Another first in the history books. The 2026 Season has officially begun, and for the North American region, a lot of familiar faces found themselves back in the victory corner. Others will need to look for answers to stay on the path to Tokyo.

Game of the week: Team Liquid 3 - 2 Extinction

Prior to March 16, it would have been a hot take to say Team Liquid would be taken all the way to five maps with the 6th-placed team in North America. However, after Rupal “Rupal” Zaman was released from the team, the power balance in the region shifted.

This meant that Team Liquid had only 24 hours to find an emergency flex-support, which led the staff to select Yasser "Escanor" Alotaibi as Rupal’s replacement. The weekend would mark his first foray into playing flex support, while also dealing with high latency from Saudi Arabia.

Normally, a team at the calibre of Gorilla’s Disciples, now officially signed by Extinction, would be thoroughly outclassed by the longtime staple of North America. However, given the circumstances, they looked to take advantage of Team Liquid’s weakened state.

Right off the bat on Oasis, Extinction came out swinging. Stevie "sniper" Rivera put on a dominant performance on the D.Va, consistently contesting the opposition and not allowing for much pushback. Along with the surprise flex-DPS performance by Ryan "ryan" Lawless, Extinction easily took Map 1, while Team Liquid seemed uncoordinated and lost.

Extinction wins Oasis to take an early lead over Team Liquid

That changed on Watchpoint: Gibraltar and Esperança. This is where both Elliot "TR33" Chu and Boston "Infekted" Fine firmly brought Team Liquid back into the fray, notably with TR33’s Hanzo making the difference on Escort and Infekted’s Winston on Push. Even though they were in a weakened state, this roster is still packed with some of the region’s best talent.

But that same energy did not continue into Suravasa. Much like Oasis, both Ryan and Sniper shook off the nerves and began a dominant takeover on the Flashpoint map. Sniper continued once more to outduel Infekted, who struggled to find a consistent option and swapped between Sigma, Ramattra, and Wrecking Ball, but still couldn’t break the D.Va. Although Liquid nearly reverse-swept the map, they would be brought to a decider Map 5.

Blizzard World initially seemed winnable, but sadly for Extinction, they would not be able to take down a weakened Team Liquid. This time, both TR33 and Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano shut down any hopes for an upset and managed to stay afloat and win their first match of the 2026 season.

Infekted secures the victory on Blizzard World

In the world of sports, there are “ugly wins” and “good losses.” For Extinction, this result was a good loss. Although this now marks the fourth time this organisation has lost a Map 5 in OWCS, they proved that they can hang with the best of North America. This game was truly a homecoming for both Ryan and Sniper, who now look to be significant gems within this region.

Regardless of how many asterisks are present in this result, not every team would be able to take a team of Liquid’s calibre to five maps, and with a result like this, other teams in the region now know this squad is not an easy win.

Watch Interview - Ryan: "PDK was a monster in that qualifier"

Team Liquid, on the other hand, suffered an ugly win. While it may be easy to throw blame onto the newly signed Escanor, keep in mind he was thrown into the deep end with minimal practice time on a new role and on high ping. Regardless of whoever Liquid had signed, it would still have been a difficult task to slot in someone new in such a short amount of time. And it cannot be forgotten that Diego "Vega" Moran had been playing with his former support partner since the 2023 Flash Ops Holiday Showdown. Any major change made this short before the season was sure to break any established team, including Liquid.

Despite the circumstances, Team Liquid did pick up the victory. Heading into Week 2, they will now have more time to practice with their new support player, and are currently working to get him into better conditions. Given enough time, this team will surely bounce back and contend with the best in North America.

Player of the week: Denis "Lethal" Tari from Spacestation Gaming

When the Season 1: Conquest update launched, with it came a new hitscan hero that has since become a mainstay in OWCS. While it would take many players considerable time to master a new hero right off the bat, it came as second nature to Lethal.

Lethal has picked up the newest hero, Emre, to great success, and is part of the unit that led Spacestation to their 2-0 start. With strong opponents on the horizon, the rest of North America will need to keep an eye on one of the region's best hitscans.

OWTV is proud to recognize Denis "Lethal" Tari as this week’s North American Player of the Week.

Hero bans and map picks: New faces and comfort

As is common at the start of seasons, teams have not yet settled into a common ground, which means comfort is the name of the game.

Right away, one of the newest heroes in Overwatch has been making his mark on the meta: Emre. Slowly but surely, Emre has found himself competing for playtime with heroes like Sojourn and Cassidy, and thanks to his passive Altered Vitals and ultimate, Override Protocol, he has seen play in virtually every match this weekend.

The second DPS option has largely revolved around Vendetta, who first made her way onto the competitive scene during FACEIT League Season 7. With her aggression and survivability, she has since become one of the most important pieces in this new meta. However, there has also been some flexibility with some players picking up Tracer, Symmetra, and even the occasional Pharah or Echo.

Tank picks have largely come down to the players’ comfort. For teams like Team Liquid and Dallas Fuel, they utilize Winston far more than teams like Spacestation Gaming, Disguised, and Extinction, who revolve their strategies around D.Va and the occasional Zarya. But there is also some room for more ground tanks like Ramattra, Orisa, and the occasional Domina, as evidenced by LuneX Gaming.

Support has been the least flexible option so far. Lucio-Kiriko has remained ever-powerful, and the only room for flexibility comes when either hero is banned. We’ll have to wait and see how support develops over the course of Stage 1 and whether any further balance changes may shake things up.

