Dafran's Torbjorn pick headlines Reign's debut victory

Olivia Richman Published 15/02/2019

The Atlanta Reign may have defeated Florida Mayhem 4-0 in their Overwatch League debut, but most people are talking about the first few moments of the matchup.

Reign’s Daniel “dafran” Francesca continued to surprise fans by picking Torbjorn as his first hero in Season 2.

The crowd couldn’t suppress their excitement when dafran charged out of the spawn room as the rarely seen turret builder. It was a much-needed break from the GOATS team composition that sees three tanks and three supports played in almost every match.

But dafran on Torbjorn became more than a novelty when the Reign started dominating on Ilios, keeping control of the point until hitting the 99% mark. Even though dafran switched to the more meta Zarya to regain control from Mayhem, the Torbjorn play still left its mark.

Currently, Torbjorn has a 100% win rate in the second season, all thanks to defran. During those few minutes, he managed 12 kills, five final blows, and over 3,200 hero damage.

While dafran’s technical skills in the game are what keeps OWL fans loyal to the newcomer, it’s his spontaneity that keeps him in the spotlight.

In November of last year, dafran announced that he was not quitting the Overwatch League, despite having said he was quitting the game altogether the previous day.

dafran had said that his contract had ended and that he’d uninstalled the game. He later apologized for the rant, admitting that he never quit and calling the declaration a “dumb mistake.”

“Moving forward, I’m going to stream less and focus on making myself and my team better,” dafran said.

It seems defran has made good on his word, as the Atlanta Reign dominated Florida in the expansion team’s debut Overwatch League match. Finishing off the third map on his signature Tracer, dafran played a big role in Reign’s victory.

It came as no surprise when dafran was crowned Player of the Game.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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