đ OWCS Pacific Stage 1 Week 1 review
Pacific is the final region of OWCS to get started in 2026, and they look to follow the moniker of âlast but not least.â Six teams will spend the next five weeks battling to earn a spot in a four-team regional playoff, with the top team earning a spot in the OWCS Asia Stage 1 Championship for a chance to qualify for the Champions Clash international in Tokyo.
OWCS Pacific is often seen as a misfit region, but today, we highlight the six teams, the three games, and the myriad storylines that make OWCS Pacific the extravaganza we should all pay more attention to.
(As of the time of publishing this article, Week 3 in OWCS Pacific is currently ongoing. Stay up to date with the ongoing results through here.)
Game of the week: FURY vs Quasar Esports
Even before the results were in, most viewers had their eyes set on this game to deliver. On paper, this matchup was the most evenly matched of the weekâs catalog, and both teams boasted rosters filled with talent and excitement. FURY is one of two teams that are returning to OWCS Pacific, and their roster stayed mostly the same. This Australian team is full of character, especially their star hitscan prodigy, Gabriel "Regr3T" Walsh. They brought in a rookie in PKFishy on Flex DPS, and Peter "Scorch" Anthony on tank. For their support line, FURY has introduced a threesome of Australian might: Pugz, Dario "Akraken" Falcao-Rassokha, and Max "Exrai" McHugh. FURY also participates in the FACEIT League - OCE Master, where this core has won seasons six and seven. This team is one of the most experienced groups entering the fray and should ooze talent in the opener.
Quasar Esports is a different story. This team was a part of a lot of drama entering the season. In short, Quasar acquired Trap 12, which replaced UNDERFINED after they withdrew from the tournament. Regardless, their roster is a mix of experienced talent and complete unknowns. Their most stable element is their support line, featuring the Australian tandem of Luca "beeple" Nicolopoulos and Huntin. Their tank showcases Manfred "Lumi" Sit on off-tank, and Harun "Jamorant" Rashid on main tanks (Lumi is also signed to âRival Esportsâ in Marvel Rivals Ignite). Quasarâs DPS line holds the most intrigue, with the Estonian flex DPS Kristo "Yoko" KivimĂ€gi being brought in to complement Korean rookie hitscan TKL. Both of these talents are near-complete unknowns, but hold a lot of promise, and could be the next big breakout in Pacific.
Map one was on Oasis, and while FURY threw away their ban, Quasar got rid of Vendetta, forcing everyone onto a D.Va comp with tracer and a hitscan. The map started on Gardens, with FURY having their way, consistently finding opening picks on Yoko fight after fight. After a swift 100% - 0%, they entered City Center, where FURYâs fate shifted. TKL started to take over, being practically guaranteed to get multiple picks every fight. This submap was flipped 100% - 11% the other way, sending them to a deciding round on University. TKL continued right where he left off; his dominant play carving a path for Quasar to overcome the odds and take map 1.
FURY, still in with ban control, decided to throw it away again in map 2, getting rid of Mercy. Quasar had no qualms with the previous outcome, so they banned Zarya, keeping the D.Va mirror in play. The only change in comp was PKFishy getting off tracer and playing Vendetta, but without a Zarya to bubble and engage with, there wasn't much that could be done. Quasar took Suravasa 3-1, and sent the series to match point. This was where Quasar would make their ban mistake; they outlawed Emre. Regr3t, who had played both Emre and Sojourn the previous two maps, looked much weaker on the Emre, so by removing his handicap, Quasar just turned Midtown into a hitscan goldmine. Regr3t and TKL traded highlight plays the entire map. The peak of the highlight reel comes in back-to-back fights on FURYâs attack, where Regr3t got a 4k to secure the point, and TKL responded with a 4k of his own to hold them at the choke. Despite a strong first fight from Quasar, FURY held them underneath the overpass and had little trouble reaching that point themselves. FURY took their first map of the year, guaranteeing a map four.
