OWCS pre-season tournament recap - Day 2
After an intense Day 1 at the OWCS Pre-Season Bootcamp tournament, where we saw a six-map reverse sweep, a masterful showcase of new heroes, and old friends turn to rivals, we are set for an equally explosive Day 2 – the Quarter Finals.
Four teams went home by the end of Day 1, and another four by the end of Day 2. The Quarter Finals pit the top-seeded teams from each region against the four winners of Day 1. The matchups promised an absolute slugfest on paper, and we got it.
As if the excitement wasn’t enough, Blizzard threw an extra curveball late on the night before Day 2 and released a hero balance update affecting the newest six heroes in the game. Another slight adjustment from Day 1’s structure is that they’re no longer mirror-1v1ing for first map pick. It’s a coin toss, instead.
Crazy Raccoon 3 - 1 Team Peps
Team Peps entered into this match after successfully winning their first match on Day 1 by reverse sweeping Disguised. Crazy Raccoon, on the other hand, would be playing their first official OWCS match after parting ways with Kim "shu" Jin-seo. Despite this noticeable change, however, taking down such a dominant team like Crazy Raccoon would be a herculean task for the French organisation.
Busan
The first map of Busan proved to be an easy endeavour for the legacy Korean squad. Although the Peps players fought hard, they were ultimately outclassed by all the new heroes. If the French team wanted to stay alive in the tournament, they would need to prove themselves by winning Esperança.
Esperança
With all heroes now on the table, Team Peps opted to play the Vendetta/Zarya rush combination that worked really well for them on the previous day. Crazy Raccoon brought out a Winston/Jetpack Cat dive with Chae "HeeSang" Hee-sang on Pharah. Sung "CH0R0NG" Yoo-min’s Jetpack Cat managed to make a significant impact for the Korean squad, helping prop up Heesang’s dominant Pharah to initially take an early lead on Push. However, Florian "Dip" Lefèvre’s Vendetta seemed to breathe some new life into the team, as Peps were successful in capping over 114 metres and ultimately stopping Crazy Raccoon’s Overtime push.
Shambali Monastery
The series now sat tied at 1-1, and heading into Shambali Monastery, Crazy Raccoon looked to retake control of the series by subbing in Choi "MAX" Su-min and banning Dip's lethal Vendetta. With MAX now in, off-tank compositions revolving around both D.va and Zarya helped propel Crazy Raccoon to capping all three points, but not before Team Peps halted any extra time bank progress. But while Peps had a more than serviceable defense, they were unable to make the same magic occur on their attack, and fell just shy of Point B due to MAX’s dominant Zarya.
Blizzard World
With Crazy Raccoon now sitting at 2-1, Team Peps would need to win Blizzard World to keep their tournament hopes alive. That victory never came, as Crazy Raccoon easily dominated on both their attack and defense largely thanks to MAX’s off-tank play and Lip’s signature Sojourn.
Team Peps fought hard across both of their maps. While their path in OWCS will continue in EMEA, they have shown clear signs of improvement since 2025, heading into the official start of the 2026 season.
Crazy Raccoon still seems to be as dominant as ever. Despite no longer having Shu, Kim "vigilante" Joon more than showed just how capable he is on the flex supports. Heading into Day 3, they will face their iconic OWCS rivals, Team Falcons.
Weibo Gaming 2 - 3 Team Falcons
Weibo Gaming entered into the Pre-Season Bootcamp with their new support line of Lee "LeeSooMin" Soo-Min and Oh "MAKA" Eun-seok, along with former Team CC tank player Chen "Sunzo/BILIDENG" Cheng. However, even with their new additions, they were unable to find much success in their scrim blocks and appeared to be very uncoordinated.
Team Falcons, on the other hand, had a more successful scrim schedule and a dominant 3-0 victory over VARREL on Day 1. Even without Kim "Proper" Dong-hyun, this team still looked to be a dangerous opponent.
Ilios
On the first map, Ilios, Weibo came out of the gate swinging. Xu "Guxue" Qiulin his debut on Domina and was a massive force in securing the first round for the Chinese squad. However, Han "ChiYo" Hyeon-seok was not about to go down without a fight, and easily helped bring Falcons back into the game with his Jetpack Cat that was so dominating on Day 1. Although Weibo fought hard, they were unsuccessful at winning Illios.
Midtown
With the series now at 1-0, Weibo subbed in Sunzo for Guxue heading into Midtown in order to bring an extra bit of firepower. Team Falcons had attempted to engage with a Vendetta/D.Va rush composition featuring newly acquired DPS player Baek "Checkmate" Seung-hun, but they were ultimately outclassed by Huang "Leave" Xin’s own Vendetta. Weibo were able to use their solid defense to easily complete the capture on their attack, bringing the series to an even 1-1.
Esperança
Esperança had initially turned into a close brawl between both teams. Checkmate had made a swap to his signature Symmetra to counter Leave’s Vendetta, but a game crash put the game on pause.
