Lunatic-Hai and NRG had a slugfest of a game, with all three Control maps being played at the end of the match. NRG looked powerful right from the beginning with Seagull performing on Mei, but Lunatic-Hai had an even better defense on Numbani to take the early lead. On Control, the two teams looked incredibly even as it went to the final push on the final round of Ilios, but Lunatic-Hai took the win with some excellent teamplay.

Coming into the Semi-Finals, four separate regions were being represented. The first of them saw North America come up against Korea, while the second saw Europe battle China. Lunatic-Hai’s overall performance looked like the best in the tournament up to the Semis but NRG still stood in their way. NRG had not dropped a map in the tournament in the groups or Quarters, but had seen an easier path. A victory here for NRG would see both Korean teams eliminated before the Grand Final but Lunatic-Hai were considered reasonably heavy favourites.

Lunatic-Hai had been running a Mei composition for most of the tournament but often switching the usual Reaper for a Roadhog on Leetaejun. Their teamplay had been superlative and their superstar Zarya, Ana, and Mei fit perfectly into the composition. NRG would have a hard task of breaking down this strategy with their own unique and flexible approach to the game, but also had the pieces to attempt to go head to head, putting Gods on Roadhog and Seagull on Mei.

Numbani

NRG did begin with Seagull and Gods on the Mei and Hog, with enigma providing Zarya support. Lunatic-Hai however did not, instead opting for Esca’s McCree and Leetaejun on Tracer for a 2-2-2 setup with a lot of hitscan firepower on attack. Lunatic-Hai tried to take the top ground but Seagull split them in half and NRG cleaned up. Seagull again blocked them with an Icewall, and milo hit an Earthshatter to deny a Nanoboosted Dean to frustrate them again. Lunatic then pushed from underneath, diving into the streets and playing from behind but still couldn’t pick apart NRG. Esca got in behind and dragged all of NRG back, giving his team position on the point and letting them establish control with another Nanoboost despite a good Graviton coming in from enigma.

In the beginning of the streets NRG played very aggressively with their ultimates, Seagull driving forward with his Blizzards to catch a ton of the Korean players and keeping them on the defensive. With two minutes left Lunatic-Hai still had an ultimate disadvantage, but Dean found a great Nanoboost to take two picks and NRG were too cautious with their ultimates. They kept hold of three and had to fall back to the final area.

Image credit: NRG

Even with the added time there was still only two minutes for Lunatic-Hai to progress. Seagull continued to do ridiculous work on Mei and Gods switched over to Reaper, Blossoming in to take off another minute. Coming round the final bend in the final minute, Esca found enigma’s Zarya with a Deadeye and Dean took another Nanoboost. This time milo pinned him, but the rest of Dean’s team bursted down the Reinhardt to give them another pick. Seagull came back into the fight with his Blizzard and a wall to deny another Deadeye from Esca and completely turned the fight, giving NRG only ten more seconds to defend. They pushed right up to the bend to defend and Esca was the first to fall, the Koreans running into yet another Blizzard to give milo and Gods a clean up. NRG defended and looked excellent with Seagull on Mei, shutting Lunatic-Hai down at 57.8m.

NRG had to almost complete the map to win however. They began with a slightly more dps-heavy composition, enigma on Reaper with Gods on Hog. Lunatic-Hai were set up with a triple tank - Winston rather than Zarya - and Esca still on McCree. They poked and prodded each other before NRG committed to the top left, dropping off to try and kill Miro on Winston instantly. He evaded them so easily however with his jump, baiting them down onto the low ground and NRG were wiped. NRG pushed underneath on their second push but immediately found themselves in a Deadeye. They tried to focus Esca down but Tobi used his Sound Barrier, keeping his McCree alive and forcing NRG into terrible positions where they were killed. Seagull had his Blizzard for the third fight however and wreaked havoc on the point, killing four including a shutdown on Esca’s third Deadeye. He walled off the exits from a lot of escaping Lunatic-Hai member which let enigma and Gods go for a wipe and start pushing the payload.

Pookz trying to hold the line. Image credit: @Sylviainiyo

NRG had a large ultimate advantage after that fight but decided they didn’t need to invest in them to get to the 2nd checkpoint, instead brawling through the bends in the streets. Dean took a Nanoboost but was hit instantly by a Sleep Dart from dummy, vulnerable as he was without a bubble. Miro used the bubbles instead to let the rest of his team get into the fight and build charge, wrecking the rest of NRG who hadn’t used the Blizzard or Blossom in that fight.

