Sweden, KSA, and USA lock in Playoff spots, and France stun South Korea with a shocking reverse sweep
Day 2 of the Overwatch World Cup Group Stage brought a reverse-sweep for the ages, a nailbiter that went the distance, and two results with real BlizzCon stakes attached. It's shaping up to be a much tighter picture than Day 1's opening statements suggested, with Group 1's Playoff seeds already locked in and three groups still wide open heading into a critical Day 3. Here's how all six matches played out.
For the full schedule, standings, and results, head over to our Group Stage tournament hub.
Denmark 3 - 0 Colombia
Denmark opened Group 4's first showing of the tournament with a statement. An opening pick from Niclas "sHockWave" Smidt Jensen set the pace for two quick subround wins in succession, giving the Danish side the opening map.
Colombia sent the series to New Junk City, and Denmark tried to shut down Aaron "Lich" Seoprasad's Vendetta with a ban, but Lich kickstarted the map with a great Reaper display anyway. Colombia held the upper hand for a stretch, until Lancelot "Skytorr" Sergeant swapped to mirror Anthony "SuperGomez" Gomez's Mauga and flipped the script. Colombia's magic ran out from there, and Denmark closed out the map to send the series to match point.
With match point on the line, Colombia came out swinging on Neon Junction, taking the first point and banking 5:30 in the time bank for the second. A four-minute hold from Denmark chipped away at that time bank until Colombia finally forced the full push with just 18 seconds left. Denmark's own push was a much smoother affair, dropping only a few fights to tie the map 3-3 with 3:10 still in the bank. The time bank round belonged entirely to Denmark, as another pop-off from sHockWave fully held Colombia and let Denmark score the easy point on the side-switch to put the series to rest, 3-0.
United States 3 - 0 Japan
The clash between Japan and the USA opened with Japan picking Nepal, despite falling there to Sweden the day before. They received the same outcome once again. Japan couldn't contend with the USA's brawlier style throughout the series, consistently getting staggered and forced into disarray. Their engagements looked disorganised, unable to find a single target as a team, and it felt as if USA came were winning far more 1v1s than they were winning team fights.
Japan took the clash to Paraíso, but USA carried their momentum straight through. A valiant defence on the second point cost the US some time, and they eventually pushed up just shy of the final point before Japan's attack was completely contained, sending the game to a match point. Japan brought in Takumi "epic" Ohta for Ydot on Aatlis, but the team continued to struggle to find an opening. Tomoharu "KSG" Inoue was continuously thwarted on the front line, while Elliot "Tr33" Chu and Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano ran rampant on the Japanese backline.
China 1 - 3 Sweden
Sweden vs. China started on Nepal in a critical matchup for both teams. Nepal was a close, back-and-forth affair. China took first blood, but Sweden answered back with two close wins to take Map 1. Kevin "kevster" Persson continued his world-class performance from Day 1 against the Chinese side.
Aatlis was a similar story, with China coming in close but not managing to finish the job. Chen "Sunzo" Cheng picked Hazard against William "WillyS" Ersson's D.Mon, but a quick switch from WillyS onto his own favoured Hazard tipped the scales back in Sweden's favour.
It took until match point for China to put one on the scoreboard. Banning kevster's Tracer and Sunzo going onto his popular Sigma pick led to a strong swing that let China finally take a map off Sweden. That's all China could muster. Sweden took the matchup to Esperança and full-pushed the robot with ample time to spare. China's consolation point wasn't enough to save their tournament, and the loss ends their journey to BlizzCon, while USA and Sweden secure their Playoff qualifications in record speed and will clash for bragging rights on Day 3.
Saudi Arabia 3 - 0 Mexico
Saudi Arabia hit the ground running, continuing right where they left off yesterday's explosive start, and effortlessly took Nepal against Mexico.
Looking to shake things up and even the scales, Mexico picked an uncommon Junkertown for Map 2 and banned Jetpack Cat. It didn't pan out that way, as the reigning World Cup champions locked down the map, with special appearances from Abdulelah "LBBD7" Alfaifi on Ashe and a Widowmaker highlight-reel sequence from Ibrahem "Quartz" Alali making sure the dominant side was on full display beyond just the scoreboard. A quick full-push on Colosseo sealed the deal, 3-0.
