📝 Locking Up, Locking In: OWCS NA Stage 3, Week 6 summary

All six seats have been decided. Next stop: the playoffs.

The final week of Stage 3 culminated in some of the region's best—and most surprising—matches yet. Not only did these games determine the final seeding for the six playoff teams, but they also left two teams behind on the track as the train left the station.

While it was business as usual for the most part, a few teams made headlines this past weekend— each for a different reason.

Game of the Week: Geekay Esports 2 - 3 Spacestation Gaming

"That match [against Extinction] being so close was almost a good thing for us." - Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci

Geekay Esports hadn’t dropped a single map all stage until they eventually lost in a 2-3 series against Team Liquid. Many began to question their ability to hang with the best of North America, and began to wonder if their record was truly a reflection of their skill, or the result of easy scheduling.

If last week was the time to silence the doubters, now would really be the time to truly make a statement and prove why Geekay was deserving of their record.

For Spacestation Gaming, this was also an opportunity to make a statement. Like Geekay, they had fallen against Team Liquid—and with a bit more composure, they could have secured the reverse sweep. This game against Geekay was the time to prove how much of a difference coach Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham truly has made for this squad.

Whoever won this match would secure the No. 2 seed heading into playoffs.

At the start of the game, it seemed as though Team Liquid had broken the spirits of Geekay’s players. Geekay looked uncoordinated, outgunned, and completely fell apart. Spacestation easily took Samoa and didn’t break a sweat, looking especially strong thanks in part to Christopher "Cjay" Smith’s Wuyang.

Things were not looking good for Geekay Esports, but of course, they had dominated 5 of their previous matches for a reason.

Immediately on Watchpoint Gibraltar, Geekay clapped back. Benjamin "UltraViolet" David once more proved why he is currently in contention to be the world’s best Wuyang player, while Riley "cuFFa" Brown absolutely dominated Xander "Hawk" Domecq on Hazard. It seemed as though the team was quickly able to shake off the Map 1 result and return to dominating the competition.

Heading into King’s Row, coach ChrisTFer made a bold decision— he would defer their ban selection to Geekay. Normally, the team that loses the previous map is able to decide who they would like to ban first, however, they do have the option to forgo a ban or defer it to the other team. Historically, there is not a lot of precedent for this, but ChrisTFer would make the same decision throughout this series.

King’s Row was a brilliant display of high-level coordination. Spacestation attacked first, and although Geekay put up a big fight, Cjay and Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci were able to bring the team to full completion in overtime.

Geekay, on their attack, absolutely dominated the timebank. Spacestation gave up a lot of meterage and routinely found themselves getting staggered and trickling in. This resulted in Geekay completing the map with extra minutes in their timebank and easily took the map in extra innings.

On King’s Row and Suravasa, Geekay elected to ban Zarya and Reaper, respectively, two of the strongest counters to cuFFa’s Wrecking Ball strategy that has helped the team reach their current record. The absence of these heroes allows for their bread and butter composition to truly shine.

However, ban timing matters just as much as the bans themselves. Because they used the Zarya ban already, Suravasa was a complete stomp favoring Spacestation. Hawk dominated the entire team with his signature Zarya, which helped Cjay and Kamden "Sugarfree" Hijada completely humiliate Geekay. In fact, Geekay only managed to get a total of three eliminations on the entire map. This was also the second time Geekay got completely shut out on Flashpoint.

Heading into the final map on New Queen Street, Geekay had already exhausted the counters to their Wrecking Ball composition. Both Hawk and Sugarfree utilized Zarya and Reaper to completely decimate Geekay’s strategy. Combined with a questionable Sombra pick by William "WMaimone" Maimone, the team fell apart. Although UltraViolet was able to keep them competitive in this game, Geekay fell 2-3 to Spacestation Gaming.

Geekay, after such a dominant stage, was unable to win against either of the other top three teams; even their victory against NTMR also has asterisks on it due to Ryan "Painkiller" Cooper’s internet issues. While clearly above the lower half of the table, coming up short against their two biggest rivals raises doubt heading into playoffs.

For Spacestation, they showed just how thought out their gameplan truly was. ChrisTFer’s decision to defer the bans paid off big time, and the team didn’t just outgun Geekay— they outsmarted them. This victory secured Spacestation the No. 2 seed, and as they prepare for playoffs next weekend, they look poised to secure their spot in Stockholm.

All three matches between Geekay, Liquid, and Spacestation went the distance this stage. Despite Geekay’s issues on Flashpoint and in Map fives, this team still pushed both top seeds all the way to the brink, and kept themselves competitive even when the odds were stacked against them.

