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Hello and welcome to the Overwatch World Cup 2026 group stage coming to your life from
the beautiful city Busan.
I am Zoey and joining me for the first part of the day.
my good friends Matt and Mitch. We're in BlizzCon. It's hot. The play is already ready.
It is hot. It is very hot. I'm very humid, but I love it. I thrive in this environment.
I hope our players do as well because they have to come to play to make it to BlizzCon.
And I mean, this is like the best, right? We've been in World Cup since the start.
I know it's the first time we've ever done BlizzCon there and just a really awesome program
getting to see so many different players from all over the world kind of come here
and be able to compete on LAN.
And we're here at the Busan East Port Arena, which honestly is a purpose-built facility for these guys to not only prepare, practice, but also compete out there on the stage behind us.
They look like they've had a great time. Everyone looks like they're pretty threat, but obviously the stakes are high because a spot at BlizzCon is not open to everybody.
That's why we're here to cut the week from the chart.
That's right. We'll get into the nitty gritty of it, but first we are treated to a message from some special guests.
Check this out.
2, 3! Hi, Overwatch family! We are the Seraphim!
We're so excited that Overwatch is kicking off our cup hype in Busan!
Oh, that's hard. But we will be cheering for everyone. Yeah, and hopefully we'll be the lucky team in British Cup this November.
Oh, and did you guys see D-Mall? Yeah, it's so cool and we can't wait to see how it will make an impact at the World Cup.
In the meantime, everyone please stay safe and cool. Enjoy the beautiful beaches in Busan and play Overwatch.
We will be back with many more exciting announcements of staging.
Here are the team alarm!
Game on indeed, that's what our players are here to do.
In Busan for the group stage, of course, they are playing for the coveted spots at the finals in Anaheim at BlizzCon.
I mean, this year has been lit. We have BlizzCon and then also we're going to Guangzhou at the end of the year.
That's right! Finally announcing the location in China.
Yeah, well Joe, that's gonna be awesome. I know I've never been to China
That'll be an awesome trip. Mitch has been there a few times. So he'll be our expert
Back there since the Overwatch APAC premiere in 2017 so it's it's been a little while and that was in a different city
So I'm super excited because our Chinese fans really turn up a great example is expect to see many of them in attendance in
Anaheim especially China make it through this group stage. They're our loudest and proudest fans
We can't wait to rub shoulders with them and meet the face-to-face in Guangzhou
Yeah, I mean they really want it right because they basically been the brights made for the past four renditions of the whole watch world cup
They came second last time
Then against the USA on the first time against the USA. So
Yes, that's they want to get that number ones. They want to get the number one. Can they do it?
Well, we'll find out how they fare in the group stages first
We, of course, have 16 teams participating.
We split them into four groups of four teams each,
and the top two teams will be making it to BlizzCon.
But some of those groups are, they're tough.
They're really tough to come out on top with.
But again, like matches in the first two, three,
there's a lot of opportunities to work with the balance
and the map selection.
Yeah, absolutely.
Especially with the map pools,
same as midseason championship,
but with some changes, right?
The re-yelts on a number of those maps
are actually in game now.
And that really changes the complexion,
actually how some of those play out at this level but again if you win two games you're probably
going to be able to qualify through this. There are some scenarios where tiebreakers will have to
be considered here. We have a pretty extensive methodology for making sure they'll be resolved
those tiebreakers. Yeah, I mean you need a deep tiebreaker methodology when you have round robin
groups because there is a chance you get a three-way tie. We're getting the calculators out.
freaking out who's going to make it but you see kind of like all the type records on your screen most likely the scenarios like a head-to-head between two teams right two teams
Tied like a tube one or something along those lines. We won't probably have a pass number four on this list
But if we need to we will play a perfect match. We have in the past. We have gotten past that in the past
It's been done. It's been done. Yeah, we covered all our bases
So we will figure out who makes it to close but eventually we'll get there and here are the teams that will be
participating as I said
16 teams have qualified to get to the group stage and here they are in full glory group a looking
Bit like the group of death. So sorry about that Japan. I am that was me. Actually, that's that's the hot
Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But yeah, I feel like group C group D. There's there's a lot of
potential really close matches there
You can tell me that the group a would be like, you know
So, for like half of the field at BlizzCon, I would believe you, I mean, that's how strong
Grube is.
I'm excited for Group T as well.
I think that's going to be pretty good.
We casted a few games in Denmark, you know, in the online qualifiers, and they were pretty
impressive.
I mean, that's kind of why we don't see Finland here, right?
Yeah.
Finland, who are like a top three competitor, we're in 2023, they actually won that
third place game against South Korea.
They didn't get through their group, because Denmark is looking better than ever, Germany
They also topped their initial qualifier group, which really impressed us.
So we've seen a number of nations, especially in Europe, that are playing at a high level
that we've ever seen before, with many players that you also see a part of the OWCS in the
NBA.
I think we're seeing higher level overwatch across the globe than we've really ever
seen before.
Absolutely.
We take a look at the map pool, like Mitch mentioned, right?
We saw this map pool at EWC.
A lot of map reworks come through, right?
Busan gets some adjustments recently.
You also have part of your zone.
Iconvolved and both get some serious map adjustments.
So excited to see how these kind of play out here in person.
Especially because if you think back to the mid-season championship,
it was basically neon junction constantly for hybrid album.
You've got some options here.
And I imagine some teams are going to look to take advantage
of some of these fantastic new looks on Iconvolver and Padaizo,
especially insofar as for attackers,
they make it a little less painful to try and get position on those maps.
Second stage punto Iso. Historically difficult for attackers. I can vault first as well.
Our Iso is like a whole new map. Yes, and yeah.
Yeah, I mean all the coverage has been added there. Like it's gonna go a long way. So I actually expect to see a lot more of those kind of maps this summer.
I hope you get a Lucio dropping the beat in the last phase of the map, because there's a really fun interaction there.
But even Icon Valdera, that first point for attackers, you've got access to the high ground now,
before naturally as opposed to having to really fight for it.
And that's why we did see a lot of defensive holds on that map. So attackers favourite across a couple of these areas.
If I were to take a guess, we'll probably see Route 66 played the most.
Like, I think out of the escort map pool, I think that is one that teams probably feel the most comfortable with.
It's been in the game forever at this point, right?
And you can play a lot of different play styles on it, so that would be one if you're watching the whole weekend.
You're probably going to see a ton of Route 66.
I think it's definitely helpful for a lot of these teams that the map pool is the same that we just recently saw,
the mixed season championships, albeit with some rework maps, of course.
But that gave those players who have been splitting their times
between the Overwatch World Cup and the OWCS LAN events
and of course the regular season.
They had to split those times so for them not to have to prepare
for like an additional map pool, I think that goes a long way
for many of these teams.
