123 knock GamersOrigin out of the playoff race while Renegades nearly pull out an upset in Overwatch Contenders

Sep 24, 2017

It was a bittersweet day for Overwatch fans as the Overwatch Contenders regular season came to a close. Both the European and North American regions had one final position undecided for the postseason as Cloud9 and GamersOrigin from Europe and Rogue and FNRGFE from North America were all looking to make the final cut.

Europe

GamersOrigin (3-4) vs 123 (5-2)

Nepal – GamersOrigin

Numbani – 123

Hanamura – 123

Dorado – 123

A must-win series for GamersOrigin came at the hands of 123, a team that has impressed time and time again with their unexpected run this season. While GamersOrigin were in a must-win situation for playoff qualification, if they managed to squeeze out enough map wins they could steal away 123’s number three seed and avoid Misfits altogether in the first round.

GamersOrigin surprised us right out of the gates on Village of Nepal with a quad-tank setup with Jeremy “Hqrdest” Danton on the Roadhog and Lucas “Leaf” Loison playing D.va, finding swift success against a triple DPS setup. Things returned to normality with Leaf on Doomfist to provide an aggressive threat alongside Hqrdest’s Tracer/McCree. The flexibility certainly took 123 by surprise to give GamersOrigin an early map win.

Leaf looked to be in his best form yet as he pummeled down 123 at nearly every turn moving into Numbani. In conjunction with Hqrdest’s flexibility between McCree, Tracer, and Soldier: 76, 123 could not find an answer for the dynamic duo. Late on Numbani 123’s Hafþór “Hafficool” Hákonarson switched over to Zarya to pair up with Finnbjörn “Finnsi” Jónasson’s McCree to provide the necessary pressure to ensure they didn’t capture all three checkpoints.

123 evolved into something greater as this series progressed, seemingly figuring out how to deal with Leaf. Even with Gael “Poko” Gouzerch and Hqrdest making plays to support him, most of their success was off of a Doomfist paving the way. GamersOrigin gave up Hanamura quite convincingly as 123 found an easy capture only to then make a full-hold, denying them of any points whatsoever. GamersOrigin tried putting Hqrdest on Widowmaker in the final moments to try to squeeze out a capture, but great overall positioning denied him of any picks in the entryway.

Knowing at this point that GamersOrigin had to win Dorado and then a tiebreaker following this, it was a question of whether or not they wanted to stick with what had worked all season for them in Doomfist, or adapt to what 123 was throwing their way. Leaf brought out a defensive Junkrat and Genji which didn’t quite play to their advantage, allowing 123 to finish out Dorado with over two minutes.

123 outclassed GamersOrigin in every fight, proving themselves to be the better team and worthy of the third seed for Europe. It was a good run for Leaf and the crew but unfortunately not enough gas in the tank to propel them into the playoffs. This loss means Cloud9 will qualify as the fourth team from Europe to head to the Blizzard Arena for the playoffs this October.

Misfits (7-0) vs eUnited (1-6)

Oasis – Misfits

King’s Row – Misfits

Volskaya Industries – Misfits

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Misfits

Misfits’ perfect record and pride versus eUnited’s chance of rolling out with a bigger payday. The difference between a sixth place finish and seventh place finish is a total of $3,500, a sizable reason as to why eUnited came at Misfits with everything they had.

As anticipated it was a strong start for Misfits who didn’t have too many troubles in dealing with Andrei “uNFixed” Leonov’s Sombra on Oasis. The second round proved to be a little more difficult, but eUnited’s inability to bring a potent D.va to the field hurt them dearly in their early defeat.

It’s always a pleasure to watch Kevyn “TviQ” Lindström and Andreas “Logix” Berghmans link up as the Junkrat and Soldier: 76 combination proved too much for eUnited to handle. A full-hold was nearly thwarted by a double-kill Pulse Bomb from Hendrik-WIlliam “vallutaja” Kinks before Logix’s Tactical Visor came through to save the day, giving them zero progress on King’s Row.

eUnited realized they were facing utter defeat when held shy of grabbing the second checkpoint on Volskaya Industries. By bringing out a defensive Torbjorn it was clear they knew all was lost and could only hope to bring the final map into their favor.

eUnited started to show their true colors as they closed out their final map of the season, at least coming through with the completion of Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Vallutaja’s efforts on Tracer were heavily rewarded as he picked Misfits apart on the offensive end before faltering later on.

