Toronto Defiant entered the Overwatch Champions Series
Toronto Defiant has kept its promise and has not shuttered its esports division for Overwatch. The ownership group of OverActive Media has confirmed that the team will retain its affiliation with the Overwatch League (OWL) and will participate in the Overwatch Champions Series 2024.
According to the available information, Toronto Defiant has become the first team to have competed in the franchised Overwatch League and publicly announced its entry into the new tournament ecosystem of Overwatch.
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New roster for Champions Series 2024
The 2024 roster participating in the Champions Series will not be the same as the one that competed in the OWL 2023 season. The entire player roster and staff from the final OWL season were released from their contractual obligations back in October of last year. The new roster, consisting of DPS players Sugarfree and MER1T, supported by Rupal, Vega, and Someone, will forge a “new path” directly from the OverActive headquarters in Toronto.
The organization’s continued participation in the Overwatch discipline aligns with OverActive’s earlier statements made in November. When the team officially departed from the OWL, they stated their intention to return to the game’s competitive ecosystem in 2024. As we can see, their words have not been in vain.
OverActive acquired KOI and Movistar Riders
Since leaving the league, OverActive has been busy with productive acquisitions of the KOI and Movistar Riders brands, merging them with their own brand, MAD Lions. In addition to Overwatch, OverActive now manages brands participating in the Call of Duty League, LEC in LoL, VCT Masters Madrid and Game Changers in VALORANT, as well as Counter-Strike 2, among others.
The Overwatch Champions Series represents a return to an open circuit ecosystem, allowing teams from all regions to qualify for online tournaments and ultimately progress to LAN finals through open qualifiers. The first stage of qualifications for Asia will begin in February, while for North America and EMEA, they will start in March. Toronto Defiant will be competing in the North American division.
