In case you missed any of the action yesterday here is a rundown of everything that happened match by match. The first game was delayed due to an illness of Zave from the Swedish roster, meaning the day would kick off with Spain against Canada. No complaints from me, likely to be the closest game from Group A and it did not disappoint.

Group A

Canada vs Spain

Dorado

It started with a three tank defence from Canada, Surefour on Zarya, no really. Poke as the solo DPS Genji. A risky line-up from Canada not having their star player on his preferred role. Spain quickly opened up this defence with some good work from neptuNo on Hanzo. Spain kept this momentum rolling forward, catching Surefour overextending. Canada then regrouped for another engage with Graviton Surge and Whole Hog but completely wasted it and Spain cleaned up them up yet again. It was smooth sailing from there for Spain until Surefour switched to McCree and repelled a Spanish push on the final stage despite a completely wasted Dragon Blade from Poke. That was the last fight Canada were able to stop though as Spain overwhelmed them again. With 1:59 left on the clock for Spain as they completed the map.

Canada's offence was significantly less successful and we saw the various tanks from Canada get picked off early in fights after attempting to initiate. A combination of questionable picks and over aggressive/badly supported tank play was the downfall of Canada and Spain had the experience to punish them. Spain take Map 1 comfortably.

Temple of Anubis

Canada were to defend first, Surefour starts on McCree this time as Spain dive in with BromaS on Tracer and neptuNo on Genji. Canada is forced back and Spain focus down target after target and cap the first point with ease as this looks to be a repeat of the first map. As Spain move on to the second point a good Graviton Surge from _id cancelled out a lot of the ultimates from Spain and allowed Canada to set up on the notoriously difficult second point of Anubis. Surefour and Poke looked like they had finally found some synergy, cleaning up push after push from Spain. Spain used ultimates in every attack and never built up a significant ultimate advantage. The next two pushes earn Spain a tick on the capture point each time with one minute still remaining. Once again Canada avoided the aggressive ultimates and picked off Spain. Canada now only had to cap both points to take the map, it was game on.

A strong first point defence from Spain for the first few minutes with Surefour struggling to make an impact on Tracer. Surefour switched to McCree but the Canadian tanks get picked off first again. With only 50 seconds remaining for Canada a Pescanova Graviton Surge shuts down Canada again, 15 seconds left for Canada. The Canadian's needed something big from their star player and out comes the Nano-Boosted McCree and Surefour opens up with two kills that allow Canada to take the first point in overtime. Now four minutes to capture the final point for Team Canada. Pescanova uses Graviton Surge as Canada come through the far left side catching a lot of the enemy team but Surefour picked off neptuNo as he used his Blizzard. Simultaneously in what might be one of the most triggering plays possible the Blizzard was then deflected by Poke and Spain get frozen by their own Mei ultimate. This allowed Canada to wipe them and capture the point there and then. Surefour and Poke really coming into their own on this second map with some huge plays, taking it to a final map.

Lijiang Tower

Spain looked comfortable on the first stage, despite sometimes using ultimates when the fight was already won they negated the amount of value Canada could get out of their ultimates and stayed in control for most of the first stage. 1-0 Spain.

Back to four tanks for Canada as they capitalise off of HuK's distraction to win the first fight, followed by quickly crushing Spain at the choke point. Spain break through though with BromaS switching off to Reaper and neptuNo hitting a nice Pulse Bomb to clean up. Spain are able to hold all the way up to 89% before Canada take it back but Spain have a lot of ultimates at their disposal and a Nano-Boosted BromaS clears the point with a lovely Pulse Bomb from neptuNo to prevent anyone respawners from Canada keeping it in overtime.

As we move into the third stage Canada have looked out-classed on KOTH. But the Canadian's have a strong start until a switch up from Pescanova, from Zarya to Winston, allows him to go deep and trade his life for Surefour's and from there Spain re-take control. One final resurgence from a great _id Whole Hog but eventually Spain build up the ultimates and BromaS with another Nano-Boost cleans up.

