OWCS 2025 Korea Stage 3 - Week 1, Day 1
ZETA DIVISION vs CHEESEBURGER
Busan
(Selected by ZETA)
Bans: Genji (ZETA), Wuyang (CB)
The Overwatch Champions Series 2025 kicked off between Stage 3 newcomers Cheeseburger and esports mainstay ZETA DIVISION. The latter enters Stage 3 having just missed out on their ticket to the Midseason Championship. On the other hand, Cheeseburger looked for an early upset to carry on their strong momentum from their promotion matches.
ZETA started their Stage 3 with Oh “Pelican” Se-hyun and Kim “AlphaYi” Jun, with Pelican on Freja. ZETA also went with Kim “Mag” Tae-sung on Winston against Kim “FARMER” Yea-han on Hazard. An overall low-impact round, capped off by FARMER cancelling the first Sound Barrier of Stage 3 by Kim “Bliss” So-myung. A valiant defence by Hyeon “D0D0” Jae-woong and Kim “Argon” Han-saem, which led to an opening round for Cheeseburger.
Round two moved to MEKA Base, and despite another good showing by FARMER, ZETA leaned into a Wrecking Ball and Tracer composition that frequently punished Lee “WoochaN” Woo-chan every time Cheeseburger attempted to push forward. This allowed ZETA to tie up the map with a round two victory.
A Venture swap that D0D0 began on MEKA base paid dividends on Sanctuary as he enabled FARMER’s dominance even further. Helping FARMER close the distance with his engages, giving Cheeseburger a surprising map lead.
Score: 2-1 Cheeseburger
Esperança
(Selected by ZETA)
Bans: Winston (ZETA), Freja (CB)
Both teams started Esperança with different approaches. Cheeseburger opted for a highly aggressive composition with Tracer, Genji, Lucio, with Hazard, while ZETA went with Sojourn, Kiriko, Wuyang, and D.Va. ZETA took the first gamble with the new hero Wuyang, but it backfired, as Cheeseburger’s aggressive DPS pairing put on the pressure and got themselves a massive 116m lead. With just under four minutes left on the clock, ZETA swapped Sojourn and Wuyang with Sombra and Lucio to match Cheeseburger’s aggressive lineup. The swap proved effective, and ZETA managed to get a hefty 80m push, but it was not enough to overturn the deficit.
Score: 116.51m - 80.8m Cheeseburger
Aatlis
(Selected by ZETA)
Bans: Venture (ZETA), Mauga (Cheeseburger)
This time around, ZETA decided to match Cheeseburger’s tempo from the get-go as we got a full mirror-mathcup of Tracer, Genji, Hazard, Lucio, and Kiriko. Despite another great display by D0D0, ZETA DIVISION managed to turn things around behind a huge clutch play by Shin “BERNAR” Se-won on Hazard right at the end to extend this match to a fourth map.
Score: 3-1 ZETA DIVISION
Junkertown
(Selected by Cheeseburger)
Bans: Illari (ZETA), D.Va (Cheeseburger)
Both teams managed to get great leverage from Wuyang on this map. The new hero showed off its ability to impact fights with the Xuanwu Staff on a slower matchup. ZETA DIVISION managed to leverage the new hero slightly better as Bliss kept tidal blasting overwatch veteran Oh “Pelican” Se-hyun on the Genji into the enemy team to win some key team fights and get ZETA three points and a hefty time bank. After switching sides, ZETA DIVISION had the first point on a tight lockdown, but a key switch by Song “ZeSin” Yun-jin from Widowmaker to Freja proved to be the catalyst that put Cheeseburger on a great run all the way till the end of the third point. ZETA put on an impressive defence at the end that was eventually broken by a great sequence of play by Lee “SeungAn” Seung-an on Sigma. This allowed Cheeseburger to equalise, but ZETA DIVISION’s two-minute advantage during the time bank round allowed for an aggressive swing from Bliss on Wuyang to box Cheeseburger in and send the series to a fifth map.
Score: 4-3 ZETA DIVISION
Eichenwalde
(Selected by Cheeseburger)
Bans: Brigitte (ZETA), Hazard (Cheeseburger)
Cheeseburger started Eichenwalde with FARMER on Junker Queen, but a dominant display by BERNAR on D.Va and AlphaYi on Pharah helped ZETA DIVISION to a lengthy hold on the first point, despite Bliss being picked off multiple times by the enemy team. Cheeseburger eventually managed to get the first point. While defending the second point, BERNAR switched to Orisa, forcing FARMER to switch to Winston, but ZETA’s defence stood strong and they held their opponents back. ZETA captured the first point quite easily after the side switch, after Pelican hit a grapple-shot on WoochaN with Widowmaker right out of spawn. A failed double-support ultimate push by Cheeseburger capped things off for this matchup, as it gave Bliss the Sound Barrier advantage for the final fight and gave ZETA the win, after an early scare.
