LIP returns to form. DONGHAK's streak against Falcons continues

As North America and EMEA kick off their opening weeks, Stage 2 in OWCS Korea continues its grind and enters its second week of competition. The opening week of matchups was host to 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 Anran really viable? All these questions and more will be answered as Korea continues on its path to the Midseason Championship in Paris.

Game of the week: Team Falcons vs. T1

The final game of the week was worth the anticipation. T1 entered this match on Cloud-9, taking down ZETA DIVISION the previous week in a 3-2 slobberknocker, and culminating their week against their other opponent, O2 Blast. Their roster seems to be firing on all cylinders after spending the offseason grinding, and they look to carry that momentum into their battle against Team Falcons. 

As for the Falcons, they made one new change this offseason, adding An "SP1NT" Woo-jin to bolster their DPS core. Their team seems to be meshing well, rotating their tank and flex DPS based on the maps, but a 3-0 loss to Crazy Raccoon pushes them to 2-1. These two teams have a lengthy history, with many intense battles and great moments. With that being said, there is a bit of a curse, where T1 - specifically Kim "DONGHAK" Min-sung - has never beaten the Falcons, 

The match opened on the Antarctic Peninsula, with T1 banning the Jetpack Cat to stop the Catstion composition, and FLC targeted banned Kim "ZEST" Hyun-woo’s Vendetta. With FLC having Baek "Checkmate" Seung-hun and Ham "SOMEONE" Jeong-wan in the lineup, they ran Symmetra and Sigma, playing to their strengths. T1 ran a very brawl-heavy Mauga comp, running ZEST on Anran to work well with the burn targets. This map was incredibly back-and-forth, with T1 eventually edging out the win. 

Falcons responded by banning Mauga and sending the game to Hollywood. With Mauga gone, DONGHAK chose to bust out Doomfist, playing a hyper-mobile composition around ZEST’s Vendetta and Kim "Bliss" So-myung on Lúcio. This map started well. T1 held FLC on second point, but FLC put up an even more staunch defence, holding the doors to third point for nearly four straight minutes to even the series at 1-1.

T1 took this game to New Junk City, a map that they play often. They also banned Mercy to protect Bliss’s Lúcio and keep the comp's pace up. Falcons knew they couldn’t prevent the Mauga/Anran composition, so they brought in An "SP1NT" Woo-jin and Choi "Hanbin" Han-been to mirror it. Despite that, T1 rolled over Falcons and took the map in a swift 3-0, bringing them to match point. 

Falcons saw T1 play to their strengths, and did the same. Going to Rialto and banning Emre, protecting Choi "MER1T" Tae-min’s Bastion. This was the first map that FLC could really lean into Catstion, and it was clear why T1 tried their best to prevent this. They simply had no answer to the flying minigun, and were fully held on Rialto, allowing Falcons to easily tie up the series going into map 5.

With T1 getting the first ban on Runasapi, they removed Bastion to nullify that comp. FLC responded with a great ban of their own, getting rid of Lúcio to force Bliss onto an unforgettable Juno. (This match is a great example of the benefits of hero bans, as it made each map so much better). SP1NT and Hanbin stayed in, originally to play Pharah and Mauga, but they eventually swapped to Tracer and D.Va. This Tracer swap was key, as SP1NT put on a masterclass. He went 21-2, tearing up T1’s backline with great flanks and incredible pulse bombs.

Despite only playing three maps, SP1NT earned a well-deserved Player of the Match for his performance, and it's clear that his pickup this offseason has been an immense benefit. For T1, their limits against Cat/Bastion hamstrung them this match, and their very aggressive style of play often bit them back. It is also clear that the DONGHAK curse is still in effect, and he may never beat Team Falcons ever. Hopefully, these two teams will rematch later in this stage. 

Player of the Week: LIP

Lee "LIP" Jae-won is a name that needs no introduction, but for the few who do not know him, LIP is an 8’9” gaming warlord (At least AVRL coined the nickname during the Overwatch League days). He is one of the most decorated players in Overwatch history, with a Grand Finals MVP and 3 Regular Season MVP nominations, as well as having 4 Role Star awards, making him the only player to be nominated for every year they played in the League. After OWL, he joined Crazy Raccoon in the OWCS, winning the Dallas Major and Esports World Cup in 2024, and the Champions Clash in both 2025 and 2026. With such a storied career in Overwatch, his story seems to be coming to a close, with Korea’s mandatory military service looming ever-present. In anticipation of this, Crazy Raccoon signed Jeong "Stalk3r" Hak-yong this offseason, and LIP has seen sparse play as a result.