That sealed the match, Spain move joint top of Group A and look like a very organised team, neptuNo looks like a great DPS, BromaS is in good form and HarryHook is a god on Ana. Spain look like a major threat in this competition. I thought Spain were a bit of a dark horse coming into this tournament but if they keep up this level of performance then the other teams will need to watch out. Meanwhile Canada are left with a mammoth task, they need to beat Brazil and Sweden to keep their hopes of getting out of this group alive. Canada look unsure how to use their roster and will need to make some adjustments before their next game against Sweden which will be no walk in the park.

Sweden vs Brazil

Dorado

Later in the day Sweden are able to play their opening game against Brazil and it starts on Dorado. A great opening from Soulive on Hanzo sees him get three picks but then a Nano-Boosted cocco shuts down the Brazilians. iddqd on Mei and TviQ on Reaper looked dangerous, destroying all of Brazil's attacks. Soulive cannot repeat his opening push heroics and Brazil get stalled out at barely 64m.

On offence TviQ tries his hand at Hanzo and opens it up with a Scatter Arrow kill on Soulive on Roadhog which allows Sweden to pour in and quickly take the first game, with TviQ cleaning up the rest of kills.

Temple of Anubis

Brazil are to attack first and open up with Soulive on the Widowmaker but he can get nothing going. Sweden shut down fight after fight until they got drawn into a fight on their far right and despite Brazil being stuck in a Graviton Surge they find all the frags and are able to quickly cap the first point afterwards. Sweden again look comfortable for a long time before all getting caught in a Graviton Surge/Blizzard/Dragon Blade combo from Brazil slaying all of the Swedes. Sweden respawn just in time and get the Blizzard off which allows the stall out and eventually clean up. That seemed to be Brazil's best chance as they kept getting shut down from there on.

As Sweden attack, iddqd opens up the fight with two picks on Widowmaker before dying but the space was made and Sweden cap quickly. Deja vu on the second point as Sweden sweep aside Brazil and capture the second point in one of the shortest times ever.

Sweden looked good, though admittedly against the easiest opponents in their group. iddqd and TviQ showed their abilities on DPS both playing a multitude of heroes. They seemed to edge towards the Mei and Reaper combo but with both players more than capable on both roles it gives Sweden a great asset. Everyone else on Sweden played as well as you would expect too. While on the flip side despite Soulive having a few moments of brilliance Brazil struggled to get anything else going against the Swedish giants and are likely in for a rough ride in this group.

Group B

United States vs Chile

Hanamura

Chile were not able to capture any of the points, Talespin was on fire as Mei and the USA barely dropped a player. Quickly disposing of their Chilean opposition.

Route 66

A very similar story as Chile struggled to get any distance on the cart, there were a few moments from Shal where he looked like he could hang at this level but ultimately when it came to USA's chance to attack they crushed them and looked good doing it.

Really not too much to say about this game, as expected Chile are going to struggle in this group. Meanwhile the USA looked good, especially Talespin. It will be very interesting to see how they stack up against a more experienced team in their next game against Germany.

Russia vs Germany

Hanamura

Russia put up a good fight with decent delay defending the first point, ShaDowBurn shining as Genji as always. From there despite some decent efforts from Germany, Russia were always able to stagger their deaths on the second point and stall out long enough to stop Team Germany from capping. Russia move into attack having only given up one point.

Germany open with a three tank defence, but opt for the Reaper instead of the Mei. A choice that does not pay off as Russia over power the Germans with ease. ShaDowBurn continues the annihilation on to the second point and before you know it Russia are a map up in this opening game.

Route 66

Great start from Russia for their first attack exploiting Germany's over aggression but were then stalled out at the second stage. Russia were constantly shut down by tanks on the second stage before they finally broke it with a Nano Boost. From there on Russia regained their momentum and finished with 2.2 seconds to spare, guaranteeing they would get a second chance to attack if needed. Not that they did as on defence ShaDowBurn tore through Germany time and time again, preventing them capping even the first point. Most worryingly for German fans it looked like they ran out of ideas, uncreative pushes that set up ShaDowBurn perfectly time and time again.

Everything Germany lacked, Russia had. Germany suffered from a lack of a star DPS player and they had no one step up to fill that role. On the other side of the coin ShaDowBurn and uNFixed were in great form and as an entire team they looked rehearsed and comfortable playing off each other. Germany looked uncreative and had a lack of discipline in their positioning meanwhile Russia looked like a cohesive unit. If Germany do not make drastic improvements we will see USA and Russia progress to the next stage, with the Round 3 game between USA and Russia deciding who gets top seed.

