📝 Same faces, new stories: OWCS Korea Stage 1 Week 1 Review

Korea has historically held the title of the strongest region, being home to the most professional players and every OWCS LAN winner. All that changed last year, when Twisted Minds became the 2025 World Champions. Going into 2026, Korea looks eager to take back the throne, and the path to the Champions Clash in Tokyo starts here.

Game of the week: ZETA DIVISION vs. Team Falcon

This was the final match of the week in OWCS Korea between the newly dethroned World Champions, Team Falcons, and the free agency Champions ZETA DIVISION. This game serves as a potential preview of the Korea grand finals, as both of these teams looked amazing in their first game of the season.

ZETA DIVISION entered the offseason with major changes, releasing all of their players except Shin “Bernar” Se-won. First, ZETA added 2025 Midseason Championship winner and MVP, Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun from Team Falcons. Hyperflex Lee “knife” Seon-woo joined him on DPS. The support line continued this trend, with the largest free agency acquisition: Kim “shu” Jin-seo, who left Crazy Raccoon after two incredibly successful years and the legendary Park “Viol2t” Min-ki. Lee “Mealgaru” Jeong-hwan rounded up the roster on main tank after his breakout season with WAE last year.

After a disappointing fourth-place finish at the World Final, Team Falcons would go on to lose Jeong “STALK3R” Hak-yong and - even more surprisingly - Proper. They filled this gap with Baek “Checkmate” Seung-hun, and re-signed Choi “Junkbuck” Jae-won, both from Al Qadsiah.

The first two maps were a perfect microcosm of the back-and-forth battle up ahead. Team Falcons came out swinging in Garden at Lijiang Tower, securing a swift victory with aggressive team fights and clutch railgun shots from Choi “MER1T” Tae-min. ZETA answered this by playing even more aggressively and sending Proper in to show off his swordsmanship. MER1T was forced off Sojourn and ran Reaper and Mei for the last two rounds, with little effectiveness. ZETA dominated on Night Market, taking the third point 100-0.

Falcons took map two to Esperança, where the combination of Checkmate on Vendetta and MER1T on Symmetra propelled the team to a swift 62.28-meter lead and kept ZETA at 0 meters for the first four minutes. ZETA would respond with two fight wins to even up the distance, only for Checkmate to take over the lobby completely and propel Falcons deep into ZETA territory, evening the series.

In Map 3, ZETA ran a slower, poke-style composition with knife on Sojourn and BERNAR on Orisa. Viol2t brought out Illari, which he dominated Crazy Raccoon with at the start of the week - and shu brought his historically talented Baptiste (Los Angeles Gladiators skin and all). Falcons went with a brawl comp, spearheaded by Checkmate’s signature Symmetra and Choi “Hanbin” Han-been running Zarya. This map was incredibly close, with both teams full-capping. The overtime rounds showed a stalwart defence from ZETA and a swift attack to take the map.

Team Falcon’s response to ZETA's poke-heavy style was to delete the possibility for Viol2t to run Illari and play one of the most dive-centric maps in the game, Numbani. Hanbin was able to return to his D.Va and run circles around ZETA, fully capping the map with just under two minutes to spare. MER1T’s Symmetra certainly showed improvement from last year, and Han “ChiYo” Hyeon-seok’s clutch beats forced ZETA to play the entire map on the back foot, sending this match to a decisive Map 5.

For Map 5, ZETA DIVISION chose a second hybrid map (legality explanation below), picking Blizzard World, and subbing Mealgaru in - his first map of the day. He came out on Winston, with shu on Ana, and Viol2t on Brigitte. ZETA had a very strong attack and managed a full push. Despite the strong attack, defense was ZETA’s true moment to shine. With Viol2t back on his unrivalled Illari, and knife hitting ridiculous shots on Sojourn, Team Falcons failed to take a single point, resulting in ZETA’s second full hold on Blizzard World, and second win of the week. Hopefully, this is only the first of many epic battles between these two masterful opponents.

Player of the week: Viol2t

At his “welcome home” party and alongside ZETA DIVISION, Viol2t put on an incredible performance against both Crazy Raccoon and Team Falcons, the perennial top two rosters in Korea. Across nine maps, Viol2t played Lúcio, Illiari, and Brigitte, each a clear demonstration of his raw skill.

On opening night, Viol2t reminded the world of his incredible capabilities. His Illari dominance against Team Falcons was consistently the catalyst for the team wipe. Specifically, this play on Rialto showed just how easy it was for Viol2t to take over a team fight on his own. As the game went on, the clutch factor was turned up to 11 with this clutch retake to full hold Blizzard World, resulting not only in the map win but also in the series win. If this is the standard we can expect, then another trophy is very likely in Viol2t’s near future.