After a lengthy break, the tournament resumed, and the map was reset. Teams went with the same comps and bans from their first attempt. After a lengthy brawl, a beat push from ChiYo opened up the map in advantage to Team Falcons. It took Weibo until the checkpoint to put up a comeback off of Shy’s Overlock, and they finally managed to push Team Falcons back. Their push was short-lived, however, as MER1T took complete control of the field and put a stop to Weibo, with almost no progress made. While Weibo found a small reprieve off of a massive Sundering Blade from Leave that took out two Falcons, the Chinese side failed to mount a second successful attack in a row. Their momentum stalled, and the Falcons made it 2-1.
Havana
With the series hanging by a thread, Weibo decided to make their last stand in Havana and banned Hanbin’s favoured D.Va. Falcons answered in kind by banning Leave’s Vendetta. Weibo started their defense with an interesting double-hitscan comp, featuring Shy on Sojourn and Leave on Freja, and an Illari/Baptiste backline to round out the composition. It took considerable effort for the Falcons to crack the defense, and take the first point. A successful comp-switch to Venture/Kiriko from Weibo, however, was enough to put their push to a halt right at the end of point two. Weibo’s push is inspiring, they stick to their comp and momentum from earlier, and the Falcons find themselves constantly on the back foot. A massive Graviton Surge from Sunzo sealed the deal, and the series went to its fifth and final map. 2-2.
Shambali Monastery
The final map of the series saw the Falcons take the decider game to Shambali Monastery. The choice of both comp and map is flawless for the Falcons. Between ChiYo’s Jetpack Cat, Hanbin’s Domina, and Checkmate on Vendetta, the full hold is effortless. Falcons on the attack are unstoppable. A single teamfight is all it took for the Korean side to overcome the adversity and finish the series 3-2.
Weibo Gaming put on a very respectable performance, and we’ll be watching closely as the Chinese side continue to sync up with their new Korean signings and Sunzo as the season progresses. The Falcons are the second team to proceed to the finals on Day 3, where they’ll face Crazy Raccoon to give spark to the two juggernauts’ first of many matchups of the year.
Twisted Minds 3 - 0 T1
The reigning World Champions’ first competitive showing of the year. Despite the two teams facing off in the Quarter Finals, it’s a matchup of the two top teams of the pre-tournament scrims. The last time T1 and Twisted Minds faced off in an official capacity was the 2025 World Finals, where Twisted Minds pulled off a historic reverse sweep to send T1 to the losers’ bracket and proceeded to win the tournament.
Busan
Twisted Minds kicked off the new hero mirror-match at Lijiang Tower. Despite an early pick from Hong “Proud” Suk-jin and Ibrahim “Quartz” Alali, Twisted Minds took control of MEKA Base and never let go. First round ended 100-0 for TM.
Sanctuary was a much closer affair. A constant back and forth between the two teams, and it was dead even until the very finish. Both teams went 99%, and just as T1 was ready to close the deal, an incredible turnaround off a 3K and a 2K from Daniel “FunnyAstro” Hathaway and Abdualziz “TVNT” Altmimi, respectively, saw Twisted Minds swipe the map from T1’s grasp.
Blizzard World
T1 decided to target Kim “Simple” Ji-sung with a Kiriko ban, and TM responded by banning Vendetta, since Kim “ZEST” Hyun-woo has been lethal with the new hero all throughout the pre-season scrims. Jeong “Jasm1ne” Jong-min replaced Kim “DONGHAK” Min-sung.
T1 went with a Sigma/Ana/Wuyang comp, but Jasm1ne was quickly caught off-guard and taken out, and TM wasted no time capturing the first point and opening up the map. Once the team stabilised, T1’s defence on the 2nd point became more successful. A Tidal Blast/Pulse Bomb combo from Kim “Bliss” So-myung and ZEST put a quick stop to TVNT and Quartz’s Overclock push. A repeat of Tidal Blast/Pulse Bomb later on FunnyAstro and a masterful performance from Proud with Overclock saw T1 put a hard stop to TM’s push halfway through 2nd.
TM switched their backline on defence, going Wuyang/Brigitte. T1 opted for the same comp as earlier. Twisted Minds are back to their dominant selves on defence. They repelled attack after attack from T1, fully exploiting Sigma’s lack of mobility. T1 opted to put Kim “skewed” Min-seok on Brigitte and Jasm1ne on D.Va to try and rejuvenate their approach. Despite a heroic display from ZEST and Proud, however, TVNT rallied his side with an equally heroic performance, and Twisted Minds held the Korean side to two ticks on the point, and the series went to match point.
New Junk City
T1 pick New Junk City for their match-point stand. A repeat of Map 5 from the 2025 World Finals. The teams fully mirrored each other’s comps, opting for the powerful Sojourn/Vendetta/Zarya/Kiri/Lucio.