Group C

South Korea vs Australia

Temple of Anubis

South Korea dominated from the outset, Australia could barely turn a frag. Miro played some great Winston and absolutely slammed Australia into the ground time and time again. A one-sided affair where South Korea put themselves out there as one of the teams to watch out for.

Eichenwalde

South Korea started on attack and finished the map on attack with one of the fastest times possible. Moving over to South Korea's defense and the troll picks were out in full force, Symmetra, Torbjorn and Junkrat. Australia got past the first choke point a few times before the BM ultimates, these came in the form of a Nano-Boosted Symmetra as Australia were disposed of with ease.

As entertaining as a complete roll could be. I thought Australia would play better than this but South Korea really looked dangerous and a team to fear. I cannot wait to see Finland take on South Korea in Round 3, it is set up to be a spectacular game.

Finland vs Chinese Taipei

Temple of Anubis

Temple of Anubis begun and Finland looked dominant on the first point with hymzi clearinghouse on his trademark Roadhog. Finland were delayed on the second point but still took it with decent time remaining, approximately two minutes. Then the Chinese Taipei team lost power to their PCs. As we went back into a complete reset, which was a shame for Finland who would have been happy with their time.

So back to square one for Finland, offence again and Taimou is starting on Widow against a triple Tank and Mei set up from Chinese Taipei. hymzi repeats his antics of their pre-crash attempt. Hooking and finishing off Chinese Taipei players. As they attempt to attack the second point, Zonda has swapped on to Reaper as is cleaning up everything Finland throws at them and Taimou has been struggling to find opening picks as Widow throughout. Even when Taimou finds a shot to open up the push killing Chinese Taipei's Lucio, Lilgho, they cannot convert it into any capture time. Finland have a push with two minutes and thirty seconds left but zappis accidentally Nano-Boosts the Lucio and Finland fail to clean up frags quickly enough. Which allows Zonda to come back in and clear the point with Death-Blossom. Taimou finally swaps off Widow onto Reaper. With this Finland have their best chance yet and despite being stalled out for as long as possible Finland eventually built up enough capture time to finish the round but they had no time left meaning Chinese Taipei are still in a great position. More importantly in a better position than they were originally before the map was reset.

A four tank defence came out from Finland but Zonda started on Reaper and he has been on fire so far this game but the first fight goes Finland's way. The all star Finnish team looking strong despite struggling on the second point during their attack. A Nano-Boosted Winston from Finland destroys the back line of Chinese Taipei but Zonda does the same thing to Finland's back line. The longer spawns make this harder for Finland as they have to regroup outside the point. They re-engage to block the first point but Zonda on the Nano-Boosted Reaper slays all the tanks. LiNkzr in particular seems to be struggling on Reinhardt. On their first attempt on second point Chinese Taipei get two ticks of capture time before Taimou, now on Reaper, gets Nano-Boosted to clear the point. More attacks are shut down by Finland until a three ultimate push of Graviton Surge, Earthshatter and Whole Hog open it up for Chinese Taipei to capture their final tick.

This gives Chinese Taipei 2:50 to capture Point A. Chinese Taipei stick with Zonda on Reaper and Danny on Roadhog for this crucial attack. The first attempt is obliterated by Taimou on McCree but then he over extends trying to get frags leaving Finland short for the next fight. Zonda gets three kills off the back of LazyTitan's Graviton Surge and that is it. Chinese Taipei take the first map.

Eichenwalde

Finland attack first, triple tank with Taimou on McCree. A great choice as Taimou picks off both DPS player and allows them to cap the first point. As they push on zappis accidently Nano-Boosts his Lucio again, they manage to get a lot of distance on the cart despite the misplay. As Finland approach the door Chinese Taipei throw ultimate after ultimate to stop them capping the second point and succeed. As Chinese Taipei move the cart back to the bridge, Finland struggle to find an opening with any of their ultimates. Finland finally push it over the line in a very scrappy fight and get the time extension. Though Finland still do not have a lot of time for the most difficult point to attack in the game. Finland get great distance of their initial push but a Nano-Blossom from Zonda stops them getting to the end, meanwhile Tseini has been Nano-Boosted as Lucio again. Despite Chinese Taipei not letting the cart get any further Finland put up a good distance for Eichenwalde.