Hero ban and map picks report

Data sourced from: OWCS 2026 Hero Bans/Metas

For the first time, Korea features the exact same map pool as every other region! This assimilation will allow map picks to be used more effectively to compare the regions. Keep an eye out for each region to develop “favorite” maps. As for Korea’s choices, here are the key takeaways:

• ZETA DIVISION vs. Team Falcons featured two hybrids being played, Numbani and Blizzard World as map four and five, respectively.
  • This quirk is allowed because, as per the official OWCS Asia rules: “Push and Flashpoint will be treated as a single map group, meaning maps from either mode may be selected from that group.” This rule is only for OWCS Asia.
• Unlike in Japan, the newly destroyed Watchpoint: Gibraltar did not seem to be well-liked.
• Busan was the clear favorite for control, possibly due to Korean bias
• Cheeseburger vs. Falcons featured the only Oasis and the only Watchpoint: Gibraltar played this week, making the uninteresting 3-0 a surprising beacon of map diversity. This match was also the only one not to feature a hybrid map

With 35 maps being played this week in Korea, we saw 70 hero bans. As the season goes on, we can use this data to see what teams and regions favor banning certain heroes. Key takeaways from Korea week 1:

• There are clear favorites at tank: D.Va and Zarya are leading with eight bans each.
• D.Va was banned in every game of the first two days, and was banned in the first two maps of New Era vs. T1.
• Zarya similarly struggled, being banned on map one in every game on the first day, and was banned twice in RØDE ONSIDE GAMING vs. T1.
• In the damage role, Symmetra and Vendetta lead the way, although not as steeply.
• Supports saw the most amount of bans per role, with 25 (22 for tank, 23 for damage).
• Those 25 bans were also spread thin, as nine distinct support heroes were banned
• Wuyang leads the way for supports, an interesting ban choice considering the meta is largely considered to be dominated by Lúcio and Kiriko.
• ZETA DIVISION’s supports are the most targeted by far, as ⅔ of Ana’s bans came as a response to shu, and ⅔ of Illari’s bans were due to Viol2t

Week 1 in review

Cheeseburger 0 - 3 Poker Face

On August 23, 2025, Poker Face announced that they were taking a break from OWCS, assuring fans that “this is not the end for Poker Face, rather, this is a crucial stepping stone towards reaching greater highs.” Poker Face had the honor of playing the first match of OWCS Korea 2026, and they did not disappoint. Building their roster around the talents of Go "D4RT" Min-hyuk and Jeon "Gur3um" Yong-min - previously of Old Ocean - they were able to bring a quick fight to Cheeseburger. D4RT in particular took Player of the Match honors due to his amazing Vendetta gameplay, slicing and dicing the Cheeseburgers like a pineapple-dweller under the sea.

Cheeseburger, for their effort, did not look completely devoid of life. Despite the rough matchup, they were able to put up a fight on Numbani, thanks to some clutch plays out of Song "ZeSin" Yun-jin. They had an odd reliance on Orisa, with Lee "SeungAn" Seung-an playing them whenever they were unbanned. Hopefully, they can put together better performances as the season goes on and pick up some wins against lower teams.

Crazy Raccoon 1 - 3 ZETA DIVISION

This game has been circled as a must-watch the moment OWCS announced the Korea schedule. ZETA DIVISION debuted its brand new core, and Crazy Raccoon added STALK3R to its stacked DPS core while testing if Kim "vigilante" Joon is a suitable replacement for shu.

The largest takeaway from this game was just how flexible the core of ZETA DIVISION really is. Each of the four maps featured a different support line from shu and Viol2t. Proper played six different heroes. BERNAR oscillated between D.Va, Orisa, and a little bit of Sigma on Havana, and we even saw Mealgaru come out to play Winston, only to change up the entire flow and mirror the Mauga in response to CR’s adjustments. ZETA looked incredibly strong to start the season and brought back earnest hope to many fans.

As for Crazy Raccoon, spirits are not as high. A loss to this new ZETA team is not a reason to panic, but there were obvious struggles. The only map they were able to win was Havana, where they had to target-ban shu’s Ana, and even that was a 4-3 in overtime. STALK3R has yet to adjust to his new partners, but all of these complaints can be fixed over time.

ZAN Esports 2 - 3 RØDE ONSIDE GAMING

This game was very close to being game of the week, featuring two rosters full of young, talented, up-and-coming players duking it out in a back-and-forth best-of-five (I’m running out of dashes)! Both teams ran near constant mirror matches, attempting to run a Sojourn/Vendetta/D.Va (or Zarya)/Lúcio/Kiriko whenever they could. Each team busted hard to make this game one of the best we’ve seen, and it is certainly possible that ZAN and ONSIDE can make a dark horse run deep into the playoffs.RØDE ONSIDE GAMING made a great run at the end of Stage 3 last year, clinching a spot in Stage 1 this year. They spent the offseason training hard, with their only addition being An "SP1NT" Woo-jin replacing knife. Kim "ATTACK" Jun-hwa on tank, whose D.Va and Zarya are perfect for this meta, and Jung "KILO" Jin-woo was close to stealing player of the week due to his dominant Sojourn performances. This team could have a similar trajectory to WAE last year, pulling off upsets against top teams (foreshadowing is a literary device…).ZAN Esports is a completely new organization, coming out of the Korean Open Qualifiers without dropping a map. This team's core was salvaged from Old Ocean, with Cho "HEISER" Yu-hyun being the only tank (youngest player in OWCS Korea) and Yang "YangJun" Jun coming back to Overwatch Esports for the first time since 2023. With Park "KariV" Young-seo as the head coach, this team could be an unexpected contender in games against high talent.

