The future looks rosy for Overwatch. Within a week of its release last month, Blizzards newest game already had seven million players. Whats more, the games traditional sales model had players plopping down a minimum of $40 to play the new IP, which meant it lacked the easy access of the increasingly common free-to-play route.Over the months of closed beta, top players put the game through the wringer and Blizzard balanced and re-balanced the relative strengths of Overwatchs 21 heroes. Even before launch, there were a healthy number of professional Overwatch tournaments, populated by some of the biggest teams in eSports.All of these efforts developed the games strategy space. Any spectator sport, whether its hitting a ball with a large stick or dispensing an animated fighter with a Shoryuken, quickly develops its own internal strategies and trends as the players become more experienced and the sport becomes more refined. In gaming, we refer to this as the meta, an endlessly evolving state that forms the backbone of tactics employed in the game.With Overwatchs audience growing and Blizzards focus on developing the games competitive aspect -- as indicated by the games just-released Competitive Mode -- theres an opportunity for Overwatch to flourish as an esport. And for a new player curious about Overwatchs burgeoning competitive scene and interested in following a matchs intricacies, theres a lot of information to absorb about the individual heroes to really get a feel for whats going on. So, weve put together a competitive introduction for each Overwatch hero to guide the beginner, starting this week with the six heroes in the Offense class.TracerTracer is a character that has come and gone in the meta before (she was used a lot more before a health nerf late in the beta). The classic in-and-out harasser, Tracer is the fastest character in the game. Tracer cant match Genjis vertical mobility, but she has the ability to use Blink and Recall to get out of trouble quickly.These days, Tracer doesnt see competitive play on every map, although we may see her more frequently if McCree sees less play for reasons well get into below. Tracer is most common on king of the hill maps where she has the ability to really get behind enemy lines. In maps with choke points, however, Tracer sees a good deal less use as she can do little to help the team bust through and her mobility cant be used as effectively.Best maps: Nepal, Route 66GenjiHalf ninja, half cyborg -- both things people on the internet love (OK, me too) -- youve probably encountered quite a few Genji while playing pub games. With the ability to double-jump, climb vertical surfaces, and use Swift Strike for additional speed plus burst damage, Genjis mobility makes him a versatile flanker that can harass a defenders back line.In competitive play, Genji is a lower-tier hero despite having a high skill cap. One of Genjis strengths in pubs is his ability to deal with Bastion; Genji can get behind Bastion fairly easily and, depending on placement, can either pepper him with shuriken or dispatch him with Deflect/Swift Strike. Given fewer Bastions present and elite players that can deal with his harassment tactics effectively with hitscan weapons, Genjis relatively fragile body becomes a bigger deal.Thats not to say that Genji never sees play. You may see Genji in particular instances when his vertical mobility is extremely useful, for example, in flanker maps such as Gibraltar or Hollywood.Best maps: Watchpoint: Gibraltar, HollywoodPharahAnother character with good vertical mobility, Pharah uses it to different effect than a Genji player does. Pharah is a long-range attacker and her verticality focuses more on opening up sight lines rather than the annoy-and-escape tactics that you see from more traditional harassing flankers like Tracer.Where Pharah shines is in situations where crowd control is most valuable or the other team is playing a number of short-range characters. Heroes like the non-Roadhog tanks, Junkrat, Tracer, Mei, and Reaper dont have a really effective way to deal with Pharah.The downside of Pharah is that she has map mobility more than tactical mobility, meaning that a Widowmaker, McCree, or Soldier 76 can knock her out of the sky fairly easily despite the high damage from her rocket barrages. This is especially true with her ultimate, which leaves her completely immobile and easy pickings for enemy heroes.In competitive play, successful Pharah players will try to keep her sight lines open for only as long as necessary in order to reduce her exposure. By contrast, against six random players youre more likely to see Pharah just hovering over the battlefield as if she were a helicopter.Best maps: Kings Row, Lijiang Tower, and arguably everywhereSoldier: 76Soldier: 76 is one of the games core heroes in competitive play because of his flexible, orthodox playstyle. He uses a medium-range hitscan weapon, can fire off a projectile, do a little bit of healing, and sprint to a control