đ OWCS 2026 Stage 1 North America preview
After a long off-season, the Overwatch Champions Series North America returns for the 2026 season.
The first stage of the season in North America begins on March 21, featuring the four OWCS Partner Teams and two teams which earned their spots through the OWCS Open Qualifier. Six teams will compete for $75,000, as well as two spots in the first international major of the year, the Champions Clash in Tokyo.
The format of the stage will remain mostly the same as the 2025 season, with some modifications. Each stage will proceed with a six-team round robin across three weeks of regular-season play. Afterwards, the top four teams will compete in a 4-team double-elimination tournament to decide qualification for the Champions Clash. The 5th and 6th-place teams in the regular season will then need to fight for their OWCS survival in the Promotion/Relegation tournament later in the Spring.
Please check out our 2026 preview article for more details about the new season formatting, tournaments, and Promotion/Relegation.
Team Liquid
Team Liquid roster
- Elliot "TR33" Chu - Damage
- Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano - Damage
- Boston "Infekted" Fine - Tank
- Colin "Coluge" Arai - Tank
- Diego "Vega" Moran - Support
- Yasser "Escanor" Alotaibi - Support
Team Liquid support staff
Team Liquid returns for another year of OWCS competition bringing back the majority of their roster and support staff from the 2025 season.
This means the DPS core of Elliot "TR33" Chu and Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano, tank player Boston "Infekted" Fine, and support Diego "Vega" Moran will return in the blue and white to continue their stand in North America.
2025 was a massive year for the DPS line. Both TR33 and zeruhh showcased their talents on the world stage and even helped Team Liquid finish 4th at the recent Pre-Season bootcamp. With their swiss-army knife style of cohesion, there is seemingly no combination of DPS characters these two seasoned veterans cannot play.
Infekted had arguably the best year of his professional career in 2025, and is looking to make 2026 even better. Throughout the previous year, the young tank player had consistently been growing his hero pool, even taking the best North American tank players to the brink on unfamiliar heroes. Since breaking out on the original NRG Shock team in 2024, Infekted has become one of the best tank players in North America and is looking to cement that status in 2026.
Team Liquid made one notable addition to their roster. Colin "Coluge" Arai makes his return to Tier 1 Overwatch after a 2-year gap. While Colugeâs hero pool does fill in the gaps of Infektedâs weaker heroes, he has had a notable absence from Overwatch as a whole. Despite being on Winthrop Universityâs collegiate roster, he remained on the bench in order to pursue a career in Marvel Rivals. It is currently unclear how Head Coach Cas "Casores" van Andel will utilize the veteran tank, but having the option is always good in a potentially unpredictable tank meta.
The biggest question mark surrounding Team Liquid comes after the release of Rupal âRupalâ Zaman. The support line of Rupal and Vega stood as a versatile threat capable of playing any combination of heroes across both the 2024 and 2025 seasons. As of the time of writing, Team Liquid have not announced their plans to remedy this last-minute change.
[Update: March 20, 19:35 GMT] Team Liquid announced Yasser "Escanor" Alotaibi as their emergency flex support for Stage 1. Escanor most recently played for Mewthree in FACEIT League Master, finishing the season in 3rd place and barely missing out on OWCS qualification to Anyone's Legend. Most notably, Escanor has only played DPS in his previous teams, and there is no indication of how he'd perform as a flex support for Team Liquid.
Spacestation Gaming
Spacestation Gaming roster
- Denis "Lethal" Tari - Damage
- Kamden "Sugarfree" Hijada - Damage
- Xander "Hawk" Domecq - Tank
- Michael "RhynO" Willoughby - Tank
- Benjamin "UltraViolet" David - Support
- Oliver "Admiral" Vahar - Support
Spacestation Gaming support staff
- Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham - Head Coach
After turning their 2025 season around, Spacestation Gaming returns to OWCS with both returning players and new additions.
Returning from the previous season are DPS player Kamden "Sugarfree" Hijada, tank player Xander "Hawk" Domecq, and substitute DPS Alejandro "scissors" LĂ©on. Hawk surprised the entire OWCS scene after making his return to competition, and he looked as though he hadnât skipped a beat. With Sugarfree's standout performance, this core is looking to start the season on the right foot.
Joining the 2026 roster are a trio from Geekay Esports. The support line of Benjamin "UltraViolet" David and Oliver "Admiral" Vahar joins as one of the most versatile backlines in the region. Under their previous banner, both players showed the world just how strong a duo they could be both domestically and internationally, and are looking to reclaim their regional dominance.
Along with the support line, hitscan star Denis "Lethal" Tari also joins from Geekay. From behind his scope, Lethal brought great success to his former squad. With familiar faces and some new ones now at the helm, Lethal is looking to bring back a superior level of dominance to the North American region.
