📝 ZETA DIVISION rescue us from 3-0verwatch yet again I Korea OWCS Week 3 summary

For the most part, it was business as usual for OWCS Korea this week. The teams that were expected to win got it done, usually in dominant fashion. There were a couple of potential opportunities for upsets, but it wasn’t to be this week, despite some genuine signs of life from some of the winless teams.

Game of the week: ONSIDE GAMING vs. ZETA DIVISION

ZETA Division is rarely a team to allow themselves an easy win, going all five maps with the previously 2-2 ONSIDE GAMING. ONSIDE had shown that they were a cut above the newly promoted teams, with wins over Mir Gaming and Cheeseburger already. However, they have failed to take a map off of top teams like Crazy Raccoon or Team Falcons. Despite this, they gave ZETA a run for its money, but perhaps not in the way you might think.

The match started, as always, on Lijiang Tower, with Kim “Mag” Tae-sung and Kim “Kellan” Min-jae in to play Wrecking Ball, and Ado in for ONSIDE to play the double flex DPS. This map would end up being a tone-setter for the whole series; ONSIDE managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory, putting themselves in a favourable ultimate economy situation only to fail to find the requisite value to overcome ZETA DIVISION. They worked hard to win the dogfights just to miss their best opportunity at the crucial juncture.

Another unusual theme of this match was Shin “BERNAR” Se-won being unable to win his maps. Usually, BERNAR is a shining beacon of consistency, but Attack was getting the better of him in the off-tank matchups. That’s not to say that BERNAR was the sole cause of ZETA’s losses on the maps where Wrecking Ball is strong. Their lack of hitscan was evident when Kilo was subbed in. He went largely unchecked and was a thorn in the side of ZETA DIVISION on both King’s Row and Rialto.

Despite looking shaky on the BERNAR maps, Mag continued his impressive form playing the main tank role, even besting Kellan in the Winston mirror on Suravasa when Wrecking Ball was banned. He combined with an MVP performance from AlphaYi to get ZETA over the line. ZETA has now impressively gone to map 5 three times already, and won each of them.

Player of the week: CH0R0NG

CH0R0NG demonstrated his mastery of Wuyang to great effect this week, having an incredible impact in both of Crazy Raccoon’s 3-0 wins.

He was charging Tidal Blast much more quickly than his counterparts on ZETA DIVISION and Cheeseburger, which was a very high-value ultimate for Crazy Raccoon a lot of the time. Usually given to HeeSang on Tracer, it allowed his team to secure opening picks and win fights cheaply all throughout their matches. He even showed his skill with Wuyang’s Water Orbs, using them to great effect in poke phases as well as the mid-fight to win key duels.

He also did a great job of keeping Shu alive, whether he was on the Kiriko or the ever-vulnerable Ana. Crazy Raccoon’s rock-solid backline is one of the many reasons for their success, and CH0R0NG exemplified that this week.

He didn’t forget about his signature Lucio either. He was building Sound Barrier much faster than Bliss throughout all of Suravasa, so he maintains his crown there too. An all-around carry performance from one of the world’s premier main support players.

Meta summary

This week, we saw more teams lean into Zarya more heavily than before. Falcons, Mir, ZETA, and ONSIDE all generally preferred the Zarya on flatter maps that didn’t favour Ball or Winston. Additionally, that has inspired teams to pick Reaper alongside Genji or Tracer, rather than running both as was popular at the start of the stage. Not only does Reaper have a great matchup against Winston and a decent one against Ball, but he also plays well with Zarya’s bubbles, enabling him to teleport into the enemy backline much more easily, and making his Death Blossom infinitely scarier. This was demonstrated very well by Oh “Pelican” Se-hyun and BERNAR this week, admittedly in losing efforts.

The backlines were largely unchanged this week. Wuyang and Kiriko were the two most popular supports, but some teams still preferred Lucio over Wuyang, like Crazy Raccoon and Falcons at times. Ana saw less play this week, likely due to her extreme vulnerability to the Reaper + Zarya combo. Both Crazy Raccoon and Cheeseburger opted to play her over Kiriko when Reaper was banned on King’s Row, however.

