📝 The EMEA elite hound Al Qadsiah to the top | EMEA OWCS Week 2 summary

Week 1 was the perfect start for Stage 2 champions, Al Qadsiah. Getting an early lead and putting Twisted Minds on the back foot, who finished Week 1 in 5th place. Week 2 has concluded, and the standings table is starting to take shape. While there were no major upsets this week, we got a lot of insights into the quality of the region and how things are shaping up as we inch closer to Stockholm.

Game of the week: Goud Guys ANM vs Team Vision

During the off-season, we had the chance to sit down with Goud Guys ANM tank Loïc “KroxZ” Ricci for a quick chat. During his interview, he cherished the opportunity to take on Team Vision for a rematch.

A rematch of the two newly promoted teams to the OWCS, who almost kept one another out of the competition. KroxZ singled out Park “Viol2t” Min-ki. Team Vision support, Simon “Scyle” Broström, dismissed Goud Guys completely. We touted this match to be the game of the week in our preview of the weekend, and it delivered.

In his pre-match interview, Scyle said, “...we’re just gonna play our game, and probably 3-0 them,” and Goud Guys ANM answered in kind.

An explosive start to the matchup saw Goud Guys damage players, Simon “ sxj” Debono and Kio, pick off Vision players left and right for an early Goud Guys control. Constant, scrappy back and forth, culminating in a double Kitsune Rush showdown on the point in favour of Goud Guys. KroxZ switched to his signature Roadhog on Night Market, scoring some crucial hook kills on Moritz “cookie” Schmidt and Viol2t. Goud Guys come out swinging, securing map one and rattling a previously confident Team Vision.

Team Vision quickly rallied, and they took the match to Junkertown. With copious amounts of pressure from Viol2t on Wuyang and cookie on Sojourn, Vision dominates the angle fight over Goud Guys with D.Va, Tracer, and Kiriko, managing to secure the first two points with a hefty time bank on third.

While Goud Guys managed to burn some time off the clock on the last point, Team Vision easily went the distance with ample time advantage and secured the map after halting the Goud Guys’ attack on the second point.

Goud Guys ANM picked Aatlis for Map 3, banned Tracer to force Choi “ChoiSehwan” Se-hwan out of his element. Both teams’ flex-DPS players turned to Venture for the map, while Viol2t switched back to Lucio, and Tama went Zarya. KroxZ gave a master performance on Hazard, taking full advantage of Tama’s aggressive Zarya, absolutely pushing Team Vision to the edge in a 5-point all-out brawl. Ultimately, cookie and Viol2t swung the match in their favour, and a perfectly placed Graviton Surge from Tama put Goud Guys on match point, 2-1 for Team Vision.

Team Vision put the game of the week to bed in style on Map 4. Goud Guys ANM picked Eichenwalde for the map, but having banned Illari on Junkertown, Viol2t wasted no time to take over the entire match for the next sixteen minutes. Goud Guys’ defence is commendable, as Team Vision managed to reach the finish line with only a few seconds left on the clock, a stark contrast to Junkertown. However, Team Vision’s defence is indomitable and they hold Goud Guys to a single point, and the series win.

A tantalising end to the series. KroxZ gave Viol2t and the rest of Team Vision a run for their money, and a few kinks for Team Vision to iron out before they face off against Twisted Minds next week.

Viol2t responds to KroxZ’s challenge, carries Team Vision to victory

One of the highest-rated players to have played Overwatch, Viol2t, stunned the scene when Team Vision, which had just been relegated from the OWCS, announced his signing. A controversial move for one of the greatest support players of the game. Despite concerns, the acquisition of ChoiSehwan, Scyle, cookie, and their immediate promotion back to OWCS was a clear indication of the team’s long-term goals.

However, ambitious goals are often accompanied by certain expectations, and Viol2t most certainly is expected to perform at a level much higher than Team Vision’s seeded placement suggests.

Team Vision was defeated in a 3-0 sweep against EMEA champions, Al Qadsiah. A matchup where Viol2t started at his usual high level, but for a lapse in judgment, which led to their loss at the end of Map 1. His performance continued to deteriorate, as he kept taking riskier actions, and was deftly punished by the opposing team. Viol2t’s performance was singled out, and questions arose regarding whether or not the Korean veteran was too susceptible to morale and performance loss if things did not go his way.

