đź“ť Crazy Raccoon conquer the Champions Clash and secure EWC qualification
The Champions Clash has come to an end, and what an explosive finish to a great weekend of Overwatch.
First, make sure to catch up on all the action from the first two days:
The final day brought us a flurry of incredible matchups, some really exciting news from the next season of Overwatch, and, naturally, the crowning of the first international champion of 2026.
Upper Bracket Semi-Finals
Day 3 kicked off with a rematch of the Asia Grand Finals as Crazy Raccoon and ZETA DIVISION clashed for a spot in the Grand Finals. Immediately, both Korean squads pit their respective tank players on dive heroes thanks to the Bastion ban, but still have Sung "CH0R0NG" Yoo-min and Park "Viol2t" Min-ki on the Jetpack Cat. While ZETA did keep the first two rounds close, Jeong "Stalk3r" Hak-yong took over Illios and brought the series up 1-0.
Crazy Raccoon maintained control of the series heading into Map 2. With Bastion back online, and with Choi "MAX" Su-min now in, the Raccoons brought out the Sigma/Cat/Bastion composition that easily overwhelmed ZETA. The wound was further driven in when ZETA DIVISION C9’d on Circuit Royale, which derailed their momentum for the remainder of the map.
Suravasa brought out a surprise Reinhardt duel with both Park "JunBin" Jun-bin and Lee "Mealgaru" Jeong-hwan duking it out on the classic tank hero. This map was a much-needed momentum swing for ZETA DIVISION, who, after losing the Reinhardt mirror, swapped over to Mauga and easily took control of the remainder of the map.
King’s Row continued the trend of swapping out the tank players to play more Sigma-centred compositions, with MAX and Shin "Bernar" Se-won both leading the charge. This map also brought out Mizuki, who has proven this tournament to be a reliable pocket pick that synergizes well within the new meta. In the end, it was Crazy Raccoon who held all the authority on and closed out the series 3-1, bringing themselves to the Grand Finals of an international tournament for the first time since the 2025 Champions Clash. ZETA DIVISION suffered their first series loss of the season and was then relegated to the Lower Bracket, where they would play the reigning world champions, Twisted Minds, to keep their championship hopes alive.
Lower Bracket Finals
The most anticipated matchup of the entire tournament officially saw the world champions, Twisted Minds, take on ZETA DIVISION. After being sent down to the Lower Bracket by Crazy Raccoon, Twisted Minds made a bold decision: Ahmad "Youbi" Alyoubi, who had not played an official OWCS match for Twisted since the 2025 World Finals, was in over Kim "JaeWoo" Jae-woo. The EMEA squad hoped that putting in their team captain, as well as having Abdualziz "TVNT" Altmimi bring out a pocket Roadhog on Ilios, would be enough to swing momentum back in their favor.
And with that setup, Twisted Minds looked completely rejuvenated. On Ilios, they were able to utilize Youbi’s signature Symmetra, which helped Ibrahem "Quartz" Alali return to championship form and win them the first two maps. Mealgaru had made an effort to counter Twisted Minds’ Symmetra by playing Doomfist, which did bring a lot of promise, but ultimately was not enough to win Suravasa.
ZETA DIVISION was pushed to the brink of elimination and made their stand on King’s Row, subbing in Bernar. Much like in the previous series, this map went into extra innings as both teams traded blows for control. Eventually, ZETA was able to take the map and open the door for a potential reverse sweep attempt off the back of their Mei composition.
However, any momentum generated on King’s Row came to a screeching halt on Circuit Royale. Not even some last-second heroics from DPS Kim "Proper" Dong-hyun was enough to halt the relentless Twisted Minds. TM easily won the map and sent ZETA DIVISION home in a stunning 3-1 upset, defying the meta and playing to their strengths.
With this victory, Twisted Minds headed to their second consecutive Grand Finals appearance and a rematch with Crazy Raccoon.
Grand Finals
Crazy Raccoon against Twisted Minds, the 2025 Champions Clash winners against the 2025 World Finals winners. Twisted Minds defeated Crazy Raccoon during their historic 2025 World Finals run. Crazy Raccoon returned the favor earlier in the tournament, defeating Twisted Minds in a 3-0 sweep. Twisted Minds, having recovered from their loss, took out ZETA DIVISION and were now within touching distance of the championship.