Misfits conclude their season with a perfect 7-0 record while the defending champions in eUnited fail to qualify for the playoffs. Misfits will have their hands full with a rematch against Cloud9 in the first round of the playoffs in just a few weeks in Los Angeles, California.

Current Standings

North America

FNRGFE (4-3) vs Renegades (0-7)

Lijiang Tower – Renegades

Numbani – FNRGFE

Hanamura – Renegades

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – FNRGFE

Tiebreaker: Ilios – FNRGFE

Hopes and dreams of the playoffs were on the line for FNRGFE who faced off against the last place team in the region. Renegades have only been able to muster up two game victories throughout their season, but would that be enough to spoil FNRGFE’s chances of the postseason and give way for Rogue to claim the fourth spot?

Everyone had already counted Renegades out of the series before they came into today’s matchup. Liam “Mangachu” Campbell and company had something to say about that as Lijiang Tower was a fight to the death. The Pharah versus Pharah matchup was anything but a letdown as Mangachu controlled the skies and propelled his team to an early lead.

A glimmer of hope was all it seemed to be for Renegades who were completely denied on Numbani. Matt “Coolmatt69” Iorio established himself as the better of the D.va players, enabling both Casey “Buds” McIlwaine and Matt “Clockwork” Dias to continuously find the advantage over the Renegades players.

Moving forward, Hanamura had been one of Renegades more oddball maps as they notoriously brought out bizarre compositions on the defensive side. Things were different this time around as they seemed to actually stand a chance. It was Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo flipping the switch on Roadhog, picking up any slack from his teammates as they made an incredible last stand to take yet another map.

Having won as many maps in this series as they have all season long, this was certainly the best version of Renegades we’ve seen yet. With that in mind, we also witnessed the typical Renegades in this set, as it would be FNRGFE stomping one map and Renegades the next. FNRGFE came out on fire on Watchpoint: Gibraltar with Buds’ Widowmaker finding its mark and helping secure three points in the final moments of their offensive push.

After forcing it to a fifth and final game, Ilios would be the determining factor for whether it would be FNRGFE or Rogue heading to the playoffs. Despite Renegades keeping it close, they were unable to pull through in desperate times, letting their chances of grabbing their first win of the season slip out of their hands. With this win it was FNRGFE punching their ticket to the finals where they’ll take on EnVyUs in the first round.

Kungarna (2-5) vs Immortals (2-5)

Nepal – Immortals

King’s Row – Immortals & Kungarna (tie)

Hanamura – Immortals

Dorado – Immortals

Similar to Europe’s earlier matches, Kungarna versus Immortals only had an impact on final placement in the standings which deals with a substantial difference in earnings from sixth to seventh place. A win for either side would solidify a sixth place finish with the other falling to seventh.

Kungarna’s Andrej “babybay” Francisty tried to keep things fresh with a Widowmaker on Nepal, ultimately keeping Immortals on their toes around every corner. But even that wasn’t enough to stop the onslaught that is Brady “Agilities” Girardi himself, who managed to push past all resistance with his Genji and Pharah.

Kungarna and Immortals kept things fairly even throughout King’s Row which ended up being a draw as neither team managed to grab any point progression on their second attempt. Plenty of credit for Kungarna on this map goes to Aaron “Bischu” Kim who kept his team’s hopes alive with his stellar Zarya play.

With Immortals now only needing to take a single map to secure the series, it was doubtful either team would be changing anything up to a certain extent as they headed to Hanamura. Immortals as a team came into the match wanting to close the set out then and there as all six members had game-changing plays with Agilities closing it out to make a full-hold and give his team the series win.

The final map of the regular season had no implications on anything whatsoever, so there was no telling what either team would toss our way. In hopes of some exciting compositions it was Kungarna who put Dustin “Dogman” Bowerman on Pharah and babybay on Mercy for a bit of fun.

There’s no telling what will happen to either roster as Immortals make their final preparations for the Overwatch League and Kungarna players more than likely look to find new homes.

Current Standings