With thirty seconds left Miro was the only player on his team with an ultimate but hit a beautiful Graviton to catch four - Ryujehong built his Nanoboost and Dean went forwards, melting NRG. Even worse for the Americans was that they had invested both their Blossom and their Blizzard as they were caught - only a Nanoboost and a Sound Barrier were left and Tobi had his to reply. As enigma zipped forward to touch the cart and bring his team into overtime he was burst down, sending Lunatic-Hai to a 1-0 lead.

Nepal

Lunatic-Hai had not played Nepal yet in the tournament, but the Korean Control play had been very good in general. One potential counter to their strong Ana play would have been to run a full dive composition, but NRG went completely the other way, running their own Ana but interestingly putting milo on Reinhardt as well. enigma was given freedom on Tracer alongside Gods on McCree and Seagull on Zarya, to match up against a similar composition from Lunatic-Hai. Perplexingly however, they had put Miro on Winston and Dean on Zarya, with Reaper rather than McCree from Esca.

The teams traded sides in the first fight, both taking a fight on the point when it opened. Gods got caught in the cubby of Sanctum however when NRG tried to disengaged, and lost a few more players and the point. Esca and Leetaejun showed their unreal dps talent as they plowed through NRG, killing the Americans often before they had the chance to use ultimates. milo used his Earthshatter very early to initiate and found Dean, slamming his hammer around then using a Firestrike to find the Zarya and a weak Ana. NRG took the point with the picks and recapped, but couldn’t hold on in overtime and got rocked to a quick 0-1 start.

The same compositions clashed on Shrine and a nice Biotic Grenade gave NRG the health advantage in the first fight. They edged their way into the point and ground down Lunatic-Hai, capping the point. Ryujehong had instead taken a more passive position and built his ulti, letting them reinitiate with a Nanoboosted Winston. Miro couldn’t do anything with it though - both Sound Barriers were popped and a Graviton/Pulse Bomb combo kept NRG in control. With the natural height advantage of the point, Gods was in a hugely better position than Esca and had many opportunities to Nanoboost in.

In overtime the Koreans built up a Nanoboost, Pulse Bomb, and Blossom and went to attack. NRG should have been able to hold with their Graviton, Pulse Bomb, and Earthshatter but waited far too long to engage, giving them ground on the point then sucking them into a huge death ball. As soon as enigma came close to plant the bomb he was obliterated, and milo slammed his hammer down uselessly. Lunatic-Hai recaptured the point and tried to hold on, but Gods and enigma took a Sound Barrier and peppered them down. NRG got onto the point and started the fuse ticking down, but Dean had a great showing on Zarya to stay alive and do a ton of damage, filling in fairly well for Miro. The point again switched hands and Lunatic-Hai ticked up to 70%. Again Gods and enigma took a range of kills with great use of their poke and peel, and took their team to 1-1.

Village would be pivotal, and NRG ran straight out on the left side. Lunatic-Hai dived to the point and played from there with their tanks and Reaper, taking huge damage but just holding on to capture. NRG tried to take it back as enigma did a ton of work on Tracer but despite his best efforts the point simply would not flip and Lunatic-Hai were already up to a 50% lead. Gods wasn’t getting anything done on Reaper and switched off to McCree, but Seagull also whiffed his Graviton completely. Lunatic-Hai were already up to 99%.

NRG was finally able to get back in with Gods outputting far more damage with his Peacemaker, and by focusing down Ryujehong they started rolling upwards again. Multiple ultimates were up for both teams and NRG won another fight, baiting Lunatic-Hai in onto the point so that their supports committed and then cutting them down from behind. As both teams found themselves at 90+% the Koreans came back in and contested the high ground with their Zarya, Dean finding Seagull with help of a Sound Barrier as dummy and Gods also fell. enigma replied with two but just couldn’t survive, and Lunatic-Hai went up 2-1.

Gods at work. Image credit: @Sylviainiyo

Back to Shrine, and NRG again took the first fight to start the snowball. enigma was far more noticeable than any other dps on the field with his Tracer play and NRG ticked up to 65%. A Graviton Surge came in from Seagull, again once Lunatic-Hai had already reached the point and Dean and Miro were able to drop enough shields to negate the damage. Lunatic-Hai burst down their opponents to take the point back and wait with their own ultimates. A Graviton found three as milo’s Reinhardt shield proved ineffective, and a Nanoboosted Esca sought out Seagull on the next push. The target selection from Lunatic-Hai was proving excellent and they had already brought back the point to 85% for each.