But I do think that like the game is going to play out a little bit differently here
because not only do we have these three works on the maps,
but there have been a couple of balance changes that came with the demon patch
that might shake up some of the more powerful compositions,
especially some perks that are being changed.
A lot of heroes are having their major per exchange, or like someone with a minor, so
there's been a lot of tweets like for Orisa, and Echo is looking better with the addition
of a new minor per fair as well. Jetpack Cat also gets a little bit of a
tune down, just the high mobility, also importantly the self-feel for Jetpack Cat has been reduced
a bit, so that sort of super aggressive solo play from the Jetpack Cat, you might see a
little bit less of that. Do we expect a big shift in the meta though?
I don't I think we're gonna be pretty much around where we were I think there's an opportunity like look like when you have
tournaments like this teams will come in with some different strategies but you have great Britain for instance right I think they
could buy a ton of wrecking ball probably a lot of teams in the field have not had a ton of time playing against wrecking
You can really just kind of throw a wrench into it.
I expect to see a lot of like, you know, D.Va, Sigma base kind of looks throughout the tournament.
And I mean, it'd be fun to see Demon.
Demon's like pretty powerful after some of the hot picks is on live.
It just doesn't feel like at maybe the pro level, she has like a real strong advantage
against any other tank.
I think like her identity is still being teased out a little bit.
And like Matt mentioned, it's a bit of a jack-of-all-trades-king-of-none problem.
It's actually something that Rematra on release kind of has, but then a lot more strength was shifted into his perks, right?
He had that innate sustain and also a very powerful ultimate.
So we saw every tank in Paris, right?
There was a lot of diversity and at a competition like this, I get a World Cup,
you really do get to see those regional styles shine through a little bit more than just like a generally accepted way that the game should be played.
So do expect to see quite a lot of variety in terms of cost.
I think the hard part is that like Dima is really good at like getting into the backline,
getting rid of those like supports and then getting out.
When one of your supports is really high in the sky, flying around, and then the other
is Kiri who can just TP, get away, there's really nobody for her to access at that point,
right?
Like on live, she's unbelievable because you got your, you know, on the player there
at home who's kind of got like, you know, maybe a video up on the other monitor and
you're able to just kind of get in there and just get in there.
Okay
Yeah, I ran games. See honestly she is
Requires I think a great deal of skill. I think she was someone in Paris he showed us that you can have fantastic on a plane
It's also been a really important pick to punish the jetpack cats want to float around a bunch
You have like a cause I hit scan presence in your pack line has been really important
But you know her immobility certainly hurts her especially now when like, you know
Jetpack cat just kind of breaks the mold in terms of your mobility and I mean demon
They changed the gun right to have a little bit of a shorter cooldown
But still not gonna be able to put pressure on jetpack cat up in the sky right so you're kind of out of luck there
I think in like some
Like maybe like she's just not strong enough like you know
I was like I'm maybe like some type of like brawl setups
But then you think about how good remodra is right with like
Nemesis form and the ability to kind of block and just sustain so much damage
Also, Vortex having the hidden ability to drag people down is really important.
Even if it's like Vendetta comes in, anyone that's trying to get some air and dive on,
just to get to intercept people is really important.
So again, I don't think Dimon is best in class at any sort of style quite yet.
But we have so many teams that I would say fly under the radar,
because some of them obviously have a lot of players that we know and love from OWECS,
so we're familiar with this style. We have those pre-existing synergies.
synergies but then there's other teams for example like Team Mexico right like we don't quite know what to expect from that team from that put together and yes
like the majority of them have hit the bike extinction so we might be seeing more of that particular group very soon
But for now like they can get away they can sneak away maps if they have those kind of pocket picks and they have their own identity
That's really important and extinction obviously we were probably hoping to see them in OWC as NA
But they don't quite make it through the promo relegation tournament out of stage 2
really well in Master, I think they're in a placing second behind Nightmare, but they do lose to DSG in the
lower bracket of that promo relegation, so they will be in face of Master for like another stage here,
but I mean having that time spent together I think you know that translates really effectively into
an environment like this where a lot of teams are kind of patchwork brought together from
everywhere. And I think like what you're alluding to is correct, it's like some of those teams
can come out with some interesting strategies, maybe catch some people off guard. There's also
be like well maybe we just you like we have to play something safe and then
that's where I think we end up in like you know Sigma, D.va, things like that.
If you're playing something safe and basic you better be better than the opposing team so
very often coming in but maybe your own identity in an element of surprise can
really give you a leg up. I'm sure a lot of these players they also just you
know there's a lot of stories of these in history between those players
between those teams going years and years and years back in the history of
of Overwatch, so I'm pretty sure everyone has,
okay, Nemesis or two, let's hear who they are
looking forward to play.
Honestly, I think my personal biggest rival
is the whole of Great Britain,
because I was actually born there.
My biggest rival is Crocs from Team France.
Okay, even though he maybe don't know me,
but let's say it's him because he plays very good
and in front of each other, kind of like me,
has to be Tread, and he's somebody
that really impacted me in good and bad ways.
I think as a team, it'd probably be pretty good.
Just because I think the other ones
were gonna get key buzz from moving on.
Probably Tread from Team UK.
Probably some of my own teammates.
They have more of my competition half the time
than half the long out, to be honest.
I guess my biggest rival would have to be
Golden Pants, because that's probably
the most important matchup of our group.
My biggest rival, I think, is Fnastro.
I don't know if he considered me as a rival, I know,
but I really admire the guy,
and Fnastro, I think, is better than me.
But before, I think I was better than him.
Max, Max was clear.
I eat them all, okay?
I mean, if we're featured macros, bro,
you have my thoughts.
That was Mitch last night at the KBBQ.
You said, I eat them all!
And he just, yeah, we ran out of plates.
I like that Golden Ponds made it on someone's target list though.
Well, I mean it's so funny, the Aussies are like very strategic about it.
That's a team...
What do you think of Colour Hex, Raghav the Australian?
I mean, I do love our breakthrough player incentive.
Obviously for regions that can't feel the full team,
necessarily they have chances to be part of that same conference, right?
Watching Colour Hex where the white stars instead of the red
is rather amusing to me, but, I mean,
Soggy's also on that team, he's also from Singapore, right?
Which is awesome because he kind of brings that team's secret synergy with Kappa,
They're so strategic about it because they do understand and in their group,
they're not going to get past the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It's very, very unlikely.
Too well resourced, too well experienced, like obviously incredibly talented roster.
But against Great Britain, you generally got an angle there.
And Australia do have a history of generally making a top-eight.
I think like, I was able to build a team in 2017, I think we managed to get through.
They beat Japan and at like 5-1.
Did you say you were on the team?
