Death Blossoms Open Tryouts

The Death Blossoms are currently hosting open tryouts for a new all-girls Overwatch team! After the exciting news was announced by DB’s Team Coordinator, Jodem, our blog team reached out to discuss the details.

Q: Could you give us a simple tl;dr of what this team business is all about?
A: We are trying to get a bunch of girls interested in teams again! Our goal is to have in-house scrims either monthly or weekly, depending on how many interested teams we get!

Q: What are the requirements to try out for this team? How many players are you looking to recruit? Will it be a six-player roster, or will there be substitutes/specialists as well?
A: We want a minimum of at least six players within the same SR bracket, but if we could have more for substitutes or even enough to make another team, we would be ecstatic! Our minimum requirement is an SR of 2.5k (we are pretty lenient about this) with a max of 3.5k.

Q: Are you hoping to make this team a permanent fixture within DB/DBF?
A: Yes, this would be a permanent team within DB.

Q: How long will you be accepting potential players to sign-up and try out?
A: As of right now there’s no hard date; we’re trying to see how many sign-ups we get, and potentially keep recruitment and tryouts open until we can fill a full roster.

Q: What was the idea behind forming this team? Do you have a mission statement in mind for the proposed team?
A: This team was intended to be competitive; there is no mission statement yet, as that’s for the players themselves to come up with! The only real requirement for this team is that they play together with a competitive mindset (wanting to scrim, play competitive mode together, and join tournaments!).

Q: If anyone has questions, or wants to try out, who should they contact or where should they go to sign-up?
A: For questions, contact me! If you would like to sign up, then join our DBF server and check out the channel #tryouts-info. Feel free to send me a message to sign up, since I’m excited to talk to everyone!

If you’ve wanted to be on an all-girls Death Blossoms team, now is your big chance! Sign up in DBF and start your new team life.

Join the Death Blossoms Friends Discord server: https://discord.gg/ZUgPfXg

Meet the Staff: Recruiting Officers

Hello, blog readers, and welcome back to our ongoing series of Meet the Staff! Last time we met our faithful Admins, Amna and Demi, and today you’ll get to know the Recruiting Officers (RO’s) that help make Death Blossoms a wonderful community to be a member of. In this interview we spoke with SubLein and Trippid, both of whom are responsible for reviewing the applications of, inviting, and interviewing all potential DB members. They are also responsible for promoting recruits to full member status and removing inactive members of the community. The purpose of these interviews is to help our community members and blog readers get to know what it takes to be an officer in Death Blossoms as well as to learn more about our officers outside of their role as staff members. Read on to learn all about SubLein and Trippid, our favorite Gatekeepers at DB!

SubLein is a busy woman that recently graduated from Central Michigan University with her Master’s degree. She is engaged to a fellow DB member, ColaDeTigre, and they are hoping to get married this February! She is a fan of Anime and enjoys playing Overwatch. She also tries to find as much free time to spend with her fiancée as she can. Her roommate, Alex, is 17-years-old and the fluffiest, goodest girl there is! Sub is a prized member of Team Wolfsbane in DB. Trippid is a busy woman herself, volunteering as a Girl Guide (the Canadian equivalent of Girl Scouts in the US), at her local zoo, and at the humane society. A life goal Trippid has for herself is to one day earn her degree in Astrobiology. Trippid is also a beloved member of Team Aris and is the resident baker who enjoys making mashed potatoes at midnight on occasion. You don’t just stumble upon a group of people that have similar goals, values, and interests as you most times, however. So how did these ladies end up in Death Blossoms?

SubLein found Overwatch after seeing videos from YouTubers MelonieMac and Jesse Cox. The video from MelonieMac she saw was the same video that prompted our admins Amna and Demi to join! Cox posted videos of him playing the game himself. She fell in love with the layout of the game, the characters, and the way it was played. After MelonieMac responded to her, she joined DB. She purchased the game shortly after the beta phase ended, but she did not actually begin playing until the end of the third competitive season. She didn’t have much experience with computer gaming, and the idea of PVP style gaming made her a bit uneasy, but once she began playing she found herself thoroughly enjoying the game. Trippid, on the other hand, is a FPS video game player. She watched her dad play the original Half Life game as a young 8-year-old, and when Half Life 2 came out in 2004 she played through it herself and has been hooked on video games ever since. She did not get into games that relied heavily on PVP style mechanics in the past, but she liked the idea of challenging herself, having the outcome much more heavily dependent on her ability to make the right choice alongside her teammates and against an unpredictable enemy. Overwatch was perfect for her in this sense, and she has enjoyed learning the game. Becoming this invested in a game, of course, leads us to join communities and groups with similar interests. For a community like Death Blossoms, that is blooming with each day that passes, that also gives way to the opportunity to help lead these communities as well.

“Death Blossoms is vastly different from when it first started, but I have enjoyed watching it change into a better and more positive place to be.” – Sublein

SubLein and Trippid are members of Death Blossoms first, and officers second. They love being a part of the wonderful group of ladies that have come together to play video games in a toxicity-free environment and make friends along the way. Both agree that DB has an amazing staff that volunteers their time and energy to making this a fantastic place to be. They love getting to know the members and being Recruiting Officers provides them a unique opportunity to do so. As all members of DB know, part of the recruitment process involves applying to the community followed by an interview. What most applicants don’t realize, though, is the RO’s go through each application one at a time, and they do all they can to learn more about you as a gamer and person. Then they conduct the voice comm interview where they spend more of their personal time getting to know the woman behind the screen. They care about our members and they put so much of their time and effort into the recruitment process because they understand firsthand why DB is such an exciting place to be. As I was talking with these ladies, I realized being an officer doesn’t just mean a shiny role in the discord. It also bleeds over into real life.

“I think what I love most about being an officer is being proud of this community we’ve all built.” – Sublein

Sub and Trippid have both taken their experience as officers within DB and have applied them to their real lives as well. Both have secured jobs and volunteer opportunities by sharing with their potential employers the responsibilities and time they have invested in DB and used them as positive examples of their reliability and hardworking attitudes. In addition to being Recruiting Officers, Sub and Trippid have assisted in our Death Blossoms University program that we run monthly. Both have volunteered as instructors as well as helped shape the instructor guide that we give each of our teachers to help them streamline the process.