On maps where he is strong, Wrecking Ball is still the go-to character for teams that can play him well. If he is banned, or if the team’s tank doesn’t have their Wrecking Ball driving license, Winston seems to be a very serviceable alternative.

Results summary

Day 1

Team Falcons 3 - 0 WAE

The scoreline doesn’t quite do WAE’s performance justice here - these were three very close maps, with WAE taking Falcons to the wire every time. They were unfortunately not able to win out in the key moments, and the Falcons’ clutch factor prevails once again. A tactical Wrecking Ball ban on Aatlis neutered WAE just enough for Falcons to prevail, and Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun put in yet another MVP performance to seal the deal.

Old Ocean 3 - 0 Mir Gaming

Old Ocean secured an impressive first win of the season with a dominant win against the struggling Mir Gaming. A vintage Kim “Becky” Il-ha performance on Tracer was too much for Mir to handle.

ONSIDE GAMING 0 - 3 T1

T1 continues their absolute dominance in Korea with a complete shutout of ONSIDE. A 2-0 on Samoa with Kim “D0NGHAK” Min-sung’s Wrecking Ball banned, followed by back-to-back full holds on King’s Row and Watchpoint: Gibraltar further solidify T1’s status at the top and maintain their flawless map record.

Day 2

Mir Gaming 0 - 3 Team Falcons

Dubbed the world’s first “close 3-0”, Mir Gaming put up an extraordinary fight against the Midseason Champs. Kim “Ruler” Yi-gun looked as good as anyone on Zarya, getting the better of Choi “Hanbin” Han-been in many exchanges. Unfortunately, despite taking a round off of Falcons on Samoa, they weren’t able to clutch out a second. On top of this, they went the distance on Flashpoint, losing Suravasa 300-297. Their repeated fumbles at the eleventh hour clearly took their toll on the team’s mental, because the third map wasn’t nearly as close, with Falcons taking Esparanca without Mir posting a single metre.

Crazy Raccoon 3 - 0 ZETA DIVISION

This was another ZETA DIVISION match that we thought could go the 5-map distance, but Crazy Raccoon is a different beast following a loss, and this was further proven in this match. After getting stomped 3-0 by T1 last week, they bounced back hard, quelling any doubts that they have what it takes to compete in this meta. Sung “CH0R0NG” Yoo-min was the difference maker here, consistently outclassing Kim “Bliss” So-myung on Wuyang and looking extremely scary on that character. After an extremely close King’s Row that ended up going to extra rounds, Crazy Raccoon took ZETA’s unbeaten record away from them.

Old Ocean 3 - 2 Cheeseburger

A back-and-forth 5-mapper at the bottom of the Korea table sees Old Ocean come out on top. Cheeseburger take Samoa 2-0, but then are absolutely dominated on Eichenwalde and Aatlis. A very close Esparanca takes the two teams to map 5, in which Old Ocean is able to clutch it out on Rialto following a targeted Sigma ban against Lee “SeungAn” Seung-an. It’s another MVP performance from Becky on Tracer, proving that he still has the pedigree against these weaker teams in the region.

Day 3

Crazy Raccoon 3 - 0 Cheeseburger

A couple of challenging moments on King’s Row in which Choi “MAX” Soo-min gets stuck on D.Va into the Zarya of Kim “Farmer” Yea-han, and Kim “Shu” Jin-seo goes down early several times, but in the end, they get it together and win the map. Elsewhere, An “SP1NT” Woo-jin is linking up with CH0R0NG and his Tidal Blast at every opportunity to cause complete chaos on Genji, receiving a well-earned MVP.

T1 3 - 0 WAE

It seems that a T1 3-0 is as inevitable as death or taxes at this point. No team, be they dive-focused, brawl-heavy, or Crazy Raccoon, can unsettle them from the very top of the leaderboard. WAE were unfortunately not about to be the exception to this rule, and bowed out in respectable 3-0 fashion like everyone else. D0NGHAK and friends continue to be unstoppable.