Nathan "frdwnr" Goebel is a off-tank player for Second Wind. The team is currently 4-1 in Overwatch Contenders NA Trials with a recent 4-0 win over Skyfoxes, and given that strong performance, I wanted to know how their D.Va/Zarya specialist handles current dive threats like Doomfist and Sombra.

I also got his quick thoughts about new Torbjorn, Roadhog, and Wrecking Ball, and finally, asked whether there are certain heroes and compositions that teams have been sleeping on.

What does it feel like to play tanks like D.Va or Zarya vs. Sombra/Doomfist?

Between the two, Sombra is definitely more annoying to play against than Doomfist as a tank.  As a D.Va player, it is your job to spam choke points to de-cloak Sombra.  If Sombra gets behind, the D.Va is more than likely the default hack target for the enemy team's engage -- which leaves you completely useless for 6 seconds.

I don't think Doomfist is too overtuned, but maybe just a slight nerf will bring him back in line.  In competition/teamplay, Doomfist is pretty easy to counter.  You send one person to harass the Doomfist (usually Sombra or Tracer) and it completely throws off the timing of the enemy team's engage.

In terms of Zarya being a counter to Doomfist, on paper she is, but her lack of mobility makes her pretty bad on most maps -- something D.Va doesn't have an issue with.

Your team is having an impressive run in Trials, although you have one loss against GOATS. Do you have any thoughts on the match?

GOATS played well that match and we played bad.  Our team, generally speaking, is pretty young. We have a few 16-17 year olds that are relatively inexperienced and I think our first match nerves got the better of us.

Do you believe that GOATS-comp is the strongest in the current meta?

As a blanket comp, it is the strongest.  You can run GOATS almost anywhere and play it well to a certain extent.  However, a good team will run dive tanks (Winston & D.Va), with some sort of DPS rotation and outplay the GOATS team most of the time; simply because of what mobility allows you to do.  I was watching ZachaREEE of Fusion University stream once and he said in regards to the World Cup Group Stage, "The good teams will run dive and the bad teams will run GOATS."

"As a result of our frontline being so proactive, it frees up space for

our backline to move forward and contribute more to the fight."

Overall, it's a pretty strong composition and there are certain variants of it which change the playstyle that I find interesting.  Most of the variance is in the flex-support role.  Teams are now opting to use Zenyatta and Ana as opposed to Moira.  GOATS with Zenyatta lowers the overall healing output, but allows you to output considerably more damage with Discord Orb.  GOATS with Ana keeps the healing output roughly the same, but offers an engage opportunity with an offensive Biotic Grenade.  Both provide an edge and playstyle difference that edges out Moira.

Your team had a solid 4-0 win vs. Skyfoxes, giving them their only loss in Trials. What made the win so decisive?

Skyfoxes are a good team, but I think every facet of our team is just better. To be fair, I believe they have 2-3 Korean players playing from Korea with ping upwards of 200. I'm also not sure how comfortable the Korean players are with English, so that language barrier could be disrupting their synergy.

One thing that separates us from the rest of the Trials teams is our pace. Our frontline of Akawa, Saucy, Sit, and Ezire all work really well together and execute clean dives. As a result of our frontline being so proactive, it frees up space for our backline to move forward and contribute more to the fight. As a median between the two, my job is to go where I'm needed. By making the first move, it allows me to push forward and be offensive as well.

▲ frdwnr shows off his Zarya chops.

How do you feel about the new Torbjorn?  Will his ult be an effective counter to tank-heavy compositions?
It's good to see Torbjorn not be as static as he was previously. Hopefully he becomes a bit better of a DPS option. However, the map design in this game heavily favors mobility so I still think higher mobility DPS such as Tracer, Genji, Doomfist, etc. will still be favored. Torbjorn's rework is still brand new, so we'll probably see some experimentation with him in the coming weeks.

As far as his ultimate goes, it seems pretty gimmicky. It essentially operates like a Wrecking Ball ultimate, but applies burning? Not too sure, but I think most heavy tank compositions will just walk over/around it without caring too much.

With Roadhog PTR changes incoming, do you have a buff wishlist for him? 

I'm not sure what Roadhog needs. They seem to be moving him away as a damage dealer, which is a bit odd considering he doesn't do much besides. Maybe they'll move him to more of a tank with some sort of team benefit coming from one of his abilities. 

Personally, I would like to see his normal Left Click doing higher damage, similar to how it was at launch to make hooks/super close damage feel more consistent. I think he should be respected at really close ranges as a high damage dealer, but keeping his Right Click the same or nerfing the damage slightly so it can only be used for poke damage/shield pressure.

What are your thoughts on Wrecking Ball? Is he a fringe pick?

The reason you don't see too much Wrecking Ball is because of Sombra. Her hack is very strong against him and makes him an easy target to focus and eliminate. If Sombra fades away from the meta, we will more than likely see more Wrecking Ball. His kit overall is super strong and operates like a Winston/Doomfist sort of hybrid, which allows clean and precise follow up if done correctly.

Are there any heroes and/or compositions you think are being slept on right now?

I think Hanzo may be a bit undervalued. I still think he is incredibly strong in the right hands.

Ambitious Immortals is a team in Contenders China Trials that is running a pretty interesting composition. It consists of Doomfist, Genji, Sombra, Zarya, Ana, and Zen. They play as if Doomfist is their Main Tank and hard engage with him. They're the pioneers of that composition and are currently undefeated using primarily that as their go-to.

Do you believe (light) banter can be good for viewership for the T2/T3 Overwatch scene?

A healthy amount of banter would definitely give a few more storylines to the T2 scene. It’s hard for non-OWL players to really build up a fan base due to the lack of exposure. Giving the spectators something that gives the T2 player-base a personality or something along those lines would be great.

Publicity of any kind is good, even if it's negative. Part of the reason GOATS (the team) was so popular was because of their trash talking/controversy surrounding them as a whole.