“You feel perpetually motivated because we all encourage one another.” – Trippid

Everyone who joins any type of community will have things that stand out to them more than others. The work as a staff member in DB can be time consuming, detail oriented, and tiresome. We all have offline lives in addition to what we volunteer to do on the internet. But our faithful officers take their jobs seriously and reap serious benefits from doing so. As I previously mentioned, both of our RO’s are members first and officers second. Being members of DB, they see just how much DB feels like a family. The discord community acts as a safe place to share your accomplishments, to ask questions, and to make friends that you can turn to when you are looking for company in-game. It doesn’t matter where in the world you’re located, you’re welcomed and appreciated for who you are in DB. Trippid has a fun time sharing her “absurd rhymes” when writing announcements for the members of our community. She frequently rewrites a single announcement multiple times before deciding that she is happy with it and ready to share it with our members. She may feel tired after reading her own words back for the 20th time, but the reactions are what she lives for. Both SubLein and Trippid agree, the hardest part of being a Recruiting Officer is having to remove members from the community due to conduct mishaps or inactivity. We pride ourselves on being an active discord, and inactivity is a removable “offense”. Both RO’s have been members of DB for a long-time, and when they see their friends’ names on the list, it is difficult to say goodbye. You don’t have to have hourlong talks about your view on the universe or theory craft with them about the current meta for them to be sad to say goodbye to you. While we all understand priorities and interests change, and sometimes life just doesn’t leave much room for chatting any longer, it will always be tough to part ways with those we have grown to care about as our friends.

“I’m sure there are some people who wish I would just say what the event is, but the times I get a positive response (to my announcements) I’m proud of myself! Like ‘Yeah, I spent three hours on that last night’!” – Trippid

On a less serious and heavy note, however, I asked these lovely ladies more about themselves. SubLein told me the story of how she found her battletag while on a family trip to Cedar Point, Ohio. She was taking German at the time and wanted to incorporate it into her tag. She was playing around with words such as “sublime” and ended up on SubLein (pronounced similarly). Most people know her simply as “Sub” and she’s completely okay with that. Sub is a proud Mercy main that feels weakest when playing Doomfist. While she has many cumulative hours on Mercy and has plenty of experience healing, she is constantly learning new mechanics to make her a more effective main healer and player. Trippid also learned about Death Blossoms from MelonieMac, though she joined a bit later than the other members of our staff who joined from the same video. She found her current battle and discord tag from the days of playing World of Warcraft. She had a Tauren female she had named “Mirubela” but decided to change the name after a few years. She changed her character model to a male Troll and she hit the name randomizer until she got to “Tripie” which later evolved into “Trippid”. She has a second username she uses often, “Tilted_Logic” that she uses interchangeably among gaming platforms. She’s had it since a young age and will sometimes laugh when hearing someone say they’re “tilted”.

“No! I’M TILTED!” – Trippid

I asked both officers if they had any funny memories or stories they wanted shared on the blog and both had one to share! I hope you’ll enjoy these as we wrap up this interview.
“Back when Cola and I were first given the role of recruiting officer, Amna wanted to go through some training with us and created mock experiences to see how well we would deal with them. During this training Amna told us to hold on for a second and left, this was the moment that Amna’s husband took the mic. He was pretending to be a recruit. The first thing he asked Cola and I was if Death Blossoms was the place he could come to kill women in game. Basically he was pretending to be a mega troll. Cola and I did not know how to respond since it was so unexpected!” – SubLein

“There was the time when two ladies applied for DB and said that a friend of Kentos suggested they join. I had no idea who Kentos was, so I took to officer chat to see if any of them knew; I even posted in DB about it. No one had any idea, so Vero, Catfish and I did some sleuthing (it was honestly 98% Vero) and through the applicant’s twitch we found Kentos. We watched some of his stream trying to figure out who he was and then all of a sudden, we hear Amna!!!! Amna was on a team with Kentos and was the one that suggested these ladies join DB! But the hilarious part is we had such a huge discussion of it in officer chat – it just went on forever with us trying to figure out who this Kentos person was and who he knew. And then a few hours later Amna finally came online and laughed herself nearly to death reading all about our investigation. The worst part was that after we discovered it was Amna I kept thinking the name Kentos rang a bell for me, so I went back and read a DM I had from Amna where she shared some Brigitte tips from the healer on her team (you’ll never guess who), Kentos. I had the knowledge all along haha.” – Trippid

Thank you to SubLein and Trippid for taking the time to chat with me for the Death Blossoms blog, and thank you for reading all about our staff! We will be back next month to learn all about Jennos, our resident Event Organizer! Please check out Sublein on Twitter and Twitch, and follow Trippid on Twitter and YouTube!

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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Blossom of the Month: RicanDiva

The Death Blossoms community is made up of women from all over the world with a variety of backgrounds and interests. Each month on the blog we’ll be looking to spotlight one of our members to hear what it is that she’s passionate about. This month’s featured member is RicanDiva. Rican is known in the DB community for her cooking, so of course we chatted about food, as well as family, traveling, movies, books, and, yes, Overwatch!

How long have you been cooking? Why did it become something you loved to do instead of something you had to do?

I didn’t learn to cook until I moved out of the house and joined the Army. My mom did all of it. I’m Puerto Rican, so our household was very traditional, and my mom handled all of the cooking. When I joined the Army and had to live on my own, I very quickly got tired of McDonald’s! She was in Puerto Rico and I called her and I said, “I can’t do this, please send me some recipes.” So she sent me two cookbooks. One was traditional Puerto Rican cooking and one was easy recipes to learn, and I just went from there. Once I got more comfortable I started putting my own spin on them.

Did you have any interesting milestones or missteps along the way?

Rice! Rice is very important to me. That was the thing that I wanted to get down. It’s not a meal in our house unless we have rice in some form. I had to master that. It took me a long time. I honestly couldn’t do it my mom’s way, because she doesn’t measure anything, so I had to find my own way from the cookbooks she sent me. When I made my first batch of good white rice, I was on cloud nine for about two weeks!

