Gator will be taking over the place of coach Brad “Sephy” Rajani, who retired on Monday, according to reports from the Overwatch team. The organization revealed Sephy, who has been with the team since 2018 and has been the only head coach the team has had since their inception, will be retiring in order to take on an analyst role with them.

“Today we announce that @Selfless_Brad is retiring from his position as Head Coach and taking on a Remote Analyst role with Atlanta Reign. Thank you for four years of leadership and wishing you all the best with this transition,” the team said in a tweet.

The Overwatch team, which has been making the top chart in the domestic scene, has shocked fans with their new inclusion, being that the former player has only been in one game throughout the 2022 season. However, Gator, who is delighted at the opportunity to serve as a coach for the first time, thanked the team for the privilege of serving in that capacity.

“Excited for the opportunity and new challenges. Thanks for the support,” Gator said.

The American tank started his pro Overwatch career in 2018 while representing the North American team GOAT, and he was regarded as “one of the founding fathers” of the roster. Gator also played for the ATL Academy and joined the Atlanta Reign 2018 up until November 11 of this year, when the team released five of their players alongside Gator.

The team released DPS player Nicholas “Speedily” Zou and support players Christian “Ojee” Han, Benjamin “UltraViolet” David, damage dealer Charlie “nero” Zwarg, and Korean DPS Lee “Venom” Dong-keun, all of whom are currently unknown if any will be making a return to the team just like Gator. The Atlantic Reign also parted ways with Taiwan coach Ho “Danny” Chun-Wei and French analyst Dimitri “Silence” Couturet on November 17.

Gator will be giving his expertise to the remaining other team members, such as tank Xander “Hawk” Domecq who joined the team in 2019, British DPS Kai Kai “Kai” Collins, and support Kim “vigilante” Jun.

It is currently unknown if the team is in talks with other players, but it is likely that they will utilize the overloaded free agency market in the coming weeks in order to complete their roster ahead of the next season.

In 2019, the Atlanta Reign emerged as the first esports franchise to formally represent the city of Atlanta. The team had a good run at the 2022 Overwatch League Kickoff Clash and also the 2022 Overwatch League Mid Season Madness, coming in at third place in both tournaments. Although their streak came to an end at the 2022 Overwatch League playoffs, in which they came in 9th-12th place.

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?Paris Eternal denied us a winning bet with our OWL betting predictions for Friday with a very strong performance in their 3-1 win against Vancouver Titans. They lost their next match 1-3 against Houston Outlaws, but it wasn’t like the Eternal played poorly. They lost the final two maps with minimal margins – 2-3 on Assault (Volskaya Industries) and 3-4 on Hybrid (King’s Row).

Their next opponents are Atlanta Reign, who have yet to win a single match this season. We sided against the Reign in our betting predictions for the first week of play, which proved to be the right choice, and we are very tempted to do it again here.

Atlanta look like the stronger team on paper, but they haven’t played a single match in a week. They��re also struggling with their form, so there is a strong case to be made for the outsiders to at least keep this one close.

?Along with the Titans, Boston Uprising are a strong candidates to end the season as the weakest team in the OWL. They’re 0-2 with a 0-6 map differential after two clean sweep losses against Los Angeles Gladiators and Dallas Fuel.

Washington Justice have the better form line, but they are yet to be properly tested. Their two games thus far have ended in 3-1 victories against the Fuel and the Titans, so we don’t really know at this stage how good the Justice are.

Boston looked lost last week, and unless they find a way to improve, they will struggle to win a match in the May Melee. That said, they have good enough players for us to steer clear from betting on the Justice to win 3-0.

Washington are clearly the better team, but they dropped a map against a Vancouver team that looks just as weak as the Uprising. Boston can steal a map, but we don’t expect much more. Expect a 3-1 victory for the favourites.

