The hunt for EWC begins: OWCS Korea Stage 2 preview
OWCS 2026 Stage 2 in Korea starts in just a few days and the nine top Korean teams are about to clash over the next month to determine the two Korean teams heading to Esports World Cup 26 Paris next to Crazy Raccoon and Team Falcons.
The competition format is similar to Stage 1, except that, in the absence of an Asia Stage, the Regional Playoffs determine qualification for the Midseason Championship.
Both Crazy Raccoon (Champions Clash winners) and Team Falcons (2025 Midseason Championship winners) have already punched their tickets to EWC26 Paris. This almost guarantees LAN qualification for the teams that finish in the top four of the Regional Playoffs.
Here’s a quick look at the squads participating in OWCS Korea this stage.
Crazy Raccoon
Crazy Raccoon roster:
- Park “JunBin” Jun-bin - Tank
- Choi “MAX” Su-min - Tank
- Chae “HeeSang” Hee-sang - DPS
- Lee “LIP” Jae-won - DPS
- Jeong “Stalk3r” Hak-yong - DPS
- Kom “vigilante” Joon - Support
- Sung “CH0R0NG” Yoo-min - Support
- Moon “Moon” Byng-chul - Head coach
- Son “Kong” Jun-young - Coach
- Kim “Izayaki” Min-chul - Assistant coach
Crazy Raccoon went into Stage 1 with a brand new DPS player and a support player in Stalk3r and vigilante. They opened Stage 1 with a loss to ZETA DIVISION, and a narrow win in Week 2 against ONSIDE showed that the squad have not yet synced up. The team then deployed the infamous Cat/Bastion comp that took them through the Champions Clash qualifiers, and as their chemistry continued to improve, their path forward looked clear.
Crazy Raccoon came out as Champions Clash victors. In a complete reversal of their Week 1 performance in Stage 1, they defeated ZETA DIVISION and ultimately defeated Twisted Minds (twice) to clinch the first major of the year. Crazy Raccoon are unequivocally the best team in Korea going into Stage 2. Having already guaranteed EWC qualification, CR will have a full month’s worth of top Overwatch competition to hone their craft even further.
ZETA DIVISION
ZETA DIVISION roster:
- Shin “Bernar” Se-won - Tank
- Lee “Mealgaru” Jeong-hwan - Tank
- Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun - DPS
- Lee “KNIFE” Seon-woo - DPS
- Kim “Shu” Jin-seo - Support
- Park “Viol2t” Min-ki - Support
- Park “Crusty” Dae-hee - Coach
- Kim “GgulTaek” Jeong-youn - Coach
ZETA DIVISION finished Stage 1 without dropping a single match series across both OWCS Korea and OWCS Asia, but couldn’t extend that momentum into the Champions Clash. Despite defeating Spacestation Gaming and Virtus.pro, the superteam fell short against Crazy Raccoon and Twisted Minds, finishing third in the tournament. ZETA have made no adjustments to their roster going into Stage 2 as the team tries to iron out the very few individual issues that arose during Champions Clash.
Team Falcons
Team Falcons roster:
- Ham “SOMEONE” Jeong-wan - Tank
- Choi “Hanbin” Han-been - Tank
- Choi “MER1T” Tae-min - DPS
- An “SP1NT” Woo-jin
- Baek “Checkmate” Seung-hun - DPS
- Han “ChiYo” Hyeon-seok - Support
- Kwon “Fielder” Joon - Support
- Kim “NineK” Bum-hoon - Head Coach
- Choi “Junkbuck” Jae-won - Coach
- Kim “SP9RK1E” Yeong-han - Coach
Team Falcons went through a minor but impactful shakeup between stages. After a disappointing Stage 1 that saw them miss out on Champions Clash qualification, the team moved quickly, signing flex-DPS SP1NT from RØDE ONSIDE GAMING ahead of Stage 2. SP1NT had been one of the standout performers in Stage 1, making his mark on ONSIDE’s standout Stage 1 performance.
