YIKES! have emerged victorious in the final Overwatch Monthly Melee, beating Selfless Gaming 3-0 (with a one map advantage) in the Grand Final on Thursday evening.

Following on from their breakout third place performance in April's Melee, this time the ex-Denial roster redeemed themselves with two wins against the Selfless side who had eliminated them last month. Their new permanent member, Indy "SPACE" Halpern, put in a good shift in the off-tank role to cement his position and deliver the silverware that will surely aid the roster in their ongoing hunt for a new sponsor.

Few would have anticipated this result, with YIKES! losing to LG Evil and failing to top the supposedly weaker Group A. YIKES! nonetheless crushed the playoffs, beating Selfless twice and not dropping a single map.

Ultimately, YIKES! had little trouble beating Selfless in the final, despite concerns that the postponing of the final due to stream issues would leave them at a disadvantage. They provided a slick and well-coordinated contrast to Selfless, who increasingly looked out of ideas as the series went on. While xQc led the charge from the front with dominating performances on both Reinhardt and Winston, the combo of Zza and Gingerpop stole the show with the Pharah-Mercy - both would also prove their worth with outstanding Zarya and Ana plays respectively on King's Row.

For Selfless, this comes as a disappointing result. With the absences of traditional NA heavyweights EnVyUs, Rogue and Cloud9, this was probably their best shot at winning a tournament in a long time and were considered to be the team to beat.

Their early showing in Group B would have left you none the wiser, going 3-0 and not dropping a single map against the likes of CLG, Immortals and EnVision eSports. Despite losing to YIKES! 3-0 in the upper bracket Semifinals, they emerged champions of the grueling lower bracket, eliminating Tempo Storm, LG Evil and CLG from the tournament in the process. Selfless looked to be in good form coming into the finals, with notorious Soldier 76 player, Dafran, surprisingly ascendant on Genji and Tracer. However, frustration gave way to increasingly sloppy play and less of a contest than many would have expected.

Final Standings

Shaking things up

CLG should be proud of their third place finish, having beaten Immortals and Team Liquid on their run in the tournament with ex-coL signing Shake on support. Hydration once again had a stunning tournament on a variety of heroes, and the team as a whole seems to be on their way up.

Tempo Storm, sporting former YGGP? maintank Beasthalo and new signing TwoEasy, also produced a strong showing. Tempo battled through the qualifiers, beating out NRG, Rise and Evil Geniuses to secure a spot in the main event. The team added to a fiesty and surprisingly even Group A, although they ended up dropping into the lower bracket alongside LG Evil, who they managed to beat, while Liquid and YIKES! advanced to the upper bracket.

Looking forward

This is sadly the end of the Overwatch Monthly Melee series, the big brother to the GosuGamers' Weeklies, that first appeared in April 2016 and provided a regular spectacle for the early Overwatch eSports scene. The OMM was where teams like WeUnited (now FaZe) made their names, and where C9, EnVy and LG clashed with regularity to fight for dominance over NA. It will be sorely missed.

Tune in this weekend to watch Selfless, C9, LG Evil and Immortals battle it out in the Rivalcade Memorial Day Rumble, the final major NA tournament before Season Zero of the upcoming Overwatch Contenders.