?When we talk about teams that aren’t built for success, the first one that should come to mind are the 2019 OWL finalists, the Vancouver Titans. There aren’t many things that would get you excited about this team besides Min-gi “Teru” Kim, Abtin “ShRedLock” Shirvani, and Nathan “frdwnr” Goebel, who still need to prove they’re better than everyone expects them to be.

The Titans�� first opponents of the 2021 season are the Toronto Defiant. They seem capable of great things this year, but a lot will come down to the performances of Su-min “SADO” Kim, Hee-su “Heesu” Jeong, and Jung-won “Lastro” Mun.

The problem with the Defiant is that while they have the talent, most of their star players aren’t exactly reliable, and fielding three rookies won’t help their consistency either – especially early in the season. Despite their relative lack of quality, the Titans should be capable of winning one map; however, until they prove otherwise, we wouldn’t expect much more from them.

?This might seem like a hot take, but we view the Florida Mayhem as one of the top five teams in the league. They might not have the high ceiling of some other squads, but their flexibility and stability are two big reasons why we trust the Mayhem to shine. That said, Florida’s success will greatly depend on Min-seok “OGE” Son and whether he can perform as well as he did in the early days of his OWL esports career.

The Atlanta Reign’s biggest strength is their stacked DPS position with Kai “Kai” Collins, Se-hyun “Pelican” Oh, and Tae-hoon “Edison” Kim, who will be the driving force behind how far this team can go. The problem is that the Reign don��t look too solid in other positions, which will be a huge roadblock for them this season.

Even though there are a few ‘what ifs’ with the Mayhem, we don’t believe they should be considered as an underdog against Atlanta. The latter are definitely capable of a few upset wins if their DPS players perform well, but due to weaknesses elsewhere, it’s hard to take the Reign’s side as slender favourites with Overwatch betting sites.

Every match is now a must-win for the teams on the low road, as a single defeat results in elimination from the competition.

With a lot on the line and high expectations put on both sides, we are in for an exciting fixture between two well-matched teams.

Atlanta Reign

$1.72 at GG Bet

Following Atlanta Reign’s painful defeat in the OWL semi-finals against New York Excelsior, the upcoming fixture will be their shot at redemption.

Atlanta have performed well throughout the season, but we can��t help but wonder whether they still have enough strength to push through and go deeper into playoffs.

Despite those doubts, we can��t deny Atlanta looked mighty strong against New York on each map they player, which does make us believe they have enough quality to finish the season on a high.

Hangzhou Spark

$2.00 at GG Bet

Hangzhou Spark earned their spot in round two of the lower bracket by demolishing Seoul Dynasty in game one (4-1) and will now look to repeat that impressive performance against Atlanta Reign.

SEE ALSO: LA GLADIATORS vs SAN FRANCISCO SHOCK BETTING TIPS

While win over Dynasty looks fairly good and gives some morale boost ahead of their fixture against Atlanta, we have to remember Hangzhou lost to LA Gladiators 3-4 in the quarter-finals two days prior.

To say the Spark have failed to light a fire this postseason would be an understatement, yet they have made many fans proud by coming this far.

Atlanta Reign vs Hangzhou Spark betting predictions

Hangzhou Spark will enter the Thursday��s fixture with high hopes they can derail Atlanta Reign, which might be easier said than done.

The two sides met each other in stage four of OWL season 2, when Atlanta convincingly won 3-1 to secure a perfect 7-0 score on the standings. That result might not be a very good indicator of which team is stronger overall, yet it��s a solid indicator of which teams has an advantage here.

On the paper, the fixture seems fairly one-sided, with Atlanta emerging as clear favourites. That being said, Spark could prove to be a tough nut to crack if their star player Jun-Ki ��Bazzi�� Park performs up to par.

All things considered, Atlanta Reign are a stronger side and while we do believe they will encounter some resistance, which will make this fixture more entertaining, when push comes to shove, Reign should come out on top.

Atlanta Reign to win – $1.72 at GG Bet