I built it.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I thought he was trying to do credit, right?
I was like, oh yeah.
I was on the team.
It was controversy because I didn't have a customer in that too.
So it was a spicy one.
Let's take a look at our teams as they're taking to the stage
to get ready for our first few matches today.
And there they are in Team Australia.
Well loved, well known.
Make sure what we know about his team.
Yeah, listen, I see it's got a lot of those faces that you know and love.
This is not Cup as first World Cup appearance.
Ackee, Birdlog, Hamster, all very experienced in their region.
Obviously, Australia is part of the Pacific region for OWCS.
There are limitations in terms of latency connection
and stuff, but they've competed with the best.
Big shout out for Soggy, putting on the Australia jersey.
Someone to look out for as a DPS player this tournament.
Next up here, they are Team Canada rocking up again.
A lot of familiar names in that roster as well, Matt.
Yeah, Astro and the Tank role we've seen in a few iterations of different teams across the OWCS.
And then Cal as well, awesome to see Cal back on the stage here in the Overwatch World Cup.
Definitely a support to look out for.
And I have to point it out, I love the jerseys.
So team specific, everyone has their own flavor to China taking to the stage now.
This is a really interesting one obviously because they did make some changes, right?
We don't get our usual duos, like the Shies and the Leafs of the World Sun.
So the break through tack from the region is in the mix over Gushua as well.
So they're an exciting team to watch out for.
I mean, look out for a Panabler Kinecki as well.
That's the JZG DPS duo who definitely showed some of their quality, you know,
in Paris and have been around for quite some time.
Lexa recall also from AGAL.
So it's not the old faces for Team China, but there's potential.
Next up, Team Colombia.
A few more question marks, I think that's like one of those
underdog teams where we don't quite know too much about the individual players.
Yeah, I mean, we've seen Super Gomez in the past, right, you know, Temp as well, you know,
Mick V, so some pretty talented players across this roster.
Super Gomez comes back to Overwatch after, you know, being a pro player in other esports,
and it has mentioned these teams really helped get him ready to play at this level again.
Next up, of course, we have team Denmark, Shockwave, Pelix in the mix,
Donovitch and Johan as well, SkyTorso, they do have a lot of veteran players on that roster.
Yeah, they were second in that EMEA A group. Really, honestly, impressive outfit. I think you
should expect these guys to deliver. Kellex is a veteran. He is obviously currently competing on
GK, top team in the OWCS. I expect these guys to make an impact.
Next up, Lele Bleu, the Frenchmen are taking to the stage. Again, just so many familiar faces.
FDGOT always going to be part of that one with Dip, Crocs and Kio.
It is the... I don't want to say it's not the old guard, but it's like the missed guard, because it's also not the new guard.
Crocs is one of the funnier players that we have. You see no WCS, just always awesome during interviews.
I'm expecting Dip to have a really breakout performance.
I think Zerian is one of the best curies as well in Europe to keep an eye on him.
And next up, Germany.
That's a team that I want some really promising players,
especially looking at the ice norm here,
which I'm sure is going to be the center point and the focal point of this roster.
Ice had a really rough EWC mid-season championship, right?
So how can he bounce back in that tank role?
And honestly, they need it to be unbelievable if Germany is going to have a really deep run.
And next we're gonna see Team Japan, which, all right, all right, they got a rough draw, okay, they got a really rough draw, so they're gonna have to fight really hard. Don't point at me, man.
You get that draw!
I did not do that!
That was a mistake!
I think this team obviously has got three of the current VARO players who are the best team in Japan, but they're the best frankly because they've got some really good Korean imports on that roster.
But it's still Niko, Cloud, KSG, Bacon competing at the top of Japan for a long time.
This is not their first showing here for a World Cup. Japan have often suffered a hard break in the group stage
So here they look to go a little further, but it is a rough route
It is indeed that you have a lot of pre-existing synergies
But then can be said about the other teams in that group now taking the stage with course have team Korea always got to be
Considered one of the favorites and Korean overwatch esports just seems to be back on top this year
I am so excited to see how Sunjin in simple play into this roster
I mean two extremely talented players who play in different regions now
Now I'm joining here on this Korean roster, they're going to be almost impossible to beat.
And now, taken to the stage.
Team Spain, another one of those teams where a few players that we're familiar with, but overall, we don't know how this roster is coming together.
Yeah, look, I think Santi has been fantastic. Certainly some are worth keeping on here.
Zodil is one of the most accomplished hits game players in EMEA, really made a slash.
I think it's more of a Cassidy-Effician added, we've seen him on the Sojourn as well.
I think this team's got a lot to show, but Gala and Canael are that Stull Ward support line
that have been as part of the OWC for quite some time.
They're like the greedy back lines, the high skill expression in the RRVT's back line, so look out for that.
And now of course, Team Sweden, I am excited to see what they can do in this group stage.
stage Kevster their DPS player we all know him we love him and right now he's in top form like this is
peak Kevster. He is all the way back I mean he probably never really left I think everybody
was just gonna dog it on him for that year but also exciting to see Willys play Willys has had a
really strong last two years in OWCS in the A. It's been quite good.
And there we got team Thailand they've always been one of those teams which just came in with
so much personality into the Overwatch World Cup. Always an exciting team to follow.
My vision in my opinion is the best hits game player in Pacific.
Keep an eye out for this guy. He and Yoshinori are on that team, Secret Rostu.
We got to see a little bit of in Paris. I really wish we could see more
Palais as well as one of the back players here. These guys are always a dark horse,
but they always manage to become crowd favorites sooner rather than later.
Absolutely.
Then of course, we also got Team USA.
We know him, we love him, infected, leading the charge for this squad.
Of course we have a lot of pre-existing synergy with three Team Liquid players on that roster.
I think there's a lot of pressure on this roster quite frankly.
A lot of these players have really had a lot of hype coming up
and now they all get together here, try to put together a really good performance
It's in a very difficult group, eh?
Now, Team Mexico, we talked a little bit about them just a few minutes ago, right?
That four of these players have been picked up by Team Extinction just in July.
We've seen two of them in the last World Cup as well, Nemi Pallette and of course, Angel Volado.
So we know that they're capable, but how far can they take it in their group?
Santana's something to look out for.
Puerto Rican player getting through that sort of breakthrough player mechanic.
They are fantastic on tank. This team again, it's a challenging group, but I really do think they have potential
You know to sort of get out of this group intact their first opponent obviously it's going to be the Great Britain
Great Britain the last team
Head on out to the stage Barney Astro at the helm of it
Many familiar faces on this squad the short expectations are therefore also very high
Is it like no fielding hand style because I had to golden pace.
I'm so excited to see Golden Man's play on LAN potentially.