Immediately out the gates on Illios, Crazy Raccoon was here to make things quick. JunBin’s Wrecking Ball, along with the Jetpack Cat/Bastion, overwhelmed Twisted Minds and threw off their compositions. Each member frantically swapped to find counters, but to no avail, allowing the CR to cap both points effortlessly, while Twisted only managed to briefly cap 8%.
Crazy Raccoon’s dominance continued as the series traveled to Circuit Royale. With MAX subbed in, the Sigma/Mei composition completely overwhelmed Twisted Minds’ attack and halted them just shy of Point A and swiftly closed the map soon after. At the conclusion of Map 2, not only had Crazy Raccoon proved to be a strong opponent, but they had yet to lose even a single teamfight. In the map, MAX went a clean 14-0 while the rest of Twisted struggled to stay above .500 K/D.
With their backs against the wall, Twisted Minds was in full desperation mode. On King’s Row, TVNT made the bold tank choice of Reinhardt, a hero he is not known for, in order to restabilize themselves in this series. Although this was out of his wheelhouse, this pick was the much-needed boost to the trajectory of this series. TVNT had consistently outplayed MAX, even though the stats didn’t show it, allowing Twisted Minds to win the map in extra innings. With the series now at 2-1, this game was not going to be over so soon.
New Junk City gave us Crazy Raccoon on Juno/Brigitte, which TM had used the day before against Virtus.pro. With Youbi’s Symmetra banned, it took TM two points to stabilise. Once Youbi switched to Tracer and Simple brought out the extra rare Moira, Twisted Minds reverse-swept the map to tie the series.
Crazy Raccoon took the series to Runasapi and what should have been their prime chance to find their footing in the series once again, instead completely backfired. Twisted Minds were in the driver’s seat, and it showed. Crazy Raccoon put up a couple of good fights to keep the clash competitive, but insurmountable pressure on CH0R0NG saw the Koreans lose their third map in a row. Crazy Raccoon were now suddenly facing championship point.
Map 6. Crazy Raccoon picked Oasis and brought JunBin back in. The first sub-round was at University, which forced JunBin onto Ramattra, and CR brought out the Cat/Bastion. Twisted Minds were unfazed and capped the first point. Crazy Raccoon found themselves fully cornered. They would have to win two points in a row or lose the championship. City Center and Gardens gave JunBin all the space he needed to play his iconic hamster game. For two sub-rounds in a row, JunBin gave Quartz zero quarter, which gave the rest of CR the space they needed to deal with TVNT. CR got the job done, but it wasn’t over yet, the series headed to a fateful, decisive seventh map.
Suravasa, everything on the line. Twisted Minds banned Jetpack Cat to break the Bastion combo, Crazy Raccoon took out Quartz’s iconic Sojourn. JunBin started on Ramattra but it wasn’t working for Crazy Raccoon. Twisted Minds took the first point. Once JunBin switched to Wrecking Ball, alongside CH0R0NG’s Mizuki, Crazy Raccoon once again managed to completely shut down the havoc Quartz and TVNT were causing the whole tournament. Crazy Raccoon started driving forward with momentum, taking point after point. Just as Twisted Minds seemed ot stabilise, a crucial, championship-deciding Binding Chain from CH0R0NG saw TVNT taken out of the final fight of the championship. Crazy Raccoon captured three points in a row and secured their second Champions Clash trophy in a row.
Twisted Minds put up a performance more than worthy of the reigning world champions. They bounced back from the 3-0 sweep against Crazy Raccoon on Day 2, to not only eliminate the tournament favorites ZETA DIVISION, but also push the champions, in a seven-map thriller, to the very brink.
Crazy Raccoon secured their second Champions Clash trophy, their third international title, and a direct qualification for the Midseason Championship at the EWC. Onboarding two new players in Stalk3r and vigilante saw CR start the 2026 season slower than usual. However, the team has been consistently improving, adapting and trailblazing multiple metas, and it all paid off when it ultimately mattered.