Mangachu takes over as coach for Toronto Defiant
Canadian Overwatch DPS player Liam “Mangachu” Campbell will transition to a hybrid coach-player role at Toronto Defiant, the North American Overwatch League team announced this Wednesday.
Mangachu, who has been a member of Toronto Defiant since June 28, 2019 will transition to coaching. While he will remain available to play for the team if need be, the 23-year-old stated in his Twitter post, that he has officially updated his role in the team to coach.
“Still under a player contract but I’ve updated my role in the Toronto Defiant as a coach. I’ve spent most of my time so far working with the DPS players and I’ve been enjoying it. Appreciate the org letting me explore this potential career path,” said Mangachu.
It remains to be seen why the team decided for this move, however, unlike other Overwatch teams that are currently struggling to keep their rosters intact, Defiant still boast with a healthy nine-man roster. Additionally, Defiant also have Andreas “Logix” Berghmans, Brady “Agilities” Girardi, Lane “Surefour” Roberts as three other DPS options, so Mangachu’s decision makes a lot of sense.
Mangachu has begun his Overwatch career in February 2016, when he first appeared at a few lesser Overwatch tournaments while playing under Prime. The Canadian DPS later played for onTILT, Grouchy Desperados, Northern Gaming Red and in August 2016 teamed up with Tempo Storm NA. In January 2017, Mangachu joined Renegades, where he remained for over nine months and claimed a few notable results namely sixth-place finish at Overwatch Winter Premiere, a third-place finish at Overwatch Carbon Series, as well as top-six place finish at Overwatch Contenders 2017 Season Zero: North America.
While playing for Renegades, Mangachu also made his first appearance for his national team at the Overwatch World Cup 2017 – Katowice Qualifier, where Canada finished first and later made it to the finals of Overwatch World Cup 2017, where they lost to South Korea (1-4). Mangachu left Renegades in October 2017 and returned to play for Grouchy Desperados and later for Heroes and Sun With Face Clap, before joining XL2 Academy.
With XL2 Academy Mangachu finished top-eight at Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 1: North America and second at Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 2: North America. By the end of the year, he also helped Canada claim bronze at Overwatch World Cup 2018. In January 2019, Mangachu made one last appearance for XL2 Academy and finished top-four at Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 3: North America, before moving to Mirage Sport, Mayhem Academy and in June 2019 teamed up with Toronto Defiant.
Mangachu helped Toronto Defiant finish 17th at the Overwatch League – 2019 Regular Season, where the Canadian team won only eight games out of 28 played which saw them miss the playoffs by five wins. Since the turn of the year, Mangachu also played for Montreal Rebellion but failed to see much success outside of most recent results, which saw Rebellion claim a second-place finish at Contenders 2020 NA Season 1 Trials – Week 2 and third-fourth place finish at Contenders 2020 NA Season 1 – Week 2.
As it stands now, Toronto Defiant are seventh in the Atlantic Conference and 15th overall in the 2020 Overwatch League with a 4-7 record, however, they’re within striking distance of securing a spot in the playoffs, as they’re only one win short of getting themselves above the line and into a spot that will earn them a ticket for the play-in stage.
Throughout his four-year-long career, Mangachu has become known for his Pharah, Junkrat, Torbjorn, Hanzo and Genji as his five signature heroes. In Season 2, Mangachu also reached a skill rating of 4697 and is as of now ranked 17th in the PC Overwatch Leaderboards with 4549 Skill Rating points and 59% win rate.
