Australia's largest LAN to date concluded this weekend at the ESL ANZ Season 1 Championship Final, hosted in ESL's Sydney studio. The offline tournament featured Australia's top four teams battling for their share of the $10,000 AUD ($7629~ USD) prize pool, the summation of months of Overwatch dating back to early March.

The Road to LAN

Teams played in one of four online cups, in which the top four teams qualified for either the March or April Finals. In these online monthly finals, the top two teams earned themselves a LAN placement, with the first and second seeds up for grabs in March and the third and fourth in April. $1000 AUD ($744~ USD) was also split between the top two teams in the monthly finals.

Fusion Girls (now Blank Esports) originally claimed the first seed with a victory in the March Final over Plot 1. This gave Plot 1 the second seed and left the Snakes roster (now Masterminds GC) out of the picture in third place. However, it was later announced that Blank Esports were forfieting their place in the tournament due to their commitments to the Pacific Championship in Taiwan. This moved Plot 1 to the first seed and granted Masterminds GC the second.

4Legs and Monopoly Club (now Athletico CAMO) qualified for their LAN spots in the April final, as third and fourth seeds respectively. Mirroring the Grand Final in Sydney, 4Legs and Monopoly Club, now Athletico CAMO, battled it out in a close series that came down to the final map.

Opening Stages

Thus, Plot 1, Masterminds GC, 4Legs and Athletico CAMO found themselves in ESL's Sydney Studio for the Championship Final. The LAN featured a double elimination format and best-of-five series, with Plot 1 facing off against Athletico and Masterminds playing 4Legs in the opening round. Masterminds GC noticeably entered the tournament without their team captain and support player CantuS, who could not attend due to passport issues. Project, of Scylla Esports, filled this vacancy.

Plot 1 claimed an early 2-0 lead over Athletico, full-holding CAMO on Gibraltar. Athltico bounced back however, pulling of an impressive reverse sweep and knocking Plot 1 down to the loser's bracket. Masterminds struggled in their opening match, receiving a full sweep at the hands of 4Legs, as Masterminds failed to capture the second point of either of the played Assault maps and lost all the rounds played on Nepal.

Thus, Athletico and 4Legs entered the Winner's Bracket Final. This was a rematch of the April Final for the two teams, who have traded series in both ESL and CyberGamer events. The day was claimed by Athletico in a 3-0 sweep of 4Legs, earning the victorious team a spot in the Grand Final. This dropped 4Legs down to the Loser's Bracket Final, with a nights break to recoup the momentum they entered the tournament with.

Loser's Bracket

Day two started off with the first round of the Loser's Bracket, a match-up between Plot 1 and Masterminds GC. Plot 1 entered the match considered as the team with the upper hand, having claimed two map wins against Athletico the previous day and with the opportunity to exploit the absence of CantuS. Masterminds had collected themselves after a rough first day however, and managed to pull out a victory whilst dropping only a single map. This was a disappointing result for Plot 1, who exited the tournament in last place after being only one map away from the Winner's Bracket Final. Masterminds GC moved forward into the Loser's Bracket Final to face the awaiting players of 4Legs.

Unfortunately for Masterminds, the Loser's Bracket Final mirrored the two squads original matchup, with another 3-0 sweep in the favour of 4Legs. 4Legs thus took the final spot in the Grand Final, a rematch against the team that knocked them down into the losers bracket. Whilst no doubt disappointed to be eliminated from the tournament, third place was by no means a terrible result for Masterminds GC, who were missing their star support player and captain for the entirety of the tournament.

Marathon Grand Final

Athletico entered their Grand Final match against 4Legs with the benefit of a bracket reset due to their victory in the Winner's Bracket Final, meaning 4Legs would have to beat the team in two best-of-five series to claim the championship.

The teams opened the series trading maps back and forth. 4Legs claimed Liajang in the opening map in a 3-0 sweep, Athletico answered back in a close victory on Route 66, followed by another closely contested 4Legs victory on Oasis. The fourth map, Temple of Anubis, was a draw, sending the match to map five as per tournament regulations. 4Legs then full-held Athletico on Eichenwalde, forcing the grand final into a second best-of-five series.

Despite the competitive round of maps in the opening best-of-five, 4Legs looked to be entering the second and final round of the grand final with momentum, in stark contrast to their 3-0 loss to Athletico earlier in the tournament. The play that ensued was perhaps the closest series so far in Australian Overwatch, as both teams claimed two points apiece in a grueling clash of Australia's two top teams. Drawn 2-2, the championship came down to the final map, Route 66. In the end Athletico CAMO proved victorious, reaching 4Legs' set distance in overtime to crown themselves as the ESL ANZ Season 1 champions.

The tournament victory marked the culmination of months of hard work for Athletico, who started as a young squad without much reputation in the early stages of 2017. Maintaining a consistent core roster throughout the year, the players translated their impressive online record into a truimph at Australia's biggest LAN as of yet. Whilst not victorious, 4Legs' grit and determination to be inches away from victory, despite the bracket reset, was remarkable.

Final Standings

• 1st: Athletico CAMO - $5000 AUD ($3815 USD)

• 2nd: 4Legs - $3000 AUD ($2289 USD)

• 3rd: Masterminds GC- $1200 ($915 USD)

• 4th: Plot 1- $800 AUD ($610 USD)

Coming up in Australian Overwatch

The focus of Competitive Overwatch in Australia now shifts to the CyberGamer OCE Circuit , with the final week of play in the regular season concluding today. Athletico CAMO, Masterminds GC and WillWeed have already guaranteed their places at the LAN playoffs on the 11th of June. If Plot 1 prove victorious in their match against Scylla Esports they will join these three teams, otherwise 4Legs will qualify for the LAN event.

Australia is also set to host a qualifier for the Overwatch World cup in Sydney later this year, as national teams from groups C and D will compete for one of two available spots in the finals at Blizzcon. Australian Committee member UberShouts mentioned that the grand finalists of the ESL LAN would be involved in the selection process for the Australian team, opening up the possibility for Athletico and 4Legs players to be considered for the team alongside the members of Blank Esports.