Australia 3 - 1 Great Britain
Great Britain vs. Australia, with qualification on the line, was off to a heated start. Australia immediately banned Harry "GoldenPants" Cawthra's iconic Wrecking Ball and pulled off the gambit by the skin of their teeth to give themselves the early 1-0 lead. Riley "cuFFa" Brown, Joshua "sgy" Lim, and Hamster were crucial to ensuring GoldenPants' Orissa never really found its footing.
Great Britain sent the series to Junkertown, and with GoldenPants back on his Wrecking Ball, they were off to a good start, a good middle, and a good finish. Great Britain managed the full push and returned the serve with a dominant full hold to tie the series 1-1.
Australia then picked Neon Junction and banned GoldenPants' only other hero pick in Orissa, forcing the young Brit to play Wrecking Ball on a map that doesn't favour the hero. Great Britain gave it their all on defence and just about managed to hold Australia shy of the third point, but the Orissa ban really came into effect during their push. GoldenPants increasingly found it difficult to get himself into Australia's backline to disrupt them. sgy put on a masterful performance defending the finish line, and Australia took the series lead 2-1, putting Great Britain one map away from a very difficult position to qualify for BlizzCon.
Map 4 was Aatlis, and Great Britain banned cuFFa's instrumental D.Mon to start strong. It took Australia a couple of minutes to stabilise, but once cuFFa switched from Ramattra to Hazard, the Pacific side really started picking up steam. Australia then proceeded to take three points in a row, the final two turning into full-on chaotic scraps, forcing GoldenPants to switch back to Wrecking Ball in a desperate attempt to see the map through. However, a couple of early picks on William "WMaimone" Maimone and Kai "Kai" Collins really derailed Great Britain’s retake attempts, closing out the series 3-1.
Both teams' fates now rest on their final matchups, with Great Britain needing a win against Saudi Arabia and Australia needing a win against Mexico.
France 3 - 2 South Korea
France's clash with tournament favourites South Korea marked the Koreans' first showing at the World Cup. France immediately showed that they were not to be underestimated, taking the first subround the full distance — a slight hesitation in taking care of a couple of Korean stragglers gave Park "JunBin" Jun-bin the window he needed to switch to Wrecking Ball in overtime and get the crucial touch on the point. Korea got into the groove on the second subround and took the series lead 1-0, with Loïc "KroxZ" Ricci putting on an impressive display on D.Mon despite the map loss.
France took the second map to Neon Junction, and Korea brought in Choi "MAX" Su-min. Unfortunately for the French side, the map was over before it picked up any pace. Korea fully held France and, on their own attack, took the necessary point in no time to move to match point.
Then something most unexpected happened. With match point on the line, the teams headed to New Junk City, JunBin back in the line-up alongside Chae "HeeSang" Hee-sang, as Korea brought out a more classic composition of Symmetra/Bastion/Orissa/Kiriko/Lúcio. Point A was a standard affair for the Koreans, but once France stopped them at point B, JunBin immediately switched to D.Mon to mirror KroxZ. France managed to hold anyway, tying the map. Both teams then resorted to the Cat/Bastion mirror on point C, but KroxZ continued his unmatched performance on D.Mon for the rest of the map giving France a miraculous map win against South Korea.
Korea took the series to Esperanca and after a constant back-and-forth, France rewrote the script once more off the back of yet another demonic performance from KroxZ, backed by a now inspired form from the rest of the French team. Through both astonishing teamplay and unprecedented individual play on D.Mon, France outplayed South Korea and tied the series 2-2 in a most unexpected turn of events.
Park "Seonjun" Seon-jun and MAX stepped back in for the final map on Shambali Monastery, but Korea continued to flounder to no avail against KroxZ's D.Mon. With Ramattra banned, MAX kept flipping between Zarya, D.Mon, and Sigma with no solution in sight. France not only fully held Korea, but answered right back on their own push, playing perfectly to their strengths to clinch a most mind-blowing reverse sweep against Korea, right on their home turf in Busan.
What a mind-blowing result to wrap up Day 2. As we head towards a most critical Day 3, Group 1's qualification slots are set in stone, but the other three groups still have everything to play for.
Here's how all the groups have shaped up at the end of Day 2.