That was what I measured against, was if it was as good as my mom’s. I’d say I’m on par with my mom’s, but my traditional Puerto Rican rice is not as good as hers. But I’ll keep striving until it is.

It’s funny because I think my mom is the best cook in the world, and she says the same thing about her mom! My grandmother is still alive, she just turned 94 on Christmas Day. She still cooks! She needs help, but she’s still cooking. So when my mom goes back to Puerto Rico, they cook together.

Do any of your kids cook with you?

Bone-in pork chop with shaved Brussels sprouts and a grainy mustard on the side

My daughter just turned six, and she’s always up on the counter wanting to cook with me. My eight-year-old son likes to bake. I’m not the best baker, I use boxed mixes a lot, but whenever I’m baking he loves to help because he likes to see it rise in the oven.

We talked about rice, but is there anything else you still find challenging, and what would you say is your big strength?

I can make meals without recipes, and out of whatever is in the house. Like, if I don’t make it to the grocery store, what do I have in the house? And I’ll just make something from that. It’s horrible, though, because I can’t make it again when it turns out good, because I just threw things in there! I love it when my husband goes, “Babe, that was great, can you make it again?” and I go, “Uhh…”

Is your husband easy to please?

He will eat anything I cook. His only challenge is he will not eat leftovers, so if I make a whole bunch of food, he won’t eat it the next day. Even if I pack his lunch, nine times out of ten, he won’t eat it. Even if I make, say, a steak that’s not cooked right, he’ll still eat it, then he’ll tell me, “Hey, that should’ve been left a little while longer.” But not leftovers!

So, what’s your favorite thing to eat, and what’s your favorite thing to cook, if they’re not the same?

I like white rice with red beans, and fried pork chops. It’s easy, it’s comforting, and it’s like being home with my mom. As for what I like to cook, I love cooking Italian food. I love pasta. My husband is a huge fan of Italian as well, so we always have a lot of pasta dishes.

What about food trends? Does anything catch your eye?

Demi has me wanting to try sous-vide! I was like, “Oh, that’s for a professional chef, I’m not gonna mess with sous-vide.” But then she’s posting stuff, and I’m like, “Dammit! Maybe I should try that!” It really intrigues me.

Technology can be really good in cooking and sometimes it’s just weird.

Definitely! There’s a wine ice cream craze. I’m tempted, but also, like, “ew.” Don’t mess with my ice cream… or my wine!

Another thing I’ve started is Home Chef, where they send me meals. I wanted to do something where I would have to do the cooking and they would send the ingredients and the recipe, as opposed to just warming up something prepared. I felt like I was getting in a rut and I wanted to try something different. I highly recommend it. I don’t think I’ve come across a meal yet that I don’t like.

I’m guessing you usually cook for you, your husband, and your two little ones. Are your kids picky eaters?

HORRIBLE. My eight-year-old son is extremely picky: a very specific type of chicken nuggets, ramen noodles but only the chicken flavor, macaroni and cheese, pizza rolls with pepperoni, and sometimes hot dogs. And white rice, he does like white rice. My daughter is pretty easy, though, she’s like her father and will eat anything. My second-oldest son, who is eighteen now, used to be really picky, too, but he’s gotten more adventurous as he’s gotten older, so I’m sure my younger son will grow out of it. And for someone who’s so picky, he is a bottomless pit!

What’s your favorite meal your mom has made for you that you don’t make?

It’s a traditional Puerto Rican dish called mofongo, which is fried plantains served with shrimp in a garlic sauce. I don’t like shrimp, so she’ll serve it with fried pork for me. It can take a while to make, so I never make it. Someday I’ll probably try to make it, but I’m not there yet.

So, we’ve mostly been talking about dinner. What about other meals?

I love breakfast! I am, however, not a morning person, so it’s often a late brunch instead. We’re very egg-heavy here, so Denver scrambles with potatoes and green peppers and onions, breakfast tacos, sausage, whatever I’ve got, I’ll throw in there.

One thing that I have not ever grown out of is breakfast cereal. Breakfast cereal is the perfect food and I will eat it at midnight. It’s the perfect snack, it’s the perfect breakfast, I can have it for dinner, and I’m perfectly fine with it. And it’s the horrible cereals, like Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms.

Are you a milk-first or a milk-second person?

Milk second. I don’t understand milk first. Then it gets too soggy and you have so much leftover milk. Nope!

So, you’d be the resident chef on Death Blossoms Island. What else are you into, what else makes you tick?

I love to read and travel, and I love movies. Reading is the big one, though, I will read anything you put in front of me. Fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, romance or “smut” as my husband calls it, biographies… I’m currently reading Michelle Obama’s biography. I’ll read anything.

I do prefer paper books, but I am very good with convenience, and my Kindle Paperwhite fits into my purse perfectly. It’s funny, though, because my husband gets mad at me because we have an office with bookshelves, and he’ll say, “Stop buying books!” But he’s a huge tech guy, and he has a room full of computer parts and server racks — if someone walked in here, they’d think we were hacking NASA. So I say to him, “I will get rid of my books when you get rid of your computer stuff,” and then he leaves me alone for another six months.

As far as traveling, you said you grew up military, so you’ve probably seen a lot of places as it is. What’s your favorite place you’ve been, and where do you want to go?

A lot of the traveling I’ve done has been in Europe because I grew up overseas, and I haven’t seen as much of the United States. I loved Spain and Italy. Those were my two favorite places in Europe. People say, “Oh, you didn’t love Paris?” No! Paris was overrated. But they had good bread. In Spain and Italy, though, the people and the scenery, to me, was nicer, because it felt more homey.

Stateside, I loved New York and Florida. I’ve also been to the Carolinas and Georgia. I really want to go to Montana and see those sights, I want to go up and down the coast of California, I want to go to Colorado… I’ve also been to Alaska! My sister was stationed there. Alaska was gorgeous. Honestly, everywhere you looked, it was like a postcard.

I just want to go and I want to see places!

What are your favorite movies? What is it that makes you fall in love with a movie?