Score: 2-1 ZETA DIVISION
Final Score: ZETA Division 3-2 Cheeseburger
Crazy Raccoon vs Team Falcons
Busan
(Selected by Crazy Raccoon)
Bans: Kiriko (Crazy Raccoon), Wrecking Ball (Team Falcons)
The pre-match talk for this matchup of two juggernauts was predominantly about the acquisition of An “SP1NT” Woo-jin by the reigning Korean champions. Formerly from Poker Face, a relatively unknown player to casual fans, who may have just proved to have flown under everyone’s radar. SP1NT is expected to replace the legendary Lee “LIP” Jae-won during his 2-week break. Team Falcons started the first map with a D.Va, Baptiste, and Cassidy composition that struggled to put any pressure on the enemy Ana and Wuyang backline. We saw Crazy Raccoon’s new double-flex DPS composition take shape as Chae “HeeSang” Hee-sang on Tracer kept receiving the Tidal Blast from Sung “CH0R0NG” Yoo-min, and then SP1NT receiving the Nano Boost from Kim “Shu” Jin-seo. This deadly combo proved very successful, and Crazy Raccoon took the first round.
Falcons started round two in better shape, and there was some back and forth between the two Korean giants, but ultimately things went the Raccoon’s way as Choi “MER1T” Tae-min continued to swap heroes looking for one that could survive the constant pressure the Raccoons put on him. Touted as a trial by fire for the 17-year-old, he proved ice cold as he put Crazy Raccoon in the driver’s seat for the first map.
Score: 2-1 Crazy Raccoon
Aatlis
(Selected by Team Falcons)
Bans: Mercy (Crazy Raccoon), Cassidy (Team Falcons)
For the second map, Team Falcons started the game with a Sojourn, Tracer, Ramattra, Kiriko, and Lucio composition. This was a more proven composition for the Falcons as they had most recently won the Midseason Championship with it. However, the Raccoons’ momentum from the first map grew even stronger in the second. Park “JunBin” Jun-bin got a lot of value playing Wrecking Ball on Aatlis. Similarly, the Kiriko and Wuyang backline put constant pressure from multiple angles, overwhelming the Falcons. CH0R0NG and HeeSang continued to run the hot-from-the-oven Wuyang and Tracer combo with a lot of success. Ultimately, brand new signing SP1NT put on a dominating performance on the Genji for the second map in a row, and Crazy Raccoon were firmly in the lead.
Score: 3-0 Crazy Raccoon
Esperança
(Selected by Team Falcons)
Bans: Lucio (Crazy Raccoon), Winston (Team Falcons)
Crazy Raccoon completely dominated the third map in style. The Korean powerhouse showed that not only are they onto something with Wuyang, but they also showed that they can counter it. When Falcons attempted to run the same combo, throwing two Dragonblade attempts against CH0R0NG’s Wuyang without any success. While Proper failed to convert, SP1NT finished the job, bringing the third map to a close with two and a half minutes still left on the clock. SP1NT showed his potential through all three maps for an overwhelmingly successful debut. This showing by the youngster deservedly earned him the player of the match award. 3-0 sweep for the Crazy Raccoon, the perfect start to the season they were looking for.
Score: 142.41m - 11.71m Crazy Raccoon
Final Score Crazy Raccoon 3-0 Team Falcons
T1 vs Mir Gaming
Busan
(Selected by T1)
Bans: D.Va (T1), Freja (Mir Gaming)
T1 came into this game with pretty high hopes after achieving fourth place in the Midseason Championship. With the core roster still intact, they were not expecting any major surprises. In the first round, Mir went with a new look support duo of Wuyang and Zenyatta, but it was taken apart by Kim “DONGHAK” Min-sung on the Wrecking Ball. T1 also played with a double-flex DPS line-up with an unconventional Symmetra and Tracer combo that was very effective as T1 took the first round.
The teams moved to Downtown in round two, where T1 brought Torbjörn next to Symmetra. Mir Gaming tank Kim “RULER” Yi-gun continued switching from hero to hero in an attempt to turn things around, but it was to no avail, and T1 took the second round with Mir barely trading a kill in the process.
Score: 2-0 T1
New Queen Street
(Selected by Mir Gaming)
Bans: Sombra (T1), Kiriko (Mir Gaming)
Mir Gaming continued to make the Zenyatta work, but having not banned the Wrecking Ball, the story was a repeat of the first map. T1 went with the double-flex DPS, putting Hong “Proud” Suk-jin on Soldier76 next to Tracer. The double-flex continued to prove successful as T1 completed their push with more than three minutes left on the timer.
Score: 128.11m - 17.56m T1
Watchpoint: Gibraltar
(Selected by Mir Gaming)
Bans: Freja (T1), Brigitte (Mir Gaming)
In the third round, T1 flipped the script by having Kim “skewed” Min-seok go Zenyatta. His stint on the Omnic support proved much more successful, putting the gap between the two teams on full display. T1 finished the matchday with a full three-point push and full hold during Mir Gaming’s push. Closing out Day 1 of OWCS Korea Stage 3. Outside of a few flashes of good teamplay, the newly promoted team, Mir Gaming, failed to test T1’s defences in any significant manner.
Score: 3-0 T1
Final Score: T1 3-0 Mir Gaming