Heading into the playoffs, expect these three titans to push each other to the limit. Stage 3 has proven how every meeting between Geekay, Liquid, and Spacestation will go the full distance.

Player of the Week: Christopher "Cjay" Smith from Spacestation Gaming

As Spacestation Gaming took home a decisive victory against Geekay Esports, it was largely thanks to one notable support player: Cjay.

Cjay made his Tier 1 debut in 2023 with the Los Angeles Valiant, and since then, he has shown significant improvement year after year. Throughout 2024, he rotated around several OWCS rosters before eventually finding a home on NTMR, where he helped bring the team to the 2024 OWCS Finals in Stockholm.

Heading into 2025, then-head coach Max "Unter" Unterwurzacher made the surprise decision to bring Cjay onto Spacestation Gaming. This move raised many eyebrows across the community, as many questioned whether he was at the same calibre as other elite flex support players. At first, it seemed as though the doubters were correct, as Spacestation finished below NTMR in Stage 1 and failed to qualify altogether in Stage 2.

However, after many roster shufflings and further refinements, Cjay found his groove with the new core of Spacestation. His flex support play has not only proven to dominate the competition, but has also been part of the team’s recent successes in turning around their season.

Unter’s gamble proved to pay off. While he may no longer be on the team, his decision helped pave the way for current coach Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham to bring Spacestation all the way to a top-two finish in Stage 3.

For helping turn around their season, and for dominating the competition, OWTV is proud to recognize Christopher "Cjay" Smith as this week’s North American Player of the Week.

Week 6 in Review: Broken Dreams and Memes

Sakura Esports 1 - 3 Team Liquid

“The big thing between us, [Geekay, and Liquid,] is we all have really different styles.…Honestly, it’s more like a Pokémon game between us to be honest.” Boston ”Infekted” Fine

Both Sakura Esports and Team Liquid had already locked in their spots for the Stage 3 Playoffs, but for Liquid, this match carried extra weight. A win against Sakura would set them up to lock in the No. 1 seed and enter the playoffs as the only team able to select their opponent. A win here would give them a considerable advantage.

For Sakura, this match was more for pride rather than placement. The team has been consistent all stage long, and it was because of this stability that helped them to firmly lock in the No. 5 seed after last week’s win against Team Z.

As the series progressed, it was apparent that the gap Extinction had narrowed last week extended to other teams as well. Sakura came out swinging on Illios, especially as Alexander "Zeb" Shepard seemed to be revitalized on Orisa.

In fact, Sakura kept this series very competitive throughout. Not only were they able to keep Illios close, they also managed to come back from a 100-plus meter deficit on Esperança— shattering the old AVRL Theory in the process.

Even on the maps they lost, Sakura put up a solid fight. But Team Liquid remained calm and collected when it mattered most. Elliot "TR33" Chu shone the brightest, as his dominant performance on King’s Row helped secure the 3-1 victory for Team Liquid.

While Sakura may have lost this match, this was still a really strong showing. Heading into playoffs, the team now knows they have the potential to challenge top teams and even steal maps. The only major question is whether Coach Robin “Zei” wants to field xten or Carson “pdk” Terry.

With the win against Sakura, Team Liquid officially locked up the top seed heading into playoffs. Not only does this give them a second life in the upper bracket, this gives them the first pick of their opponent.

Extinction 1 - 3 Team Z

“To be honest, I thought they were gonna put up more of a fight.” - Valerie "cinnabar" Aseoche

Last weekend, Team Z looked destined for another seventh-place finish, mirroring their results in Stage 2. Extinction, meanwhile, seemed poised to firmly lock in the sixth seed and secure their spot in the playoffs. All they needed was to win this one game against Team Z.

On paper, Extinction were the clear favorites seeing as they just came off of their 2-3 finish against Spacestation Gaming. But Team Z did still have an opportunity to steal it all. If they could win this game, they would snatch the final playoff spot and qualify for their first stage playoffs of 2025.

Team Z—who had not won a single map against any team not named DhillDucks—pulled off a surprising upset. It was a cathartic performance for the entire team, especially Ryan "ryan" Lawless who put in a star performance,c apped with a 5k to finish Gibraltar.

There was a bittersweet undertone to their victory, however. In a recent interview with OWTV’s Renanthera, ryan revealed how Stage 3 would likely be the last time the former Supernova-core plays together in Overwatch.