Zonda starts on Hanzo for the attack but struggles to find the frags he needs. Switching over to Reaper Zonda still struggles to find the frags. LazyTitan then tries going really deep with a Graviton Surge but Taimou uses his Blizzard to cut off the follow up, meaning Chinese Taipei are shut down again. One final desperate attempt from Chinese Taipei led by the Nano-Boosted Zonda but the poor Reaper gets slept, then Earthshatter stunned, then hooked and killed. Finland with a complete shut out pull the series back 1-1.

Lijiang Tower

Finland have looked shaky all series but going into a KOTH map this should favour their DPS heavy roster. As we go on to the first stage Taimou on McCree proves important again. In the next fight ultimates are up but zappis Nano-Boosts Tseini on Lucio again. Chinese Taipei are not making these mistakes with their Nano-Boosts, having four players from the same professional team is paying off for them. Chinese Taipei keep Finland at arms reach until they reach 98% and Finland take the must win fight. A lot of ultimates are left for Chinese Taipei though and they make the most of them to take back the point at the first attempt to take the first round.

hymzi opens up the second stage with some good hooks to help his team focus down the Chinese Taipei Tanks and claim the first capture. The following messy fight is eventually won by Taimou, having a lot of success on Reaper. A big ultimate showdown follows in the next engagement but once again when all the ultimates are thrown down, Chinese Taipei come out on top. Finland have a strong retake and push all the way up to the door after retaking the point, this prevents Chinese Taipei keeping the point alive and the match is tied up.

Out come the Bastion strats from Danny and Finland cannot close the gap on the Bastion quickly enough and are shut down allowing Chinese Taipei to capture first. This only lasts for 30% though but Danny stays on the bastion despite Finland now having time to set up as they control the point. The see-saw battle continues as Danny gets the opening pick on Bastion and drawing all the focus allowing Zonda to clean up. Superior positioning from Danny on Bastion this time allows Chinese Taipei to maintain possession of the point all the way up to 97%. The Nano-Boosted Tank Mode Bastion gets stuck in a Graviton Surge from mafu though and cannot get anything done allowing Finland to take control. hymzi with the switch to Genji has been working out as a counter to the Bastion. One final fight and hymzi counters the Bastion again taking away a lot of damage from Chinese Taipei and allowing Finland to take the lead for the first time on this map.

As we move onto the fourth round Tseini gets picked off by a hook first and Chinese Taipei cap. Once Finland reset, hymzi again gets the early picks to enable Finland to win the fight but their victory is short lived as a quick re-engage from Chinese Taipei allows them to take the point back. hymzi then loses a 1 v1 against Zonda thanks to a great bubble from LazyTitan, delaying Finland's next attack. Taimou reads Zonda like a book though and picks Zonda right back off, giving Finland player advantage. Finland make the most of this and re-take the point just in time and now cannot afford to give up the point. A Nano-Boosted Zonda gets focused down by LiNkzr and stopped from getting any frags. One final attempt from Chinese Taipei and Zonda finds a couple of frags on Reaper but Finland has too much fire power and cleans up the remaining players regardless.

What an incredible series, Chinese Taipei have made an impression here while Finland made a lot of mistakes. Finland still won despite these mistakes and this is crucial, with how strong South Korea looked earlier today. You have to favour South Korea to finish top of the group. Meaning this win for Finland is all the more important. Finland should be able to finish at least second now while Chinese Taipei would have to upset South Korea to stand a chance.

Over the coming days I would hope to see better performances from Tseini and LiNkzr who seem to be struggling on the unfamiliar tank and support roles respectively.

