đ Back at it again: OWCS Korea Stage 1 Week 2 review
After a week off, Korea is back and ready to go for week two. The opening week of matchups featured some incredible matches, thrilling upsets, and beautiful debuts for new rosters. How will these new teams perform against more varied opponents? What new stars will emerge under the pressure? Is Jetpack Cat really viable? Week 2 answers all these questions and more as Korea continues on its path to the Champions Clash in Tokyo.
Game of the week: Crazy Raccoon vs. RĂDE ONSIDE GAMING
The final game of day one was worth the anticipation. Crazy Raccoon entered this match with a few question marks, looking shaky in a loss against ZETA DIVISION, and unsure of their power level with Kim "vigilante" Joon embracing his new team. Across the battlefield, RĂDE ONSIDE GAMING was looking pretty after a spectacular upset of T1 the week prior, and was looking to add another partner team to their hit list.
The match opened in Busan with targeted bans against Jeong "Stalk3r" Hak-yong and Kim "ATTACK" Jun-hwa, with RONG eliminating the Sojourn and CR banning Zarya. Frankly, this map was just RONG looking better, on Sanctuary, Jung "Kilo" Jin-woo performed out of his mind on Emre, consistently getting opening picks, resulting in a dominant 0-100 (and a touching of CRâs spawn doors). As the map moved to Downtown, it got closer, but Kilo and RONG had a clutch factor, winning fights that should have been lost, and taking the map with a 99-100 final score.
CR seemed to forfeit ban priority heading into Havana, allowing RONG to protect Kiloâs Emre. Despite that mistake, they were able to piece together a strong attack, just barely missing out on the full cap thanks to a C9. The magic came on defense, where CR put together a stalwart hold in the distillery, and evened the series at one a piece.
Blizzard World finally saw CR get rid of Emre, but that only made Kilo stronger, as he put on an unparalleled performance on the Sojourn, including a 4k to end the first round, eerily similar to a later highlight from North America. Crazy Raccoon was used to success on Ana comp, but Vigilante did not look as comfortable, and it hurt them in the long run. Going onto Runasapi, RONG looked to finish off Crazy Raccoon, jumping out to a 55-meter lead to open the map. That lead later turned into a 48 - 123 meter lead, and Crazy Raccoon had only three minutes to turn it around. They slowly chipped away at this lead thanks to multiple clutch picks by Choi "MAX" Su-minâs Zarya. The final fight was won by a decisive early Graviton Surge by MAX, sending this series into an ultimate final map.
This series would end in Rialto, with RONG removing the Zarya, a mirror of CRâs initial ban on Busan. This map was nothing like Busan, with Crazy Raccoon jumping out with an overbearing offense, taking all three points with over two minutes left in the time bank. This aggressive strategy was spurred by the flexibility of Stalk3r and Chae "HeeSang" Hee-sang, who each played Vendetta, Mei, and Tracer and could swap between roles effortlessly. RONG came out blazing on their attack, trying to even up the map, but swaps onto Orisa and Echo from MAX and HeeSang led to CR holding them off, winning the map and the series. This matchup was a great showcase of these teams' strengths, and we expect to see these teams face off again in the playoffs.
Player of the Week: ATTACK
Kim "ATTACK" Jun-hwa is a player who has slipped under the radar of most international OWCS viewers. Many fans might know him for his role on NRG Shock as the off-tank (Often benched behind Kim "Kellan" Min-jae) in Stage 3 and 4 of 2024, culminating in an appearance at the first-ever OWCS World Finals.
Since his stint in NA, he has returned to Korea, where he has been the starting tank for ONSIDE GAMING (although Kellan did return in Stage 3 of last year). With the meta moving towards D.Va and Zarya to open this year, ATTACK has had his time to shine, as he is once again the sole tank on RĂDE ONSIDE GAMING, and his incredible tank play had catapulted them to a 3-1 start (highlighted with an upset win over T1), and a 1-1 performance this week, including taking the former Korea champions to five maps to start the week.
Keep an eye out for ATTACKâs stellar tank gameplay to be the cause of many highlight reels, and maybe the catalyst for a darkhorse emergence in the regional playoffs, and possibly at the Champions Clash in Tokyo.