No, his wrecking ball for, you know, an OWCS EMEA for 1, 2, 3, 4.
Like Omo's actually going to got them into the playoffs just off of his strong performances on that hero.
So excited to see if he gets some run here.
Yeah, I'm excited. We're seeing them, of course, facing off against Team Mexico in our first match of the day
of these teams in Group B. Let's chat about Team Mexico here first.
We already said two of these players coming back here to the Overwatch World Cup.
We've seen them lost in 2023 and now four of those players playing for extinction.
What else do we know? Like what kind of styles can we expect from these teams?
Yeah, I mean, I think this is a really rough draw here early for Mexico.
Just off of, I think, I know, just kind of seeing up on the stage as we take a look at their roster, right?
So I know you have Carmen is there in the DPS role that we've seen and you know, Santana as well
I think it's a rough draw because if I see correctly behind us
Goal in pants is gonna be playing
For as much as Mexico is probably practice and drill coming into this and obviously playing with extinction
Probably not seen that much wrecking ball action. You know, not something and a plays a ton of not something me a place
So it could be a pretty rough draw here in Game 1.
Yeah, my eyes are on Santana.
They've got a really deep hero pool.
I think they're going to be able to impress us.
But for Mexico, if they see no fielding across the stage there,
they're probably expecting to have to play in a record ball style.
That's the thing that's pretty telegraphed when Great Britain
shot out with that lineup.
You know what you're getting into.
So I imagine they have prepared protocols for dealing with the ball.
We have seen Golden Pants also play like some Maga
when we've actually seen the ball being banned so it's always something.
And it didn't look bad either so it didn't look like oh no and now everything is in shambles.
They're very drilled and practiced on that wrecking ball and good thing because we do have of course a lot of the 1, 2, 3, 4 players
in that roster so they don't know exactly how to play around Golden Pants on that hero.
I also think they don't really want to play a ton of you know, Jepak Cat right?
So, we'll see if this is the lineup here. This has no secondary support, so that would be interesting if we're going to see Funny Ashrow, Golden Pants, Trade, Kai, and Mimeone potentially.
I know you'll have one of the other players in the roster here in the lineup alongside Fasco.
Yeah, so it looks like Golden Pants is on the stage, so potentially the tank.
I also think playing the Wrecking Ball allows you to maybe not play as much as Jetpack can if you don't want to play that, which, you know, Funny Ashrow doesn't love to play.
We were surprised to see this team actually, you know, lose their match to Germany through the group stage.
They're not the number one seed coming out of their conference qualifiers, which is a bit of a historic result.
This team tends to look really good at their group stages and then flop as soon as they hit the quarter finals.
It was Finland that just executed them instantly in 2023 as they made it out there.
They beat Canada 2-0 that year, Australia and Brazil.
There's 2-0 to everybody and we didn't really get to see much of them
and they didn't have a lot of time to show their quality out there in Anahar.
It is just two of the returning players though, right?
It's kind of my moan.
Like, I don't believe...
What's funny, Astro on the 2023 roster as well?
Yeah, he's returning as a walker.
Okay, okay. That is a three-nice-and-nothing.
He didn't play in the group stages, so that was something that...
You know, he was obviously busy with TM during the three-nice-and-three.
He was, yeah, at that time, I think, yeah, obviously, we're in 2023, right?
Which was an interesting year for Overwatch League sports.
Yeah, like, five-nice.
But I expect to see him.
I've seen him obviously scrimming with him.
And here's someone who we've seen on Twisted Minds, he's adopted the Jetpacker playstyle rubber.
When you play alongside S1mple, you do what you're told.
I'm curious to see here if he just goes back and really sticks to that move this year.
Do what you're told. I mean, again, for everyone watching, these matches are being played in the first 2-3
and we are, of course, playing in a round robin group stage.
Round robin.
But yeah, round robin group stage, so each team will be playing against each team in their respective groups.
So really every match matters.
It also looks like Astro's not starting, I believe, as well.
So a really different lineup, potentially for Great Britain.
But like I mentioned, Astro didn't really play its own for them during the group stages, didn't play at all, if I remember correctly.
So Nepal will be map number one in the set.
See how that affects, like, potentially fans here.
Yeah, and remember, this is the kind of map where we've actually been seeing the more static poke-based tanks like Sigma start to get played a bit more.
In the past, they're like relative immobility, made them like less than ideal options, but
with Jetpack Cat and the way mobility creep effects like the game now, you can get away with playing Sigma,
which is obviously a bit more ponderous. It's a tracer band straight away here from Team Mexico.
So, you know, they're already looking at my Mone's hero pool and just trying to eliminate,
you know, the threat of going up against the tracer here.
Yeah, I mean, Tracer are just like a devastating hero, right, on the other side of things.
Like, you just allow my Mone to like take over a game completely, just kind of
run you over, potentially get that out. I will say this is an opportunity though for like,
me to creep into the mix, right? Potentially here, it's a demon ban that comes out. I mean this is,
the fans don't want to see this right away. I mean, we want to see demon get played, a ban right away.
But maybe they expect there to not be played. So this is fan service, so we get demon on the
screen at least once today. True. Yeah, obviously it's not a protect ban because it's not first.
Yeah, it's quite interesting, right?
So, or it could be something that we don't know.
I don't know how cute and into scrim blocks
and then rumors in the back there are.
I actually didn't ask.
I spoke to Tasmo sort of yesterday
while he was like, you know,
the team was screaming here, the piece of fun.
They stayed back a lot longer than anybody else here
in the practice facilities, just sort of running out games.
So that could be a good or bad thing,
depending on like what your perspective is.
But I didn't get a chance to ask him about Demon,
but I was not seeing a play as I peaked over the shoulder.
Did the childhood plasma change the way you would predict this match?
Let's take a look at our predictions.
Let's discuss our predictions.
Mitch, did you get influenced?
I actually, I don't know if I...
Did you get influenced?
No, not really.
He's actually perceptive.
No, not really.
I think that this team is looking good.
It was very laid back about it.
They practiced at Sunderland and the British esports facility like coming into this.
Do they have like an in-person bootcamp experience before coming out in South Korea?
No, I don't think so. I think this team is looking strong. I wonder about how they'll fare against Australia
Who the screen bucks are pretty favorable for right now?
That's what I'm asking though. I'm asking how they fare against Mexico.
The Australian team, the screen bucks are good for Australia.
I think you'll have to consider Great Britain the favorite in this match.
Obviously, so I did go with Great Britain and we did so across the board.
But I'm telling you what though, like Mexico, they're high spirits. They've been locked in.
I've been watching them like around the venue in the mall close to the hotel
But I just want I want them to know that I'm rooting for them. Also, they gave me
They're here, they're here, they're here, but yeah, okay, so obviously Great Britain, the favorite, but in 1st or 3rd with the fans, anything is possible.