Ryuhejong and Esca both had their ultimates available for the final desperate push from NRG and he timed his entrance perfectly, killing milo and dummy instantly. Seagull used another Graviton that found nothing, as Dean waited right until enigma laid the Bomb to pop off two shields that ruined the combo. Lunatic-Hai were gently set back on their feet and surged forwards, clearing every trace of the NRG push and picking up the map 3-1.

Lijiang Tower

Dean had shown that his Zarya was excellent, with himself and Miro having more of an impact than their NRG counterparts. dummy and Gods would have to perform above and beyond their level to keep their tournament hopes alive in the APAC Premier.

Both teams continued with their exact same compositions into Control Center. dummy instantly hit a Sleep Dart onto Dean but his team didn’t capitalise on the room, taking a slower approach on the height. They allowed LH to get in onto the point and slowly spammed them down, winning the fight but building Ryujehong’s ultimate incredibly quickly. Esca moved to McCree to help in the longer range spam battle and help deal with enigma, killing two and helping his team to a recap. Gods moved to Roadhog as well and the tanks from NRG turned the fight around, cleaning up a Graviton to keep the fight competitive. Lunatic-Hai perfectly dragged out the fight, always keeping someone around on the point to give them another 40% despite losing three teamfights in a row. They now only needed one push.

Lunatic-Hai put Miro on Reinhardt but NRG didn’t let the team slowly push in, shoving into them to deny any position and fight them in lobby. The aggression caught LH off guard and dummy hit a spree of heals and Sleep Darts in the final fight to shut down the Koreans and go up 1-0.

Image credit: @Sylviainiyo

Esca and Miro moved back to Reaper and Winston for the Garden, bunching up over the left side with a distracting monkey to take the fight without too much strain. NRG flanked all the way around the right to start the second fight but Lunatic-Hai met them over the point, popping off both Sound Barriers and a Korean Graviton Surge to take the fight. Seagull’s counter Surge was again too late, as NRG had already lost two and didn’t have enough players to win the afterfight. Gods took a Nanoboost on Reaper to try and burst onto the point but he was kited and focused down as Lunatic-Hai had all the room in the world to move backwards with no Winston on NRG. Lunatic-Hai drew the game 1-1.

Night Market saw a very fast rollout from NRG straight into the point, holding behind the Reinhardt shield which instantly got shredded. NRG was pushed out the back of the point and slaughtered with their backs against the cliff, pressured back again by the Winston and Reaper combo. NRG looked indecisive and hung back, spamming from the high ground and slowly bleeding players who tried to go further in. NRG built their ultimates and took a fight, forcing two out of LH and then slipping enigma into the backlines for one of the only times he was able to find easy kills onto both Tobi and Ryujehong. enigma got another three in the next fight with a great Pulse Bomb and follow up, bringing his team up to 50% in a comeback.

Gods switched to Roadhog and hooked some players out of position, taking a Nanoboost from dummy to clean up a push. NRG had overtaken Lunatic-Hai. Seagull popped a Graviton to catch five players as they pushed in which Dean and Tobi tried to negate as they had done so many times before. This time however milo got close and slammed his hammer around, doing a fair amount of damage and giving them a reasonable health advantage. As Lunatic-Hai desperately threw themselves onto the point, NRG read their play and focused them down, going up to map point at 2-1.

Back to Garden however where Lunatic-Hai had previously dominated, and again they rolled through the first fight. NRG needed some way of putting pressure onto the back and this time enigma was able to expertly make his way behind, stopping the retreat as Gods hit a couple of great hooks and took the point. NRG played from behind milo to take the fight in front of the point, directly meeting Lunatic-Hai head on and finding picks with the Roadhog. milo took a Nanoboost as his team got to 90% and he aggressively went forward and pinned Esca. It opened up a road for NRG to dive forwards and take down another two, then three, as LH were unable to get anywhere near the point and lost Lijiang Tower 3-1.

Ilios

NRG had taken a map against Lunatic-Hai, matching Rogue’s record already. They had to do a lot better than that though, forced to win the next two maps in a row to progress. The teams went into Ilios with a 1-1 record so far on Control maps - the fact that none of the Control maps had been eliminated in the veto showed that both teams fancied themselves in the matchup. Neither team had played Ilios so far in the tournament.

