📝 Team Liquid on Top: OWCS NA Stage 3 Playoffs, Week 2 Summary

The final three have been decided. Next stop, Stockholm.

After a thrilling playoff bracket filled with upsets, statements, and unfortunate ultimate timings, Stage 3 has officially come to an end. As planes take off for boot camps ahead of the World Finals, three teams now have the privilege of representing North America at the international level.

While it wasn’t an easy road, the final matches of the 2025 Regular Season truly showcased just how exciting this new era of Overwatch Esports can be.

Grand Finals: Team Liquid 4 - 3 Spacestation Gaming

“Now that we’ve won this Map 7 Grand Finals, I think that shows our team can really be the best in the world — and we can clutch everything.” - Diego "Vega" Moran

Team Liquid dominated the headlines throughout the stage, winning all their regular-season games. One thing was for sure: it was not a matter of if they would make the Regional Finals — everyone waited for them to punch their ticket.

Their opponent, on the other hand, was a slight surprise. In the previous stages, the Geekay Esports-core had looked to be a dominant contender among North America’s elite. But as Stage 3 progressed, another team took that mantle: Spacestation Gaming.

Battle of Strategies: Casores vs ChrisTFer

Throughout Stage 3, two coaches had one goal in mind: to prove their style was the most dominant in the region.

Cas "Casores" van Andel had built his roster around Elliot "TR33" Chu and Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano’s DPS flexibility, as they looked to be the most versatile DPS core that could rival Crazy Raccoon and Team Falcons.

Along with the DPS, Team Liquid signed on the former 2024 Toronto Defiant support line of Rupal "Rupal" Zaman and Diego "Vega" Moran — a duo who could play every combination of supports to the highest degree. Casores knew that with these Swiss-army knife players, his strategy of executing Boston "Infekted" Fine’s dive tanks was enough to win them the region.

Coach Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham wasn’t without his own merits. He had successfully led teams such as the 2022 and 2023 London Spitfire, as well as the 2024 European Spacestation Gaming, to great success.

His strategies, however, weren’t based on flexibility — ChrisTFer defined his coaching by polishing one style of play to the highest degree. This time on the North American Spacestation team, he would utilize Xander "Hawk" Domecq’s lethal Zarya and D.Va to finally bring Spacestation the gold in the Regional Finals.

Combined with this strategy was a hyperflex like Kamden "Sugarfree" Hijada and the expert hitscan abilities of Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci. These two players weren’t as flexible a duo as Team Liquid’s, but they had mastery of their individual roles, which has proven to be more effective than a jack-of-all-trades. On the back of their breakout support line of Christopher "Cjay" Smith and Joseph "Lep" Cambriani, ChrisTFer was able to bring Spacestation to the Regional Finals.

It was now time to see which coach’s strategy was superior: Casores’ flexible dive-composition versus ChrisTFer’s refined and solid Zarya-D.Va brawl.

Team Liquid vs Spacestation Gaming: Masters of their Craft

As the series began on Ilios, it was a clash for the ages. Spacestation took an early lead in the rounds and showed how their brawl style superseded the dive. They looked dominant thanks to Hawk and Sugarfree’s dominance.

TR33 took notice and decided he wasn’t going to lose them this map. In order to break the stalemate, he made the risky play of swapping to Hanzo — and it worked. Because of the Hanzo, Spacestation began to fall apart, and Team Liquid reversed momentum on Ilios, winning the map.

Heading into Rialto, it seemed as though Team Liquid was going to make quick work of Spacestation and possibly bring in another episode of 4-0verwatch. They nearly full-held Spacestation just outside of Point B, but ultimately the cart was pushed farther into the Italian map.

Again, that same momentum continued even as Point C unlocked. Team Liquid was able to hold Spacestation once more, and they looked poised to end the round before a full cap could be achieved.

Hawk, on the other hand, refused to go down quietly.

With this D.Va 3K Self-Destruct, all the momentum swung in favor of Spacestation. Team Liquid had attempted to punch back with Infekted on Ramattra, however, as ChrisTFer had predicted, Hawk’s D.Va shut down all efforts.

This continued into Hollywood. Although Liquid put up a good fight on Winston and Ramattra, they were unable to successfully beat Spacestation’s progress. As Infekted C9’d the end of the map, Hawk’s dominant D.Va had dismantled the opposition.

While Spacestation increased their lead to 2-1, the series was far from over.

Team Liquid was not ready to give up just yet.

They had earned their way to the Regional Finals for a reason, and they were about to show why. Coach Casores selected Esperança and brought with him a crucial ban on D.Va — and Infekted did not waste this opportunity.

Both zeruhh and TR33 rallied behind Infekted’s Winston and completely dominated Hawk’s Zarya. It wasn’t a close affair either, as Liquid fully capped the robot on Esperança and continued this trend onto Suravasa, where Infekted’s Sigma made a surprise appearance that caught Spacestation off guard.

With the series now at 3-2, Team Liquid now stood at the precipice of officially claiming their first Regional Title — a feat that has eluded them all year long.

All they needed to do was win one more map.

But Spacestation Gaming was not done yet.

