Revival’s Becca “Aspen” Rukavina is officially the first woman to compete in the Overwatch North American Contenders division.
Back in October, Revival revealed its roster, which included Aspen and Francine “Fran” Vo. Fran later became a streamer for the Atlanta Reign. The team played in the 2020 NA Contenders circuit and competed in a double-elimination bracket to earn their Contenders Trials spot.
The elimination bracket is a new change this year, giving teams the chance to compete against official Overwatch League academy teams such as the Uprising Academy, which now has to fight its way up from Trials in order to compete at the Contenders level again.
Aspen is a longtime support main and enjoyed a large Twitch before making the move to compete professionally. Many considered her a “one-trick” on Mercy, until the hero was nerfed and Aspen continued to rank in the top 500. She competes at a high level on most support heroes, including a strong Baptiste that she still practices with today.
Countless fans and supporters flooded her Twitter with love and support, with many hoping that this one day leads her into the Overwatch League. She would be the second woman to reach OWL behind Se-yeon “Geguri” Kim who currently plays for the Shanghai Dragons.
Aspen’s successful qualification should be welcome news for all Overwatch esports fans.
Many Contenders fans are unhappy with the lack of games being streamed. Currently, Aspen has over 180,000 Twitch followers and fans are hoping that as more popular streamers join the ranks of competitive Overwatch, more games will be streamed officially.
The prize pool for Contenders and Contenders Trials is $2.5 million. Each season includes single elimination tournaments and a Seasonal Playoff. The competition begins March 10, and Revival will play in Week 1 against Phase 2.
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