📝 Team Falcons fall short of the playoffs

The OWCS Asia Stage 1 Group Stage has come to an end, setting the stage up for the four teams slated to play in the Playoffs on May 9 and 10.

The Group Stage gave us twelve best-of-three series over two days, with mostly expected results, except for a single major caveat right at the end (more on that below).

OWCS Asia Stage 1 - Day 1

Match results

Recap

Day 1 started with the four Korean teams getting their matches quickly out of the way. ZETA continued their dominance over T1 from last week. T1 edged out a win in Aatlis, mirroring the Cat/Bastion, but ultimately lost at ZETA's home turn, Blizzard World.

Crazy Raccoon, on the other hand showed a completely new face against Team Falcons flipping the script from their last week's 4-1 defeat. Park "JunBin" Jun-bin brought a Stage-first Roadhog to Oasis, anchoring him next to the Cat/Bastion. They made quick work of Falcons in Oasis, forcing them to ban the Roadhog in Gibraltar. Unlike last week, this time Chae "HeeSang" Hee-sang got the better of Baek "Checkmate" Seung-hun on Reaper, and with Jeong "STALK3R" Hak-yong getting more comfortable in his new role, they defeated Team Falcons 2-0.

The following three series went mostly according to script. The Gatos Guapos showed life, but ultimately fell 2-0 to ENTER FORCE.36 despite a noteworthy performance from Joshua "sgy" Lim in Aatlis. VARREL swept Please Not Hero Ban as they have in the Regular Season. And a bittersweet (mostly bitter) reunion between Lee "HEESUNG" Hee-sung and ZETA DIVISION. Kim "Proper" Dong-hyun ran circles around ENTER FORCE.36 and Park "Viol2t" Min-ki took the Illari mirror in stride. ZETA put the series to bed, 2-0.

The highlight of the day came in the last match. VARREL took the Cat/Bastion mirror challenge in Busan and came out the victors. Jeong "TOPDRAGON" Seung-yong and Tomoharu "KSG" Inoue were on fire on Tracer/D.Va, and Falcons suddenly found themselves facing match point and a very early tournament exit. Team Falcons stabilised and narrowly edged out the next two maps to keep their playoff hopes alive. However, VARREL left a strong mark with their performance, and the final result would cost Falcons dearly the following day.

OWCS Asia Stage 1 - Day 2

Match results

Recap

Day 2 started bright and early. It might have been a bit too early for The Gatos Guapos. Some of their players were still at their day jobs, and TGG were forced to forfeit their game against T1.

The following four matches were all 2-0 sweeps in favour of each fixture's Korean team. Crazy Raccoon brought JunBin's Roadhog out again against Please Not Hero Ban, and Lee "LIP" Jae-won made an appearance on Ashe and Soldier: 76. ZETA DIVISION vs. The Gatos Guapos quickly turned into an exhibition match as both sides threw rather interesting heroes into the mix, such as Reinhardt, Junker Queen, Anran, Junkrat, Mercy, and even Mizuki. Team Falcons swept PNHB, and T1 swept EF.36, although the latter almost managed to tie the series in Blizzard World if not for an egregious C9 in the dying breath of the game.

What seemed to be a fully scripted, eventless tournament so far was hiding a major twist in the final match of the group stage. Crazy Raccoon against VARREL started with the exact same explosive formula in Busan that VARREL brought to Team Falcons the day prior. The top seed from Japan swept the Cat/Bastion mirror on the first map and, for the second time in a row, put themselves a single map away from a playoff qualification at the expense of Team Falcons. Crazy Raccoon rallied briefly in Runasapi, tying the series. However, in Gibraltar, KSG and TOPDRAGON completely took over the lobby once again. VARREL full-held Crazy Raccoon and took the series win on their attack, 2-1.

This result has put Team Falcons, Crazy Raccoon, and VARREL in a three-way tie at two series wins each. With an equal head-to-head score, the tie-breaker proceeds to the overall map score, with Crazy Raccoon on +3, VARREL on +2, and Team Falcons on +1. As a result, Team Falcons see themselves eliminated from the playoffs and Champions Clash qualification.

Looking ahead

OWCS Asia Stage 1 - Playoffs bracket. Image by Overwatch Esports Asia. — OWCS Asia Stage 1 - Playoffs bracket (times in GMT+9). Image by Overwatch Esports Asia.

ZETA DIVISION, T1, Crazy Raccoon, and VARREL proceed to the playoffs and will face off in a double-elimination tournament format. On Saturday, May 9, the upper bracket winner will be the first team from OWCS Asia to punch their ticket to the Champions Clash, and on Sunday, May 10, the lower bracket winner will become the second.