TM started the map strong, taking an early lead on point A off the back of an aggressive pick from Kim “JaeWoo” Jae-woo. T1 turned things around and tied the game on point B, with ZEST reminding everyone why TM opted to ban Vendetta in Blizzard World. ZEST was relentless, continuing on point C exactly as he finished things on B. His second 4K in a row saw T1 take a 2-1 lead. The Zarya/Vendetta unstoppable combo on full display.
T1 came to a hair’s breadth from finishing the deal. ZEST and Proud continued to light things up. Twisted Minds and especially TVNT had other ideas. A switch to Wrecking Ball saw TVNT almost single-handedly keep his team in the game, surviving through constant punishment. The Saudi tank’s performance not only tied the map, but a perfectly timed kill on Bliss, who was 99% on Sound Barrier, slungshot Twisted Minds forward in full form to smash all of T1’s bootcamp efforts into dust. 3-2 for Twisted Minds.
What was touted as a clash between the top two teams of the pre-season ended as a completely one-sided affair for the Saudi organisation. JaeWoo looked completely in-tune with the team, and while T1 showed glimpses of their frightening potential, the reigning World Champions are fully living up to their hard-earned title.
Team Liquid 3 - 1 Virtus.pro
The final matchup of the day between the final remaining NA team, Team Liquid, squaring off against Virtus.pro, who’ve been showing great form all throughout the pre-season scrims.
It’s the first time these two major esports organisations have faced off against one another in OWCS. Team Liquid retained their full squad from the 2025 season, and this matchup is the team’s first official test to see if they’ve made the right decision.
Lijiang Tower
The teams started their brawl on the Blizzard-mandated new hero mirror-match on Control. The starting round in Night Market ended before it could gain any momentum. Team Liquid went 100-0 in record time off the back of a great team performance.
Virtus.pro took the early lead in Control Center, however, TL’s recontest was on point as the American side won every individual duel and took over the point with only 37% progress for the EMEA side. VP eventually flipped, but it didn’t last long. The biggest swing-play came from Diego “Vega” Moran, who catnapped Jonas “eisgnom” Stratemeyer out of the map. Kwon “FiXa” Yeong-hun managed to Lifelink eisgnom in the air, but he followed it up by killing Vega, which caused FiXa to drop eisgnom to his death and Team Liquid finished the round on top. 1-0 for Team Liquid.
Eichenwalde
The teams matched each other’s comps with Sojourn/Vendetta/Kiriko/Lucio, with eisgnom opting to go Domina and Boston “Infekted” Fine on Zarya.
Virtus.pro’s push was a quick affair, as Team Liquid easily thwarted all of their efforts and held the team to a disappointing full hold. The side-switch was equally short-lived, with the American side mercilessly trampling over VP for a record-time 2-0.
New Junk City
With the series on the line, Virtus.pro banned Zarya to force the Domina mirror out of Infekted, and in return, Team Liquid banned Tracer to force Maximilian “Seicoe” Otter to face Xavier “Zeruhh” Zambrano on Vendetta.
Both teams mirrored comps once again, opting for the same comp as in Eichenwalde. Virtus.pro started the map with purpose, shedding the earlier two quick losses and establishing an early lead by capturing point A.
Similar story on point B, Seicoe thwarted every Team Liquid effort, capping point B with an inspired 3K Sundering Blade, completely nullifying Vega’s Sound Barrier. Virtus.pro wasted no time and put Team Liquid to rest, cooling down their hot streak with a 3-0 clean sweep.
Havana
Team Liquid picked Rialto for Map 4 and banned Lucio, Virtus.pro opted to remove Sigma to once again force the Domina mirror.
Virtus.pro start the push and quickly capture the first point. The push to second, however, proves to be a struggle for the Armenian side. Domina's slower approach and a very strong defence from Elliot “Tr33” Chu and Rupal“Rupal” Zaman caused VP to trickle an over four-minute time bank down to seconds before they managed to capture the second point. Virtus.pro rallied for their final push. Despite the lack of a time bank, they pushed the payload all the way in a single attempt, getting a full push in overtime.
The side-switch saw Zeruhh pick up his signature Genji, and Team Liquid returned the favour with a quick capture of the entire map. Tr33 and Infekted showed up in style to roll over every VP attempt at mounting a defence, pushing the game into overtime with almost a three-minute advantage.
Side-switch once again, and with only a single minute on the clock, Virtus.pro’s push came to an end a few meters past the first point. Team Liquid, however, are surgical in their push Tr33 and Zeruhh continuing their commanding performance on Sojourn/Tracer, and they brought the series to a 3-1 finish with more than enough time to spare.
With an easy triumph over one of EMEA’s top sides, Team Liquid continues to cement its status as the best team from NA. With a stable roster, peak team chemistry, and individual brilliance to boot, Team Liquid proceed to the semi-finals to face off against the reigning champions, Twisted Minds, for a chance at the top.