You don't want to count them out just yet.
It's lose a pick as well, so that tends to lend towards closer series.
We have a map hold here as well that actually has like some, you know, like some more specialized options, some of like the more polarizing maps of the ones that lend themselves to specific cops.
So that's also an option.
I expect to see like Neon Junctions still lent on pretty heavily though, but even in that sense, like we see Mav, we've seen Seekness, we have a bunch of different like Rematricons on that map here, so, you know, maps like that are a bit more general, it feels like it's almost taken the middle of King's Row in some ways.
I think it's going to be tough. I mean, going against a team that can play ball comps at this high up level, it's, it is such a nuisance to deal with.
And even you know what to expect, you know it's coming, it's still difficult to deal with because that's not what you're running into every other day.
Now, two teams are ready and so are we, so gentlemen, please take it away.
Well, you know, those ballcoms come in and you have an idea of what we want to play.
Hey, we want to play a lot of Diva, we want to play, you know, Kiri Lucio.
The other team just playing ball just ruins all of that, right?
I mean, you kind of have to throw all your strategy out the window
And really kind of come with something tailored to your radar. We started to try and play Brig. Are we trying to play Mizuki?
Like what are we trying to do here against it?
Yeah, I mean it puts you in
one of two camps. Either you're gonna try and play something that's similarly aggressive and try and dive faster.
Now Winston is used to be the option to play against the ball comps.
If you don't want to mirror them, you want them to try and dive down faster like fight impact.
Now he's gotten a little bit of a buff in terms of like the healing perk on his barrier now.
gives a little bit of extra heal per second, but I think it's pretty unlikely that that's going to be the way we lead.
And some comps have to just sort of pay the piper and try and play like these anti-ball aspects,
like they, you know, they, they bring in their Mizuki, obviously, even though binding chains are a little bit harder to hit now,
as the projectile size reduced, is still a good option.
Still pretty.
It's, it's, look, it's not a, it's not a be all and end all in terms of the answer to the wrecking ball comp here.
But, you know, we talked about it a whole lot and likely we're going to see it here from team Great Britain.
The Junker Queen for Centana would be legendary.
Yeah, and we talked a little bit about it when we saw the Great Britain roster coming in.
Golden Pan starting in terms of tank, you don't have Funny Ash showing in.
It'll be Crispy and Kiwi here in the back line.
Kick things off.
Yeah, okay. I mean, I guess if you're, you know, you don't really need to have Funny Ash throw in
more than Lucio Fiscianato. Obviously, it plays a lot of Juno there as well.
We'll see how it plays out now. It's going to be Golden Pan starting here on the recubo.
This should be telegraphed here.
We have the Jetpack Cat Bastion combination as Kamiz is going to fly overhead.
So we'll see how the Mexico kind of deals with it as an early first two kills there for Mexico.
So my mode in Kiwi end up falling there.
Pretty good start.
Yeah man, this is what you're looking for obviously.
The Jetpack Cat Bastion I think needs to be respected to some degree here.
What I expected though with my month's trace of being banned out going over the she on is a pretty reasonable analog definitely made
Doesn't make a ton of sense here is she's you know
She's just completely outdone when it comes to mobility
Up against this composition. He's coming trying to dive on into the switch step the key way
But he ends up being pretty close by still is well
He's that target that he dashed it was right nearby
They're gonna get picked up here and at 20% and counting Mexico are in great shape and gold pants
Really hasn't been able to so now remotely enough disruption here. I mean, this has been a fantastic start
about four Mexico's so see they ain't gonna keep it going golden pants over the
top nice slam gonna get a few players low and they finally do find lay there
there's that self-healing penalty for the jetpack cap not quite able to top
yourself back up after that encounter and try it's gonna be called upon to do a
lot of the heavy lifting here up against this jetpack cap bastion
composition to say nothing by the way of the fact that we have a jumper queen
in the mix a really makes you trying to play here on this point for to run
up into this queen composition and they'll find a lot of equity in the brawl.
Yeah it's just hard like queen obviously wants to do a lot of like self-sustain right like with
like shout and acts is just not really great targets right everybody's so slippery to catch
until they come more great Britain yeah until they do eventually come to you so
we'll see here golden pants gonna look for maybe a slam on the entry yeah you're also gonna
have a dead eye here being kind of moved around the map so they do get Santana they fall here
Yeah, most of the damage when Santana was from a dead item was a channel but I realized that just getting a chunk of 400
Damage against the Queen would be a great way to start and this is the tough part of you for Mexico
They can't be so see good at controlling the point, but if they don't have priority
Now trying to push on him. You don't know where you're looking high ground control is gonna be kind of camped here by the Great Britain
My mom could get in the back obviously with a spree here very soon on the shiom
And gold pains can keep these points stored out as a mind to go down from down continue rush deployed Santana again
I'm not really sure where to put themselves as most of Great Britain are gonna just sit up on this high ground and try and play from there
But, Kai has been brought down, traded here by Elemental Kai, who had that blade
And now it's gonna be a catnap here from a layup to see if that event traits into elimination or not
KaiMess is gonna be dragged away from the heat there on the point
Yeah, they do find Kai in Golden Pants there, it's gonna be a catnap here
From Crispy, just gonna get Santana off the side as they end up falling
Spree was available for my mode, end up using it there in the fight as well.
Carmez gets dangerously low, gets finishes off, that's huge, that's going to sound like any lingering pressure that would have came in from Mexico.
It was a flip there for Mexico, they got them up to 70%, midway through that fight.
That serves them well as it ends up being a little dragged out.
And one of Ultraman's being leveraged here by Great Britain.
Now you've got, uh, you know, you've got a decent setup here, your rampage you've also got a dragonblade to make use of that, goldenpence trying to be destructed,
kill your blades right away, and look at Kai, like a matchup, but he's probably slippery right now.
Those spurs are made for more than just walking, apparently.
The Elementor guy's still having to find Kiwi, Kiriko being down in Great Britain, certainly.
Have to have the wits about them now, the lion share of their healing throughput has been dealt with,
and Kai, Link is a little bit too lucky up here in this high ground,
and he's like the elimination there for Elementor guy, and this could get out of hand for Great Britain.
Yeah, it's actually a really nice play from Krispy that got Kai out of harm's way.
Right, you know, when that blade came in from Elemental Guy, but still, Mexico does a fantastic job of cleaning it up.
They have a clean ult here, and then probably a catnap as well.
Potentially, it's a chance for Mexico to take round one.
Olimant mostly being ignored here, as all they could do is threaten the cap of the rest of the game.
They've done a great job against the ball.
I do think that like a fly over dead, I hear for Kai could break the deadlock, but look at this, all of Team Mexico playing inside that building.
