McCree was mainly reduced to a situational play of hunting do

The future looks rosy for Overwatch. Within a week of its release last month, Blizzards newest game already had seven million players. Whats more, the games traditional sales model had players plopping down a minimum of $40 to play the new IP, which meant it lacked the easy access of the increasingly common free-to-play route.Over the months of closed beta, top players put the game through the wringer and Blizzard balanced and re-balanced the relative strengths of Overwatchs 21 heroes. Even before launch, there were a healthy number of professional Overwatch tournaments, populated by some of the biggest teams in eSports.All of these efforts developed the games strategy space. Any spectator sport, whether its hitting a ball with a large stick or dispensing an animated fighter with a Shoryuken, quickly develops its own internal strategies and trends as the players become more experienced and the sport becomes more refined. In gaming, we refer to this as the meta, an endlessly evolving state that forms the backbone of tactics employed in the game.With Overwatchs audience growing and Blizzards focus on developing the games competitive aspect -- as indicated by the games just-released Competitive Mode -- theres an opportunity for Overwatch to flourish as an esport. And for a new player curious about Overwatchs burgeoning competitive scene and interested in following a matchs intricacies, theres a lot of information to absorb about the individual heroes to really get a feel for whats going on. So, weve put together a competitive introduction for each Overwatch hero to guide the beginner, starting this week with the six heroes in the Offense class.TracerTracer is a character that has come and gone in the meta before (she was used a lot more before a health nerf late in the beta). The classic in-and-out harasser, Tracer is the fastest character in the game. Tracer cant match Genjis vertical mobility, but she has the ability to use Blink and Recall to get out of trouble quickly.These days, Tracer doesnt see competitive play on every map, although we may see her more frequently if McCree sees less play for reasons well get into below. Tracer is most common on king of the hill maps where she has the ability to really get behind enemy lines. In maps with choke points, however, Tracer sees a good deal less use as she can do little to help the team bust through and her mobility cant be used as effectively.Best maps: Nepal, Route 66GenjiHalf ninja, half cyborg -- both things people on the internet love (OK, me too) -- youve probably encountered quite a few Genji while playing pub games. With the ability to double-jump, climb vertical surfaces, and use Swift Strike for additional speed plus burst damage, Genjis mobility makes him a versatile flanker that can harass a defenders back line.In competitive play, Genji is a lower-tier hero despite having a high skill cap. One of Genjis strengths in pubs is his ability to deal with Bastion; Genji can get behind Bastion fairly easily and, depending on placement, can either pepper him with shuriken or dispatch him with Deflect/Swift Strike. Given fewer Bastions present and elite players that can deal with his harassment tactics effectively with hitscan weapons, Genjis relatively fragile body becomes a bigger deal.Thats not to say that Genji never sees play. You may see Genji in particular instances when his vertical mobility is extremely useful, for example, in flanker maps such as Gibraltar or Hollywood.Best maps: Watchpoint: Gibraltar, HollywoodPharahAnother character with good vertical mobility, Pharah uses it to different effect than a Genji player does. Pharah is a long-range attacker and her verticality focuses more on opening up sight lines rather than the annoy-and-escape tactics that you see from more traditional harassing flankers like Tracer.Where Pharah shines is in situations where crowd control is most valuable or the other team is playing a number of short-range characters. Heroes like the non-Roadhog tanks, Junkrat, Tracer, Mei, and Reaper dont have a really effective way to deal with Pharah.The downside of Pharah is that she has map mobility more than tactical mobility, meaning that a Widowmaker, McCree, or Soldier 76 can knock her out of the sky fairly easily despite the high damage from her rocket barrages. This is especially true with her ultimate, which leaves her completely immobile and easy pickings for enemy heroes.In competitive play, successful Pharah players will try to keep her sight lines open for only as long as necessary in order to reduce her exposure. By contrast, against six random players youre more likely to see Pharah just hovering over the battlefield as if she were a helicopter.Best maps: Kings Row, Lijiang Tower, and arguably everywhereSoldier: 76Soldier: 76 is one of the games core heroes in competitive play because of his flexible, orthodox playstyle. He uses a medium-range hitscan weapon, can fire off a projectile, do a little bit of healing, and sprint to a control point fairly quickly. Even if youve never played Overwatch, if youve ever played a first-person shooter, youve essentially played Soldier. Even his name sounds a bit generic.As it turns out, this versatility means you can plug him into a lot of roles. For a player with elite targeting skills, Soldiers standard attack is useful in most situations, whether its dealing with a pesky Tracer or knocking Pharah out of the sky. Soldier has issues with tanks that have shielding capabilities and isnt great at creating his own sight lines, but hes a safe, solid choice in most situations.Best maps: Nepal, IliosReaperWith one of his strongest checks, McCree, on the outs for the time being, Reapers extremely high levels of close-range damage make him a staple of both competitive play and casual games. Pharahs still around to keep Reaper honest -- theres very little Reaper can do against Pharah except live to fight another day -- but