Oh, God. I could never pick one. The Sandlot, Super Trooper, Mary Poppins… I’m low-key obsessed with Venom right now because we just saw that. Harry Potter movies, I will watch on repeat over and over, I don’t care how long they are.

I love all kinds of movies. I really like comedy and action, and I love karate flicks. My dad was a sensei and I did karate for a long time. I’m not a big fan of romance movies. I’ve never seen Titanic and it blows my husband’s mind. I tell him, “The boat sinks! I know what’s gonna happen!”

Well, now that you mentioned books and movies… what’s better?

The book is always better! I’ve never run into an exception, ever. That’s the only time you can say “always”! There’s so much that gets left out. They can get close, they can still make a good movie, but they have to leave out so much that you’d just be better off reading the book.

Let’s wrap up with DB’s favorite subject, video games! What else besides Overwatch are you into?

Overwatch is the first game I’ve really played with a passion. Since then I’ve started playing Diablo III, WoW, PUBG, and the new Call of Duty. I like Blackout, their battle royale mode. I said I was gonna try Zombies, but I played the tutorial and it creeped me out!

I kind of started gaming when Battlefield 2 came out, but the people we played with stopped playing, and I stopped because I wasn’t comfortable continuing. But someone at work started talking about Overwatch, and I said, “Okay, fine, I’ll play it,” and I just fell in love with it. I love that there are so many different characters who all have different gameplay styles. I’m a Pharah main, but some days I just want to play Moira or Mercy, and I can switch it up whenever I want.

Rican also wanted to share with us the recipe for one of her favorite dishes: Spicy Sausage Pasta! Thank you for your time, Rican!

Sunday Setups: Stardust

Hello and welcome back to our Sunday Setups series! This week the featured Death Blossoms member will be yours truly. I really like my setup and wanted to share it with our readers so I hope you enjoy!

First off, hello, I’m Stardust! I’ve been in Death Blossoms for approximately 15 months and you may know me as a member of Team Aris (snek squad!), your weekly NA PUG manager, or perhaps the friendly DB blog manager! I am 31-years-old and proudly call myself a Mercy main. I love cats, stars, and the color red. I have truly been happy as a member of Death Blossoms and I truly enjoy giving back to the amazing community that has blossomed here.

My setup has evolved over the last 3 years. I recently got my second monitor and it’s been a game changer! It took me a bit to adjust to the freedom of two displays, but it has been a welcome change. I feel like having the larger than usual desk is also great for me since I have to keep my CPU tower on the desk due to having a carpeted “office” area and three cats! Cat hair in my tower would be a big no-no. My Elgato streamdeck is also newer and I’m still getting 100% used to it. There’s still a lot of Googling and random testing going on!

Despite the changes I’ve already made, there are a few things I am hoping to upgrade or change entirely. I would like different speakers for starters. The current ones have a shorter cable so I can’t place them on either sides of my monitors which kind of sucks (first world problem!). I would also like to get a standalone microphone for audio purposes. I think that’s probably the priority for me if I had to pick one.

My setup is far from perfect, but through trial and error I’m learning what I would want to do differently. I definitely multi-task and have taken up streaming more often so when we originally built this computer in 2014 we tried to ensure it was able to stream at a decent level. Now that I’ve reached affiliate status on Twitch (hype!) I am hoping to make some internal upgrades in the coming year. It is pretty beastly overall and I have minimal complaints. I can play all of my favorite games with ease and lovely clarity. Prior to building my custom PC I gamed on an iMac and making this change was the best thing I could have ever done.

While I am the primary user on this computer, my husband actually came up with the build himself and put it together by hand. I asked him what advice he would give to anyone considering building a PC for themselves or others, and the important thing he stressed is to take your time and do your research. Ensure the components are compatible and that you are able to do everything with your computer that you’re hoping to do. It’s an investment, financially and otherwise, and it’s worth doing it right.

You can find the components my husband used in my tower below. I’ll also include links to my personal social media if you’d like to give me a follow! Thank you for checking out today’s Sunday Setups post all about my gaming “hub”. If you’d be interested in submitting your setup to the blog, fill out the form you can find here. Check back with the Death Blossoms blog soon for more content from our amazing community.

You can follow me on Twitter, Twitch, and on my website!

CPU: Intel – Core i5-6600K 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master – Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus – Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial – Ballistix Sport 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Storage: Kingston – SSamsung – 850 EVO-Series 500 GB 2.5″ Solid State Drive, Seagate – Barracuda 1 TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (x2)
Video Card: EVGA – GeForce GTX 970 4 GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card
Case: NZXT – Phantom 820 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA – SuperNOVA GS 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus – DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
OS: Microsoft – Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit
Case Fans (4): NZXT – FN-140RB 62.5 CFM 140mm Fan
Monitors (2): Asus – VG248QE 24.0″ 1920×1080 144 Hz Monitor
Headphones: Razer – KRAKEN 7.1 CHROMA 7.1 Channel Headset
Others: Elgato Stream Deck (15 Key)
CORSAIR Glaive Mouse
CORSAIR K70 RGB MK.2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Corsair Gaming MM400 High Speed Gaming Mouse Pad

Product Review: Katie Daisy Weekly Planners

A few months ago, several of our Death Blossoms officers and members were gifted Katie Daisy 2019 On-the-Go Weekly Planners. As busy ladies handling officer responsibilities, Overwatch team obligations, and let’s not forget real life, I thought a daily planner was perfectly appropriate for the hardworking women that keep our community thriving. This isn’t just any daily planner.

Katie Daisy is an artist that creates flowery, nature-inspired drawings that highlight the beauty in every moment. Her planner is overflowing with vibrant artwork; from poisonous plants and colorful critters, to ocean dreams and celestial magic. Every week has a new secret, and every month has its own special theme just waiting to delight you. The gorgeous visuals celebrate the good days, and brighten up the gloomy ones. Using the planner is more than just a daily task – it becomes an enjoyable experience!

IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS

Print quality is excellent, and the pages themselves are thick enough to prevent bleed-through using my fountain pen. The planner is small enough to fit nicely into my handbag: it measures 5”x7” when closed (10”x7” open), with a substantial 256 pages made from both recycled materials and sustainably managed forests. Writing space for each day is ideal for several items (more than six or so items will start feeling cramped). The planner has 17 months included – from Aug 2018 through December 2019. Since 2018 is nearly over, the planner itself can be purchased through Amber Lotus Publishing or Amazon at a reduced price! And the great part is that there’s still an ENTIRE YEAR in the calendar remaining 🙂

THEY SAID SHE SAID

Our Blog Manager, PUG Manager, and Aris team member, Stardust, had her own bit of feedback regarding the planner: “From an aesthetic point of view I love the design of the planner and how each month has unique artwork. I appreciate that there is a monthly calendar for general reminders (such as a holiday, birthday, anniversary) but that there is still a generous weekly spread that allows me to write in further detail about upcoming events and appointments. As a blog and “event” manager that extra space helps me greatly. Being able to not only write “Thursday: Weekly Event” but to also be able to write reminders to myself about any changes or special happenings keeps me better organized.”

Team Captain of Belladonna, and one of our active streamers, MiddiMidori, says, “It is very convenient to use and the sections are large enough to write enough information and even bullet point things I need to get done that day or week. I love the colors and patterns, unlike some other planners that are boring and don’t make planning fun.”

Our weekend PUG Manager, Wisteria team member and streamer, eternaforest, says, “I love the blank areas to write in that aren’t lined, I also LOVE the art it’s just so pretty. It’s also the perfect size; it’s not too big but not too small, so it doesn’t feel like a burden to throw in your bag as it doesn’t take up much space.”

A special thank you to Amber Lotus Publishing for gifting our community with these wonderful planners!

This post was written by Amna of Death Blossoms. Posted by Stardust with permission.

Roster Changes for Overwatch League Season 2

It’s getting close to the time of year again. With the 2019 season of Overwatch League set to start on February 14th, teams have been revealing their branding and rosters for the new season. There are also changes to the Overwatch League as a whole to discuss, and I’ll break them all down for you.

There are a fair amount of changes coming to the format of the Overwatch League for the new season. The biggest change is the addition of eight new Overwatch League teams: The Atlanta Reign, Chengdu Hunters, Guangzhou Spark, Paris Eternal, Toronto Defiant, Vancouver Titans, and Washington Justice.

In terms of schedule, this season there will be three stages instead of last season’s four, and during the regular season, teams will play 28 matches, which is significantly less than the 40 of last season. Stage finals will have eight teams in them, with the division winners, along with the next best six teams. Postseason also sees massive changes to the format. The finals will be comprised of eight teams. The division leaders, as well as the next best four teams will automatically qualify, and the seventh and eighth teams will be decided through a play-in tournament between the seventh through eighth best teams.

Finally, the new season has changes for the teams and players. All teams must have at least eight players, up from six. Also, this season brings a new type of contract for players, two-way contracts. They count as a member of the Overwatch League team, and receive the same benefits, but they can also play on an affiliated Contenders team. These two way players can only play in two matches each stage, and they cannot play both an Overwatch League match and a Contenders match during the same week.

With all these changes, I’m sure you want to know how the rosters of your favorite team have changed. Every team has seen some changes and some have gotten massive overhauls between seasons. Read about your favorite returning teams below!

Returning Teams

Boston Uprising

The Boston Uprising saw the departures of Avast and Mistakes, who are now free agents, Snow and Kalios, who are on the Contenders team Skyfoxes, Striker to the San Francisco Shock, and Neko to the new Toronto Defiant. Remaining on the team from last season are AimGod, NotE, Kellex, and Gamsu, and joining them are blase, Axxiom, ColourHex, and alemao. Also joining is Fusions on a two-way contract with the Uprising Academy.

Dallas Fuel

Leaving from the Dallas Fuel is chipshajen, now a free agent, Seagull, now a full-time streamer, and cocco, now an assistant coach for the Dallas Fuel. Most of the team is remaining for the new season, specifically HarryHook, uNKOE, Taimou, Mickie, aKm, OGE, and EFFECT, and the players joining them on the roster are rCk and ZachaREEE from Contenders and Closer from the London Spitfire.

Houston Outlaws

There are a few changes for the Houston Outlaws, but a lot of the roster is staying the same. FCTFCTN has left to join Mayhem Academy, Clockwork has moved to a staff role within the Houston Outlaws, and Mendokusaii is now a content creator for the team. Danteh is coming to the team from the San Francisco Shock and is joining Muma, Boink, SPREE, Rawkus, Bani, LiNkzr, ArHaN, Jake, and coolmatt for the 2019 season.

London Spitfire

As previously mentioned, Closer has transferred to the Dallas Fuel. Also, the inactive players on the roster: HaGoPeun, TiZi, WooHyal, and Hooreg were all released. Gesture, Bdosin, Profit, BIRDRING, NUS, and Fury are all remaining on the team, and newcomers to Overwatch League Guard and Krillin are joining the roster.q

Los Angeles Valiant

Staying on the team from last season are IZaYaKI, Custa, Bunny, Agilities, KariV, Fate, KSF, and SPACE, now joined by KuKi, who was previously on the Seoul Dynasty. Those departing the Los Angeles Valiant are SoOn and Finnsi, who are both going to Paris Eternal, numlocked, who moved to the London Spitfire’s Contenders team British Hurricane, and Verbo, now a part of the Skyfoxes.

Los Angeles Gladiators

Surefour, Bischu, BigGOOse, Void, Shaz, and Hydration are staying on the team for the 2019 season of Overwatch League, joined by former Contenders players Ripa, rOar, and Decay, as well as Panker on a two-way contract with the Gladiators Legion. Fissure has gone to the Seoul Dynasty, iRemiix to the Skyfoxes, Asher to the new Toronto Defiant, and silkthread has retired from professional Overwatch.

Florida Mayhem

The Florida Mayhem saw large changes, maintaining only TviQ and sayaplayer for the new season. Joining them are xepheR formerly of the Seoul Dynasty, HaGoPeun, who was on the London Spitfire, Apply, a two-way member also from the Mayhem Academy, and bqb, SNT, SWoN, and Kris, who are joining the Overwatch League for the first time. Leaving the Florida Mayhem are zappis and Zuppeh, now to Team Gigantti, Manneten to Mayhem Academy, Logix to XL2 Academy, Zebbosai, now a free agent, and CWoosH, who has retired from playing Overwatch to coach.

