Lunatic-Hai rolled over their Quarter Final opponents VICI Gaming, slaying them on all three maps. Despite some strong play from Diya, the Chinese side were eliminated from the tournament by the strong cohesive play of Lunatic-Hai’s star-studded roster.

First seed from Group B Lunatic-Hai faced against second seed from Group A VICI Gaming in the second Quarter Final. Lunatic-Hai were the heavy favourites going into the match after their double win over Rogue, and their star talents were preparing to go ham once again.

King’s Row

Lunatic-Hai had favoured a Mei composition throughout the groups with a similar playstle to European Misfits; their star players fit perfectly into the comp and they began with it on defence. Lunatic’s stylistic alteration to the composition often saw Leetaejun pick up Roadhog rather than Reaper, adding even more pick potential to the comp and letting superstar Zarya player Miro or Reinhardt Dean take Nanoboosts. VICI likewise began with a Mei but Esca massively outplayed his counterpart, ruining push after push.

VICI knocked their head against the defense repeatedly and finally, in the last 40 seconds, managed to string together a Nano-Blossom that got them the point with some real lucky survival from Diya. In the beginning of the streets the two teams clashed multiple times but the only plays that ever got traction were the elaborately constructed Nano-Blossoms. Despite losing most engagements, the slow grind forwards put VICI in a position to take a fight in front of the foundry and Lunatic-Hai again delayed but couldn’t hold them. With 90 seconds to take the foundry, Diya’s Nano-Blossom missed out on any kills and his team died around him, putting it all into overtime. A Blizzard opened the path around the first bend, but Miro’s insane damage gave him another Graviton and Leetaejun finished it off with his own Nano-Blossom to end the attack cold at 56.6m.

Image credit: Rogue

Lunatic-Hai ran their same composition on attack, instantly trading Reinhardts and picking up the Mei as well. Miro found another three and the Koreans took the first point with ease. A split-second engagement from Esca went south however as he invested a Blizzard to force a big teamfight around the arch and set his team up to wipe to a Diya Blossom from above. It only took Lunatic-Hai one more push to crack the streets however as Leetaejun took a Nano as Roadhog with his own ult to clear out the tanks. They were left with four minutes to complete the attack and win; VICI held on for a little while but were wiped away in the end.

Dorado

Dorado was the map that Lunatic-Hai lost to Rogue in the groups after a lack of vision in their attack. They started on defense this time, going back to a classic Mei composition with Leetaejun on Reaper. Diya on McCree burst into the backlines with a speedboost and took out Ryujehong, opening the fight for the rest of his 2-2-2 team to take the fountain. Lunatic-Hai fired back, holding the hotel balcony with a Blossom and then later with a Blizzard to delay it by two minutes. This gave VICI a huge ultimate advantage though as the instant wipes had denied Lunatic much ult charge, and they used it to push the payload all the way to the doors of the power plant.

The combination of Diya and Yumu on McCree and Reaper had been paying dividends, but now the spawns were firmly in the defender’s advantage. Esca swapped off to McCree to make full use of the height and Lunatic-Hai neutralised pushes to take it down to the final 30 seconds; as the time ticked down the Koreans held strong and stopped VICI at 58.44m.

Kaplan and Leslie passing judgement. Image credit: @Sylviainiyo

Both teams started out with the same compositions they had begun with the previous round. A lot of pressure on the defense was on Diya to convert kills from behind the fountain, and once he was taken down along with a tank the point was wide open. VICI fell apart after this. Despite getting a good position on balcony their collapse was terribly uncoordinated and they held on for only one more fight before giving up the second checkpoint. Lunatic-Hai had over three and a half minutes to crack the last few score metres, and it took them only a single minute as they kept the cart pushing by trading players near the defenders’ spawn.

Temple of Anubis

Temple of Anubis was the first time the APAC Premier had seen top teams clashing on an Assault map. VICI Gaming had to find some way of getting back into the match, and they came out all guns blazing with Diya on Genji, Yumu on Ana and xbg on Pharah. Diya got into the backline and tried to take a 1v1 against Ryujehong but got schooled, styled on by the Korean Ana two fights in a row to completely repel the attack. Miro was also running Winston, a change from his normal role on Zarya, to apply pressure to the backlines of VICI whenever they pushed. This stopped their supports committing to the fight and let his team bait the rest of the players into the point and mop them up.

A final push in the dying seconds took the first point and VICI tried to quickly apply the pressure with the remainder of their ultimates and take the second. Lunatic-Hai held on and kited the players around their point, dragging out the attack and slowly grinding the win with their tanks. The Chinese side’s timebank was dwindling away, and in the final minute Zmmmm was able to pick up two kills to start the fight more favourably. The rest of Lunatic were able to delay for so long though, and the spawners kept flowing back in. The overtime hit and Lunatic-Hai kept sending in dribs and drabs, delaying the fight for longer and longer, but they couldn’t hold out forever. VICI gaming took two points with the whole of their timebank.

xbg tried out a newly buffed Junkrat on the defense, but couldn’t find anything with his first riptire. Lunatic-Hai got into the point without losing anybody and took the fight to give themselves six and a half minutes to take the second. Leejaehun took out two with a Blossom and Esca boosted his Ana into a great position on the columns, out of danger for a while but able to wreak havoc. The damage and survivability coming out from Miro and Esca was admirable, but they couldn’t take the point on their first attempt without supports and had to content themselves with a well-executed wipe on the second try. Lunatic-Hai still had 3:58 left to take one point and win the series 3-0.

Leetaejun tried out Widowmaker, also recently buffed, and was able to do a modicum of damage and find a few picks to open up the site. VICI looked broken and crumbled, letting the Koreans swarm in and easily take the market, capturing the point and rocketing VICI out of APAC Premier.

Lunatic-Hai bulldozed their way through the Quarter Finals to confront NRG in the Semis, in a highly anticipated battle.