The Overwatch Path to Pro has long been advertised as a way for aspiring professionals to climb their way through the Contenders circuit towards the Overwatch League. While that rarely works out for most players, some of them grind hard enough to get to the top.
Heading into the 2022 season, the Los Angeles Gladiators organization announced the signing of main tank Corey “Reiner” Scoda, who most recently played for Redbird Esports.
A staple of the North American Overwatch Contenders scene, Reiner has gone by many names over the past three years, including Sh2pe and Frill. He began his career as a DPS player before moving to main tank and securing spots on teams like Second Wind and American Tornado.
As a part of American Tornado, Reiner won four North American Contenders tournament championships as well as the 2020 Gauntlet. Redbird Esports, run by Illinois State University, picked up most of the American Tornado roster and has continued this dominant performance by winning the last two tournaments in 2021.
Reiner finishes up the Gladiators tank line, serving alongside veteran off-tank Indy “SPACE” Halpern. Los Angeles has been aggressively picking up talented players during the offseason, signing hitscan DPS Lee “ANS” Seon-chang and main support Daniel “FunnyAstro” Hathaway over the past few weeks. Some members of the 2021 roster, like flex DPS Kevin “Kevster” Persson, will be making a repeat appearance in 2022.