The bigger question now is how the Falcons deploy him. Checkmate is still on the roster, and while he’s known for his Symmetra play, he demonstrated in Stage 1 his lethality on Reaper and Tracer as well. With EWC qualification already secured, Falcons have the luxury of experimenting. However, with Crazy Raccoon and ZETA breathing down their necks, they can ill afford to be passive.
T1
T1 roster:
- Kim “D0NGHAK” Min-sung - Tank
- Jeong “Jasm1ne” Jong-min - Tank
- Hong “Proud” Suk-jin - DPS
- Kim “ZEST” Hyun-woo - DPS
- Kim “Bliss” So-myung - Support
- Kim “skewed” Min-seok - Support
- Yun “RUSH” Hee-won - Head Coach
- Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun - Coach
T1 enter Stage 2 with no changes to their roster and unfinished business from Stage 1. They were competitive throughout the regular season, but Crazy Raccoon ultimately ended their Champions Clash qualification run in the Asia Stage 1 semis.
The good news for T1 is that they demonstrated more counterplay to the Cat/Bastion comp than most. Their bait-and-switch on ZETA in Aatlis (during the Korea semis), drawing out the Lindholm Explosives perk before reverting to the Bastion mirror, showed an understanding of the meta's levers that few other teams had matched at that point. Translating those flashes into a consistent series win against the region's top two is the next step.
D0NGHAK and Jasm1ne's tank flexibility remains one of the most underrated weapons in the Korean scene, and ZEST continues to be one of the most dangerous DPS players in the region. If the meta shifts at all in Stage 2, T1 could be its primary beneficiary.
RØDE ZANSIDE GAMING
RØDE ZANSIDE GAMING roster:
- Cho "HEISER" Yu-hyun - Tank
- Kang "Void" Jun-woo - Tank
- Kim "Becky" Il-ha - DPS
- Jung "Probe" Jun-young - DPS
- Jung “Kilo” Jin-woo - DPS
- Kim “iRONY” Baek-kang - Support
- An “OPENER” Gi-beom - Support
- Park “KariV” Young-seo - Head coach
- Kim “Ir1s” Seung-hyun - Coach
- Chon “Ado” Gi-hyeon - Coach
- Kim "Haksal" Hyo-jong - Coach
ONSIDE GAMING and ZAN Esports merged ahead of Stage 2, combining parts of both rosters. The big departures are SP1NT and Attack, who played a huge part in ONSIDE’s Stage 1 heroics. ONSIDE’s leftover members in Kilo, iRONY, and OPENER have multiple stages worth of chemistry behind them, and the merged side will be hoping that stability is enough to push them back into playoff contention.
Cheeseburger
Cheeseburger roster:
- Kim "FARMER" Yea-han - Tank
- Jeon “Gur3um” Yong-min - Tank
- Kim "Argon" Han-saem - DPS
- Seo “M1nut2” Min-seo - DPS
- Lee "WoochaN" Woo-chan - Support
- TenTen - Support
- Hwang “Da1Da1Sm00th” Sung-hwan - Coach
- Lee “LeGo” Do-hyeon - Coach
- Choi “Mircalla” Hyeon-seo - Coach
Cheeseburger head into Stage 2 looking almost nothing like the team that ended Stage 1. Three of their founding members, Song “ZeSin” Yun-jin, Kim “Faith” Hong-gyu, and Lee “SeungAn” Seung-an, have departed. The trio are replaced by Gur3um, M1nut2, and TenTen from Poker Face. The coaching staff has been similarly overhauled, bringing in Da1Da1Sm00th from Poker Face, Mircalla from ZAN Esports, and LeGo from NOBLES.
The silver lining in all that change is that the three newcomers already know each other well, providing a foundation for chemistry to build from. Cheeseburger also showed enough in the Open Qualifiers to earn a joint first-place finish alongside O2 Blast, defeating Superbad in the process.
Stage 2 is likely to be a transitional stage for this squad as the new pieces settle in. But if they can find their footing quickly, the results could follow.
