Johnathan Foraker, a varsity Overwatch player for Boise State, recently received the opportunity of a lifetime. Foraker, also known by his gamertag “Clear”, is traveling to Korea to compete in the Overwatch Champions Series. Foraker left Boise this week and will spend the next few months competing with DAF, a professional team in the tournament’s pacific division.
TIME AT BOISE STATE
Foraker joined Boise State in Fall 2022. Originally from Annapolis, MD, Clear first met the Broncos at the Harrisburg University Esports (HUE) Invitational Tournament in 2021.
Boise State set up a booth at the tournament that attracted Foraker’s attention. After meeting with the Broncos and posing for a picture, he made the decision to attend Boise State. He is currently a sophomore pursuing a degree in Cyber Operations and Resilience, in the College of Engineering.
“I decided to join Boise State because I wanted to go to a school with both good academics, as well as a strong esports program,” said Foraker in an interview at the time of his signing. “After touring it, I also really liked the campus and the downtown area.”
Over the next few years, Clear helped the Broncos achieve a number of prominent tournament wins, including the Mountain West Championship, the CECC West Regionals, and most notably, the NACE National Championship.
JOURNEY AHEAD IN KOREA
When Foraker first joined Boise State, he had to travel over 2,000 miles from Annapolis to join the Broncos. Now, he’s traveling over 5,500 miles to join DAF in Korea.
The Overwatch Championship Series (OWCS) is the top professional level of Overwatch play and the successor to the now defunct Overwatch League (OWL). The Championship Series has three regions in which professional teams compete, North American, Europe Middle-East North Africa (EMEA), and Asia. The Asia region is divided into three sub-regions, Korea, Japan, and Pacific. Although Foraker is traveling to Korea, his team is competing in the Pacific subregion of the tournament. Each sub-region competes in a round robin season.
The top two teams from that season advance to the Asia Championship. From there, the top teams from Asia will go to the OWCS International Championship to compete against the top teams from North America and EMEA.
DAF is a professional Overwatch team based out of Thailand. Formed in 2022, DAF won multiple titles in Overwatch Contenders, which was the game’s second highest level of competition under OWL. Foraker is the only player on the team, and in the Pacific subdivision as a whole, from the United States.
REFLECTION BEFORE TRAVELING
Forker sat down for an on-camera interview the night before leaving for Korea.
“I’m glad that I was able to find such a good group of people,” said Foraker. “I was really glad to find a collegiate team that suited me and I had a lot of fun in and out of the game. I’ve really enjoyed being a Bronco.”
When asked about what he was most excited about traveling to Korea, he noted the food as the number one thing exciting him.
“I just want to try Korean food. I’ve had it here in Boise, but I think it’s a lot different than authentic Korean food,” said Foraker. “I’m going to be making a lot of vlog style stuff, some ‘day in the life of a pro gamer’ [videos].”
Foraker’s time in the pro leagues will last throughout the spring. All of his classes this semester are online, so he won’t be neglecting his academic pursuits. He will still be able to rejoin the Broncos at the end of the semester, in time for collegiate playoffs. For those wanting to watch Clear compete with DAF the Overwatch Esports Korea channel on YouTube is broadcasting Pacific matchups every Thursday at 1AM MST (5PM KST). For more complete information, you can watch this video on their YouTube channel.
All of us here at Boise State wish Jonathan the best of luck in his first major pro outing!
Written by Jacob Palmer.