Another clinic in domination by Ardeont. I'm already looking forward to how they math up against the top three of last season.

Bit of a surprise that Detonator lost that one, they looked like they were mostly in control but very nice comeback by LS.

If it looks like I might be stalking the channel it's cause I am.

Next one up!:

Rewind! Positioning or picks on Numbani A

I could see that happening.

He's at it again:

Rewind! EnVyUs go fishing to counter Sombra

I could totally see that happening. The article mentions it's not s requirement but in game calls might be more fluid this way and since they can all communicate in English interactions with the coach would remain as they are.

Call em them up and have them sign him!

LWR has already secured their spot in the top 4 and NC Foxes can do the same with a win here technically eliminating both AFR and Meta Bellum in the process.

However, if they happen to drop the ball here, in addition to a Meta Bellum win and then followed by a loss to said Meta Bellum they would lose to them by virtue of the head to head tiebreaker with both teams being 2-0-3 in matches. Here are the two possible out comes:

• To qualify:

  1. Victory here
     or
     1b. A loss here and Meta Bellum loses to AFR
     or
     1c. A loss here and Victory vs Meta Bellum
• To not qualify:
  1. A loss here
  2. AFR loses to Meta Bellum
  3. A loss to Meta Bellum

Note that in the previous round they lost 3-0 vs LWR and won 3-2 vs Meta Bellum. This could get interesting if this come down to the wire.

Correct, the bottom two teams already have three losses each so whatever happens LWR is safe.

The loser here loses all chances of finishing in the top 4, the winner has to win this and his last match and hope for favorable tie breakers to possibly make it through.

A lot on the line for both, yet their fates aren't entirely in their hands anymore.

Edit:

• For Meta Bellum to go trough a few things need to happen:

1. NC Foxes loses to LWR
2. Victory here
3. Victory vs NC Foxes (this will win them the head to head tie breaker)

Note that if NC Foxes wins their match against LWR, Meta is technically eliminated as the former will have secured their spot and the latter has already lost the head to head vs Rox Orcas

• As for AFR I'm not entirely sure since it's a lot more complicated and would require a three way tie possibly coming down to map score depending on how they apply the tie breaker:

1. NC Foxes loses to LWR
2. Victory here
3. Victory vs GC Busan
4. NC Foxes loses to Meta Bellum
5. ROX Orcas loses to LRW

This is where I'm not sure about what happens next. The head to heads go as such:

NC Foxes > ROX Orcas
NC Foxes > AFR
ROX Orcas > AFR

The above is why they need that three way tie at the very least or else they just straight up lose the first tie breaker. Now, I don't know if they'll go to individual head to heads or just straight to map scores where they'd have to do very well in their last two matches while the opponents would nee to do poorly.

If anyone has a better idea of how the tie breaker would work here feel free to chime in!

RiP's time to shine? I really want them to do well in the hopes that someone wants to snatch em up.

From their domination in the previous match I think Ardeont have a very good chance of winning and qualifying but I don't really know how these two compare to each other so I guess it could go either way.

Looking at both of their games I did feel that Ardeont looked stronger but that's probably also due to personal bias.

Unfortunate, but maybe something good can come out of this for some if not most of them, hopefully.

Amazing news for them! They had a bit of a rough time at the Pacific Championships so it's good to see that an org sees their talent and potential.

The channel has a number of good vids with insightful commentary about a bunch of things going on in the scene. Well worth the time, but be warned, you may not be able to stop once you start.

Be sure to subscribe, you dun' wanna be missing out!

Best of luck to both parties, I hope they find what they're looking for. Was pretty happy to see them do better than expected during the first week of groups and coming so close to getting into the playoffs and Contenders Season 1

The winner of this match secures their spot in the top four and access to the next phase of challengers.

In the words of the great DJ Khaled...AND ANOTHER ONE:

Rewind! eUnited's Pharah Mercy comp

Ardeont absolutely dominated on all three maps in this game. I have full confidence that they can qualify for the main tournament and quite possibly do well.

This match was a clinic, quite the sight to see.

Extremely close match but LWR was able to pull a rabbit out of their...hats...and bring it back for the win. Extremely important victory here since it puts them at 3-0 and will guarantee their spot in the top 4.

Meta Bellum also falls to 0-3 meaning they'll have to get lucky to even have a chance of moving on.

The weab in me wants to see at least one Japanese team make it but also Ardeont, these guys are my sentimental pick considering how impressed I was seeing Mighty AOD and how unlucky they got with seeding at APEX.

The Korean chapter o Detonator looked good in this game. I wonder where they stand relative to their Japanese sister team considering how difficult it was for DeToNator.Gold last season, only managing to defeat the SunSister.

Not OGN's decision. It's been moved for the Overwatch World Cup. I'm guessing they originally would have played the final on Friday July 14th (instead of Tuesday July 11th) or else I don't quite understand why they would have needed to move it.

The World Cup Shanghai groups play from July 14th to July 16th. I'm assuming the Friday slot because it's a better time to play the grand finals than a Tuesday.

Rogue got outplayed but honestly I feel like nV would have been in the same boat had they been in Group A. I don't think either of the western teams had the tools to take down the current finalists.

They're also playing under tough condition as mentioned by Taimou and Winz but in the end they just lost to more prepared teams. It happens.

Fully agree, I'll have to go and re-read these for sure.

I thought so as well but the match ticker shows Bo7, I'll edit if it does get confirmed as Bo5 though.

Possibly, but I'd think they do their best to win regardless since they have one last game to play in any case.

I BELIEVE!

EFFECT did as much as he could but KDP had a solid plan to contain him; Void was much better at peeling for his back line with Matrix and making sure both EFFECT and Taimou couldn't do their thing. Birdring and Rascal also did an amazing job when playing Tracer who was also able to help keep tabs on EFFECT and then moving to de-mecking Mickie.