New Era 0 - 3 T1

New Era’s opening match was a lackluster affair for the team. They played as Mir Gaming in Stage 3, and were considered “worst of the best,” but there was hope that the addition of Kim “perr” Dam-I, Yoo “Secret” Jae-hyun, and SoLA would spark much-needed power into this core. T1 swiftly shattered that hope.

T1 looked incredibly powerful - albeit against a weak opponent. The addition of Kim "Bliss" So-myung at main support looked to not inhibit this roster at all, and Kim "skewed" Min-seok looked like a natural back at his native flex support position. Kim "ZEST" Hyun-woo picked up right where he left off the pre-season bootcamp, showing off on Vendetta, and last season’s addition of Jeong "Jasm1ne" Jong-min seems to be paying off, as the meta naturally favors his offtank-based hero pool.

Cheeseburger 0 - 3 Team Falcons

Team Falcon came into this game with one goal: to prove that they are still a dominant team despite the loss of STALK3R and Proper. And that goal was easily achieved. Checkmate looked great on Vendetta, Hanbin was relentless on Winston in Watchpoint: Gibraltar, and a flawless flashpoint (100-0 on all three points) showed just how much better Falcon are than the average Korean team.

ZAN Esports 1 - 3 Crazy Raccoon

After a disappointing first match for Crazy Raccoon, they entered this game looking to get back on the winning path. For ZAN Esports, this game served as a litmus test, seeing just how strong they could be. After putting up a strong fight against RONG, a similarly strong performance against a team the likes of Crazy Raccoon would give them a glowing potential.

The game started with a shock, as ZAN took the first round of Lijiang Tower, on Night Market. HeeSang’s Pharah proved to be ineffective against A1IEN’s railgun, but once CR adjusted, they were able to take the final two points (albeit with a close 99%-99% on Control Center). Crazy Raccoon looked strong from here on out, with MAX’s D.Va carving up the competition and Vigilante playing well in the new environment. There was one slight blemish, Esperança. HEISER rolled out on Orisa, and ZAN jumped out to a quick lead, with the score hitting as one-sided as 93.45 - 5.63 meters. By the time CR switched to mirror the horse, it was too far gone. ZAN’s map win shows their upset potential, that’s surely to evolve as the season progresses.

Poker Face 3 - 0 New Era

This game was Poker Face flexing against another Open Qualifier team. D4RT played out of his mind, earning his second player of the match (the only player in OWCS to do so at this point in the season). TenTen played every map of this game, making it look like the rookie will become the starting main support.

Unfortunately for New Era, this was the second game in a row in which they were unable to score a single point, and this may be one of their easier opponents of the stage.

RØDE ONSIDE GAMING 3 - 2 T1

Yet another snub for game of the week, this game had so much firepower and was an incredible upset to watch live. Predictions going into the series heavily favored T1, but RØDE ONSIDE GAMING started with a bang, taking a 2-0 win over T1 on Busan. T1 responded with an impregnable defence on Havana (featuring Jasm1ne swapping to Reinhardt to stall - and eventually win - first point defence). The match was starting to become one-sided as T1 rolled over RONG on Aatlis, with Proud’s Echo gameplay showing fantastic flexibility for the hitscan talent.

As the game entered Map 4 on Numbani, something changed. That something was KILO hitting unbelievable shots to win fights. Kim "iRONY" Baek-kang pulled out the Mizuki for his first legitimate play of OWCS Korea, and it worked wonders as RONG sent the game to a map 5. On Runasapi, RONG made an intelligent decision to ban Lúcio, forcing Bliss onto an uncomfortable Brigitte. KILO continued to hit “headshot after headshot” on Sojourn. His heroics earned him player of the match, and gave RONG a well-earned upset victory over T1.

As week one comes to a close, the standings show a very interesting setup for the coming weeks. Starting at the top, Poker Face is the only team with the chance at a Golden Stage (no map losses) left. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Hopefully, they can keep up as they play harder opponents in the future. Other teams to go undefeated include ZETA and RONG, who had much tougher opponents and are in an amazing spot.

The middle of the pack features three of our four partner teams. The bottom three include ZAN Esports, who played RONG incredibly close and took a map off of the former Korean Champions in Crazy Raccoon. The other two teams, New Era and Cheeseburger, will enter Week 2 seeking their first map win and trying to avoid elimination before the Last Chance Qualifiers.

As a reminder, Korea will not return this upcoming weekend, and we will have to wait until April 3rd for more Korean Overwatch. Until then, catch up on the other regions, there’s a lot of Overwatch happening right now!