Watch Interview - Ryan: "I think this is our last time playing together"

While Extinction put up a very intense fight across all four maps, Team Z rose to the occasion. This loss wasn’t so much the team performing poorly, Team Z simply came together at the right moment.

With this unexpected upset, Extinction’s playoff hopes had officially come to an end. The team who pushed giants like Spacestation would instead bow out just shy of the finish line..

DhillDucks 0 - 3 Team Liquid

“As a team, we just have to go into it playing confidently. Whatever happens on the gameday, we just have to trust that our strategy will work.” - Assistant Coach Danny "Danny" Mychakov

One last hurrah for the Ducks.

At this point, the match didn’t mean anything in terms of competitive standings—both Team Liquid and the DhillDucks had locked in their seedings at No. 1 and No. 8, respectively. It wouldn’t be a match to decide anything crucial, but it would still be a match of pride.

And what a match it was.

This game was nothing but one slapstick comedic event after another. Brad “FrothyFilly7” Husk returned for their final match, Boston "Infekted" Fine danced all across Illios, and both teams filled the comms with nonstop jokes and chaos. Team Liquid’s assistant coach, Danny "Danny" Mychakov, also jumped in on Watchpoint Gibraltar and nearly handed the map over to the Ducks by accident.

Team Liquid, of course, took the series 3-0—even with Coach Danny subbing in on Map 3—and the DhillDucks bowed out of Stage 3 without winning a single map. But while the Ducks may have lost, the real losers of this match were the OWCS Fantasy players.

Elliot "TR33" Chu easily made himself the villain for every fantasy player after intentionally tanking his own score simply for the love of the game.

In this match, TR33 regularly picked off-meta heroes. He was flanking with Soldier 76, randomly teleporting with Sombra on and off the map, and showcased some questionably silly crosshairs, all of which tanked his fantasy score big time. In their match against Sakura Esports, TR33 put up an impressive 22.5 points. Against the DhillDucks, TR33 he scored -18.5 points. To put that into perspective, Coach Danny ended the match with a positive 1 point, while the second lowest score from a non-coaching player was Infekted at 14.5.

Team Liquid may have won and went a clean 7-0 for the final stage of 2025, but the fantasy managers definitely did not share their joy.

While they may have gone winless in OWCS, the Ducks at least proved themselves as only the second-worst team in OWCS.

Quick Esports, the eighth seeded team from OWCS EMEA, agreed to a showmatch with the Ducks titled “Battle of the Bottoms.” This match was a hilarious showdown to determine who was truly the bottom of OWCS, and the DhillDucks swept Quick Esports in a 3-0 after losing the Torbjörn hammer-only 1v1 match.

It was the perfect ending to a chaotic and meme-filled year for the Ducks—one last laugh before bowing out of OWCS.

They may not have conquered North America, but they certainly conquered the hearts of all, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavours in Competitive Overwatch.

Extinction 0 - 3 NTMR

"We're gonna shock everyone again, I'm telling you now" - Julian "Rokit" Pizana

After losing to Team Z, the season was all but over for Extinction. Winning against NTMR would not be enough for them to sneak into the sixth seed, but it could have served as a much-needed morale boost to close out 2025.

For NTMR, this match also would not affect their seeding. Even with a loss, their head-to-head record against Sakura Esports ensured they would remain firmly as the fourth seed. This would, instead, be the time to refine their compositions and end the stage on a high note.

Unfortunately for Extinction, that much-needed boost never came. The entire team seemed visibly drained after Saturday’s result against Team Z. Although the team was able to make Watchpoint Gibraltar competitive, the match was fairly one-sided.

Extinction did use this final game as an opportunity to give Stevie “sniper” Rivera their OWCS debut on Esperança. While it wasn’t a win, sniper did show a lot of promise on the off-tank heroes, even giving Ryan "Painkiller" Cooper some challenges on that map.

While the win came easily for NTMR, they used this match as an opportunity for experimentation. Ryan "squid" Ruffell and Aidan “NenWhy” McHenry traded playtime and demonstrated how flexible the team can truly be.

This victory didn’t change the standings for NTMR, but it did allow them time to experiment and refine their more niche compositions heading into playoffs next week.

META Report for Stage 3: Comfort and Adaptability

Stage 3 in North America developed into one of the most open and expressive metas in recent Overwatch Esports history. Across all six weeks of play, teams experimented with a variety of different compositions and made critical adjustments on a week-to-week basis—shaping a meta that truly was defined by both comfort and adaptability.