I do believe nV has the better Tank/Supports and their DPS are equally strong but KDP's execution was several cuts above and nV's carry potential just wasn't enough to overcome it. This is very similar to the LH vs AFB match where the losing team was strategically dealt with and ultimately dismantled.

I do think nV should do well in the west though, the coordination they showed is on par, if not better, than what most of what the NA/EU showed aside from Rogue, and more recently Immortals.

Yeah, rematch of the season one finals, with both teams feeling very different since the last one. This is the match I wanted to see in the quarters to get a better beat on both teams. Both got dismantled in their semi finals match so I'm interested to see who bounces back first.

Pound for pound I feel like nV has the better cast here with EFFECT being an incomparably better Tracer than ArHaN and Taimou being an arguably better hitscan/soldier than Recry. I also give the support advantage to nV with the exception of IDK possibly being a better Lucio, imo, than Harry. I think nV will take this though I wouldn't be surprised if it went either way.

Map score roulette:

AFB 2-4 nV

Just 25 days till the finals fam! Thanks Blizz.

This is a battle of titans, one of the strongest tank/support cores vs one of the strongest dps/offensive units.

I think victory in this match will depend on how well Void can protect his supports vs how well LH deals with the KDP dps. If Void gets taken out like Meko and DongHyun did LH has a very good chance of winning this but if KDP is able to take down Jehong consistently before they take too many casualties they could pull away with it.

I do feel like the longer series format does favor LH, because of their iron mental nuts you can never fully count them out, but I think KDP will go up first still with the possibility of LH bringing it back.

My current attempt at map score though things could very well change because...25 DAYS MAN:

LH 3-4 KDP

Who do I want to win? LH for sure.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting a team to win. Gotta disagree about them being over hyped though, I feel like most ppl saw KDP as the favorites even though they wanted an nV win.

FeelsBadMan, channeling my inner Meza so we don't have to pay him for all the candles he's had to buy for this...

:candle:

I'd agree with this, I think it's just easier logistically to grab an NA based team then having to move one in from the EU. But if it were to happen Bazooka Puppies and123 are just two examples of teams that have shown that they can hang with the rest of the EU top dogs so it would be an interesting and exciting turn of events.

I just want more of these great teams to have themselves some stability man...

Looks like we get our wishes boyz. Another good old fashion revenge match. I'm giving the edge to FNRGFE here because they've shown they can hang with the best and bring it. Not to take anything away from Arc6 but I think Ginger moving to shotcaller and having a new main support will require some adjustment.

Dis be ma stab at it mon':

FNRGFE 3-1 Arc6

And we get our revenge matches! I'm assuming Jaru will be sticking around but in any case I do see this as a repeat of Contenders.

EnVision could flip the script on it's head and grab the win here, though I'm not convinced that will be the case, I'm totally OK with surprises. For now though:

LGE 3-0 eV

CLG might come out to play here but if the Contenders trend continues IMT should still be the stronger team. As always the "anything can happen" disclaimer applies, albeit I'm not convinced it will deviate from my general expectations.

Map score may vary, cause Overwatch, but I think this will be decisive:

IMT 3-0 CLG

Very unfortunate for those guys. I had oped they'd stick it out for one last hurrah but getting FNRGFE in is a treat, and EnVision might get another stab at LGE.

If it ends up as Arc6 vs FNRGFE and LGE vs EnVision we'll have ourselves a couple of revenge matches on our hands.

I ran out of new ones so I went back and watched every. single. overwatch vid. Starting with this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bqqx6q3g4s

I recommend watching them all for sure, or at the very least hitting the subscribe button, or forever be dead inside. Maybe.

Ah, I get it. He's saying that who ever loses their match and finishes in 2nd place has to face Korea, hence it's an elimination game.

Ye it would...Custa facing off against his Fnatic buddies and Arc6 possibly getting their revenge or FNRGFE getting the better of them once again and showing just how amazing they are...and that an Org better sign them ASAP.

Well, I'd like to see both teams get signed really.

The org may be based in the US but the players are world wide. I wouldn't limit them to representing one country my friend. They're much more than that.

Denmark has a very solid chance of making it and assuming they finish 2nd in their group, just behind Rogue...I mean France, they'd have to get passed either China or Hong Kong.

I'm not very familiar with Hong Kong's strength relative to China's but I can only assume that the Danes have a very real shot at this either way!

1. Rogue
2. Immortals

I'm not sure about the rest since it's pretty much anyone's game imo. The top two could get "upset" since OW is often full of surprises but IMT looked really good in Contenders and Rogue's been at the top for a while.

If I understand the format correctly the elimination game is more than likely going to be Canada vs Korea or Russia vs Korea. The top two of each group face off against the top two of the other group sharing their location and I believe it's no. 1 vs no. 2 of the other group. Basically ma boyz need to finish ahead of Russia to avoid the Korea and get a statistically better chance of making it to Blizzcon

Feel very free to correct me if I'm wrong though!

I think that could it it since it does make sense but I don't know myself.

Where's Meza? We need a candle for this, not a team getting dropped by an org but still. FeelsBadMan.

Maybe another Sweede?

25 days between the last semi final and the grand finals. That's absolutely stupid and I feel like it's bad for the competitive integrity of APEX.

They very well could have scheduled this World Cup stuff after. I don't get it.

Also, that title's level is OVER 9000!!!!! Epic.

Unfortunate for EG and not that surprising for C9 but I don't think it changes who the power players of this tournament are. The brackets would have IMT and Rogue meat up for the upper brackets finals and possibly again in the grand finals but I'm curious to see if any of the other teams can manage and upset the bigger names.

My bet is them going the way of Kungarna and reclaiming their East Wind roots.