New York Excelsior

Main tank janus has left the team to join the new Washington Justice. With his departure, Fl0w3R and Nenne have been promoted from XL2 Academy to full members of the New York Excelsior, to join Mano, MekO, Pine, Libero, Saebyeolbe, Anamo, and JJONAK.

Philadelphia Fusion

There is one newcomer to the Philadelphia Fusion, and that’s Elk, who’s on a two-way contract with Fusion University. He’s joining Boombox, carpe, Sado, eqo, neptuNo, Poko, and fragi, as well as snillo, who is now also on a two-way contract. Departing the Philadelphia Fusion are HOTBA, who is now a member of the Guangzhou Charge, ShaDowBurn, now on the Paris Eternal, and Joemeister and Dayfly, who are free agents.

San Francisco Shock

The San Francisco Shock is the only team with a roster of twelve players. We will see the return of super, sinatraa, Architect, moth, Choihyobin, babybay, sleepy, and Nevix. Leaving the team are dhaK and iddqd, who are free agents, nomy who’s now on First Generation, and Danteh, traded to the Houston Outlaws. Joining the San Francisco Shock for the new season are newcomers Viol2t and smurf, as well as Rascal, who was promoted from NRG Esports, and Striker, formerly on the Boston Uprising.

Seoul Dynasty

The Seoul Dynasty had a fair amount of new faces, as well as old ones leaving. Fissure, from the Los Angeles Gladiators, joined, as well as fresh faces of Michelle, Marve1, Jecse, and FITS. Gambler retired to stream, Miro is currently focusing on streaming, WeKeed is a free agent, gido has gone to the Washington Justice, xepheR is now on the Florida Mayhem, and KuKi has transferred to the Los Angeles Valiant. Staying on the team from last season are ZUNBA, tobi, Munchkin, ryujehong, and Fleta.

Shanghai Dragons

The Shanghai Dragons have the largest amount of changes, with eight players departing from the team. They are Daemin, Sky, Freefeel, Altering, Roshan, and Xushu, now all free agents, and Fiveking, now a member of Team CC. Joining the team are former KongDoo Panthera players CoMa, Luffy, YOUNGJIN, and DDing, as well as diem and GuardiaN, who also played in Contenders. They will be joining FEARLESS, Diya, and Geguri on the new roster.

Of course, with the eight new teams, there are many new players to sign and learn about. On these teams you’ll find some Overwatch League veterans as well as many newcomers to the Overwatch League scene.

Expansion Teams

Atlanta Reign

The Atlanta Reign signed Erster, NLaaeR, Daco, Pokpo, Kodak, and Masaa, all newcomers to the Overwatch League, as well as Gator as a two-way contract with ATL Academy, and popular streamer dafran.

Chengdu Hunters

The Chengdu Hunters is a team of newcomers, with these players having proven themselves in Contenders and now joining the Overwatch League. The roster is made up of Kyo, GARRY, Yveltal, Elsa, ameng, lateyoung, YangXiaoLong, JinMu, and Baconjack.

Guangzhou Charge

HOTBA, who used to play for the Philadelphia Fusion, joined the Guangzhou Charge, along with the newcomers Eileen, Happy, Kyb, nero, Rio, Chara, Onlywish, and shu. Rise, who was known as WonJaeLee while participating in Contenders, will also join the Charge.

Hangzhou Spark

All of the players in Hangzhou Spark are new to the Overwatch League scene, bringing in fresh talent for all of us to enjoy. The team meqmbers are Guxue, NoSmite, Adora, Ria, Bazzi, GodsB, iDK, Revenge, Krystal, and BEBE.

Paris Eternal

Paris Eternal is a team comprised entirely of European players, including SoOn and Finnsi from the Los Angeles Valiant, ShaDowBurn from the Philadelphia Fusion, and Contenders players Benbest, Greyy, LhCloudy, Kruise, NiCOgdh, HyP, and danye.

Toronto Defiant

The Toronto Defiant is a mix of Overwatch League players and those moving up from Contenders. Neko from the Boston Uprising, Asher from the Los Angeles Gladiators, and Envy from the Los Angeles Valiant are on the roster, joined by ivy, Stellar, RoKy, YakPung, and Aid.

Vancouver Titans

The Vancouver Titans picked up the full team of Runaway, fan favorites of Korean Contenders, as well as the player Rapel. The rest of the team is made up of Haksal, Hooreg, Seominsoo, Stitch, JJANU, Bumper, SLIME, and Twilight.

Washington Justice

Ado from the Shanghai Dragons has now made his home in Washington, D.C., as well as janus, who was a member of the New York Excelsior and gido, who was on the Seoul Dynasty. Joining them are the former Contenders players Sansam, Stratus, Fahzix, Corey, and Hyeonu.

So now you know all about the new changes for the 2019 season, as well as all the rosters for the twenty teams. Now all we can do is wait in anticipation to see these teams in action. The matches start on February 14th, at 4:00 p.m. PST. See you there!

Sunday Setups: Rebelrose

Hello again! It’s been a while, but I am back with a Sunday Setup feature! This week we chatted with Death Blossoms member Rebelrose who shared with me her Mercy-tastic gaming space! Read on to see what Rose shared about herself and her setup!

Hi, I’m Rose. I’ve been in DB for about eight months now, and I’m a Mercy main. I love the size of my desk is and that I can have enough space for my mousepad and all my Mercy gear. I would like to change the fact that I’m using a laptop to game. I’d much rather be using a desktop! It was hard to get the wiring run for my keyboard to go behind my desk. The only hindrance of my setup is the power. It didn’t take me very long to get this setup and if I can get the money together I’m going to buy or build a desktop soon!

Thank you to Rose for sharing with the Death Blossoms blog all about her gaming space! Do you have an awesome or unique gaming set up you’d like featured on the blog?! If so, fill out the form you find here and I will be in contact with you soon! Check back soon for new setups and other great content here at the Death Blossoms blog.