Supports: The Wuyang-Lucio-Kiriko Trifecta

At the start of the stage, the 44th hero introduced to the game made his presence known: Wuyang. Right off the bat, this new water-based hero made a massive cannonball as his high damage and high utility combination ripped across the stage. Almost immediately, every team made sure to either work with this newfound power or tried to work around it. By the end of the stage, Wuyang found himself as the most-banned hero in the entire region.

Halfway through the stage, a small balance change adjusted the cooldowns and efficacy of Wuyang’s abilities. Despite the nerfs, he remained notable for his consistent high damage and strong overall utility—he just wasn’t as much of a must-pick.

For teams that opted to work against Wuyang, and after his nerfs, Lucio-Kiriko was the answer. This backline has been strong and consistent since the fox-based hero’s introduction during the 2022 Overwatch League Playoffs. And, as seemingly since the dawn of Overwatch, Lucio’s speed and pure utility make him a mainstay across nearly every meta— including this one.

While other roles remained somewhat open with their hero selections, the support role stayed steadfast within this trifecta of Wuyang-Lucio-Kiriko. Although hero bans occasionally allowed for other heroes to step into the light, it was only on a map-to-map basis. The three dominant picks remained consistent and helped many teams find their identity in the stage.

DPS: Experimenting and returning to Comfort

Hitscans seemed significantly weaker compared to other flex options at the start of the stage due to heroes like Sojourn and Cassidy facing impactful HP adjustments. This led to the rise of the Genji-Tracer and Reaper-Tracer combinations. Teams boasting strong double flex-DPS lines utilized the Genji variant of the composition, while those without found solace in Reaper’s high damage potential.

As the weeks went on, hitscans slowly found their way back to being a noticeable factor for many teams. Freja, Sojourn, and Cassidy all saw success from a variety of players who returned back to their comfort selections. Genji’s Deflect nerf affected his overall prominence, although he did remain strong in certain situations.

DPS compositions in Stage 3 revolved around Tracer as its consistent core, but thanks to the midseason balance changes, a lot of variety was introduced. The best teams in the region used this diversity to make themselves shine. Unlike the supports, almost every DPS character had some niche or other hidden strategy—if a team possessed a strong enough player to make it happen.

Tank: A Greatly Exaggerated Death

By far the most interesting meta developments came with the tank selection.

Throughout all of Stage 2, Ramattra remained supreme thanks in part to a bug affecting armour’s damage calculations. At the start of Stage 3, the armour bug was patched — along with several nerfs to his own armour and a new one-second Block cooldown — and thus, Ramattra’s grip on the meta faltered. He went from dominating the meta, to now being one of the weakest tank choices.

Wrecking Ball and Zarya rose to take the crown from Ramattra. They initially became the strongest tank options in North America, teams without players specializing in these two tanks were forced to adapt. Many swapped over to Reaper and Winston in order to try and keep up, but ultimately their answer would come after the midseason balance patch.

Initially, most assumed Ramattra’s Season 18 nerfs rendered him unviable, but his death was greatly exaggerated. The midseason patch awarded him with a bit more armor to compensate for his losses, which helped combat both Wrecking Ball and Zarya. Their reign of terror proved to be brief, as both tanks saw their dominance slip. Soon after, the tank pool opened for variety all across the board.

A Stage of Comfort and Adaptability

Hero selection in Stage 3 centered almost entirely on team preference and strength, with no clear definitive best composition. Unlike in previous eras of Overwatch, the game’s current state allowed for numerous viable options, which gave nearly every team room to find their groove and utilize their strengths to bring them victories.

A new balance update dropped on Tuesday. How these changes will affect the first few rounds of the playoffs is yet to be determined, but with hero bans and world-class teams, who knows what compositions will be played as we get ever closer towards Stockholm.

Farewell to Extinction and the DhillDucks

As the curtains close with the end of the regular season, two teams' stories must sadly come to an end. Both Extinction and the DhillDucks exit Stage 3 after an exciting run filled with memes, nearly toppling giants, and personalities that resonated all across the world. While these squads won’t be competing in the post seasons, they created an exciting and vibrant atmosphere for their fans, and left a mark on the 2025 season.

DhillDucks - 8th Place

After pulling off an upset in the Stage 2 Promotion/Relegation tournament to retain their spot in OWCS, the DhillDucks entered Stage 3 full of optimism and excitement.

Although they knew they were outgunned compared to the rest of North America, their resolve never faltered, and their spirits stayed bright. Nearly every player on the roster seemed to level up compared to their Stage 2 performances, and while they were unable to secure a map win, they were never truly out of the fight.