Inside that building, so we need to see a bit of a change of angle.
Ferris guy not quite mindful of the fact Cassie was coming for the sword.
Dead elimination is going to get Catnaphtha as well.
Numbest favourite in Great Britain for the time being.
Tantana here is in the mix with Dolphin Patches brought down, not a good side at all.
But Moe's going to be forced away from the point now that T Mexico are confidently holding this ground.
Crispy has fallen, lays out with a push away in Mexico for our first round.
A big surprise there.
Mexico able to deal with the wrecking ball play that comes in.
From Great Britain, they're an excellent job playing the Junker Queen, a character we haven't really seen in a hero much at all recently.
We saw, like, obviously everybody played at EWC in some aspect, but they're not really for an extended period as a contender, they make it look really good there.
I mean, and it looks flashy, but ultimately it's just a brawl comp that I want to play compact on the point.
They want to get a ton of value from Genji dashing, and also Genji benefits from commanding Shout quite significantly, given that sort of speed boost, and you can perk into making that Shout a bit more support-oriented.
I like that there are lays still there on the Jetpack cat, there's some options, Kamez might be looking to go for the Cassie here and not the Bastion of Golden Pants is off the Orisa.
Alright, off the ball.
And we've seen the decent amount of Orisa sort of creep in to the professional level.
I know from the mid-season championship on right like we saw Domina play that I know of the MSC and
Orisa probably a lot more than anybody would have thought
Orisa can do a decent job against this Queen you see Santana already trying to get them in the mix just out cool
It's way stronger there for the Orisa's side. You know elemental guy falls early
But great Britain they will be able to put the point now
I know take it just off of that. It's gonna be hard for mix good to replicate the strategy
we saw from Village on me by the Sanctum Horse tribe.
So they may have to lean into a little bit of direction here.
And I think Orisa probably still is the premier sort of brawl
tank.
The charged Javelin has been removed as a perk,
but the replacement is still pretty effective in terms
of it empowering damage and brawl impact.
Dolanpets has that armor knocked out.
So they're going to be forced away.
Remember, this is not high throughput healing composition.
So take some time to get Orisa ready to fight again.
And they do a great job, right?
If you can get the cooldowns out of the Aresa and then get the armor gone, like, she just kind of falls over, right?
So, they do a good job forcing out the Spear Spin and Fortify from Golden Pants, pushing him back.
And that's how they flip the point, but they lose Elemental Guy here really early yet again.
So losing to Genji, tough time here in round number two.
Lay ends up falling here as Kai push down.
Oh, nice shots there from Kai.
That allows Great Britain to get control dead high here gonna be just kind of they're probably gonna try and get aggressive here
Fire wedding in the wings now. It's gonna see all the best go on the approach
Oh, you're ready to hide to your nice little side by edge as well
Okay, so your mother there for Santana so I'm gonna shrug off that damage now because he's been dumped in a bit of an awkward spot
All afraid Britain are gonna have to commit to this to some degree
I'd say Santana's out of bubbles at this point now and Krispy saw an opportunity to go after Elemental Guy
But it's gonna need to take a sidebar until they're chased out by the other cat.
It's labeled elimination and Golden Pants is in danger now.
Great Britain have held the point this entire time, though.
This is just extra stall for them.
Yeah, no supports were left there for Great Britain at that time.
And obviously, they're gonna end up on the losing battle.
On that, it'll be the wrecking ball now going into the Zarya.
So the tanks battling each other.
It's gonna be a bubble here for Karmus.
Gonna get the dead eye up there on the high ground with the cat.
There's also one player behind. It's probably Maimone who's trying to take the point.
Yeah, Maimone's in spree. This is going to be this way. They're chasing with the blade.
He doesn't have a dash reset at the moment, so awkwardly, he just has to damage whoever comes to him.
Not exactly the game changing also, but you're hoping for there from Elemental.
They're losing a counter.
Yeah, Down Santana. Crispy does get traded out here for that one. It's a 3 vs 3.
Great Britain hero ready to flip back as they crucially have their tanks still in play.
Oh, nice shot there from Elemental. The guy actually takes out Kai,
Again, nice shots there from Kiwi.
Elemental guy almost able to kind of turn that.
You know, had post supports there.
Looks like actually it deflects into Kai and ends up taking him out.
We kind of look on from the distance there, but
GoldenPants just getting a perch up on the high ground here
able to see exactly where Mexico trying to rotate to.
Layne.
They're looking pretty aggressive at times, but it has had the effect of making
Mexico somewhat disjointed.
Goldenpans here, gonna make use of that shielding now.
Do you have a consumer rush coming down from QV and Ferris Sky respectively?
And Goldenpans could only operate on an off angle for the time being.
Keep an eye on this health bar, folks.
Leia is quite low. Elemental Kai has also seen better days here.
Goldenpans close to a minefield.
And inside this small room could be devastating.
And the payload has been deployed.
Trying to body block him inside, but nice rescue there by Leia.
And the Kassli out of the way, but that's Kai's dead eye.
That will silence both Kamez and Leia.
Finds a moment where they're out in the open.
And this Graviton search is all well and good.
Guess that elimination, if a Santana for the trade,
fame is great, Britain.
They have booked the DPS alive at the end of the round.
Yeah, we saw Karmaz getting brought up into the sky there
with the dead eye, goes right at Kai,
but Kai, who's channeling his a little bit earlier,
able to kind of deal with that Cassidy is one, one.
Honestly, I think this is probably good for Mexico, right?
A little bit better performance,
I think people would have expected potentially.
From them here early on so
Again, I mean this would be a huge man number one win
Obviously here on shrine your opportunities for like your jetpack capacity
I bound like much more than maybe yeah take them right so the dead
I could be a real game changer, but I also do think this means you can bring the bastion back into the mix
Controlling at high ground is going to be important
I'm only here just quick TP before coming back out on the shield
Obviously giving a great account of himself here and tracer will be available in the coming match. So I have a pause for you guys
It will relate you what the issue was it looks like on the side of Mexico, but thumbs up went out straight away, so
May end up jumping back in the game pretty quickly
Don't feel like pretty on race here the Busan eSports arena obviously players just trot a straight in got sat down and went to business
Yeah, you know we've we've only observed the players on the stage
So he is obviously doing reconnaissance work right now out in the field.
This is the coffee shop, coffee shops, cafes, evidently as a, that's dedication to the craft.
This is really like a journalistic endeavor.
I think that it's cool.
This is an awesome setup here.
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He's also looking quite different at the moment, so looking forward to getting it.
We got a few great Britain on top signs out here in the crowd.
We had a buff dive, you know, give her a sim sign.
