Temple of Anubis was the pre-selected map for the first Semi-Final in the playoff bracket for Atlantic Showdown. The single-elimination bracket moved from best-of-three games to best-of-fives and both teams prepared for a gruelling match. Rogue had already been beaten by REUNITED in the groups and was now up against the juggernauts of EnVyUs, sat on a 57 match winstreak. It would require something unbelievable to upset the reigning kings of Overwatch, but Temple of Anubis has always been a wildcard map.

Rogue kicked it off with a Junkrat defense from market, but despite finding an early pick on Taimou's Tracer they were unable to stop him and the Genji of Talespin from darting behind onto the point and causing havoc. EnVyUs' high mobility and high damage hero composition allowed them to take the first checkpoint in one minute, gathering their ults for a dominant display on the second checkpoint before Rogue had had any time to recover. As the dust settled the kings of Overwatch had taken the first round with 7:20 still in their timebank.

Rogue replied on attack with a similar Tracer/Genji comp, mirrored by nV on defense to allow them to take the 1v1s around the point rather than expose a central area for attack. aKm's aim on Tracer enabled Rogue to take the first checkpoint but in twice the time, and they were unable to storm the last point as Taimou denied them with a triple kill blossom. A ridiculous teamfight that took over two minutes, seeing TviQ get three or four dragon blades as the fight raged on, eventually ended with Rogue capturing the point with 4 minutes left in their bank.

EnVyUs started strong *EnVyUs started strong. Photo Credit: ESL

This gave EnVyUs a three and a half minute advantage going into the second round, and Rogue ran the same defense that had been picked apart last time. TviQ's clever placement of traps and spam instantly found kills onto Genji and Tracer and ruined the push though, as the team continued to hold with help from uNKOE and aKm to pin down the slippery nV players and take them out. Rogue held the first point valiantly for two and a half minutes and as nV tried to push into the last area they were split up and looked uncoordinated, using ults in a staggered manner and wasting them to make it easy for Rogue. With only two minutes left in their bank, Taimou couldnt get enough damage out on the bunched up players to find any kills and his team kept failing teamfights.

With one minute left it looked like they were going to take it slower and build up an ultimate advantage before engaging, but when they entered nV were caught in a graviton surge and burst down with deadeye and riptire - Chipshajen's Zenyatta couldn't save them there. In an incredible display of defense, Rogue were able to hold out for a full 7 minutes on Anubis to starve nV of the final round.

To take the map, Rogue had to cap both points in 4 minutes and again it was Tracer/Genji mirrored. EnVyUs won the first two attempts and got themselves ultimates faster, which they popped out to run down Rogue's timebank to two minutes. With all ultimates online other than sound barrier it was set up perfectly for Rogue's offense though, and they came in with all of them to secure the first point. With at least a draw secured, the pressure was off. They simply had an opportunity to win outright if they could capture the final point in under a minute. Their first attempt started off perfectly as aKm zipped around the map and picked off respawning targets, and again with Rogue's attack on last they dragged it out into a huge and messy teamfight all around the point. With incredible plays from the supports of Rogue to keep everyone alive, they were able to take the win on Temple of Anubis in a huge wildcard upset.

Rogue looking excellent to begin *Rogue looking excellent to begin. Photo Credit: ESL

EnVyUs had no intention of returning to an Assault map, or a wildcard map of any sort. Over to King's Row instead, where

rogue's agro defense caught out chipshajen and as nV bunched up over the point Rogue managed to collapse and focus targets perfectly. It took nearly three minutes before nV were finally able to break through and Rogue were still able to catch players in the streets. The focus fire especially looking excellent from Rogue, with even uNKOE and Knoxxx picking up a load of kills in large teamfights. After holding nV almost in spawn for the first four minutes, a range of ultimates eventually helped nV to break through the streets and a won teamfight around checkpoint two as harryhook took people on a wild goosechase helped them begin to get back on track. Rogue's supports were helping them get a huge amount more damage and distraction in the teamfights as even harryhook was made to look average and nV just managed to get to the home stretch with under a minute left. Stalling tactics couldn't prevent nV from crossing the line completely though and they set a time of 8:44.

