Today marked the beginning of the Contenders group stages, with Europe first in the queue. There were clear favourites identified in most of the groups but Europe’s ruling elites appear to be existing on borrowed time. Any roster found to be resting on their laurels will be quickly deposed and guillotined. The revolution may be upon us; Contenders open qualification and expansive round robin group stages have made for some interesting and unexpected results so far.

The format for Contenders group stages saw 16 teams split into four groups of four teams each. To open the day, each team played a round robin against the other three in their group, with another round robin scheduled for next week. The matches were played across four maps no matter the result; wins were awarded for securing three or four maps in a match with draws possible.

As the second half of the double round robin is in a week’s time, teams have time to reset and learn from games this week before the rematches. Unfortunately, not all games were able to be streamed in the groups, but the results on paper and those shown on stream gave an atmosphere of unpredictability and excitement.

If you want a breakdown of storylines going into the tournament, check out our viewer’s guide written by CommanderX!

Group A

ESPORATI were the clear outliers coming into this group, with eUnited presumed to be quite firmly on top as well. What should have been, on paper, a battle for second place turned into a fierce fight for the top between Team expert, eUnited, and Bazooka Puppiez.

eUnited spilled maps early in the group; their first game against Team expert showed the level of Veineless’ new team as expert took Anubis and Gibraltar from them offstream and force a draw. expert went on to beat Bazooka Puppiez 3-1, losing Nepal, and pulled off the same 3-1 against ESPORATI, this time losing Anubis, to take first seed in the group.

It’s a massive improvement for Team expert who will go into games next week with a huge morale boost. Their likelihood of escaping groups is high, even if they can’t replicate the extraordinary success of today.

eUnited will be frustrated at their inability to get more than a single win today. Despite dismissing ESPORATI 4-0, they could not get the better end of upcoming teams expert or Bazooka Puppiez. Both games ended in draws with no pattern visible - against BP, eUnited lost Hollywood and Nepal, indicating perhaps that it was a rough day for eUnited overall rather than these teams exposing a particular gamemode weakness.

eUnited need to pull themselves together for next week to avoid going out in third place, a result that would be truly astounding. At the moment they are outperforming Bazooka Puppiez but it’s a close affair.

Group B

Misfits and Laser Kittenz easily topped Group B late into the day, building into a climactic head-to-head between the two to end the stream. Laser Kittenz looked vastly improved over their qualification performance, utilising Mowzassa and Munchkin to great effect. They shut down Nevix and Reinforce well throughout the series, taking the match 3-1 including a solid win on Hanamura.

The battle between these two teams appears to be for seeding only if Group B repeats in a similar fashion next week. NWA absolutely fell flat on their face today, getting just a single map draw on Anubis against Misfits and losing 0-4 to Laser Kittenz. They ended the day by subbing out Hafficool and drawing 2-2 with Team eSporters Cyberathletes, a thoroughly underwhelming reappearance for the Ninjaz With Attitude.

The Spanish mixed team of Team eSporters Cyberathletes is now above them in the table after also taking a map from top seed Laser Kittenz on Anubis. There seems to be little chance of either bottom team genuinely contesting Misfits or the Kittenz for a playoff spot, but a week can be a long time in Overwatch.

Group C

Looking at Group C coming into Contenders, anything was possible. Team Singularity Ninjas and Vivi’s Adventure have been rising for a while, while NiP are a former powerhouse adapting to the new meta and a new player in LiNkzr, and GamersOrigin were previously struggling with dive and made somewhat of a recovery after adding in new DPS players.

The group started with an embodiment of that unpredictable spirit as Ninjas in Pyjamas were put to bed in a 4-0 roll by Vivi’s Adventure. NiP have thrown themselves bodily into dive after adding LiNkzr to their trial roster and appear to be struggling to tread water, while Vivi’s are comfortable playing dive across the map pool.

Team Singularity Ninjas struck out with a 3-1 victory over GamersOrigin at the same time, adding excitement to the next match-up as the Danes battled the Swedes. In a thrillingly close series streamed from the POV of Henzu, with every map decided by millimetres, Team Singularity were able to get the better end of Vivi’s Adventure and took the game 3-1.

Vivi’s answered back with a clean sweep of GamersOrigin as Singularity drew with NiP, putting the Swedes ahead in terms of map record but behind based on wins and head-to-head.

For NiP, their draw against TS Ninjas started a recovery late on in the day. They drew confidence from that game and plowed through a struggling GamersOrigin with their dive on stream, with the Finns finally finding their feet in the dive meta.

Despite how solid Team Singularity Ninjas and Vivi’s Adventure look at the top this week, in a group with so much parity anything could still change.

Group D

Group D, the group of death, became the group of draws today with some great upset draws from 123 and Alfa Squad. 123 were the team to upset NiP in the qualifiers and have so far dodged being shown on stream. They’re a true unknown quantity for the top teams in Contenders and have clearly shown they’ve got the talent and upset potential to be a problem.

123 began by going 2-2 against Movistar Riders, a completely unexpected result. Alfa Squad fired back with a 2-2 against Cyclowns, drawing the entire group level across the board.

The first on-stream game from the group saw Movistar face off against Cyclowns. Expectations were high for both teams coming into Group D but it was Movistar who wiped the floor with the newly rebuilt Cyclowns roster 4-0, looking strong for a top seed finish.

Alfa Squad carried on their record with a third draw of the day, going even with 123 and showing crazy, unpredictable parity across the group. All that remained was for 123 and Alfa Squad to take on the top dogs they hadn’t faced yet.

Cyclowns had looked better than their TaKeOver performances but not dominant in any sense, still integrating their new recruits, especially trial lateks, into the lineup. Their offstream battle against 123 was a disaster. Cyclowns didn’t take a single map and ended the first day of Contenders qualifiers in last place with a draw and two whitewash losses. It will be a long climb back up to a playoff spot for the slumping Cyclowns.

Alfa Squad, on the other hand, still managed to take a map from Movistar Riders and end the day in third seed just behind 123. These two teams look to be seriously legitimate sides with scary upset potential in this tumultuous meta. It’s a shame we have seen only fleeting glimpses of them on stream, but hopefully next week 123 and Alfa Squad will be showcased in their glory.