Hero bans and map picks
Data sourced from: OWCS 2026 Hero Bans / Metas
After two action-packed weeks of competition, Korea has totaled 65 maps and 130 hero bans over the 18 total matches. This week had five fewer maps than the previous week, due to the influx of 3-0 sweeps. Regardless, we still have a solid pool of data, so here are some key takeaways from Week 2âs map picks and hero bans in OWCS Korea:
- Zarya and D.Va were tied last week for tank bans, and Zarya has eclipsed D.Va to become the highest-banned tank.
- Mauga and Hazard have joined the second tier of tank bans, gaining three and four bans this week
- Symmetra went from being tied for most-banned DPS to never being banned this week
- Emre spiked, gaining six bans this week alone
- Support is still the role with the most amount of bans, being responsible for 45 bans (43 for tank and 42 for DPS).
- Support is also by far the most diverse ban pool, with six heroes being banned more than 5 times (only two tanks and four DPS have that same metric).
- As always, itâs worth noting the OWCS Asia map rule that combines Flashpoint and Push into one pool, meaning only one of those gamemodes can be played before map five. This rule also allowed the Crazy Raccoon vs. RĂDE ONSIDE GAMING to feature two escort maps, Havana and Rialto.
- Havana was by far the most popular map across all regions. It was played in six of the nine games this week, including four straight games at the end of the week.
- Lijiang Tower has emerged as the favored control map.
- Push and Flashpoint have incredibly even splits, with no map emerging as a preference
Week 2 match summaries
Cheeseburger 0 - 3 ZAN Esports
In the opening match, both teams were on the quest for their first win of the year, although Cheeseburger was still looking to take their first map, and ZAN Esports proved that they have a lot of potential after taking RĂDE ONSIDE GAMING to five maps last week. This game was simply a tale of two tanks. ZAN exploited Cheeseburgerâs Kim "FARMER" Yea-hanâs limited hero pool, as they opened Oasis with an Orisa ban and took out Mauga when tank was unprotected on Aatlis.
Cho "HEISER" Yu-hyun proved his status as the up-and-coming tank in Korea by showing a flawless performance and D.Va, Winston, and Zarya. The stat lines truly reflect these differences, with HEISER getting Player of the Match by going 60-6, while FARMER went negative with 21 kills and 23 deaths.
Poker Face 0 - 3 ZETA DIVISION
Poker Face entered this match as the only team yet to drop a map, albeit against Cheeseburger and New Era, the consensus bottom two teams in Korea. ZETA DIVISION entered as the popular favorite, especially after taking down Team Falcons and Crazy Raccoon in the opening week.
It was clear from the very beginning of this game that ZETA DIVISION was toying with their opponents, entering Lijiang Tower on a Cassidy/Pharah/Zarya/Jetpack Cat/Ana composition. It was clear they were playing for fun, with everyone playing their best hero and Viol2t on the flying feline. This oddball composition led to some very fun plays, best highlighted in Viol2tâs Player of the Match compilation. It needs to be emphasized just how dominant this performance was, with ZETA DIVISION not giving up a single point, full capping on both Esperança and Rialto, and finishing the entire game - breaks and all - in under an hour.
New Era 0 - 3 Team Falcons
Day two of Korea was filled to the brim with 3-0 sweeps and mismatches, and this battle was the primer. Team Falcons looked levels above New Era, refusing to give up a single point, fully holding on both Havana and Midtown. Falcons banned Torbjörn and Widowmaker on the first two maps, and it fully set the narrative for the rest of the series. It was clear those bans werenât needed, as they dominated their first game of the week.
T1 3 - 0 Poker Face
This game felt like a continuation of the previous battle, with T1 completely outclassing Poker Face. After losing their golden stage earlier in the week, Poker Face struggled to put up a good fight against T1âs stacked roster. To highlight the dominance, I want to point to the stats from T1. Hong "Proud" Suk-jin went 77-12 over the three maps, racking up over 31,000 damage. Their support line was similarly strong, with Kim "Bliss" So-myung hitting 50 kills with only 2 deaths, and Kim "skewed" Min-seok went 43-5, healing over 32,000 to lead the game in fantasy points. Every player on Poker Face went negative, with Kim "CARU" Beom-jun only amassing eight kills, and Jeon "Gur3um" Yong-min dying 25 times. This game was not a close affair.