Spacestation also strengthened their reserves by signing former-NTMR tank player Michael "RhynO" Willoughby. While RhynO did show consistent performances when subbed in, he mostly remained on the bench in favor of Ryan "Painkiller" Cooper. Although RhynO will most likely be a substitution, having a player to fill in the gaps of Hawkâs hero pool is never a downside.
Head Coach Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham succeeded in turning around this Spacestation team late in 2025, and now he has a whole new season to begin an era of dominance. While there are some questions about the roster's cohesion, given the level of talent they have, they will be expected to be among the front-runners in the region.
Dallas Fuel
Dallas Fuel roster:
- Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci - Damage
- Park "SeonJun" Seon-jun - Damage
- Kim "Kellan" Min-jae - Tank
- Christopher "Cjay" Smith - Support
- Luke "Lukemino" Fish - Support
Dallas Fuel support staff:
After three years away from the scene, Team Envy has made their return to Overwatch as a partnered organization, bringing back the classic Dallas Fuel branding from the Overwatch League.
Spearheading the new era of the Dallas Fuel are coaches Kim "Yong" Yong-jin and Eric "Wheats" Perez. Yong, who coached the original Dallas Fuel OWL team from 2020-2021, makes his return to the Envy organization after completing his military service and helping Weibo Gaming in OWCS China. Wheats also joins fresh off his season with Geekay Esports.
To round out their roster, Dallas have picked up support player Luke "Lukemino" Fish from NTMR, and both Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci and Christopher "Cjay" Smith from Spacestation Gaming. Both Kronik and Cjay are coming off some of the best seasons of their careers, with Kronik showing the world how lethal his hitscan prowess can be, and Cjay showing massive improvement on flex support. With Lukemino there to serve as a flexible support option, these three players are looking to continue their upward trend and return to international competition.
Dallas is also the only team in North America to import players from OWCS Korea, signing DPS player Park "SeonJun" Seon-jun and tank player Kim "Kellan" Min-jae. Seonjun joins fresh off a surprising season with WAE, standing out as a serviceable flex-DPS player in Korea. Kellan is coming from a rocky season on both Spacestation in North America and RĂDE ONSIDE GAMING in Korea. While there is a lot of excitement with Seonjun, Kellan will be looking to leave a different mark during this new stint in NA.
Despite the concerns, many are optimistic about the return of such a beloved icon in Overwatch's competitive history. The Dallas Fuel also had a surprise showing against T1 at the recent Pre-Season Bootcamp, and while that didnât result in a win, there is a lot to look forward to with this roster.
Disguised
Disguised roster:
- Evan "PGE" Ngo - Damage
- Julian "Rokit" Pizana - Damage
- Jack "Reyzr" Francis - Damage (Substitute)
- Alexander "Tred" Madgwick-Smith - Tank
- Julian "Raikker" Bevien-Guevarra - Tank (Substitute)
- Joseph "Lep" Cambriani - Support
- Simon "Scyle" Broström - Support
Disguised support staff:
- Alex "byZenith" Ames - Head Coach
- Caleb "McGravy" McGarvey - Assistant Coach
- Ethan "Cap" Walker - Assistant Coach
- Robin "Zei" Sidhu - Assistant Coach
Disguised Toastâs esports organization has officially made their Overwatch debut as one of the four OWCS Partner Teams in NA.
Disguised Toast has brought on the former Florida Mayhem and NRG Shock manager, Albert "yeHHH" Yeh, to help put together this newly formed OWCS roster. And with him comes a unique four-man coaching setup with Caleb "McGravy" McGarvey, Ethan "Cap" Walker, and Robin "Zei" Sidhu as assistant coaches led by Alex "byZenith" Ames as Head Coach.
The roster assembled by the coaching staff comprises many players from across OWCS and FACEIT League teams. At the support line, Joseph "Lep" Cambriani joins from Spacestation Gaming along with Simon "Scyle" Broström, who recently played for Team Vision in EMEA. While Lep and Scyle both had mixed 2025 campaigns with their respective teams, they are looking for a fresh beginning here on Disguised.
Alexander "Tred" Madgwick-Smith also joins from the EMEA region after a rocky year with Gen.G Esports. Although Tred is a European player, he will not be taking up an import slot thanks to his collegiate status at St. Claire College. While Tred may have had a mixed 2025, the upcoming stage marks a new start for him alongside his co-tank partner, Julian "Raikker" Bevien-Guevarra. While it is currently unclear how the two tanks will complement one another, they are the spearhead of this new partner team.
Julian "Rokit" Pizana and substitute Jack "Reyzr" Francis have also joined as DPS. Rokit has had a storied career in the Contenders era of OW Esports and made a significant breakthrough in 2025 on NTMR by helping bring them to the Midseason Championship. And while Reyzr is listed as a substitute player, his recent performance on the DhillDucks roster has shown that, despite the memes, he is a worthy hitscan opponent in the region.