Graphics from OWCS 2026 Hero Bans/Metas Spreadsheet by pthandley32

Week 1 match summaries

Dallas Fuel 3- 1 Disguised

“Being on an org that actually cares about their players and the history behind it…it’s a very cool experience.” - Christopher "Cjay" Smith

The first match of the 2026 Season in the North American region kicked off with two new partnered teams facing off. Although Disguised had suffered a disappointing reverse sweep to Team Peps at the Pre-Season Bootcamp, many were optimistic that some extra weeks of practice could help the freshman roster find some success.

Watch Interview - Tred: "[PGE] will be the best hitscan in NA"

Unfortunately for Disguised, they couldn’t clutch up against the Dallas Fuel when it mattered most. Despite being seen as the weaker opponent, Disguised kept themselves consistently in this match at all stops. Special recognition goes to Evan "PGE" Ngo, who, despite missing the 2025 season, looks as though he hasn’t skipped a beat at the highest level.

Although they lost this match, there are many bright spots on this team that could help them get an edge over the rest of the competition.

Kronik cleans up Disguised with a Sojourn 4K

For the last few weeks, the scrimbucks were in full swing, with the Dallas Fuel seeming to be the strongest team in North America, and this match gave us our first glimpse of those results.

While this wasn’t the cleanest victory, this team found great success thanks to the hitscan prowess of Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci, who routinely shut down the opposition and helped bring the Fuel their first win in Overwatch since the end of the 2023 OWL season.

Kim "Kellan" Min-jae also looked much improved since his stint with ONSIDE GAMING at the tail end of 2025. Although there was some concern regarding his performance on non-typical heroes in his pool, those concerns seemed to be put to rest as he played a pivotal role in bringing home the win.

With a weakened Team Liquid on the horizon, the Dallas Fuel are looking to make an early push in the standings.

Spacestation Gaming 3 - 0 LuneX Gaming

“As soon as we figure out the Winston comp, there’s no way [Dallas Fuel] can win.” - Denis "Lethal" Tari

When the former Sakura Esports core found a surprising 4th Place finish at the end of 2025, many were excited about the future of this team. And when they easily qualified for the 2026 season under the LuneX Gaming banner, many were expecting this team to pick up right where they left off.

While there was some promise, Spacestation Gaming showed that there are levels to this game. This match was largely one-sided, barring a close clash on Suravasa. Xomba and xten were outclassed by their counterparts, the support line struggled to keep up, and newly signed tank player cartifan22 was unable to show their signature Doomfist on Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

LuneX showed flashes of their high potential on Suravasa; there is still work left to be done to challenge the best in the region.

Spacestation, on the other hand, made quick work of their opponents and won the series without breaking much of a sweat. The recent additions from Geekay Esports have really made a difference, notably Denis "Lethal" Tari, whose hitscan was an oppressive force in the lobby.

Along with Xander "Hawk" Domecq on tank, and the upgraded support line, this team is looking not just to win in the regular season, but to dominate their region.

Spacestation Gaming 3 - 2 Disguised

“We didn’t think [Disguised] looked very strong…but actually, I think some of their comps caught us a little off guard.” - Benjamin "UltraViolet" David

After a close loss against the Dallas Fuel, Disguised looked to refine their footing and snag a win against one of the strongest teams in the region.

And for a moment, it seemed as though they would be able to overcome this highly skilled opponent. PGE looked much more composed on the hitscan, Tred played very well on D.Va and other tank picks, and Simon "Scyle" Broström even caught Spacestation off guard with the first Mizuki showing in North America.

However, Disguised lacked the crucial clutch factor needed to secure these closer engagements. While it was a loss, this roster proved the doubters that they are indeed a worthwhile opponent, and everyone knows the threat a dark-horse mid-table team can pose.

As Ultraviolet alluded to in the post-match interview, this game was much closer because they were caught off guard by Disguised's compositional choices.

But even with the surprises, the recent additions to the roster have begun to bear fruit for Spacestation Gaming. Lethal, as well as the support line, have done a great job at supporting both Hawk and Kamden "Sugarfree" Hijada, and their ability to remain composed and clutch out a close call speaks volumes for their level of coordination.

After a weekend of strong showings, Spacestation’s true test will come when they face the Dallas Fuel and Team Liquid in Week 3.

LuneX Gaming 3 - 0 Extinction

“We’re not too bummed out about the loss [to Spacestation], we’ll just continue to keep grinding and put more into practice.” - Aidan "NenWhy" McHenry

In their match against Team Liquid, Extinction showed that they are a worthy opponent in this region. And considering the results LuneX Gaming had against Spacestation Gaming, hopes were high for this squad to ride the momentum and find the victory.

Sadly for Extinction, any momentum generated from the Liquid series on Saturday had come to a halt on Sunday. Although Sniper and Ryan had a dominant performance against Liquid, that didn’t translate into this match. While both players were still performing well, it wasn’t enough to get Extinction ahead of the opposition, which resulted in a 3-0 victory for LuneX.

After a one-sided loss to Spacestation, LuneX picked themselves back up with a strong win over Extinction.

One of the biggest issues in that loss was the lack of consistency in hero picks, which NenWhy elaborated on in the post-match interview. In this match, LuneX came in with a solid plan: support Alexander "Zeb" Shepard on Domina and utilise both xten and xomba on Emre and Vendetta, respectively.

This restructuring paid off. Instead of playing outside their comfort zones, all players on LuneX settled in on familiar strengths, which was enough to net the victory against Extinction. While there are some concerns about the flexibility of the tank role, this team showed that playing to your strengths can be enough to secure the victory.