Both of the Overwatch League’s European teams have begun to lean heavily into the talent of their home region—and 2022 will be no different for the Paris Eternal.
One of the few teams to make single-digit changes after the 2021 season concluded, Paris is once again putting faith in its majority-European roster to make waves in the West Region. The Eternal is also running with the league’s roster minimum of six players, banking on the change to Overwatch 2’s five-vs-five competition to free up pressure on its squad.
With a dead-even record of 8-8 in the regular season last year, the Paris Eternal quite literally has a balanced chance of going up or down in the standings in 2022. Though the team had a rough start in 2021, it began gaining serious momentum at the end of the season, which bodes well for improvement this year.
Players
Paris made no major roster changes after the 2021 season except for the key acquisition of Glister, one of the San Francisco Shock’s former DPS players. With the rise of hitscan heroes like Sojourn in Overwatch 2, Glister will be in charge of hitting headshots left and right for his European teammates. Flex DPS will be handled by longtime Eternal member Naga, who had one of the season’s best Echo performances in 2021.
Though the tank role has been whittled down to one slot in Overwatch 2, Paris decided to retain both main tank Daan and off-tank Vestola for 2022. It’s a good decision considering both players slowly gained confidence and had a huge impact by the end of last season. Daan, in particular, hit some of the best Earthshatters last year and should repeat that performance this time around.
Flex support Kaan and main support dridro will also be running it back for Paris this year. Kaan’s Ana is legendary and could be deadly in Overwatch 2, but dridro will likely be the real menace once his fast-paced Lúcio is unleashed.
Paris’ biggest changes were in the management sphere, with former Overwatch League player JMAC stepping into the head coach role after supporting the Eternal last year. Known for being an extremely thorough analyst, his big brain could be the team’s key to success despite few roster changes.
2022 outlook
The Eternal’s small but impressive roster could be one of the few that is significantly boosted by the myriad changes brought by Overwatch 2. With a single-tank focus, Daan could rise to full power or Vestola could get wild with off-tank mobility. From what we’ve seen, vicious support players are often rewarded in the sequel, so Kaan and dridro could do some serious damage in 2022.
Most teams have invested heavily in damage dealers and ignored other roles, but Paris has somehow done the opposite, which should be one of the team’s peak concerns heading into this season. Glister and Naga are both talented and can likely cover the game’s extensive DPS roster, but an additional player could ease the pressure to perform as the season progresses.
Paris started to pick up the pace by the end of the 2021 season, which means that time will only serve them well. If they can stay focused and flexible, they should be able to break the top half of the West Region standings.
The Paris Eternal’s first match is against the San Francisco Shock at 3:30pm CT on opening day, May 5.