Map 4 was the best use of bans weâve seen from this series. Scorchâs most comfortable hero is Winston, and Lumi is much more of an off-tank player who thrived in the D.Va mirror the first two maps, so sending the match to Watchpoint Gibraltar and banning Winston set Quasar up for great success. FURY responded with a respectable ban of their own, banning Ana to prevent Huntin from getting access to one of his better flex supports. FURY started on the defense and did an impeccable job controlling the various high grounds around the first point. It seemed like Regr3t had some sort of aim toggle, as he was always in the right spot to get clutch opening kills. Even when Quasar got picks, they couldnât win a fight cleanly, and FURY was able to hold strong, keeping Quasar from getting the first checkpoint. All FURY needed to do to win was push the payload 80.44 meters. Quasar didnât let that happen. Now, it was Lumiâs time to shine. Knowing how little ground he had to give, he practically lived next to the payload, slowly stalling it and keeping its progress slow. Lumi survived a 1v5 for just long enough to get his team back in the fight. Quasarâs defense was flawless, and they were able to pull off the rare fuller-hold, winning the map and the series in beautiful fashion.
Player of the week: TKL
TKLâs praises have been sung high in the previous section, but it's important to take this space to break down what makes him so phenomenal and deserving of OWCS Pacificâs inaugural Player of the Week award. This award was a toss-up between many of the dominant DPS players of this week, it could have easily gone to FURYâs Regr3t, The Gatos Guaposâs sgy, or Team Secretâs Yoshinori2k at points.
The big standout that puts TKL above the rest is the fact that he is a complete unknown. The only previous tournament experience for TKL is a spot on FACEIT League Season 8 - OCE Master team âThe Estreich Files,â and the starting hitscan spot on Stronghold for the Open Qualifiers, where they were crushed in the playoffs.
Despite this lack of experience, TKL came out and put on a show during the game. Consistently, TKL and Regr3t were trading opening picks, and often TKL was capitalizing better. While his most highlight-worthy play comes from the one map he lost (Sojourn 4k), itâs clear just how much impact this young player has on the game. Keep an eye out for TKL in future Quasar Esports matches, and you might be able to see him representing Pacific at the OWCS Asia Stage 1 Championship.
Hero bans and map picks
Data sourced from: OWCS 2026 Hero Bans / Metas
When looking at data from week 1, it is always important to reference the sample size and point out how there is minimal data in the set. There are only three games played per week in PAC, and only ten maps were picked in this weekâs batch of games. That being said, here are some light takeaways from Pacificâs inaugural map picks:
- First, it's important to note a rule in OWCS Asia, that states: âPush and Flashpoint will be treated as a single map group, meaning maps from either mode may be selected from that group.â
- Every team picked either Push or Flashpoint for the second map in the series, meaning that no team wanted to play a payload map until they had to
- Every series ended on an Escort map, and they all had one team running a Mizuki. This trend of Mizuki being played on Escort maps is not unique to Pacific, but it is notable.
- There is no consensus control map yet, unlike other regions. In previous stages of Pacific, the Control map would be selected by the tournament organizers, but putting power in the hands of the players has yet to backfire.
Just as stated above, it is particularly important to re-emphasize here: There are only ten maps played this week, resulting in only 20 hero bans in this batch of games. Regardless, here are some light takeaways from Week 1âs hero bans in OWCS Pacific:
- Zarya is the only hero to get more than two bans, and was banned back-to-back (by different teams) in maps two and three of MieMieYang vs. The Gatos Guapos
- Despite the two Vendetta bans, teams were relatively reluctant to play her, with the heroine of Talon only being played on three of her eight eligible maps.
- FURY was quick to throw away their bans, even when picking first (and I donât believe they were using the bans to protect a certain role). In their first three maps, they banned Roadhog, Mercy, and Illari - all of which had the first ban.
- Rankers made an odd choice, giving up the first ban on every map of their series against Team Secret.
- Team Secret, with those initial bans, always took a tank off the board. These bans were used to protect their tank UYOU, a known Wrecking Ball one-trick.
Week 1 match summaries:
The opening match of OWCS Pacific 2026 had tons of storylines going on, setting the tone for the upcoming stage. Starting with Team Secret, this storied esports organization looks to continue its success by signing Pacificâs consensus number one roster. This team consists of a mix of Thai and Korean players, blending the cores of Stage 3 champions Nosebleed Esports (Nathawit "HyVision" Prajong on hitscan and Panachai "PaLee" Prathomchandee on support) and OWCS Japan third-place finisher Please Not Hero Ban (Eom "UYOU" Ho-yong as a Wrecking Ball one-trick and Jeong "Yui" Jong-sun on support). They also added fan-favorite DPS Napawee "Yoshinori2k" Suwannasak, a player whose Tracer and Genji dazzled back in Contenders, before he took a step back from competing.
