Overwatch League team Boston Uprising has signed Brazilian player Renan “alemao” Moretto to its 2019 season roster.
Alemao is the first player from the South American Overwatch Contenders region to join the Overwatch League. Previously playing for Brazil Gaming House and based tryhards, alemao is a support player who most recently represented Brazil in the Overwatch World Cup. “Thank you everyone at Boston Uprising for giving me this opportunity,” alemao wrote on Twitter following the announcement. “I’ll do my best and work hard for the team.”
The Brazilian support is the first player actively playing in the country to be signed to an Overwatch League team. ( Los Angeles Gladiators DPS João Pedro “Hydration” Goes Telles was the first Brazilian-American player to join the Overwatch League. He represented the United States in the Overwatch World Cup.)
Boston Uprising recently signed another South American Overwatch Contenders player, Nicolas “Klaus” Ferrari, to its Contenders team. (Klaus also previously played on Brazil Gaming House.) The region has been chronically under-represented in wider Overwatch scenes, but not because of a lack of talent. South America has notoriously bad ping due to a lack of Overwatch servers in the region. Players from Brazil face 160 ping on North American east coast servers and 200 to 230 ping on western servers—making it hard to get noticed in outside regions.
The South American Overwatch Contenders region also has notoriously low financial support from Blizzard; first place in the South American Contenders tournament awards the top team only $7,500 in prize money, compared to the $30,000 prize in North America. Teams in South America earn $147 per win, $83 per loss, and $115 for a draw. In North America, teams get more money for a loss—$330—than a win in the South American region.
Boston Uprising now has nine players signed to its 2019 Overwatch League season roster, including two-way Contenders/League player Cameron “Fusion” Bosworth. The Overwatch League begins again on Feb. 14 at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles.