Before Team Vision’s matchup against Goud Guys ANM, Viol2t was singled out by KroxZ. And, in the opening round of their bout, the French team toppled Team Vision, and things went from bad to worse for Viol2t.

Despite playing through four maps with a massive target on his back, Viol2t managed not only to keep his head in the game but also demonstrated one of the most significant improvements in performance on an individual level. With every subsequent map, Viol2t’s performance improved. Lethal on Wuyang in Map 2, surgical on Lucio in Map 3, and capped it all off with an all-star performance on Illari, a hero that few other support players, if any, manage to play.

Viol2t put on full display why he’s one of the most decorated Overwatch players in the game’s history. Not only did he face the challenge set before him, but he was also the driving force that pushed his team into victory.

Meta summary: Wuyang and Symmetra rise through the ranks

Last week’s meta summary saw most of EMEA’s elite stick to their roots, steering clear of the double-flex meta developing in Korea and heavily adopted in North America, save for Virtus.pro, which was the only team that found success running the double-flex, thanks to Kevin “kevster” Persson and Kim “JaeWoo” Jae-woo.

Week 2 in EMEA solidified some trends from Week 1, but also brought development in a couple of other areas across all teams.

The tanks continued to stick to the few heroes who were prevalent in Week 1. D.Va, Zarya, and Hazard continue to be the go-to picks by most tanks, depending on bans and map picks. We also saw a couple of odd picks, such as Roadhog by Jonas “eisgnom” Stratemeyer, Alhumaidi “KSAA” Alruwaili, and KroxZ, which worked well, but that’s likely due to individual skill and matchup.

The double-flex versus hitscan setups mostly remained the same. Teams that have access to well-established hitscan players stuck to their guns, such as Al Qadsiah, Twisted Minds, and Team Vision. While Virtus.pro continued running the double-flex, Gen.G switched back to hitscan.

An interesting development from the previous week is the resurgence of Symmetra. A hero that defined the most effective composition during Stage 2 and the Midseason Championship. The removal of Advanced Teleportation right before the start of Stage 3 reduced her pick-rate quite significantly. However, Al Qadsiah continued to play around Symmetra in Week 1, and whether inspired by their results or the meta naturally evolving, Symmetra’s pick-rate was significantly higher this week. Virtus.pro integrated Symmetra in their double-flex setups, pairing her with Genji and Tracer. On the other hand, Gen.G heavily leaned into Symmetra whenever possible alongside their preferred hitscan heroes, Sojourn and Cassidy. Twisted Minds and Goud Guys ANM also used Symmetra, albeit less prominently.

The support picks remained mostly the same. The unmatched pairing of Kiriko and Lucio continues to constitute the vast majority of support compositions throughout Week 2. However, there’s a noticeable upward trend in Wuyang picks this time around, as EMEA supports continue to train and develop the new hero to fit their unique playstyles. Kristian “Kellex” Keller from Al Qadsiah played Wuyang on two maps, Kwon “FiXa” Yeong-hun as well from Virtus.pro, and so did Viol2t, Johnny “Jonte” Bumpkin, and Johnowich.

The more dominant teams are still testing the waters in search of the most effective compositions. Twisted Minds ran a quick double-flex trial on Aatlis, Virtus.pro brought out Symmetra, and all the Wuyang trials indicate a meta that is still brewing and nowhere near its final form.

Results summary: Crucial wins for teams vying for the top

Team Peps 0 - 3 Twisted Minds

What was touted to be one of the closer matchups of Week 2 turned out to be quite the one-sided affair. Twisted Minds showed no signs of being rattled from their close defeat to Al Qadsiah the previous week.

Leo-Kristian “Zorrow” Sundin’s confidence was laudable during his pre-match interview with OWTV. Still, the team was no match for the deadly rout that “KSAA” and Ibrahem “Quartz” Alali, and the rest of Twisted Minds unleashed upon them.

Twisted Minds appear quite certain of their final standing in the region, since they’re still testing out their optimal roster line-up. They played with Abdualziz “TVNT” Altmimi for all five games against Al Qadsiah, and tried out KSAA for all three games against Team Peps. KSAA was impressive in his first three games of Stage 3, and it remains to be seen if the team sticks to one tank over the other as the season progresses.