Rankers is just as interesting a story. This team came out of nowhere to dominate open qualifiers, dropping only one map over two days. This Taiwanese/Hongkonger/Chinese team has been described as the ânext up teamâ in Pacific. Their DPS is built around Reaper one-trick Ho "brysonbtw" Tsz-kit, forcing them into Zarya-Reaper brawl comps, the hallmark of Stage 3âs meta. Their only OWCS experience comes from Zhao "Amamiyaren" Yijie on flex support, who played in China Stage 1 with Super Levi. Their other members, Lai "Zephyr" Yu-li on DPS, and Sung "FEI" Hsia-fei on support, are fully unknown, making them very exciting to watch. They did make one change after Open Qualifiers, replacing tank éçäčæćšćźæç©æ»èčŠ (FEEL1NG) with Choy "Despair" Yu-ting, a Flex DPS who previously played on MENG GONG 2. The impact this odd swap will have on the roster remains to be seen, but having OWCS experience on this roster couldnât hurt.
Despite the incredible storylines and hype, the gameplay itself did not live up to that luster. Team Secretâs collective years of experience allowed them to roll over the Rankerâs rookies and lead them to a swift sweep. Busan was two consecutive 100% - 0%, setting the pace immediately. Esperança was a really fun second map, with Rankers taking a 90.78m - 2.29m lead to start. Team Secret crawled back, stringing together wins to complete the push in overtime and take the 2-0 lead. Rialto was a return to form, with Team Secret full capping with 2 minutes on the clock, then holding steadfast to win the map 3-1. Despite the lack of theatrics in the server, these teams will provide plenty of entertainment as the stage progresses.
MieMieYang 0 - 3 The Gatos Guapos
This game was certainly the âfiller episodeâ of OWCS Pacific. A cool match with storylines, but not as close as the finale (FURY vs. Quasar), nor as story-dense as the introduction (Secret vs. Rankers). Regardless, there is still much to break down:
MieMieYang is a mix-match of players from around Asia, all with OWCS experience. Starting with the most interesting, Main Support Hyun "Hyunjae" Jae-hyeok makes his return to Overwatch. He was signed a week after he finished his mandatory Korean military service. He last played with the Seoul Infernal in OWL 2023 and Sin Prisa Gaming in OWCS 2024 Korea Stage 1. This team has a Thai core of Prabda "MSCG" Watthanaworasakul on Flex Support, Panithi "Kairen" Khongtong on tank, and Saharat "sunset" Boriphun on hitscan, making his return after sitting out 2025. Their final starting spot goes to Song "Elva" Hyuk-jun, a Korean flex DPS with seven years of experience as an import. This team is a hodge-podge, but they all have talent. The question becomes: How will that talent coalesce in the server?
The Gatos Guapos is one of the two returning teams. This team made history by representing Pacific at the Esports World Cup in 2025 and aims to do so again. This team is anchored by Overwatch League talent Kelsey "Colourhex" Birse at flex dps and Leyton "Punk" Gilchrist at tank. They have a fellow Aussie on support in Isaac "Ackyyy" Berry, and some experienced Singaporeans in Marcus "wntr" Kwa on flex support and Joshua "sgy" Lim on DPS. Their experience - like Team Secret - will be their biggest strength, as they aim for heights outside of Oceania.
In the game, the Gatos Guapos rolled pretty hard. After a close Night Market on Lijiang Tower, TGG would take Control Center 100% - 0%, and they never took their foot off the gas. They would proceed to 3-0 Suravasa, only surrendering 65% on a single point. MMY then sent the match to Rialto, where things got interesting. TGG started on the defense, and sgy brought out Anran - only the second time sheâs been played in OWCS. sgyâs Anran ran rampant, consistently igniting enemies and burning down the competition, helping TGG take the map 2-1 and sweep the series.
This week was the culmination of an offseasonâs work of moves, with new rosters, a new organization, and new heroes all entering the fray in the Pacific for the first time in months. We have a long season ahead, and there is a lot to look forward to. Over the next five weeks, these six teams will battle back and forth until four remain, then fight in a single-elimination playoff bracket with only the top team earning a spot in the OWCS Asia Stage 1 Championship for a chance to qualify for the OWCS Champions Clash in Tokyo.