Group D

China vs Thailand

King's Row

Thailand start on attack with four tanks, they use Mickie to bait out the Mei wall on D.Va and then push in but get picked off and shut down. As we move into the first ultimate fight a Nano-Blossom from MengMao eliminates all the Thailand tanks and resets the fight. This gives Thailand a significant ultimate advantage which they utilise to take control of the first point and start moving through the streets stage. China use their ultimates well in the street stage to win multiple fights, until with just over a minute left an Earthshatter from KOKFC (the best alias in all of Overwatch) catches a couple of players out and allows his team to almost reach the next checkpoint but some good walls from JamLee cut off the players who pushed up from Thailand and allow China to collapse on the isolated players and clean up to finish off the defence.

Thailand come out with some characteristic picks of Junkrat and Symmetra from NzNr and Zalphx respectively. China make changes as well, YjjPP swaps from Zarya to Pharah, MengMao swaps from Reaper to Zarya to fill the gap, while JamLee swaps off Mei to Reaper. A lot of versatility coming out from China as they go into the attacking phase. Thailand hold strong for a bit with some nice kills from NzNr but then YjjPP catches out the Junkrat and this snowballs with no big splash damage China begin rolling through. YjjPP is able to stand on the high ground uncontested and then goes behind to catch off the supports with a Barrage to seal the first point capture. Zalphx chooses to stay on the Symmetra as he nearly has the Teleporter available. China get the better of the fight but the Teleporter allows reinforcements to continuously come in and Thailand stabilise. A Graviton Surge and Barrage combo from China puts out enough damage to allow pangge to get the opening two frags and from there China had enough of an advantage to take the first map.

Hanamura

Thailand start off the defence with a Symmetra again while China have YjjPP on Widow. China fail the first attack allowing Zalphx to get a Teleporter up. From there China struggle, YjjPP can find nothing on Widow,* Linkin* cannot get the Teleporter down. One final push from China with a Nano-Boosted YjjPP this time on the Reaper but has the entire boost wasted by NzNr on Mei but still manages to turn a couple of frags with his Death-Blossom at the end. Meaning China will get Point A. Thailand switched back up to a more standard lineup and through great ultimate management completely shut down all of China's attacks. China had a very blunt offence, never found the opening frag or the ability to combine their ultimates to full effect.

Now Thailand are to attack. A series of scrappy fights are held off by China. Then a Nano-Blossom from China looks like it has sealed another fight for the Chinese but an incredible Dragon Blade from Oputo gets four frags and allows Thailand to take Point A. You only need one moment of brilliance in Assault maps to gain a point and there it was. A huge elongated fight comes out Blizzards on top of Blizzards, frags being traded constantly in the midst of all this Thailand get all the way to a slither of cap time remaining but a Blizzard from NzNr delays Thailand but another Dragonblade from oPuTo cleans up a lot of players and they eventually force all the Chinese players off the point to finish it off. Map 2 goes to Thailand.

Lijiang Tower

Thailand start with a dominate fight, oPuTo on Reaper cleaning shop. Thailand take the second fight dominantly too. China then avoid Thailand's ultimates and get two kills from JamLee's Deadeye to retake the point. Once in control of the point China use their ultimates aggressively to stop Thailand even getting near the point. More scrappy fights that have characterised this game so far ensue but China's experience seems to pay dividend as they win more of the ultimate showdowns and are just that bit more coordinated. China take the lead 1-0.

An early frag from NzNr on Pharah gifts Thailand the first fight. More good Pharah play from NzNr secures the next fight. YjjPP swaps to Pharah to more directly engage NzNr. Mirror match ups now but China kept getting the better of it, which was just as well since they cannot afford to lose the point with Thailand having 86%. China close out the second round, neutralising all the offensive ultimates from Thailand in the process. China's showed their competitive experience with how they negated a lot of those ultimates from Thailand.

Once again Thailand start dominant, three tanks and a Mei. oPuTo on Roadhog secures the opening frag on the Reaper and with no other anti-tank heroes Thailand close out the first fight. An economical team fight win from Thailand, only using NzNr's Blizzard, takes them up to 86%. The next attack comes in from China led by a Nano-Boosted JamLee and he does enough damage to let his team come in and clean up, regaining the point 99% down. China move forward and shutdown Thailand at the door with a classic Graviton Surge, Pulse Bomb combo. NzNr is the star again as he double head-shots JamLee with his ice spikes to open up a retake that leads to Thailand getting a round back on the board.

