📝 2026 Pre-Season Bootcamp preview: Participating teams, tournament structure, and new heroes

The 2026 OWCS season kicks off with the Pre-Season Bootcamp tournament on February 13 at the WDG Hongdae Studio.

This tournament will work a little differently from previous OWCS Majors, so we are going to break down the details of this exciting bootcamp event so you can hit the ground running and fully enjoy the show starting Friday.

Graphic by Blizzard Entertainment

Participating teams

As previously reported, 12 teams will be participating in the tournament, featuring 11 of the 14 partnered organizations and one team from OWCS Japan with a special invitation.

The teams from the North American region participating in the bootcamp are the Dallas Fuel, Disguised, and Team Liquid.

The teams from the EMEA region participating in the bootcamp are Team Peps, Virtus.pro, and Twisted Minds.

The Asia-region teams participating in the bootcamp are Team Falcons, Crazy Raccoon, and T1.

With the most recent announcement of the bootcamp viewing guide, OWCS has officially confirmed all participating organizations in the Partner Program for the Chinese Region. While not all partnered teams from China will be in attendance, Weibo Gaming and All Gamers Global are present.

Along with the aforementioned partnered organizations, VARREL from the Japanese region has also been granted an exclusive invitation.

The remaining partnered teams of Spacestation Gaming, ZETA DIVISION, and the recently announced partnered Chinese organisations of JD Gaming and Milk Tea*, will not be in attendance at the 2026 Pre-Season Bootcamp.

*Milk Tea is considered a Temporary Partnered Team in the OWCS Partner Program

Tournament Structure and New Heroes

The 2026 Pre-Season Bootcamp will be a single-elimination tournament, with seeding determined by both the 2025 World Finals results and regional placements.

The first eight matches of the tournament will feature guaranteed clashes between different regions and set the stage for what to expect in the 2026 season.

However, the biggest twist comes in the form of the tournament ruleset.

The Pre-Season Bootcamp will be the first official Blizzard event featuring the five new heroes coming in Season 1: Conquest on February 10. In order to capitalize on the new era for the game, all OWCS teams participating in the tournament will be showing off the new heroes (Domina, Emre, Anran, Mizuki, and Jetpack Cat) throughout their games.

To determine the first map pick, each team, per match, will elect one player to compete in a 1v1 match played only with the new heroes. The winner of the 1v1 will then earn the right to have their team select their desired map.

After map picks have been decided, the first round of Control will be played featuring only the new heroes played by both teams. This means that every first map of each match will feature only Domina on tank, Emre and Anran on DPS, along with Mizuki and Jetpack Cat on support.

After Map 1, Maps 2-4 will be traditional OWCS formatting with free hero selection and bans. However, the only exception to these maps is that teams cannot ban any of the five new heroes. All previously released heroes are eligible to be banned during these maps.

Should a game proceed to Map 5, both teams will be required to have their tank players lock only Domina. This means that, regardless of the opponent, every tank player will be on equal footing heading into Map 5s.

These hero-lock conditions apply only to the Pre-Season Bootcamp tournament and are not planned for the remaining OWCS International events.

In-Game Drops

Throughout the tournament from February 13 to February 15, official OW Esports channels on YouTube and Twitch will be hosting drops for exclusive in-game rewards.

Much like previous drops, these items can be earned by watching a certain amount of official OWCS broadcasts and by connecting your official Battle.net account.

The first two days of official matches will allow viewers to earn two Esports Lootboxes, 2026 OWCS Pre-Season Bootcamp Sprays, and OWCS skins for Ashe.

The final day of broadcast will host a unique set of drops where viewers can earn 3 Esports Lootboxes, a Pre-Season Icon and Name Card, an exclusive “Esports Enthusiast” title, and the OWCS skins for Reinhardt.

OWTV at the Pre-Season Bootcamp

As previously announced, OWTV will be present at the bootcamp to provide exclusive interviews with players and staff of all participating teams.

And for those curious about how teams have been performing with the new heroes, check out our live scrim updates to see the results of each team’s training.

Stay tuned to all OWTV channels for upcoming player interviews and weekly news coverage of all things OW Esports.