This week, LIP played every map in their two matches against RØDE ZANSIDE GAMING and Cheeseburger. In these two matches, Crazy Raccoon went 6-0, refusing to drop a single map. In fact, they gave up a grand total of one point, with Cheeseburger taking a single flashpoint on their final map. This utter dominance was the perfect battleground for LIP to prove that he still has it, as he played Anran, Cassidy, Bastion, and Ashe. His skills have not left him in his old age (24), as he earned Player of the Match for his performance against ROZE and led the lobby in damage, racking up 30,833 against CB. This week proved to the world that - despite his limited appearances - LIP still has it, and can still be a force to be reckoned with. 

Hero ban and map picks report:

After two action-packed weeks of competition, Korea has totalled 58 maps and 116 hero bans over the 18 total matches. While this is a high total, the large number of 3-0 sweeps has given us seven fewer maps than this point last stage, skewing the data a bit. Regardless, there’s still a solid data pool, so here are some takeaways from week 2’s map picks and hero bans in OWCS Korea:

• Reinhardt is an oddity. He was the last hero to be banned all of last year, and only picked up 1 ban total last stage (Japan). In Stage 2, Korea banned him 5 times, with only two more coming from elsewhere. Is there a Reinhardt meta on the horizon?
• DPS bans are following the worldwide trend of Bastion and Pharah, although Symmetra and Tracer are banned far less than the rest of the world.
• Korea is responsible for every Anran ban at this stage, all two of them.
• Jetpack Cat and Lúcio being banned is normal, but the lack of Mizuki bans is an odd outlier. Korea accounts for 43% of Lúcio bans, but only 20% of Mizuki bans. 
• The Antarctic Peninsula rework seems to be a success, with it being played evenly with the other control maps. 
• Suravaas being slightly more popular than New Junk City bucks the trend, as elsewhere NJC is the more popular flashpoint map, 56% - 44%
• Escort being the least played game mode is normal, but the overall lack of Circuit Royale is a bit odd.
• Runasapi is by far the most popular Push map, and New Queen Street is by far the least popular, so having those two in the map pool is just kinda unfair to NQS. 
• Korea loves Hollywood, playing it 33% of the time (King’s Row is still dominant). That being said, their three matches on Hollywood account for 50% of all Hollywood usage 
• Last stage, OWCS Asia had a rule that combined Flashpoint and Push into one pool, meaning only one of those game modes could be played before Map 5. This rule is gone for Stage 2, with all game modes being treated separately.

Match summaries

Cheeseburger 3 - 0 SuperBad

Cheeseburger, fresh off their first win in OWCS by taking down Poker Face, came into this match looking to extend their winning ways. SuperBad, on the other hand, found themselves in Cheeseburger’s position from the last stage, desperately looking for a map win. 

The game started on Ilios, with both teams opting to run a more dive-oriented lineup, with CB starting with Kim "FARMER" Yea-han on the Wrecking Ball and SB starting with brothers Jang "AZENT" Hyeon-ik and SENTIER to play with their other brother Jang "Univ2r" Geon-ik (that's right, SuperBad has three brothers all on the same team). After Chesseburger took Ilios 2-0, the teams made changes to play more brawl-heavy, with Jeon "Gur3um" Yong-min coming in for FARMER and the brothers of SB broke up, with Lee "Soae" Chae-woo playing his notorious Symmetra and Kim "homerunball" Jae-woo playing Ramattra (not Wrecking Ball, as his name would imply). 

Cheeseburger wouldn’t give away any hope to their opponents, as they dominated the lobby, with Kim "Argon" Han-saem in particular popping off, going 50-11 through all three maps. Cheeseburger is now 2-1 heading into Week 3, looking very unlike their Stage 1 selves, while SuperBad continue its quest for a map win. 

O2 Blast 0 - 3 ZETA DIVISION 

O2 Blast entered this stage on top of the world, marking their entrance to the OWCS with two wins last week over ROZE and SB. The longtime Overwatch Contenders organization looked full of life last week, but they would face their toughest opponent yet, ZETA DIVISION. This ZETA team just snapped a three-match losing streak, losing their final two games at the Champions Clash and their opening match to T1. They look to correct their course this regular season and defend their title as OWCS Korea’s rightful champions. And this match was exactly what ZETA needed to show. 

Across all three maps - Oasis, New Junk City, and Runasapi- ZETA refused to let off the gas, absolutely demolishing O2. They didn't give up a single point, and helped O2 to 0.00 meters on push. O2’s backline of Kim "Faith" Hong-gyu and Choi "Misin" Hyun-geun were terrorized throughout the series, dying twenty times each. Kim "Proper" Dong-hyun returned to his MVP form, absolutely obliterating his opponents on Pharah and Vendetta. This match was a sign that ZETA is back and hungrier than ever, while also showing that O2 Blast might still have a long way to go.

Crazy Raccoon 3 - 0 RØDE ZANSIDE GAMING

Crazy Raccoon entered this match undefeated, looking up at the ultimate goal of winning OWCS Korea after losing it to ZETA in the last stage. RØDE ZANSIDE GAMING is in the exact opposite situation, looking to win their first map since their org merger this offseason. 