Team Tuesday: Calluna

Hello again, and welcome back to our beloved series Team Tuesday! For this month’s article, I was lucky enough to get to chat with one of our beloved EU teams, Calluna. This eight-person roster is full of spunk, personality, and love for their teammates. Read on to learn about the origins of Team Calluna, their team goals and aspirations, as well as the players’ experiences playing on an all-female Death Blossoms Team.

Team Calluna has been playing together for over a year, and is currently made up of: Adaiah, the team captain and dps player; ButchVillain (Butch), the team co-captain and fellow dps player; Bijibun (BijI), main healer; Nantuui, main tank; Pickles, an off-healer; Puusku, the teams off-tank; and Sleepy, a flex player. At the time of our interview, Adaiah (who plays a mean Pharah) and Butch mentioned they are looking to trial an 8th member to allow flexibility in the schedule for these busy ladies. This trial turned out spectacularly and they have recently added Woestjin, a dps player, to their team roster. Work and university takes up much of their time, and it can be tough for them to all be available simultaneously. However, when all eight ladies are available, they have an efficient system in place where the extra two players rotates in the game with the the team, spectates their teammates, and gives feedback in the meantime!

Sleepy, Bijibun, and Butchvillain at one of their meet-ups!

The original team captain, Butch, had help from Adaiah early on and over time they swapped responsibilities and roles due to other obligations and from necessity. When their original coach and co-captain departed from Calluna in ~August 2018, Adaiah took on the role of captain officially. Butch ( the resident “meme” hero fan) has continued to assist in any way she can, and this proves to be an effective system for the ladies.

When asked how they decided on Calluna for the team name, Butch is quick to speak up.

“This is the ORIGINAL CONTROVERSY! Some members wanted to be named “Stink Lily” (like me) but it was downvoted. Adaiah came up with Calluna and it was adopted as the team name.”

Puusku’s doggo, a very sophisticated one at that!

Puusku (who loves playing Dva and Roadhog) was the creative genius behind the team logo. The beloved snail icon that all of Calluna proudly has in their name within our Death Blossoms Discord was voted upon and won (for good reason – look how cute!!). Biji says the snail emoji was a sign for her when she applied, saying: “It was meant to be! I’m so happy we have the snail (by our names).” The snail perhaps isn’t thought of as a fearsome emoji, but in action, Calluna is terrifying.

“A snail is the cutest thing you wouldn’t want to touch with your bare hands.”

The ladies of Calluna unanimously agree that solo queue just isn’t the life for them after being on this amazing team. They have all experienced the dark scene of solo competitive currently and do their best to track down a teammate or friend before entering the throes of ELO hell. This isn’t entirely a bad situation overall, though! Biji so beautifully explained:

“It’s not the same alone. Even if it’s a positive match, it doesn’t have that same feel. With Overwatch being a team game, it is not the same when playing alone or with random people.”

The discussion then moved to my favorite topic of these team interviews – the ladies favorite part about playing on a Death Blossoms team. These responses are what really helps me to learn about the relationships between the teammates and to better understand what our members are looking for when they advertise themselves for a team within our community. This is also the part of the interview where my “proud mom” persona comes out and I, more often than not, get teary eyed and happy that these teams have worked out so well for the players.

One of Bijibun’s cats. We love team pets at DB!

Adaiah shares that she has found a personal sense of accomplishment with Calluna by being able to practice and learn new heroes because her teammates have her best interests at heart. They provide her with positive feedback and a safe environment to learn at her own pace. Puusku shared that Calluna has been a positive social circle for her not only in Overwatch, but offline as well. After a difficult Christmas last year, she could turn to her friends within her team for the support she needed. Pickles, a Zenyatta and Moira fan, shared that while she is not a very social person and used to fear using voice comms being in Death Blossoms and then on Team Calluna has helped her to overcome this. She now confidently uses comms and speaks up more often.

Butch told me the story of when she moved from the states to Stockholm to live with her girlfriend. Moving was stressful, she had difficulties finding a job, and her younger brother passed away. She was understandably feeling depressed and she withdrew to a dark place. But her teammates have been an anchor to her, and she expressed sincere gratitude for all they’ve done.

“Yeah, it (meeting through the team) was about Overwatch, but even if I left Overwatch I know we would still be friends.”

This deep sense of trust and friendship is what I love to hear from our teams. Death Blossoms teams are meant to be an environment where our members can not only improve and grow as players, but as an opportunity to find new friends and a deep sense of belonging.

Adaiah, Catfish, and Butchvillain at Stockolm Pride!

Our EU teams are spread all over, like our US rosters, and Calluna is no exception. They are made up of ladies from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands. They find the time to make trips to see one another whenever possible. Butch told me that she is currently collecting selfies with her teammates as she’s able to meet up with them, treasured memories from rare time spent together not behind a monitor.

Bijibun and Butchvillain after a Midsummer Celebration

After speaking with Calluna and seeing firsthand how close they have all become, I asked if the ladies had any words of wisdom or tips they would offer players who are looking to join or form a new team. They had some great advice to share, and this doesn’t apply only to all-female teams! Players of any game, whether it be Overwatch or not, that requires a team dynamic should consider the points made by these ladies.

“I would say if you get the opportunity to be on a team, to group up, or take on responsibility… take it and run with it. Even if you want to make excuses about using comms or being nervous, just try it. The things that are scariest at first are the ones with the greatest reward.” – Adaiah

“I would offer words of caution. Personality really matters more than anything. Don’t fall into the trap of letting someone toxic play with you because they’re skilled at the game. We all want to win, but it’s just a video game at the end of the day. Get something good out of it instead of just SR.” – Butch

“If someone is afraid of using voice comms (because many people start out quiet or afraid of being social – it’s okay. DB doesn’t judge, so don’t be afraid!” – Pickles

As we prepared to part ways, Calluna was in high spirits. I was grateful for the opportunity to get to know this sweet team, and I asked one final question: ‘What are some of your favorite and memorable moments as a member of Team Calluna?’ The answers varied greatly, but they made me laugh all the same. Butch told me of a time early on when Pickles had her muted on Discord for two weeks and had no idea. “I was captain at the time and she wasn’t responding when I called out ults or strategies. I was getting frustrated and didn’t know what was going on! Turns out she thought I was just being quiet and didn’t realize she had muted me.” Pickles had a good explanation, though! “I had never used discord before joining DB and the team, so I just thought ‘oh, she muted herself, she doesn’t want to talk.’ Then I thought ‘Maybe they’re all in a different voice chat that I didn’t know about because I’m new??’” Nantuui shared, “I love some of the call outs from this team. Some of the names are just… funny.” They told me one of these names in particular and although it made me laugh, I won’t be including them in this post. But I won’t discourage you from reaching out to a Calluna member and asking for yourself! Adaiah quipped “We’ll start chanting MURDER and then we dive into the team… it usually works for us!” Can you imagine eight snails chanting for murder? Neither can I… it’s too scary to consider!

