The GosuGamers Weeklies have become a firm favourite with the elite teams despite their small prizepools. The best teams in the world frequently compete, even cross-region with ping disadvantage, in order to hone their skills in a match setting each week and reach for the top spot. This week we saw some fantastic games and some interesting results - if you missed any of the action then read on!
The GosuGamers Weekly EU #12 was played as a 64-team single-elimination tournament using hero limit 1 rules. As one might expect, the field was mostly occupied by European teams, though EnVyUs did make an appearance to play cross-region and were favourites to take the tournament despite playing from North America. Europe’s elite teams were all there though and ready to fight tooth and nail for the first place spot as well; REUNITED, Rogue, Creation Esports, and a variety of other top European teams easily breezed through their initial matches with eyes on the prize.
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The Round of 16 was where we saw the first tense clash, as Northern Gaming Blue went up against the newly formed Fortress. As the Weekly was Bo1 in the early stages, these teams banned out all maps save King’s Row, and fought for their tournament lives. This was the first tournament showing from Fortress, and they seemed promising against NG Blue, an experienced if not dominant team. Fortress were able to grind out a victory on attack of 10:05, but this left them needing to defend for a long time in order to progress in the tournament. Northern Gaming Blue had similar problems with their attack, and battered their heads into the defense before finally breaking through on the final stretch. The time - 10:03. By a whisker, Northern Gaming Blue had managed to knock the new Fortress team out, and went on to face Rogue.
In the Quarter Finals, we took a look at OWKings as they faced REUNITED. On Numbani, REUNITED went for the single support defense at A, with Kruise on Torbjorn to split attention in the push. A clutch play from OLBAA to shut down *REUNITED’s Widow and Mercy allowed them to take A in overtime, but they couldn’t complete the map. A quick attack on A made it almost two easy for REUNITED to take the map, and rolled over OWKings on Numbani. The second map was Watchpoint: Gibraltar, and once again REUNITED’s defense was excellent, playing from server room and then in the hangar once pushed back, delaying a ton of time. Even though OWKings were able to take the map eventually, it took them almost eleven minutes and once again REUNITED had all the time in the world to push. They easily beat the time and knocked OWKings out of the tournament.
The rest of the Quarter Finals were similar 2-0 sweeps other than Rogue vs. NG Blue, in which the normally dominant Rogue dropped a map on Lijiang Tower to take it to a decider on Numbani. Despite a good showing from NG Blue they were unable to perform as well on the Hybrid maps as the Control map, and lost 2-1. Rogue went on to face REUNITED, as EnVyUs went up against Creation Esports in the other Semi-Final.
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Creation Esports have been a team sat in between the elite European squads and their challengers, unable to win many large tournaments but always making deep runs before stumbling against the eventual winners. They’re known as a powerhouse team on Control maps, so it seemed fitting that Lijiang Tower was the first map in their fixture against EnVyUs. With hero limit 1, Creation were forced into a different strategy on Lijiang Tower though and LiNkz’s Genji was not impactful. He switched off to Reaper as the two teams mirrored each other, but the superior plays from Taimou on McCree and Cocco on Zarya secured them the first round from an early lead. Again in the second round they wiped Creation, as BromaS tried out Tracer to little effect. They were again dismantled by Taimou and Talespin on DPS and had absolutely no answer to their team composition. After getting destroyed on Lijiang Tower, Creation were on the back foot going on to Dorado.
Creation had a fairly good defense, powered by LiNkz on Widowmaker and BromaS on his flex role, which constantly managed to knock three minutes off each checkpoint but couldn’t quite stop EnVyUs from rolling the payload forwards until the final checkpoint. Even after a full wipe from Creation, they were able to come back and clutch the defense with a huge Earthshatter from numlocked and solid play from the entire team. All they had to do was complete the map as Creation switched over to attack, but right from the beginning they were struggling. The fountain defense from EnVyUs managed to stall them for four minutes, and by playing the height advantage perfectly they were able to completely stop Creation from taking the second checkpoint and won the map, and the Semi-Final, outright.