Yeah, I mean, sim was obviously pretty ubiquitous at our mid-season championship,
of all teams still playing that, but I don't think that you are sort of married to
And playing those comps is not here anyways, there's definitely plenty of options for you.
Now Junker Queen also, one of the heroes that actually doesn't really receive any bad
passes whatsoever, the latest patch, there are a number of places that are not thanks
for that.
Obviously having an anti-heal is pretty important.
You can cleanse that up, see with this character composition, it's kind of necessitating.
Cheaply to sort of stay on the tree, we hear you, but I think that's pretty comfortable.
They've taken a few passes at buffing queen over the last few balance patches.
And some subtle adjustments where I think Queen is probably one of the heroes who fares off really well,
probably in lowered and mid ranks, and then tapers off towards those high ranks.
So I think there's always a fear of buffing characters like that, right?
And then they end up, you know, those heroes being unbelievable at the absolute highest level.
You're speaking of Sierra specifically, Iron Man.
Yeah, yeah, Sierra's another one.
You know, May historically has been a character like that as well, right?
Where May kind of is on the fence of like, you know, becomes a little bit too good.
Then all of a sudden it's like, you know, 100% playtime.
So, wedding on an update for you as to the specific issue.
Elemental guy, the Genji goat.
The Genji goat?
We're calling it early for Elemental Guy, already the Genji goat.
We're looking really good now.
this is interesting we are actually we're back to lobby here in the game so the
ability to sort of roll back to play that sort of last round but if you post it
here I'm gonna disconnect from Golden Pets, I can tell you that he is back in the lobby
at the very least so yeah yeah we did have a I got confirmation of the game
disconnect there so they're gonna back to Lobby instead yeah look obviously the
The fact that you don't complete, if you take the perk and it improves her's, the handic
jump, it recently loads with you, this is such an interesting thing.
If you see the perk going to, but obviously, Rampage giving you unstoppable is probably
a little bit more important, also, like, down-production.
Yes, Rampage without unstoppable, can be very stuff.
It's like a lot of mutual knockdowns, like, yeah.
Although we don't have like, yeah, I mean, we don't have like, Ana in the pool
or like, you know, nobody playing Mizuki, right?
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Welcome back to our opening game of our Overwatch World Cup group stage here in Busan.
Mexico vs Great Britain first up on the docket and we've already seen a pretty lively exchange here on Nepal.
Yeah, really competitive map, right? 1-1 between these two teams going into that final round.
Really before we even got into it, you know, ended up here in a pause situation.
situation, so getting this one sorted, but Great Britain probably a little bit caught
off guard with Mexico being that competitive here early on, so I think it's a good sign for what
we'll see with like the rest of the groups, the rest of the games. I think that this is probably
the best competition we've had, you know, I think across like some of the previous World Cups,
right, like you can look at some teams and they're just gonna be rough for them. I think
this is like probably the closest field overall that we've ever had. And I also think this first
match is pretty important because Group B at a glance might not seem as necessary the closest.
Yeah. But now seeing that, you know, this team Mexico able to put up quite a fight here early
on on the Paul's promising side. But these things about the team Australia roster,
even if they want you to think that they're spending all their time because you know,
I guarantee you that's not the case. But looming in this Group B is the Kingdom of Saudi
Saudi Arabia. Our reigning World Cup champions, these guys are obviously terrifying, they
are one of the best teams in the world, they basically...
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The exception would be Symmetral?
Like that's a kind of a...
I mean the fact is that like, UB for example, are of...
It's not just playing Symmetral up, it definitely felt like it were only a couple players that were able to play out of that certain level.
I think that's like just UB, right?
Everybody else is able to kind of play that sim at a pretty high level, including like people
can play like Sim, Tracer, Shion, right?
I think the UB is probably one of the ones that's really only just kind of locked in
on the sim.
Yeah, plenty of lovely between Colombia and Mexico.
I would say both those roster, I mean the America's Conference was really interesting.
You know, Mexico end up qualifying because there'd be Chile in that group.
It's a 3-1, but it's one of the closest 3-1s that I sort of seen, especially, you know,
in terms of these qualifiers where we had a lot of, like, cut and dry, one-sided matchups.
You know, Mexico advanced out of their group with a 6-5 map differential.
So that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about just how challenging it was
for them to advance.
I don't know what will.
They played some really close series in order to get out.
Obviously, Team USA did emerge unscathed
from that conference, looked pretty good.
But I think that team has a lot of questions
over their head going forward.
They've got a pretty challenging group.
China is certainly out for revenge.
There's a new generation of team China players
that are really hungry to prove themselves
and also the expectation for the fans on Team China
They've never really let off and it won't let off this year even if it is like a roster that doesn't have a world card.
The roster, obviously, leaves China and Guishui are not representing China this year, which was a shock to many of us to find out.
Starting personal reasons that did obviously leave room for that next generation of Chinese talent to come through.
Players that we've already seen obviously competing at the top level in Odibisi as China and also at international tournaments,
obviously, Ross is like AGL, so it's like JDG, all able to qualify, and also put on a pretty
decent showing, but it still feels like a region that is highlighted by that Weber gaming
team, which only SunZo is representing in the China roster this time around.
Yeah, but I think it's fun to give some of the younger talent a chance, right?
No, SunZo, like I mentioned, was so impressed with him at the mid-season championship.
They were almost undefeated in the maps that he played.
They were really good up until the end.
And then I'm excited to see how the alpine apple, kineke, and alfari work together.
It's like a DPS trio who they decide to play and in what situations.
I think they're going to be very difficult yet again to deal with for a lot of teams.
And if you've been watching the World Cup, I mean obviously over the years,
it's been 10 years since our normal year, but obviously we've had breaks.
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And don't ask me where I'm going
Is most likely I'm actually just in my room watching. Yeah, normally you know my games like games. Yeah
I'm normally just a I actually am just a
Yes
When we get to get this one, who do you think comes back first think we get Karmus back honestly first or the
Purposeful walk there from Chris. We make me feel like like he is he is be lining
He is absolutely going to take care of his business. I don't my concerns. He might not wash his hands
Yeah, Chris Chris be looked like he was getting out here pretty quick. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to get him back back in here
a little bit earlier
I think you figure it out. I said over under on Chris P. I just gonna burst back
It's like new tech. They actually can't start until I get back. So I'm gonna take my time
You know, it's funny. I wonder when you go to the bathroom
You see, you take care of things.
You see, they're wondering, how many people
am I actually holding hostage right now?
So when I coached Call of Duty,
we used to do this super fun thing.
We thought it was hilarious.
That's what you do.
But when we would like really beat a team bad,
like we would all get up and go to the bathroom.
Yeah, ice them.
And we would just stand in the bathroom
and kind of like just talk and just waste time.
Okay.
Because we thought it was very, you know,
Like, teams start to argue, right?