O2 Blast
O2 Blast roster:
- Koo “Fate” Pan-seung - Tank
- Lee “SeungAn” Seung-an - Tank
- Kim "Perr" Dam-I - DPS
- WuTian - DPS
- Kim "Faith" Hong-gyu - Support
- Choi “Misin” Hyun-geun - Support
- Gamjung - Support
- Jin “O2Boss” Suk-hoon - Head coach
- Park “Chillhwa” Min-hyung - Coach
- Seo “Myunb0ng” Sang-min - Coach
- Kwon “Cane” Dong-hyun - Coach
O2 Blast carry one of the most storied names in Korean Overwatch. As the former academy team of the San Francisco Shock, the organisation launched the careers of some of the most prominent players in the sport before going dormant following the Overwatch League's dissolution.
The team was rebuilt at the start of 2026 but fell short in the Stage 1 Open Qualifiers. That disappointment prompted swift action: SeungAn and Faith arrived from Cheeseburger, and Perr joined from the now-dissolved New Era. The reinforced lineup was enough to push them into the top two of the Stage 2 qualifiers and earn their place in the circuit.
Their most notable signing, however, came after the qualifiers. Koo "Fate" Pan-seung, a former Shanghai Dragons veteran and one of the most experienced tank players the Overwatch League produced, comes out of a two-year competitive absence to anchor the lineup. Whether Fate can rediscover his best form after that long a break is one of the more intriguing questions of Stage 2.
Poker Face
Poker Face roster:
- Lee "Fearful" Min-ho - Tank
- Kim "HYEON" Seong-hyeon - Tank
- Hyeon "D0D0" Jae-woong - DPS
- Choi "K4ne" Ju-hyung - DPS
- Kim "CARU" Beom-jun - Support
- Lee "Sp1nel" Chang-sub - Support
- Kim “Mandu” Chan-hee - Coach
Stage 1 ended on the worst possible note for Poker Face (bar ninth place). They were eliminated in the LCQ by the very team they had swept 3-0 just weeks earlier, then watching three of their own players walk out the door to that same opponent.
What remains is a leaner, younger core built around Sp1nel, CARU, and Fearful. Joining them are HYEON, K4ne, and D0D0, who arrives from the now-disbanded New Era. D0D0 was one of the more exciting prospects to emerge from Stage 1, and his addition gives Poker Face a genuine point of difference going forward.
Poker Face's identity as a development team is a double-edged sword — there is always individual upside in a roster like this, but results can be inconsistent while that development plays out.
Superbad
Superbad roster:
- Kim “homerunball” Jae-woo - Tank
- SENTIER - Tank
- Jang “AZENT” Hyeon-ik - DPS
- Lee “SORI” Jin-uk - DPS
- Lee “Soae” Chae-woo - DPS
- Jang “Univ2r” Geon-ik - Support
- Hwang “Dumbbell” Tae-san - Support
- Yang “SeltaRet” Jin-hyeok - Coach
- Jeong “Yui” Jong-sun - Coach
Superbad enter OWCS Korea Stage 2 through an unusual route. The team finished fourth in the Open Qualifiers — one spot outside automatic qualification — but earned their place in the circuit after ZAN Esports relinquished their slot following the merger with ONSIDE GAMING.
Much of this roster cut their teeth in OWCS Japan Stage 1, with three players coming from Please Not Hero Ban and 99DIVINE. Both sides posted respectable domestic results, finishing third and fourth, respectively, giving this group a foundation of structured competitive experience.
That said, Superbad's Open Qualifier run offered a reality check. Defeats against Cheeseburger and Poker Face suggest there is a meaningful gap to close before they can threaten established OWCS sides. Stage 2 represents a steep but valuable learning curve for a team still finding its footing at this level.
OWCS Korea Stage 2 kicks off on June 5 with one of the stage's most anticipated first-round matchups: Team Falcons and their new signing SP1NT against Champions Clash winners Crazy Raccoon. With EWC qualification on the line for seven of the nine teams and a competitive landscape that's only grown more layered since Stage 1, there's no shortage of storylines to follow.
Stay tuned to OWTV for full coverage throughout the stage.