Reapers shotguns can effectively take out most characters in close quarters. While hes slow, his Wraith Form gives him an effective way to escape and his ability to collect Soul Globes to restore health provides a measure of additional survivability.Reaper tends to be a good hero even for beginners simply because his use is straightforward: get behind the enemy, kill things, get away. While elite players more effectively execute this plan, the basic concept stays the same. Reaper is a particular problem for Mercy, who is often seen in the two-healers-per-team standard composition. Lucio, on the other hand, can be a bit trickier to deal with, as his Sound Barrier is a strong play against Reapers Death Blossom ultimate.Best maps: Kings Row, NepalMcCreeMcCree used to be king of the mountain of the Offense class. So dominant was McCree both through beta and early release that teams at the competitive level actually averaged more than one McCree a game. In the hands of an accurate shooter like an elite player, McCree was always dangerous. But his ability to destroy tanks at close range with his Flashbang/Fan the Hammer combo was even scarier.Then Blizzard made some big changes to McCree, causing him to fall into disuse very quickly. McCrees alternate-fire ability, the aforementioned Fan the Hammer, had its damage reduced by nearly 40 percent, preventing McCree from killing Reinhardt or Roadhog with relative ease. Hes still lethal to many of the squishier Offense harassers like Tracer, but hes no longer the must-include he used to be.In this past weekends tournaments, you could see the fallout from the McCree nerf. No longer a staple, McCree was mainly reduced to a situational play of hunting down Pharah. McCree can still be dangerous in a pros hands, but his lack of mobility is a much bigger deal when he cant go toe-to-toe with any hero in the game.Best maps: Dorado, Hollywood Air Max 720 Rebajas . 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He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak.We call upon the advice of the experts to help you win the Super 6 jackpot, which is boosted to £1million this Saturday. The usual £250,000 top prize has already been paid out twice this season, but the nations most popular free-to-play prediction game is now offering you the opportunity to become a millionaire by predicting six correct scores. Play Super 6 Make your Soccer Saturday Super 6 predictions here. Heres six pieces of advice to help you win the Super 6 jackpot…Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling says: Do your researchWere expecting more than one million entries on Saturday with such a big jackpot up for grabs, but theres certainly ways to find an edge. You can, of course, study your basic stats; home form, away form, clean sheets and team news, then theres average goals per game, head-to-heads, records at certain grounds and home and away goals if you really want to swot up. If you havent got time then you could just be lazy and listen to the Soccer Saturday boys in the studio, live on Sky Sports from 12pm. Soccer Saturday pundits will offer up their predictions on the show Super 6 pundit league table leader Matt Le Tissier says: Possession isnt always the lawIm obviously lucky that I get to watch a lot of football and have to study the game as part of my job. There are some stats that are more useful than others, though. For example, if a team is creating a lot of goalscoring chances then theyre going to get results, whereas possession can be misleading if theyre not penetrating.Sky Bet Football League pundit Ian Holloway says: Team news is vitalPredicting results in the Sky Bet Championship has been my toughest job in football, without a shadow of a doubt. Trying to keep Blackpool in the Premier League was a doddle in comparison! At least as a football manager you have a chance of winning, losing or drawing. However, as a predictor its very lose-lose as youre bound to upset someone even if youre right.Preparation is key when tipping Championship games as if you dont do your homework youre in troubble as a key attacking player could be suspended or injured.dddddddddddd Individual quality in the final third makes a massive difference in this division. For example, Brentford are a different side without Alan Judge. Hes fit and in form this weekend, so thats one of the main reasons why Im going for a 2-1 Brentford win.Most recent £250,000 Super 6 jackpot winner Owen Burrows says: Stick with your initial predictions Owen Burrows landed the Super 6 jackpot in January Id say go with your gut and never change your predictions once youve made them, even if Ive got a slight doubt because Id be too worried that my initial instincts were correct. I actually changed my mind about one result when I won it but fortunately left it alone.Opta Joe says: Take your chances Opta play Super 6 Opta provide their Super 6 stats and suggestions for the ￡1m jackpot. Shot conversion rate has been possibly Leicesters biggest success this season, having had only the ninth highest total number of shots and the 18th highest possession figure in the division. The taking of their chances over the course of the season when theyve arrived has put them top. As for creating them, that has been key for the rest of the top four, with Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City in the top four of the most chances fashioned.Sky Bets Head Football Trading Andy Wright says: Bankers wont make you a millionaireIts a case of finding a balance with the sort of odds youre going with. If you back all of the favourites to win 2-1 and the close games to be 1-1 draws then the chances are youre going to be sharing the jackpot with a few people if you do win. If you fancy an upset or a comfortable win go with it, then the chances of you being the solitary winner will increase.Fancy winning the £1m jackpot? Enter your Super 6 predictions for free here. Also See: Play Super 6 Fixtures Premier League video Table ' ' '