It’s worth mentioning that very early on Map 3, Aatlis, Quartz switched to Venture. An uncharacteristic flex-DPS hero pick for the ace hitscan player. Potentially a fresh addition to his arsenal due to the prevalent double-flex compositions developing in Korea and North America. However, even though Twisted Minds got a convincing win on Aatlis, Quartz never managed to fire off his Tectonic Shock. Team Peps continuously took him out, and he ultimately switched back to his favoured Sojourn despite the full ultimate charge.

Al Qadsiah 3 - 0 Quick Esports

An expected 3-0 sweep by the EMEA champions, Al Qadsiah. Kristian “Kellex” Keller deployed Wuyang for two of the three maps, and the team also benched Week 1 player of the week, Ziyad “ZIYAD” Alkathiri, to give their new tank signing, Oleksandr “Chase” Okseschenko, three full maps to acclimate with the team. This allowed Al Qadsiah to play around Wrecking Ball and Hazard compositions, having already established a dominant composition with ZIYAD on D.Va and Orisa.

Gen.G Esports 1 - 3 Virtus.pro

Fresh off their flawless performance against Goud Guys ANM in Week 1, Virtus.pro looked to continue the trend in Week 2. The team, which is poised to challenge Al Qadsiah’s crown, faced little resistance against Gen.G.

Gen.G decided to forego the double-flex-DPS composition from last week and opted to have Daniel “xzodyal” Castro on Sojourn instead. Virtus.pro continued to play their double-flex pairing of JaeWoo and kevster to full effect.

Things developed similarly on every map through this series. Despite Gen.G managing to find the odd opening, they never managed to keep up the pace that kevster and JaeWoo unleashed on them. kevster’s presence on the map was staggering, seemingly popping up from multiple flanks simultaneously. The Gen.G backline could find no respite from his constant harassment. Things went from bad to worse for Gen.G when eisgnom threw a wrench with his odd menagerie of tank picks with Roadhog and Doomfist. Both were highly effective, and a grim sign for VP’s rivals as they display an incredible level of flexibility between Ilari “Vestola” Vestola and eisgnom that matches their DPS options.

Gen.G managed to recover, albeit temporarily, winning on Esperança, which they would later repeat against Quick Esports as well. Esperança’s turning out to be something of a signature map for Gen.G. It heavily favours their Symmetra and Cassidy pairing, constantly catching VP players out of position with snap teleports, and winning key teamfights with the Photon Barrier.

Gen.G Esports 3 - 1 Quick Esports

In each of their second matches of Week 2, Gen.G and Quick Esports squared up in a contest for their first win of the stage. Quick Esports knew of the possibility to scrape out a win here, whereas Gen.G saw it as a turning point for their season so far.

Quick Esports started the first map on their Reinhardt composition from the previous week. Gen.G decided to match their freak and mirrored Quick's Bastion and Symmetra pairing. However, the tank mismatch was in full effect, as Quick were too stationary when playing around Reinhardt compared to their opponent’s Zarya. Their lack of mobility was consistently punished by Daniel “xzodyal” Castro on Bastion, firing through Robert “Skai” Lupsa’s Amplification Matrix on Baptiste. Gen.G got a comfortable 1-0 lead.

Map 2 took the teams to Junkertown. Gen.G continued with the Symmetra composition, and they put their qualities on display. Quick brought forward an effective composition, and despite an effective first-point capture on their end, Gen.G outplayed them on an individual level, player to player, and role to role. 2-0 for Gen.G.

Quick took the game to Hollywood, where they saw some level of success on the previous day against Al Qadsiah. They also swapped Cristiano “Evil” Verissimo from Genji to Tracer, and having banned Wuyang in the first round, the new hero was now up for grabs for Jonte. These changes completely caught Gen.G by surprise, and both Evil and Jonte put on a clinical display, stopping Gen.G in their tracks halfway to the second point, and ultimately, Quick Esports didn’t have to do much pushing themselves to cross it over the line for the win.

Gen.G picked their favoured map, Esperança, and were quick to put things to rest. Evil and Jonte stayed on Tracer and Wuyang for a repeat of Map 3, but the gulf between the two teams was on full display. Gen.G went with Cassidy and Hazard, and utilised Symmetra to her full extent, shutting down the enemy Wuyang, Sojourn, and Tracer for a convincing win.