point fairly quickly. Even if youve never played Overwatch, if youve ever played a first-person shooter, youve essentially played Soldier. Even his name sounds a bit generic.As it turns out, this versatility means you can plug him into a lot of roles. For a player with elite targeting skills, Soldiers standard attack is useful in most situations, whether its dealing with a pesky Tracer or knocking Pharah out of the sky. Soldier has issues with tanks that have shielding capabilities and isnt great at creating his own sight lines, but hes a safe, solid choice in most situations.Best maps: Nepal, IliosReaperWith one of his strongest checks, McCree, on the outs for the time being, Reapers extremely high levels of close-range damage make him a staple of both competitive play and casual games. Pharahs still around to keep Reaper honest -- theres very little Reaper can do against Pharah except live to fight another day -- but Reapers shotguns can effectively take out most characters in close quarters. While hes slow, his Wraith Form gives him an effective way to escape and his ability to collect Soul Globes to restore health provides a measure of additional survivability.Reaper tends to be a good hero even for beginners simply because his use is straightforward: get behind the enemy, kill things, get away. While elite players more effectively execute this plan, the basic concept stays the same. Reaper is a particular problem for Mercy, who is often seen in the two-healers-per-team standard composition. Lucio, on the other hand, can be a bit trickier to deal with, as his Sound Barrier is a strong play against Reapers Death Blossom ultimate.Best maps: Kings Row, NepalMcCreeMcCree used to be king of the mountain of the Offense class. So dominant was McCree both through beta and early release that teams at the competitive level actually averaged more than one McCree a game. In the hands of an accurate shooter like an elite player, McCree was always dangerous. But his ability to destroy tanks at close range with his Flashbang/Fan the Hammer combo was even scarier.Then Blizzard made some big changes to McCree, causing him to fall into disuse very quickly. McCrees alternate-fire ability, the aforementioned Fan the Hammer, had its damage reduced by nearly 40 percent, preventing McCree from killing Reinhardt or Roadhog with relative ease. Hes still lethal to many of the squishier Offense harassers like Tracer, but hes no longer the must-include he used to be.In this past weekends tournaments, you could see the fallout from the McCree nerf. No longer a staple, McCree was mainly reduced to a situational play of hunting down Pharah. McCree can still be dangerous in a pros hands, but his lack of mobility is a much bigger deal when he cant go toe-to-toe with any hero in the game.Best maps: Dorado, Hollywood Jaire Alexander Super Bowl Jersey .J. -- Seven games into a disappointing season, New York Giants defensive catalyst Jason Pierre-Paul is getting the feeling hes back. Packers Super Bowl Jerseys . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. https://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Ray-Nitschke-Jersey/ . The next step is a better finish. Bae played bogey-free Friday on another gorgeous day at Riviera for a 5-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley and Robert Garrigus going into the weekend. Custom Packers Super Bowl Jerseys . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Bart Starr Super Bowl Jersey .com) - Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer were easy first-round winners Tuesday at the Australian Open. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on Monday expressed support for kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who missed an extra point for the second week in a row and said Sunday, I stink right now.I just think you show support and encouragement. Hes a great kicker. Hell find his rhythm, I dont think anyone is really worried about that, Brady said in a radio interview with WEEI in Boston. Hes one of the best kickers who ever played the game. I have 100 percent confidence hell find his rhythm.Following the Patriots 27-16 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, coach Bill Belichick said of his struggling kicker,?Well work through it.Extra point attempts were automatic for Gostkowski during the 2015 regular season, the first year in which thhe NFL adopted rules to make the point-after-attempt a more challenging play at 33 yards.ddddddddddddostkowski was 52-of-52 on PATs in the 15 regular season, but things have shifted since he missed one in the AFC Championship Game. He has already missed two this season (in 21 attempts), and is 9-of-12 on field goal attempts after missing three all of the 2015 regular season.This is my job, I take it seriously. No one feels worse about screwing up than I do. It stinks to come in when you win and thats all you talk about is the one bad play you had. But thats the nature of the position. You deal with it. ' ' '