An average time on King's Row would be enough to go up 2-0 and take it to match point against the dominant North American Overwatch team. They came out of the door with unKOE on Ana, nanoboosting Reinforce to push nV out but they came back in and kited him effectively. Once again in the next teamfight the nanoboosted Reinhardt was easily focused down, and Rogue gave up with their Ana strategy. As soon as they switched over to Zenyatta, extra healing and damage synced with some ultimates was enough to win them the first checkpoint. They had 6 minutes to take the rest of the map.

A hugely chaotic fight on the second checkpoint delayed Rogue for another three minutes, but they still looked in position to take the map. Up against the ropes, nV pulled out new levels of determination to keep throwing bodies towards the cart just to stall, desperately doing what they could to stop the payload moving further forward. With one minute left, Rogue had one or two more opportunities to take the map and upset EnVyUs twice in a row but an amazingly timed switch from Talespin over to Tracer came up huge and let them hold just long enough to equalize 1-1.

With the slightest margin on King's Row leading to a victory for EnVyUs, Rogue were in a position to take the series over to their pocket pick: Hanamura.

TviQ began on defensive Mei, splitting EnVyUs up to single out targets as they tried to enter. It looked incredible for Rogue as they built a wall and made nV pay for it, focusing down each target as they made it past the barrier, cutting down the attacking timebank to under six minutes. Eventually TviQ fell and Taimou's blossom picked up three, but an amazing play from winz stopped his team losing the round for another two minutes. 4:01 left for nV and their turn to defend.

They chose not to run a Mei and instead went toe-to-toe with dps heroes, but Rogue took the first checkpoint in their first push for a very dominant start. Due to how quickly the nV players died, only one ultimate was available to them on the defense and Rogue overwhelmed in a crazy time, leaving 7:24 on the clock.

Once again the Mei wall from TviQ split the attackers up, but an adaptation from EnVyUs allowed them to break through much more quickly than before with three minutes still in their bank. Three minutes was not enough to break through the ridiculously strong powerhouse of Rogue though, and they held strong with every player contributing massively to lock nV out. To take the map, Rogue were in the same situation as on Anubis: all they had to do was capture both points.

It wasn't easy for Rogue, as EnVyUs began to find that superlative form that they had been able to produce at will in prior tournaments. With so much time to feel out the defense and build ultimates, Rogue could not be denied though and after a few minutes and squandered opportunities they flooded into Hanamura for the 2-1 upper hand in the Semi-Final.

Rogue were now one map away from delivering nV their first upset in 57 matches, knocking out the reigning gods of Overwatch from the first six-figure tournament.

The fourth map in the fixture and match point for Rogue was Dorado, a map they obviously felt comfortable on and one in which they had already showcased a very strong forward hold at the fountain. They began on attack though and a flank from underneath with HarryHook and Taimou cracked open the door and let them grind the cart past the fountain. An interesting pick from INTERNETHULK on D.Va let him apply a lot of pressure forward but it still took EnVyUs three minutes to capture the first checkpoint. A slowly grinding approach forwards from EnVyUs saw them get into the final area after six minutes in a reasonable showing from both teams, but Dorado has often been won and lost in the final metres.

It was much the case in this match as Dorado's final checkpoint was heavily contested by both teams. TviQ continued to impress with amazing Genji play and it seemed plausible that Rogue would be able to hold on completely. They weren't quite able to, but their stall tactics as they threw everyone in fresh from spawn kept the time high at 8:34.

INTERNETHULK again went for Symmetra on the forward defense. It had worked so well for them the day before, but not in such a high pressure game. If this composition failed and sent them reeling, they were likely to be out of the tournament in a huge upset.