King’s Row proved to be one of the toughest battles for Team Liquid all stage long. Hawk and Cjay ensured that they would win this map by any means necessary to force a Game 7. With Sugarfree silencing TR33 and Vega, Spacestation forced the map to go into extra innings — Team Liquid, due to not finishing the map with extra seconds, was forced to defend.

Their defense was paper-thin, and the round ended before anyone had time to blink. Spacestation — after a turbulent year that resulted in them rebuilding their roster right at the tail end of the season — was one map away from claiming a Regional Title.

Team Liquid, on the other hand, looked frazzled. They had exhausted nearly every crucial ban possible to cripple Spacestation’s composition. Their last hope would be bringing this Zarya-D.Va squad to Watchpoint: Gibraltar — a map where Infekted’s Winston and Wrecking Ball could thrive.

And this map came down to the absolute wire.

A Photo Finish: Team Liquid secures the victory over Spacestation Gaming

Gibraltar was an absolute masterclass of styles. Hawk versus Infekted — TR33 and zeruhh versus Sugarfree and Kronik — Rupal and Vega versus Cjay and Lep. All 10 players on the field were electric and locked in, and what followed was one of the closest teamfights in Overwatch history.

The Winning Moment

Hawk was just 1% point away from getting his Self-Destruct — which could have swung the victory in favor of Spacestation. However, this moment adds to the ever-growing list of missed clutches by the former Atlanta Reign tank. As the overtime timer ticked down, that was all she wrote. Team Liquid had beaten Spacestation Gaming 4-3.

Although Spacestation Gaming closed out their Stage 3 in second place, they still had the most successful rebuild in all of OWCS 2025. Had Hawk made a few more shots, it’s possible they would have been the ones with the first seed. While coach ChrisTFer wasn’t able to secure the win, he turned this team around and brought them back into international competition.

But to the victors go the spoils.

Team Liquid had finally done it. They won what was promised to them all the way back in the preseason: a Regional Title. With this victory, not only did coach Casores prove his style was the superior one all along, but he earned his team a first-round bye in the World Finals at Dreamhack Stockholm.

Grand Finals MVP: Elliot "TR33" Chu from Team Liquid

Throughout the Finals, Team Liquid found themselves slipping off the edge. But there was one player who rose to the occasion and kept his team in the fight, one of the most flexible players in Overwatch history. That player was the jack-of-all-trades, master of all: Elliot "TR33" Chu.

Coming into 2025, most analysts expected TR33 to serve as the cornerstone of Team Liquid’s core — he had already demonstrated a deep hero pool and mastery of many heroes during his time on M80 and NRG Shock in 2024. At the start of the season, TR33 returned to his dominant form and looked to be one of the best DPS players in the world — and his skill ceiling hit a crescendo once his partner Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano was added in Stage 2. After the Midseason Championship and the start of Stage 3, TR33 revealed that he wasn’t just a versatile player — he was one of the greats.

In the Regional Finals, he turned losing moments into victories. On Ilios and Hollywood, TR33 busted out his signature Hanzo that dominated the opposition and kept his team alive in the series. And when the strategy called for something different, he demonstrated a masterclass of flexibility. Whether it was firing Sojourn rails, dueling on Cassidy, sending bolts across the skies with Freja, or even breaking out the Dragonblade with Genji, TR33 was the one on top.

TR33 wasn’t just the hero Team Liquid needed, he was the one who defined their victory.

For being the Swiss-army knife of Team Liquid, OWTV is proud to recognize Elliot “TR33” Chu as the MVP of the Stage 3 North American Finals.

Stage 3 Upper Finals and Lower Bracket Recap: Natsuki’s Big Misplay and Geekay’s Faltering Lead

Sakura Esports 1 - 3 Spacestation Gaming

Lower Bracket Semifinal

Throughout the 2025 season in North America, one fact was consistent: the top four teams were always untouchable. Although Extinction came the closest — pushing both NTMR and Spacestation to multiple map fives — no team within the 5th - 8th place range was ever able to successfully win against these elite opponents.

That all changed last week in the first round of the Lower Bracket.

Sakura Esports defeated NTMR in a dominant 3-1. This wasn’t just an upset, it was proof. For Sakura, this proved to them that they were capable of hanging with the best in North America. For Spacestation, this proved to them that they needed to take this threat to their status seriously.

Even with these realizations, both teams were somewhat unsure of what the results of this game would be. Alexander "Zeb" Shepard acknowledged how it has been hard for the team to prepare due to limited scrim time, but remained confident that his unorthodox Zarya could tip the scales in Sakura’s favor.

Watch Interview Zeb: "That was probably the worst ban of the season."

Coach Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham, on the other hand, remained confident — there would be no shenanigans, Spacestation’s veteran leadership would finish this quickly.

Watch Interview ChrisTFer: "There are no Orisa mirrors coming."

Spacestation began the series on Lijiang Tower with an unorthodox Bastion-Symmetra executed by Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci and Kamden "Sugarfree" Hijada — a composition they originally used against Sakura in Week 1. While it was a bit of a troll-composition then, it completely dismantled Sakura’s game plan — and it seemed as though Sakura’s run was coming to its end.

