VARREL carry Japan's hopes into the Midseason Championship
On August 1st, 2025, VARREL beat ROC Esports in a 3-2 battle, sending them to the Lower Bracket Final. This game made Overwatch history because it was the first time an OWCS Japan team ever beat a non-Japanese team. VARREL would immediately get swept by Team Liquid in their next match, but they continued to be the shoo-in for the Japanese spot in LANs since. This year, VARREL enter the 2026 Midseason Championship at the Esports World Cup in Paris looking to go even further and prove once and for all that Japanese Overwatch is a force to be reckoned with.
VARREL is the pinnacle of consistency, having the same core group of players for five years now. All the way back in 2021, Unsold Stuff Gaming - the previous name of VARREL created a roster for Overwatch Contenders Australia, since Japan did not have a region at the time. This roster was a full core of Japanese talent, and included hitscan Daisuke "Nico" Fujikawa, flex DPS Nariaki "qki" Hirayama, and off-tank Tomoharu "KSG" Inoue. They were coached by Jeong "ＰＡＩＮ" Yu-chan, a Korean coach with Japanese citizenship. This team would finish fifth (out of six) in the region, but would keep their core together. These same core four would stay with the team to this day and represent Japan in the 2023 and upcoming 2026 World Cup.
The other three players would all join later in the team's history; their first addition was main support Takashi "Qloud" Umeda, who came out of retirement in 2022 to help them reach third place in Contenders Australia 2022. These four players would be on the initial OWCS Japan roster in 2024, helping them to a Stage 1 victory. By 2025, however, it was clear that VARREL would need to level up if they wanted to hold a candle to international competition, so two Korean imports were brought in: flex DPS prodigy Jeong "TOPDRAGON" Seung-yong and mechanical mastermind flex support Kim "Sley" Jae-hwan. Alongside these imports, coach Woo "Dae1" Dae-won joined as an assistant. These three took VARREL to a whole other level, helping them to their first international victory and continued dominance in Japan, winning four straight OWCS Japan titles as a core.
VARREL is an interesting story, as their mix of Korean and Japanese talent is not unlike any other team in Japan (every team in Stage 1 and 2 of 2026 has had two Korean import players and at least one Korean coach), but their dominance has proven that they are a different class. It seems that they took the smartest players out of Korea and brought them to Japan to teach a new style of Overwatch. TOPDRAGON, by his own admission in our interview with him last November, leads the team in fight planning and communication (“About 70%”). Sley is known for coaching Korean main supports during the season, and he has specifically taken credit for coaching Lee "LeeSooMin" Soo-Min (Weibo Gaming), Han "ChiYo" Hyeon-seok (Team Falcons) and Kim "Bliss" So-myung (T1).
That said, plenty of credit is due to the Japanese players on the roster. All three of the Japanese starters, Nico, KSG, and Qloud, have looked one-of-a-kind in their roles. KSG has been one of the best tank players in the game for half a decade, with his D.Va and Sigma play dominating the region. Similarly, Nico has been the best hitscan for the same amount of time, with his Sojourn and Cassidy gameplay taking over lobbies match after match. Qloud is not as bold as his teammates, but his main support gameplay has been consistent and commendable, with minimal mistakes over the years. This team is built to thrive, and their talent has only grown over their years together.
VARREL’s results this year speak for themselves. They started the year as the only non-partner team invited to the Pre-Season Bootcamp in Seoul, South Korea. With this practice under their belts, they dominated OWCS Japan in Stage 1, dropping a grand total of one map all stage to decisively win the region. In OWCS Asia, they knocked Team Falcons out of the tournament by beating Crazy Raccoon, and took maps off both Team Falcons and ZETA DIVISION. Despite not making it to the Champions Clash, they continued their dominance in Stage 2 of OWCS Japan, once again dropping only a single map all stage to eviscerate their opponents. This win marked five straight OWCS Japan titles for VARREL (they’ve won six out of the seven stages all-time), and clinched a spot at the Midseason Championship in Paris. Their raw dominance in Japan is a sight to behold, and hopefully we can see more of it on the international stage.
VARREL opens their tournament against Korea’s top team in ZETA DIVISION, a battle between two Japanese organizations. These teams have faced off once before, in the first match of the playoffs of the Asia Tournament this year. In that match, ZETA won 3-2, in an incredibly close battle. Interestingly, VARREL did lead the series 2-1 at one point, which is all they need to win their opening match in Paris, since the first match is an FT2. Both teams are coming off winning their respective region, so expect this match to be full of exciting plays and great performances. Regardless, be sure to tune in to the Midseason Championship as the games kick off at 12:00 PM CEST on Wednesday, July 29th (7:00 PM KST, 11:00 AM UTC, 6:00 AM EST).