Crazy Raccoon 3 - 0 Cheeseburger
This game was probably the closest of the three games on day two, and that is not saying much. Crazy Raccoon wer able to easily outclass the young roster of Cheeseburger, winning every map in decisive fashion. This game did have entertainment value, as we got to see Lee "LIP" Jae-won come in to play Tracer, Mei, and Sojourn on two maps rather than just his normal map 3 appearance. Cheeseburger also got to get a look at all of their players on stage, as rookie Jamelgong made his debut, playing mostly Vendetta. Unfortunately, the drama outside the match was more interesting than the gameplay on the server, as Jamelgong was disciplined by Cheeseburger for making âinappropriate remarks.â In this viral clip, Jamelgong made remarks such as, âItâs annoying to have to have a fan meeting every time to attract attention because it's a small team,â and negative remarks about the tank play on Cheeseburger. The team was quick to apologize to fans and suspend Jamelgong for the rest of the stage.
RĂDE ONSIDE GAMING 3 - 0 New Era
You thought the 3-0s were over? Think again. Opening day three, we saw New Era continue their quest for a map win, while RONG looks to play the role of WAY/WAE last yearâthe dominant non-partner team in Korea. This game was characterized by ATTACK, who started Lijiang Tower by going 14-0 on Hazard, and finished the match with only three deaths and 57 eliminations. This match is best characterized by RONGâs first-point attack on Havana, where they were able to wipe New Era just with better positioning and communication. iRONY hit a great anti-nade on the support line, which allowed ATTACK to dive in and pick them off. While New Era was distracted with the electric monkey, SP1NT wiped the rest of New Era on Genji, including an extremely clean combo on Emre. The entire game was RONG using their experience and game-knowledge to win fights, even in the neutral or at an ultimate disadvantage. Ethical Overwatch at its finest.
ZAN Esports 0 - 3 ZETA DIVISION
Despite the scoreline being the same as ZETA DIVISIONâs previous match, this game did not feature the same gimmicks and actually showed a close battle between two talented teams. The game opened in Busan, where ZETA took the first point effortlessly. The match got interesting on Sanctuary, where ZAN strung together multiple fight wins to turn what was a 95-0 lead into a point for their team. Suravasa was a similarly paced back-and-forth affair, but ZETA pulled out ahead thanks to Park "Viol2t" Min-ki, putting up an absurd 11,630 damage on Illari, leading the lobby. Havana wasn't a close affair, but overall, this was still a solid showing for ZAN Esports, proving that their team has the talent to make maps close against the best of the best.
Unfortunately, the conclusion of this game saw the second player's suspension this week. ZAN Esports announced that Jung "Probe" Jun-young would be suspended for the remainder of Stage 1 for the use of âan inappropriate expression that demeaned another individual while writing nicknames for fans.â Upon learning of this behavior, ZAN Esports quickly issued a public apology to fans and suspended Probe for the remainder of the stage. This suspension will see ZAN return to their week 1 DPS lineup of Han "A1IEN" Yu-bin and Kim "Becky" Il-ha.
Team Falcons 3 - 1 T1
The final match of OWCS Korea week 2 pulled the region out of the doldrums of 3-0 sweeps and delivered a highly anticipated battle with a great viewing experience. While both teams entered this match at 2-1, their respective power levels had yet to be determined. Both Team Falcons and T1 had major success last year and still look poised for a strong 2026, despite changes to their starting lineups. The game opened in Busan, with the standard meta comps of Sojourn/Vendetta and LĂșcio/Kiriko backline, the only difference in comp coming with Choi "Hanbin" Han-been on D.Va, as opposed to Jeong "Jasm1ne" Jong-min on Zarya. T1 looked electric to open the series, with every player contributing to a 2-0 map win to set the tone of the series. Going on to Esperança T1 chose to remove the Vendetta, which allowed Baek "Checkmate" Seung-hun to channel his signature Symmetra, propelling Team Falcons to tie up the series. For the final two maps of the series, Team Falcons made some adjustments, swapping Hanbin onto the Zarya mirror and putting Choi "MER1T" Tae-min onto Emre.
These changes helped shift the series' tone and give Falcons the edge over T1. This game was a great culmination of a very entertaining week in Korea, and it gives both these teams (and their fanbases) something to look forward to as the season progresses.