Disguisedâs most prestigious signing is the return of Evan "PGE" Ngo to Tier 1 play. The former NRG Shock hitscan player has become one of the more popular streamers in the Overwatch scene since his competitive break. Although he has been gone for some time, heâs already put on an impressive performance during the teamâs first competitive debut in a six-map thriller against Team Peps.
With an owner as notable as Disguised Toast and a streamer as popular as PGE, there is a lot of excitement with this roster. While recent performances at the Pre-Season Bootcamp, along with some controversy surrounding the team's construction, have left some in the community concerned, this band of players will be eager to flip some opinions come March 21.
LuneX Gaming
LuneX Gaming roster:
- xomba - Damage
- xten - Damage
- Thomas "TAP" Prins - Damage (Substitute)
- Cartifan22 - Tank
- Alexander "Zeb" Shepard - Tank
- Z. "zzz" Harvey - Support
- Aidan "NenWhy" McHenry - Support
LuneX Gaming support staff:
The former Sakura Esports core has returned to OWCS under the LuneX Gaming banner, bringing on a few noteworthy additions. Unlike the partnered organizations, LuneX rejoined OWCS through the Open Qualifiers, and their run was the most dominant out of any team, as they dropped only a single map to Team Z.
While the former Sakura core has since bid farewell to DPS-player Carson "pdk" Terry, support Niels "Natsuki" van Herwijnen, and coach Robin "Zei" Sidhu, the teamâs still supporting many returning and familiar faces from Stage 3 in 2025.
Returning in 2026 is the DPS core of xomba and xten. Both players proved how deadly of a combination they can be, with xombaâs Tracer pushing the best in the region to their limits as xtenâs hitscan prowess led them to a Top 4 finish in the previous stage.
Alongside the damage duo, Alexander "Zeb" Shepard returns on tank with Z. "zzz" Harvey on support. Zebâs tank play and zzzâs flex support were crucial x-factors in helping bring Sakura to their highest finish in 2025. Under this new banner, North America will now get to see the return of one of the best Orisas in the region, as well as an underrated flex-support option.
Joining this core are up-and-coming tank Cartifan22, former NTMR support player Aidan "NenWhy" McHenry, and Thomas "TAP" Prins as a substitute DPS option, alongside Sascha "SNR" Rogge and Will "Slippery" Maguire on the coaching staff. NenWhy is the first new addition to take a starting position, replacing Natsuki on main support. While their time in OWCS was mixed, they showed strong consistency on NTMR and in FACEIT and look to be a solid addition to the new roster.
While it is currently unclear to what extent LuneX will utilize both Cartifan22 and TAP, both players have proven themselves on previous teams across FACEIT and OWCS.
This core of players surprised the entire region after they pushed the best of North America and nearly qualified for the 2025 World Finals. LuneX is looking to pick up right where they left off in 2025, and are seeking to make 2026 their biggest breakout yet.
Gorillaâs Disciples
Gorillaâs Disciples current roster:
- Ryan "ryan" Lawless - Damage
- Carson "pdk" Terry - Damage
- Dion "Dion" Aguilar - Tank
- Stevie "sniper" Rivera - Tank
- Gorilla - Support
- Chris "scuffed" Murphy - Support
- Dylan âGrapesâ Watts - Support
In their OWCS Open Qualifier run, Gorillaâs Disciples stunned the region by beating two competitive teams in Kintsugi and Team Z.
The core of this roster competed in FACEIT League Master - Season 7 under the Emote Down Mid banner, but added on crucial pieces such as Chris "scuffed" Murphy and Stevie "sniper" Rivera, who both had recently played for Extinctionâs Stage 3 roster in 2025. Although that run ended in 7th place, both players proved in the Open Qualifiers that they cannot be underestimated.
Alongside the former Extinction players, Ryan "ryan" Lawless also joined the team. He was previously part of the Team Z squad that reached the 2025 Stage 3 Regional Playoffs. While qualifying for OWCS was a stressful endeavour, Ryan remained calm and collected and helped bring his team to qualification over his previous team thanks to his flex-DPS play.
Carson "pdk" Terry joined from Sakura Esports, and showed in the Open Qualifiers that he is still a worthy hitscan threat and is ready to show North America his prowess.
While there is lots of excitement for this squad, Gorillaâs Disciples is coming in without a proper organization backing them. Despite this noticeable caveat, this team proved how a good vibe can carry a team from Tier 2, and propel them forward into future Tier 1 success.
The action starts March 21
Competitive Overwatch returns in full swing on March 21, and brings forward a new season with exciting storylines, surprising teams, and unforgettable moments.
Make sure to stay up-to-date on all information, news, and interviews with NA teams on OWTV.gg.