TviQ came out on attack with a Mei and their attempt was easily crushed, feeding a teleporter to INTERNETHULK and wasting time. aKm and Reinforce slam damage into a graviton surge to take the first checkpoint and the spawners could not block in time despite dashing through the teleporter. An almost exact replica saw EnVyUs wipe again on checkpoint two, giving Rogue four minutes to take the final area and make their way into the Final.

With three minutes left on the clock Reinforce and uNKOE beefed their ultimates. With two minutes left EnVyUs still had four ultimates live and ready to go on the high ground. With only a minute left nV used them up to destroy the European underdogs, forcing a final game-deciding fight. aKm hit a double deadeye and TviQ picked up three to clear the path to the end, and with players screaming at the cart to move quicker the spawners arrived to delay just long enough. In heartbreaking fashion, EnVyUs held on on both King's Row and Dorado to turn a potential 4-0 into a 2-2.

With no Assault maps left in the Semi-Finals pool, Lijiang Tower was the final deciding map to determine whether Rogue or EnVyUs would progress to the Final - and more importantly who would go home in fourth between these two godly teams.

Rogue chose to take nV over to Control rather than Payload, and on the Garden stage they came out of the gates with a Genji/Tracer combo to play against the North American Tracer/Reaper composition. Both tanks went down immediately to grant nV the first capture, but Rogue quickly got back in to keep the round competitive. Long, delayed teamfights kept the time ticking up for both teams, and a final decisive wipe gave Rogue a 1-0 advantage.

On Control Center it was a battle of the Tracers: aKm and Talespin fought to pick off players and weaken targets to win fights for their team, and again EnVyUs took the first capture. Control Center lends itself to snowballing and this was no exception, with nV getting to overtime before Rogue are finally able to reply. A quick recap from nV keeps their heads above the water at 1-1, and onto Night Market.

Rogue continued with Genji/Tracer and lacked the ability to deal with INTERNETHULK as he continued to pressure down their supports. Again nV took the first capture off the back of a great first teamfight and Taimou on Reaper began to rack up kill after kill. Rogue left it til overtime again to take a teamfight on the point but this time there was no chance for victory and EnVyUs went up 2-1.

Match point for EnVyUs; could they really come back from being so close to defeat and brush off Rogue as the closest team to defeat them in months? Thankfully for Rogue they were back to Garden, the stage they had won and the stage that favoured their Genji/Tracer composition most.

While the nV Winston was left unchecked still, this time Rogue focused on shredding the rest of their opponents and leaving INTERNETHULK until last. A great pulse bomb from aKm let them tick up the percentge to 50 easily and a trade in captures left them in the lead up to the closing moments. It looked like it would all come down to the final stage, chosen randomly from Night Market and Control Center.

In a 50/50 that ended up favouring EnVyUs, the teams headed to Night Market, the stage that nV had dominated on. Rogue adapted and switched up their team composition, putting TviQ on Tracer to allow their superstar McCree aKm to strap on his spurs.

Rogue immediately came out with a capture, and it was instantly obvious that aKm was having a huge impact. The flashbang was invaluable for dealing with both Talespin and INTERNETHULK and Rogue made it to 25% before nV replied.

A recapture from Rogue let them tie up the game at 45% each, and incredibly the supports from Rogue came out with two kills each to put them in an amazing position to take the entire Semi-Final. They lost the point at 86%, meaning that EnVyUs had to hold on for another 50% in order to stop themselves being knocked out of the Atlantic Showdown in fourth.

Rogue took a little time to build up some synergistic ultimates - with graviton surge and a pulse bomb in their toolbelt it came down to clutch timing from winz to pick the perfect opportunity to intiate, catching four and leading to a complete wipe of EnVyUs. Only a single player of Taimou was there to block the point and it was impossible for the North American team to avoid.

Rogue had done it. They had beaten the gods of Overwatch, broken their 57 match winstreak, and knocked them out of the Atlantic Showdown to progress to the Final.