Team Calluna is a wonderful, diverse group of ladies… one I am glad I got to sit and talk with because I didn’t realize how much I was missing out on by not getting to know them better. Thank you, Calluna, for taking the time to talk with me and for sharing about yourselves with the Death Blossoms blog!

Check back next month for a new Team Tuesday feature, this time with one of our NA teams, Wisteria! Until then, heroes!

Blossom Thoughts: Ashe First Impressions

Since Ashe’s release about a month ago on November 2nd, there has been a lot of discussion around her abilities, character, and especially her ultimate, B.O.B. This is the first ultimate that is actually less of an ultimate and more an introduction of another hero, one that can contest the point and personally receive healing. Now that the Death Blossoms community has had some time to play with Ashe in Quick Play and Competitive modes, it’s time to see what the ladies think. Is B.O.B overpowered? Does Ashe’s dynamite need a nerf? Is her character design just another lazy clone of Widowmaker? Keep reading to find out the Blossoms Thoughts on these questions and more!

To begin, let’s focus on Ashe’s design and personality. Stardust, the Death Blossom PUG moderator, appreciates Ashe’s sassiness. “To me, Ashe has a bit more spunk and attitude to her personality than the other heroes, specifically the female heroes. She reminds me a lot of McCree so I think it’s fitting they have a history of knowing – and dealing with – one another.” EU member Tabby also loves Ashe’s look. “I love the hair/eyes combo. It definitely makes her stand out from the others, so she’s got her own space. I love the fact that she is a middle-aged lady as well and not a super young’un.” EUcalyptus team member Whatanot agreed, noting that Ashe’s model even has bags under eyes, unlike the younger female heroes such as Widow.

“I love the hair/eyes combo. It definitely makes her stand out from the others, so she’s got her own space. I love the fact that she is a middle-aged lady as well and not a super young’un.” — Tabby

A more contentious topic was Ashe’s dynamite ability. Dva main Akra lamented the difficulty of eating Ashe’s dynamite with her defense matrix ability. “Ashe’s dynamite should DEFINITELY have some kind of color indicator (like Moira’s orbs do) for friendly vs. enemy tosses; it’s hard enough to spot in the air without also having no idea whose Ashe it belongs to most of the time. It could also be eatable on the ground until it explodes, or get a damage nerf.” Blossoms Team Coordinator and Aris member Jodem agreed. “It’s pretty easy to get 2-3 kills with dynamite if you place it properly, and especially if you shoot it in the air so it explodes immediately. It’s easy to lob it over a Reinhardt shield and shoot it before it dips under the shield, and its area of effect still makes it hit everyone standing behind Rein that high in the air.”

Not only was the issue of seeing the dynamite problematic, but there was also lively discussion surrounding the fact the fire continues to cause damage long after the dynamite has gone off. Flex player Iris felt that some of the healer abilities could deal with the issue. “I think Moira orbs and Ana’s grenade should cancel it. Mercy should have a way to cancel it too, so it’s not a Mercy nerf.” Wolfsbane captain Zadca said she would be okay with an Ana grenade, but proposed another option as well. “I just want the fire [damage] to have a threshold that leaves you with 1 hp from burning as opposed to killing you outright if your Zen refuses to heal you.” Then, of course, a lot of Blossoms members felt that there should be a way to shoot Ashe’s dynamite and cancel the explosion.

“I just want the fire [damage] to have a threshold that leaves you with 1 hp from burning as opposed to killing you outright if your Zen refuses to heal you.” — Zadca

Last but not least, there is B.O.B to discuss. Stardust had some mixed feelings about him as an ultimate ability. “I have to admit, from the start I thought it was weird that her ultimate would be essentially a 7th player on the team. It isn’t completely unexpected, though, because Torb’s old ultimate with his turret was similar, especially if the enemy placed it in a spot that was difficult to contest.” Amna, one of Blossoms Admins, felt that B.O.B could use some adjustments. “I think either his health or damage output needs to be lowered.” Team Wisteria member Eternaforest felt similarly. “B.O.B definitely feels overpowered. I won’t say [Ashe] is an overpowered hero but she definitely has a lot of pros and very little cons.”

Nearly all of our DB ladies who shared their opinion on the hero seemed to conclude that, though they liked Ashe’s character and mechanics overall, she still needed a bit of work either in the form of a nerf to B.O.B or the ability to more easily spot and shoot Ashe’s dynamite. Perhaps surprising to some, there was more discussion around Ashe’s dynamite than her ultimate ability, even though most members expressed some concern about game balance with both.

“If we’re playing on a dark part of the map I straight up can’t see [the dynamite] flying towards my team and then, bam! I’m on fire and my Rein is on fire and everything is on fire and there is only one health pack nearby… and it’s hacked.” — Whatanot

This is because, as Akra mentioned, a lot of characters have the ability to shut down B.O.B, but this is not so with Ashe’s dynamite. At the end of the day, nobody summarized the frustration of dealing with Ashe’s dynamite damage as well as Whatanot. “If we’re playing on a dark part of the map I straight up can’t see [the dynamite] flying towards my team and then, bam! I’m on fire and my Rein is on fire and everything is on fire and there is only one health pack nearby… and it’s hacked.” With any luck, some of the suggested changes from our community will be taken into account and Ashe will become a more balanced hero soon, and we can pray that fewer things will be on fire (though probably that health pack nearby will still be hacked!).