Over in the other side of the bracket, Rogue had been dismantled in straight maps by REUNITED, who looked like they were on fire. After getting the better of Rogue in both recent King of the Watch grudge matches and then finishing them off in the GosuGamers Weekly, REUNITED have affirmed their position as the current best team in Europe. But that’s only if you discount EnVyUs, who currently reside in North America practising. REUNITED have classically struggled with the matchup and lost all recent fixtures they played against each other. Was this their night to overcome their rivals?
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Even with 100+ ping, EnVyUs had strolled through the competition, not dropping a single map. The Final was set to be played as Bo5, with the map vetoes leaving us on Ilios, Hollywood, Numbani, Nepal, and Dorado. Ilios is obviously the odd one out there, and was the first map for the fixture. Both teams seemed content to leave it in the pool despite it being mostly unplayed in every other fixture, and provided a wildcard beginning to the most important match of the tournament.
Ilios was crazy, with fights revolving all around the cramped point and individual ultimates gaining so much value. Both teams went to overtime in the first round, with REUNITED taking the victory after syncing multiple ultimates and team wiping EnVyUs. In the second round the pit provided a huge focal point for the teamfights, as Ilios’ madness continues and EnVyUs went up to an early lead. Again both teams went to overtime, but REUNITED got the better end of the engagement with uNFixed coming up huge on Reaper, syncing his Death Blossom with a Graviton Surge for a Huge Load Of Kills. REUNITED took the wildcard first map, going up 1-0 in the Final.
Hollywood provided the set for the second battle, with Talespin and INTERNETHULK running a classic Junkrat / Symmetra defense. The fight really hinged on the Widowmaker 1v1 of Taimou vs TwoEasy however, and after only two minutes TwoEasy got the better end of an engagement and provided the opening REUNITED needed to use their ultimates and get the point. Taimou got the better of him in one fight in the streets, prompting TwoEasy to switch off to Tracer and Roadhog, allowing REUNITED to use their momentum perfectly, rolling through the defense and looking completely unstoppable. They set a great offensive time of 6:47. EnVyUs stepped up to attack, and despite setting a decent time on A they were stumped repeatedly in the streets, and found it much more difficult to get started again once REUNITED were allowed to set up. Talespin’s squad called gg, giving REUNITED a great 2-0 lead in the Bo5.
Numbani, a strong map for REUNITED, was the third map. There was a distinct possibility of a 3-0 victory for REUNITED in the Final, and it all looked excellent for them as they stormed through the early stages of Numbani in record time. EnVyUs though had their own determination and kept denying the offensive attempts in the final stretch, completely ruining the overall attack time with their 6 minute hold of the last checkpoint, eventually succumbing in 10:44. This reinvigorated EnVyUs, and they steadily plowed through Winghaven, never slowing down or delaying at a choke point. They began to turn the score around, making the series 3-1.
In a repeat of the first map, we returned to Control to visit Nepal. REUNITED won the first teamfight and took their ultimate advantage to an early 85% lead before EnVyUs were able to get back into the round. An amazing Graviton Surge from Cocco was not followed up on by the rest of his team however, and Winghaven saved his team with a timely bubble to regain the point and push it to overtime, but once again EnVyUs forced their way back in and took the extended fight to get themselves to overtime as well. The difference maker was once again the Zarya, with a huge ultimate from TwoEasy followed up by a Death Blossom wiped the team and took the round.
Both teams continued to run mirrored compositions, but it was Talespin this time who went insane on Reaper, timing his engagements so well to tear through REUNITED. EnVyUs utterly demolished them, only losing the point once, and forced Nepal to the third and deciding round. REUNITED managed to take the initial fight after an extended scrap, giving them a slight ultimate advantage and time on the board. They used the ultimate advantage to great effect, staggering them to get the maximum value in the confined areas of Nepal’s indoor stage. It took the majority of the round for EnVyUs to recover from that first fight, but they eventually took control of the point at 89%. Cocco had the Graviton Surge advantage, but popped it off before baiting out the Winston, allowing Winghaven to just pop his bubble and negate the entire follow-up. They sprung out of the black hole having taken no damage, and won one team-fight to take the round, the map, and the entire tournament. 3-1 the final map score to REUNITED, who finally overcame their demons and won against both Rogue and EnVyUs in quick succession.
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