đź“ť Crazy Raccoon topple the world champions. Virtus.pro bow out with grace
Day 2 of the OWCS Champions Clash picked up exactly where it left off the day before. The first day saw the clash of rivals and the first two eliminations. Today gave us three more eliminations, our top-three teams, and five all-out games of Overwatch from start to finish.
Upper Bracket Quarter Finals
Match results
Twisted Minds 0 - 3 Crazy Raccoon
Virtus.pro 1 - 3 ZETA DIVISION
Recap
The first match of Day 2 kicked off with an anticipated match between Twisted Minds and Crazy Raccoon. However, although Illios was a close back-and-forth brawl, the defending champs were no match for the newly retooled Korean squad. Twisted Minds looked uncomfortable in the new meta, and Crazy Raccoon continued to use their Sigma/Mizuki/Mei composition, showing that this unorthodox strategy might not be a throwaway comp after all. In the end, Crazy Raccoon won a swift 3-0, sending the reigning world champions down to the Lower Bracket, where they would have to wait for their match against Weibo Gaming.
The second EMEA vs. Korea matchup saw Virtus.pro take on tournament favorites ZETA DIVISION. While Twisted Minds barely made a dent in Crazy Raccoon, VP managed to keep themselves competitive with ZETA throughout the entire match, notably thanks to Kevin "kevster" Persson and Jonas "eisgnom" Stratemeyer. But ZETA DIVISION continued to show their flexibility, once more bringing out creative hero selections with Lee "Mealgaru" Jeong-hwan bringing out Roadhog and Park "Viol2t" Min-ki continuing to showcase how Mizuki can be used in the meta. While it was closer than the final score suggests, ZETA DIVISION won the series 3-1, setting up a rematch of the Grand Finals against Crazy Raccoon. Virtus.pro immediately headed down to the Lower Bracket Quarter Finals to face off against Dallas Fuel.
Lower Bracket Quarter Finals
Match results
Weibo Gaming 1 - 3 Twisted Minds
Recap
In the Lower Bracket, Virtus.pro and the Dallas Fuel looked to rebound after finding themselves on the brink of elimination. Although Dallas had taken down All Gamers in a 2-0 series, they floundered in their first match against ZETA DIVISION, while VP had kept their series against ZETA competitive. The first and only match between North America and EMEA was also a close endeavour, as both teams routinely traded control of the series despite the 3-1 scoreline. Ultimately, it was Virtus.pro who came out on top, making great use of the Cat/Bastion comp, with Eisgnom leading the charge on either Ramattra or D.Va. Dallas kept each map close but were ultimately eliminated from the tournament. This also marked the second and final team from the NA region to bow out of the tournament.
The penultimate match of the day saw Twisted Minds taking on Weibo Gaming. This match was largely in favor of the EMEA squad, who opted to settle for playing more to their strengths compared to their opponents playing the current meta. Weibo did manage to keep the series competitive, even pushing the series to a surprise draw on King’s Row. And, after a brief tech pause, momentum swung back towards Weibo with a dominant victory on Circuit Royale thanks to a surprise Cassidy swap from Huang "Leave" Xin. Despite the small resurgence and potential reverse sweep, Twisted dominantly halted any momentum generated by closing the series out in New Junk City, winning in a 3-1 fashion. Weibo Gaming would be heading home, while Twisted Minds found themselves facing their regional rival once more.
Lower Bracket Semi-Finals
Match result
Virtus.pro 1 - 3 Twisted Minds
Recap
The final match of the day was a rematch of the EMEA Stage 1 Grand Finals. The top two EMEA sides clashed to snatch the top three position in the tournament and to keep their championship hopes alive.
Virtus.pro started Oasis on the Bastion/Symm comp that’s been yielding decent results in the tournament thus far and swiftly capped University 100-0. VP then opted out of the Bastion comp for the following two sub-rounds and were quickly trounced 100-0 twice in a row.
Virtus.pro took the series to New Junk City, where they’ve won every matchup in the tournament so far (including ZETA DIVISION). kevster put up an absolutely dominating performance on Cassidy to tie the series, 1-1.
Twisted Minds picked Rialto for Map 3 (somewhat of a thorn at VP’s side) and brought out the Brigitte/Juno comp that won them the first map. VP fumbled their defence of the first point, but proved to be an insurmountable wall on second, putting a stop to TM’s push. However, Twisted Minds looked unfazed and full-held VP. A perfect Rally from Kim “Simple” Ji-sung forced Kwon “FiXa” Yeong-hun to hold onto the Sound Barrier VP desperately needed, and VP’s momentum came undone right there and then.
In Runasapi, Twisted Minds fully capitalised on the turning tides and pushed forward with impunity. Abdualziz “TVNT” Altmimi came out on Hazard, and Virtus.pro had no answers as they collapsed catastrophically. Twisted Minds full-pushed the cart with no meters on the board from Virtus.pro, and the Saudi side took the series win.
Day 2 concluded with NA and China losing their second and final teams, jointly finishing in 5th-6th. Korea proved themselves once more to be in a league of their own (bar a miraculous comeback from Twisted Minds on the final day), and EMEA are clearly a head above the rest, but if not within touching distance of Korea’s best.
The final day will begin with a fourth rematch in as many weeks between ZETA DIVISION and Crazy Raccoon. The most recent meeting ended in a seven-map instant classic. The way both teams have taken their feet off the Cat/Bastion pedal and onto more unpredictable Mizuki comps, there’s no telling what levels of excitement await us next. The loser of this matchup will move to the Lower Bracket Finals to face off against Twisted Minds, and no matter how things develop, we’re guaranteed a great day of Overwatch.