Unfortunately, they would not find it here as Crazy Raccoon took over this game. The match was characterized by two players, the aforementioned LIP (see player of the week), and Choi "MAX" Su-min, who played all three maps - the first time he’s done so this year. These two formed an incredible duo of domination. Both of them played three different heroes on each map, and time and again they bested ROZE. Through all three maps, MAX went 74-3, leading the game in fantasy points with 34. ROZE’s players averaged 21 deaths each, showing how CR held nothing back in the slaughter. Hopefully ROZE can piece something together after a disastrous start. 

Poker Face 0 - 3 Team Falcons

This game is a very similar story to the one above. Team Falcons, a dominant team with their sights set on the Midseason Championship rather than their current games, against Poker Face, a winless local Korean org struggling to maintain a solid roster capable of getting them success. 

Poker Face consistently struggled to get any momentum against these giants, as Team Falcons held a full house. Ilios was a quick 2-0, and Suravasa was an even faster 3-0 sweep. Falcons entered Runasapi with SP1NT on Genji and Hanbin on Junker Queen, and even that comp was unmatched by PF. They were only able to amass 24.28 meters while the Falcons fully capped the map with over three minutes left on the clock.

T1 3 - 0 O2 Blast 

The battle of the best letter-number teams (until C9 return to pro play). T1 looked set to continue on their path of dominance after upsetting ZETA DIVISION to start the year, and O2 Blast looked to bounce back after being shellacked by ZETA earlier this week. 

Unfortunately for O2, T1 was not planning on rolling over. This game started on Ilios, and DONGHAK proved to Koo "Fate" Pan-seung just how much better the new generations of Overwatch players have gotten. DONGHAK went 14-0, and T1 took an early lead, and they never let go of that gas. Subbing in Lee "SeungAn" Seung-an for Circuit Royale did not work, as T1 just brought in Jeong "Jasm1ne" Jong-min and full-held O2. King’s Row was a bit closer, with O2 taking two points in their attack, but T1’s attack thundered through the London streets and ended this game as swiftly as it started.

SuperBad 0 - 3 ZETA DIVISION

Yet another display of partner organization tearing apart a lower-level team. ZETA DIVISION was clearly on another level to SuperBad, and this game showed just that. 

However, a few positives for SuperBad: Firstly, they finally stuck with a consistent roster, keeping Soane and homerunball in for the entire series, rather than putting AZENT and SENTIER in depending on the composition. Hopefully, this strategy allows the team to achieve more consistent performance as they mesh throughout the stage. Also, SB put up a great fight on King’s Row, fully capping the map. While they couldn’t stop ZETA from besting their time and winning the map 4-3, they proved that they had some fight. 

Despite that, the statistics from this match do not reflect kindly. Proper and Lee "knife" Seon-woo had 78 eliminations each over these three maps, and Park "Viol2t" Min-ki went 71-11, adding fuel to the idea that he's a dps who occasionally heals. Hopefully SuperBad can look better against some weaker opponents, and maybe ZETA can continue this momentum through the rest of the season. 

RØDE ZANSIDE GAMING 3 - 0 Poker Face

Both of these teams have a similar story. After missing out on OWCS Asia in Stage 1, both teams went back to the drawing board and attempted to rebuild their team for Stage 2. Despite these changes, both teams seem to have declined, and both are looking for their first win in the stage. 

Even though both these teams have the same record, this game was nothing near even. ROZE was a commanding presence in the lobby, with Jung "Kilo" Jin-woo coming alive on Sojourn, going 41-8, and Kang "Void" Jun-woo flashing back to his Overwatch League form as he led the lobby with 24,578 damage. 

PF could only earn a single point on Suravasa and couldn’t even gain a single meter on Runasapi, as ROZE completed the map in only five and a half minutes. Poker Face look lost at this point in the year, while ROZE seem to finally be synergizing with Void and could possibly piece together a late run for the playoffs. 

Crazy Raccoon 3 - 0 Cheeseburger

With both teams starting the week with 3-0 sweeps over inferior opponents, one of them would have to finish the week on a more sour note. 

This game was highlighted and carried by MAX, who showed excellent prowess on both Mauga and D.Va. He went 61-11 in the three maps, only bested by STALK3R, who went 61-8. He opened the match with an incredible performance on Oasis, going 23-2 while playing Mauga and Sigma. LIP looked like his old self once again, playing Anran, Cassidy, Bastion, and a little bit of Mei. 

Crazy Raccoon end the week 4-0, and are the only undefeated team left in Korea. Cheeseburger fell down to 2-2, but those two losses are to ZETA and CR, the toughest two teams in Korea. 

Halfway through the stage, and the standings are starting to settle into place. We’ll see over the next two weeks whether either of the two midtable teams [Cheeseburger, O2 Blast] can punch their way into the top four, and how the top four themselves end up sorted.