Reflecting on Stage 3 and the overall 2025 Season, DPS Player Jack “Reyzr” Francis stated:

“I feel like [we] got a lot better and we overall had a LOT more fun this stage than last stage. I think as well the amount of support we got just from fans this stage made it so much more enjoyable for all of the Ducks.”

That same sentiment carried across the team. After their final match against Team Liquid on Oct. 12, Jackson “baz” Parker summed up their outlook perfectly:

“We’re not here to beat Team Liquid or go to Stockholm. We’re here to get on after our 9-5s and play some Overwatch.”

Stage 3 for the Ducks can be defined by improvement, optimism, and of course, the hilarious bouts of memes and trolling. While it may sound strange to call this stage an improvement—given they did not successfully win a map— the team’s spirit and entertainment fostered a genuine community of fans and supporters alike.

2025 was a year of growth all across the board, even for the Ducks. As the curtains close for this hilarious band of memers, fans can only hope they return for another encore next season, and continue to find success and happiness in all their future endeavours.

“Honestly I just can’t thank everyone enough for supporting us, especially this stage, it’s been an absolute blast being able to goof off and be ourselves on the big broadcast. All of the Ducks hope we can come back, sing some more songs and have a good time with everyone again next year.” - Jack “Reyzr” Francis

Extinction - 7th Place

After their surprising performances against a top OWCS team in the Stage 2 Playoffs, Extinction reentered Stage 3 with renewed ambitions and fresh new additions, looking to strike upwards against the toughest competition in North America.

While the additions of Rene "k1ng" Rangel and Landon "Vision" Monteferrante on DPS seemed to provide a lot of much needed firepower and polish to the roster, the team struggled to find consistency and lock in when the lights were at their brightest.

We reached out to Coach Raelyni for comment about her team’s Stage 3 and overall 2025 performance, and she took personal responsibility for the team’s late-stage struggles.

“Honestly I'm pretty disappointed. Not so much in the players but in myself. I thought this roster had a lot of potential and I think I failed to give them the tools to tap into it during the game or I didn't set them up for success.”

Heading into the final weeks of Stage 3, Extinction seemed poised to rekindle the same magic that defined their Stage 2 run. However, after pushing Spacestation Gaming to the brink, expectations soared. The last few games proved difficult for the team as a whole, and despite valiant efforts, they were unable to qualify for the playoffs.

“Our scrims, especially at the end of the regular season, were going extremely well against top teams on average, but at the end of the day, when it mattered, the players got nervous and struggled to find the answers in-game.”

Despite the results, Coach Raelyni remained proud of her team, and expressed her gratitude with the improvement and growth throughout 2025. Many of these players began the season against one another as rivals, and then ended as teammates—a testament to how far they’d come.

“In the end, I’m very proud of the players for how much they improved from where we started and I think all of them will do so well next year if they choose to compete…Going from hard losing, to long-time competitors, to being competitive, to beating them, to then be on the same team with them for some. I think it's really remarkable how much improvement happened in less than one calendar year.”

For Raelyni, 2025 was a personal journey. Her goal was not only focused on bringing her team to international competition, but also sought to serve as a role model for women in esports, citing former CAH teammate and current Marvel Rivals competitor Chassidy "Aramori" Kaye as an inspiration.

“For me personally, my goal for this year was to make LAN. I really wanted to go to EWC then Stockholm…I'm quite good friends with Aramori, who is my ex- teammate and is currently competing in [Marvel] Rivals under Sentinels, and I was really inspired by her being the first woman to compete under Sen and make international LAN... I wanted in some way to inspire other women to compete and/or work in supportive roles like coaching at the Tier 1/International level.”

Raelyni also commented about her future in OWCS and Overwatch Esports, mentioning how—for the time being—she will be taking a much needed break to recharge.

“For now I'll be on hiatus and see how I feel next year. This year has been a lot between working, traveling, dealing with more exposure and all the negative things that come with that.”

Extinction may not have reached LAN in 2025, but their head coach’s resilience and leadership left a lasting mark. While the team bows out of OWCS and the 2025 Season, Raelyni stands as a beacon of inspiration for all who look to enter the sport.

As the roses fall and the last notes play, we wish Coach Raelyni and all those who played under the Extinction banner the very best in their future journeys.

“I really loved meeting and working with all the people that I did [this] year, and I hope that they would feel the same…Nothing is really more rewarding than seeing people you care for grow and succeed at the things they are passionate about. Thank you to everyone who supported me and my teams this year. It really does mean more than I can say.”