Another strong start from Thailand as oPuTo unleashes some filthy hooks to pull apart China. China force a retake but only get 17% on the board before oPuTo starts again, JamLee is the first victim for the second time in a row, following up with a Wholehog on low HP to help his team clean up. Thailand are leading with, then oPuTo hooks YjjPP, on Zarya, off the map. A scrappy fight ensues and China's DPS players, JamLee and MengMao eliminate both supports allowing China to retake the point albeit 98% - 17% down. The fight is initiated with Mickie dropping the Graviton Surge and gets all the credit putting out good damage and claiming four final blows. 2-2 and there will be one final round to decide the series.

China win the opening fight for the first time on Lijiang Tower but cannot hold on to it for long as Thailand's set up with three tanks and a Mei make them difficult to kill and gives oPuTo the opportunity to land these hooks and he keeps picking China apart. Thailand are able to retake off the back of this. Thailand push forward to the door and frag all the Chinese players again. Thailand go up to 40% as the next fight happens, both team Graviton Surge each other but JamLee ends up getting boosted by a Mei wall from NzNr, the opposing Mei, while using his Deadeye and this helps him secure four kills with it. China re-take off the back of those frags and move into an aggressive forward hold, they win the first part of the fight but get carried away. pangge even charging Zalphx off the map but this allows NzNr to capitalise and turn two frags without a Reinhardt to protect the squishy Chinese players. China recover from this over extension though and regroup for a final on the point eventually cleaning up all the players from Thailand to secure the map and series win.

What a close and hard fought series we saw, both teams seemed pleased with their performance but China get the victory. We saw a lot of versatility from both sides but eventually China's ultimate usage was better throughout the series and gave them the edge they needed. While an exciting game to watch it was not as organised as the other games we have seem, very scrappy throughout and while this puts China in a good position to progress I do not think France or the other teams in the tournament will be particularly worried about facing either of these teams.

France vs Singapore

King's Row

An interesting choice by Colbat from Singapore running the defensive Pharah, meanwhile DeGuN on Hanzo and Kryw on McCree open up for team France. No real surprises from either team, interestingly no Mei from either side. It takes a couple of attempts but France take the first point with relative ease. In the streets stage France burn five of their ultimates but reach the second checkpoint with minimal delay. The final stage kicks off and once again France seem rather trigger happy with their ultimates but they get the clean up and keep the cart moving to the final stretch. Colbat, who has been on Pharah the entire map, gets three with his Barrage to finally stop France moving forward. Singapore win the next fight too thanks to RebornZ Death Blossom but France have an ultimate advantage going into the next fight. France proceed to make full use of the advantage too, finished by a good Earthshatter from Mickalow to complete the attack round.

Singapore's attack starts with a whimper, players getting picked off by themselves. France get forced out of the point but a good re-engage from France led by a Nano Boosted Mickalow on Reinhardt allows France to stabilise. More messy fights come in from Singapore who are showing a tendency to throw ultimates away when they have already lost the fight allowing France to maintain a healthy ultimate economy. France make full use of this and complete the shutout to take the first map.

Hanamura

Hanamura had already given us a couple of upsets earlier in the day. Singapore start on attack and Kryw and DeGuN and shutting down everything, picking off players from Singapore in every fight. Colbat spent a lot of the offence hiding behind on the roof by himself but Singapore could not get anything going to set up the flank. The shutout is complete again for France.

France only needed one point to ensure they took a win on first day and they get it second time of asking thanks to some nice continued damage output from Kryw on Pharah.

France looked solid and organised, Singapore not so much so but they definitely had fun playing against the more experienced professional that is half the French team. The skill level in this group certainly seems lower than the rest of the groups but this does mean that it will be very open. With the exception of Singapore the rest of the teams look like they could take maps off each other. Though Kryw and DeGuN do seem a level above any other DPS players in Group D.

A very entertaining day of Overwatch with plenty of big plays, funny moments and some exciting upsets too. Day 2 is coming up shortly and I expect more of the same, as always keep up to date with all the results and stream links with our match ticker.

Xavier 'CommanderX' Hardy is a former top level Team Fortress 2 Caster and Analyst.
Follow @Xavierhardy8