Well started things, with both teams using Roadhog for the hook potential. Miro moved back to Zarya as well, letting Dean run Reinhardt rather than using Winston. Both teams poked each other and slung out hooks, but it was Leetaejun who found the first pick after a minute as he hooked the opposing Roadhog and threw both of them into the abyss. The point traded hands with both teams on 20%, but it was a huge initiation by Lunatic-Hai that got the better end of a teamfight and took them to a lead.

NRG pushed through the windmill after a long time of building their ultimates, using milo’s shield to deny the Koreans ult, and used an Earthshatter, then a Graviton, then a Pulse Bomb, and finally a Nanoboost to obliterate Lunatic-Hai and recapture. It was a huge investment of ultimates, but even after using them LH only had a small advantage due to their passive play earlier on. Leetaejun hooked Seagull into the well and then knocked dummy down there as well, recapturing the point without using any ultimates and giving them six to play with. Two were traded from both sides as NRG came back in and Lunatic-Hai wasted the other four, throwing them into the wind and getting nothing for it. In miraculous fashion NRG recaptured and took themselves to 99%, hitting a huge Graviton to wipe out the stragglers and go up 1-0.

Lunatic-Hai again started aggressive on Ruins, taking the first capture and making it really tough for the Americans to get back into the point. Leetaejun showed that he could stand toe to toe with enigma on Tracer, frequently getting behind and onto the NRG supports, and took themselves to 99% with ease. They put milo onto Winston incredibly late in the round, nowhere near early enough to give themselves a chance, but it showed that even the players had realised their lack of initiation was hurting. Lunatic-Hai replied brutally for a 1-1 scoreline.

milo spawned on Reinhardt with Miro on Winston on Lighthouse. The Tracers did the heavy lifting for both teams, but Dean and Miro again made the difference and gave their team the first cap. Dean hit a Graviton onto a Nanoboosted milo to hold him in place, but the rest of NRG were able to collapse and take some kills. They retook the point and milo swapped over to Winston, giving NRG a lot more utility. They overtook Lunatic-Hai as they began to find their stride, Seagull stepping up his Zarya play to facilitate his dps players to great effect. In overtime Lunatic-Hai captured, starting the slow climb up from 41%, but they had to hold perfectly.

NRG poked in but lost a fight, and waited to fully commit until they had a range of ults. A Nanoboost got popped onto Gods, giving them picks before a Graviton/Pulse Bomb combo caught another two. NRG had difficulty finishing off Leetaejun on Tracer to win, but finally found the killing blow to go up 2-1.

milo swapping to Winston. Image credit: @Sylviainiyo

The fourth round saw the teams return to Ruins, where Lunatic-Hai had locked out NRG for an easy win. A long and messy fight with Seagull and enigma doing a lot of work kept the time ticking up for Lunatic-Hai, moving to 48% before NRG were able to flip it. They kept themselves alive in the round far better than the previous attempt but Dean again showed his talent on Zarya with four kills, and Esca proved better than Gods in the final fight to go to 2-2.

This was match point for Lunatic-Hai. Back to Lighthouse and NRG absolutely had to repeat their successful performance to stay in the tournament. milo started immediately on Winston and NRG had a great first fight, chasing down the kills. Unbelievably though they missed Dean and Tobi capping the point and Lunatic-Hai backcapped, spawners streaming in to keep it alive. They stole away the first 50%, and despite winning two huge fights in a row they were down half the round and only just starting to tick up their timer.

milo and Gods dived onto Ryujehong but he evaded their attacks like an eel, slipping away and using a Biotic Grenade to survive. milo jumped deep to try and secure the kill anyway and was focused down, with Gods also falling to the rest of the Lunatics. enigma got picked as well and the fight was lost, letting Lunatic-Hai move upwards into the seventies.

Both teams were heavily stacked with ultimates at this point: the Sound Barrier for Pookz was the only thing missing but it proved deadly as NRG were caught in a Graviton and Pulse Bombed without any support ult to keep them alive. NRG had one last chance and threw themselves into the point, milo popping his Primal Rage to delay as long as possible. Esca took a Nanoboost, slamming Hellfire shotguns into everybody and causing chaos on the point. They swept the North American side aside after a close and highly competitive series, taking the match 3-1 overall.

Lunatic-Hai had proven themselves in a best-of-five match against an NRG that seemed on point. They moved on to the Grand Final, awaiting their challengers for the top spot in the APAC Premier.