The 2018 Overwatch World Cup has become a stomping ground for the developing meta. Most significantly are the changes to the Support pool.

Throughout the entirety of the inaugural season of the Overwatch League, the support meta remained stagnant. Outside of a few pocket flexes, Mercy and Zenyatta held down the backline for the majority of the regular season. The Hanzo rework saw a decrease in Zenyatta play in favor of double-sniper, triple-DPS comps, and a recent round of nerfs to Mercy has brought Ana back to power.

Flexibility is more important than ever in the Support role, and many players are thriving from being released from “Mercy jail”.  One of these players is Team USA Support Grant “Moth” Espe.

Moth formed a dynamic backline for Team USA with Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty and was integral in securing the 1st seed in the OWWC Los Angeles Group Stage.

Moth took time after Team USA’s day 2 win to sit down and discuss the changes to the Support meta and playing in his first Overwatch World Cup.

Alright, I’m here with Team USA Support Moth. How are you feeling about your play in this group stage?

I think I’m doing alright for now. We will definitely have to step up our game for Team Canada tomorrow, but I think so far everyone has been playing well.

You guys look really strong, but do you think Team Canada is the team to beat?

No, I think they’re the second best team in the group stage.

I figured you would definitely rank Team USA first in that aspect! On your team, there are a handful of players who have experience playing together, but you are one of the new faces on the roster. How has it been assimilating into the team?

It’s been really smooth, actually. Everyone gets along well, and everyone works together really well so developing synergy hasn’t been much of a problem.

A lot of your teammates are from the San Francisco Shock as well. Are there any things that you’re able to take from your first season on the SF Shock that apply here at the Overwatch World Cup?

I feel like Sinatra’s aggression has been kind of defining our playstyle. So far, his playstyle has been defining how we approach any aggressive play in this meta, at least as far as our matches today and yesterday.

As far as the current meta goes, how are you enjoying the changes to the Support hero pool?

I’m really happy to be able to flex my hero pool. Lucio is definitely my best hero, so being back on him is great. I also got to play a bit of Ana and Torbjörn, too, so it’s been nice.

Outside of the Support role, do you think the competitive meta as a whole is in a healthy spot

As soon as the Winston bug is patch, it’ll be in a good spot. Right now, it’s pretty hard to survive as a Support if the Winston knows how to land on you. There’s no damage falloff on his leap because of the bug, so it deals full damage regardless of circumstance.

That’s definitely a big factor for the backline, then. Regardless, it’s likely that Team USA and Team Canada will be moving on from the group stage to the OWWC Finals. Are there any other regions you are looking forward to facing?

I don’t think we’re too worried about any other team, but South Korea is the one we’re focusing on. I think South Korea is definitely the team to beat at BlizzCon, and I think we have a really good shot this year.