Then Sakura made a bold gamble.

Xten and xomba decided to mirror the Bastion-Symmetra themselves in the second round of Lijiang. At the same time, they would do their best to ensure Zeb was successful in baiting Xander "Hawk" Domecq’s lethal Zarya into dangerous situations.

And it worked — Sakura’s gameplay caught Spacestation off guard. Suddenly, their clean engagements on Round 1 were being punished, and the DPS were having difficulty out-rotating Sakura’s now that they too had a Symmetra Teleporter. After changing their game plan, Sakura came back to win Lijiang Tower in the third round.

Heading into Rialto, the veteran experience of Spacestation began to show. While xomba and Zeb were able to create winnable moments for Sakura, they lacked the final clutch factor to push them over the finish line. Sugarfree and Hawk, on the other hand, were more than capable of closing out fights and remained collected the entire way through. Sakura’s players may have studied everything about the Zarya comp, but Spacestation’s coach ChrisTFer wrote the book.

It was thanks to this gap that Spacestation was able to win Rialto 3-2. It was a close map, and Sakura knew all they needed was to refocus and come back strong on the next map: King’s Row.

Towards the end of the map, Sakura was just one teamfight away from securing the map in their favor — but once again, the veteran resolve within Spacestation’s core was able to bring the tempo back in their favor.

As the cart inched towards the golden box of victory, Niels "Natsuki" van Herwijnen made the biggest misplay of the entire playoffs.

With the Ajax by Natsuki, the confidence of Sakura Esports was entirely drained.

On Esperança, the entire team seemed sluggish and off-focus. There were multiple times on this map where Sakura could have gotten ahead, but they were unable to truly regain the swagger from the first three maps. Spacestation took notice, and that was all she wrote. The bot was fully capped, and Sakura’s miracle run ended with a score of 3-1.

While it may seem somewhat one-sided after Lijiang Tower, the score doesn’t tell the whole story. Sakura made Spacestation work for this win.

However, on that day, veteran experience won over ambition, and Sakura Esports had to contend with a 4th-place finish.

Geekay Esports 1 - 3 Team Liquid

Upper Bracket Finals

Geekay clinched their spot in the World Finals by beating Spacestation Gaming, but there was still more to be done. They weren’t satisfied with only making it to the finals; they wanted a higher seed in the tournament.

The only thing standing between Geekay and another Regional Finals visit was Team Liquid. Back in Week 5, these two teams took the series all the way to Map 5 — a series that ended with Team Liquid victorious. If Geekay wanted to prove they could still hang with the truly elite teams, they needed to beat the current No. 1 seed.

Although the match was much closer than the scoreline dictates, it was an easy win for Team Liquid.

The entirety of Geekay wasn’t playing poorly, rather, Team Liquid was simply better. William "WMaimone" Maimone and Riley "cuFFa" Brown did their best to contend with their opposition, but Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano and Boston "Infekted" Fine simply executed their compositions better.

Many of the issues that plagued Geekay in Weeks 5 and 6 had been patched, but it was simply a matter of skill. This victory would bring Team Liquid into their second Regional Finals of the season, while Geekay would be forced to claw their way back in the Lower Bracket Finals.

Geekay Esports 2 - 3 Spacestation Gaming

Lower Bracket Finals

When Geekay fell into the Lower Bracket, they knew it was only a matter of time before their rival would meet them once again. And, after a decisive victory over Sakura Esports, Spacestation Gaming entered the Lower Bracket Finals to face Geekay Esports one more time.

Both of these squads had figured each other out perfectly. They had faced off twice in the last two weeks, and with their head-to-head record tied at 1-1, this third meeting would be the most important.

Although both teams had already secured their positions in Stockholm, they wanted to prove why they are the strongest in North America.

Much like the previous two matchups, this meeting did not disappoint.

An intense back-and-forth brawl ensued. At first, it seemed as though Spacestation Gaming was going to take the series much quicker than usual, as Ilios was dominated by Rocco "Kronik" Iacobacci and Xander "Hawk" Domecq.

However, Geekay was not going to go down without a fight. As the series progressed, Riley "cuFFa" Brown remained flexible in his tank selections on both Rialto and King’s Row, and was ultimately successful in bringing Geekay up 2-1 in the series.

It seemed as though we were destined for another Geekay Regional Finals appearance. However, Spacestation was not about to go down that easily.

Unfortunately for Geekay, their hopes came crashing down on Suravasa and Esperança. Much like their Week 6 meeting, Spacestation completely overwhelmed Denis "Lethal" Tari and shut down Benjamin "UltraViolet" David.

Spacestation would reclaim their lost glory and finally return to a Regional Grand Finals, while Geekay faced their worst finish in the 2025 regular season.

Many questions will be asked for the Geekay Esports core as we get closer to the World Finals, but their consistency all year cannot be understated. They were the only team in North America to qualify for every international event, and, as cuFFa said in Week 1, their focus is on the best teams in the World.

But for now, a third-place finish is what they must accept. And Spacestation would return to the Regional Finals for the first time since Stage 1.