Blizzard finally bans Mei from the Overwatch League – thanks to a cat

Mei has finally been banned from the Overwatch League – for one week – after a cat’s random decision brought the entire Overwatch community together in a heartfelt moment.

Weeks after introducing the Hero Pools system in Overwatch and the OWL, the game’s most controversial hero has finally been pulled from the competition, at least for those in the Overwatch League.

While bans differ between the competitive playlist and the competitive league, the entire community rejoiced as Mei was finally plucked from the playable Damage-based lineup in the March 29 edition of Watchpoint.

Blizzard

Mei has been the cause of much frustration in the Overwatch community of late.

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Following the latest set of matches, it was time for the Watchpoint crew to assemble and draw the latest set of heroes that would be banned from competition.

Tweaking the formula for this week, however, the hosts decided to change the ruleset on the fly and allow for Soe ‘Soembi’ Gschwind’s cat to decide on the bans.

The more that a certain hero was played throughout the week, the higher a chance that they had of being removed for the following period of the competition. As one of the most controversially powerful heroes in the game, Mei had a 37.1% pick rate but managed to avoid a ban for weeks.

•  Read More: Overwatch’s Jeff Kaplan reveals potential hero pool rework

On March 29 however, Soembi’s cat finally plucked the hero from the competition, and the entire Overwatch community rejoiced. Brigitte, Wrecking Ball, and McCree were also removed from the OWL hero pool.

The relevant section of the video begins at 14:44 for mobile users.

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“It’s finally happened, former OWL player Scott ‘Custa’ Kennedy said. “I don’t think anybody can doubt the system anymore.”

After months of the icy hero terrorizing players online and countless pro calling for the character to be nerfed, Mei was finally toppled. All it took was a cat.

• Read More: Overwatch Week 4 Hero Pools ban six characters

“The moment pro Overwatch fans rejoiced most since GOATs,” OWL commentator Wolf “Wolf” Schröder joked after seeing the ban. “A cat made it happen.”

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While this ban only applies to the players in the OWL themselves, it should certainly make for a more interesting slate of matchups when the competition rolls around once again. 

As the community shares in a moment of joy due to Mei’s ban, dedicated players are more than frustrated with the current set of Live bans. With six Damage-based heroes removed, even DJ superstar Zedd called out the developers.