Like, when you beat the team really bad.
Yeah, you let them stew in it.
And then you let them stew in it for a while.
And then they're just like, they're like locked on stage.
We're just like, you know, we've washed our hands
like 40 times back there.
We're like laughing.
When we come back on stage laughing,
it just like elongates the tilt of the opposing team.
We always found that a very, very viable strategy.
I'm just thinking like, to employ,
you are one of these guys.
You've gone to the last room.
And you're thinking, how many people are watching right now?
Like how many people are waiting for me to finish this?
Yeah, I think it goes power that you derive from that.
Nah, I think the player's still off the internet.
I didn't think about that.
I think they're probably just trying to get back out here.
I know.
As soon as possible.
They're just tuning in.
We have already played two rounds here on the Paul.
Just waiting to get that third round
locked in, signed, sealed, delivered.
1-1 at the start, so round 1, Mexico is able to win, Santana playing some Queen doing a nice job there, and then Queen Genji Bastion, Cat Curie, then the other side, Breckenball for Great Britain, that's how they get through round 2 starts off with a Summer Rosa and then over to the ball.
you see was back first man yeah I mean like he was fine if your purpose the
purpose of someone with a very full body and you see that as well
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I really break mine in terms of the players we had in the scene.
Yeah, someone who instructs me is someone who deeply cares, I think, and always cares about the Overwatch ecosystem.
Yeah, I think that's a great way to kind of talk.
All right, so it sounds like...
Yeah, just hearing from TomBob's, there's some tech issues that we're actually just going to get a full restart, so all the stuff we talked about, one-one.
Well, what was the men in black to hit with the laser laser nobody that we saw things. So we'll start this one right off the rip fresh
Remember a will Smith releasing album around that movie
No, it was like he was yeah, I do remember Wow. I was
Black suits coming. Oh, yeah, that was awesome. I mentioned that you look at actually right that
All right. Yeah, we are getting confirmation
hitting a full reset yep yeah yeah just a full full reset yep well we'll get this
one started from zero zero keep it moving but now both teams have chances to
kind of see each other a little bit of what they're playing so a little bit of
a feel-out so we'll obviously see if that can change anything moving forward
but I mean it changes a lot because I do think that the jungle queen comp is
the kind of thing that you probably can't expose yet again it's a little
It's a little gimmicky.
Yeah, well, I mean, look, Great Britain was able to deal with it pretty easily by just going at Risa.
That would have been a move that would have happened.
Great, so we'll see now.
Once we get back into game, as we get a fresh look here at Nepal between Mexico and Great Britain,
how things fare out.
So, Mexico looked really good here early.
We'll see if they can kind of continue some of that strong play.
All right, we are getting gameplay folks.
Stopping the match in just a moment.
This obviously is your overwatch.
Well, Cup Group stages here in Busan.
Live from the Busan eSports arena.
Purpose built for your viewing pleasure.
We have moments away from getting into it.
There's the question, right?
We've raised it.
If Santana is going to be back on the Junker Queen,
the same kind of composition here,
it's one that can be read into,
maybe can be answered over time.
Team Great Britain certainly capable of making the required adaptations I'd
imagine. But outside of that right, I think the highlights were, like Kayskastin looked pretty
down solid, laid very aggressive here on the jetpack cap, looking for all the
solid eliminations. My moment on the she-on was the Kames was playing for
the most part, the bastion as part of that package. And just to remind you guys,
it was actually in Mexico getting first ban here, no end map selection
right so Nepal and then the tracer band it was really targeted towards my mom
really forcing my mom over to she on so if this one back under way
all right guy once more will be on the get you on the second position
early on it's right away the bastion flies overhead all the pants is up at
space from that but it's the same approach to try and hit that back line
golden pants at this time is trying to pursue the cat-bastion
combination to limited success, I'd wager. Now for that high ground, nice slam though,
here's an opportunity to find a backstab, but Lay's actually getting picked off first,
so my mind goes to work on my shen, and now Kamez has the ability to pivot away from this position.
Yeah, pretty difficult, there's a kind of losing lane at elemental guide,
going to get the benefits there of the shell from Centenna, but it will be great
Britain getting in control of the point first, is now though on the bounce back,
Santana and go you just kind of like just surround the point right and you can really fight there stand there against the Queen and the Genji
Battle them in that type of close quarter or so early control over to Great Britain and then put right back
And what we saw that was great Britain team keeping Mexico a lot of time
So much time to set up on the point so much time also to stave off like the damage that they suffered on the approach from
Great Britain because of like a ball comp. They do need things to line up
They need to wait for the slam to come through.
Now again, just give so much of a window.
Element of God, I don't know how to get a health pack.
That's huge.
My moan probably feels like you just pulled up shorting that encounter.
But again, dealing with a dead pack cat is something that Cassidy can do pretty effectively.
And Kyle will be credited with both eliminations of that little 1-2 package.
Well you know, Kai's job is obviously much easier if some of the other members on the team can really pressure out the Genji, right?
right? It's difficult though because there's sometimes where he's got the Genji and his basic
cap bashing up on the high ground like directly above him. That time the Genji kind of forced out,
you saw that Golden Pants and Mimone kind of chase the elemental guy out around the corner and that
allows Kai to end up taking out the cat and the bashing. Golden Pants is a really nice ball
move in that, just able to get up on that platform. He's sick. Man here comes a play,
Kai where is it, here it is, where it's coming from quite yet. It's going to be
Golden Pants suffering most of these slashes but can strug it off for the most part.
It's a dead-eye here from Kalyan and Grenada.
He didn't quite catch on too late,
keeping them still able to find the elimination.
Once again, the jetpack cat is down,
and once again, Elemental Guy finds a kill
amidst the fire, but converting that into a fight
when it's a completely different story,
and he's not having to slip away from the ball.
Yeah, he still had both supports there alive,
with Elemental Guy.
The antenna, they're doing a great job staying alive,
but eventually they're going to get whittled down
another good fight here for a Great Britain.
Here's the problem.
For this Junker Queen comp, it's not strong
when they're not on the point.
And getting there is a whole different story.
It looks like they're trying to drop them
on the high ground above the point
and then slowly transition down from there.
But in trying to get all the ducks in a row,
that's where you open yourself up
to be disrupted by golden pants
and to have your formation kind of spread apart.
Just like this.
Okay, we're gonna have a sense out of diving in
with the rampage now, anti-heal effecting Kai.
And he couldn't pull himself out of that situation.
Kiwi pursues you likely didn't quite find the purchase that he was looking for on as many players as he needed it to
But it wasn't pretty quick trade. Elemental guy is felled by Maimon on this shion and Goldenpants is looking rather healthy
But there's a flip for mexico now and Maimon cannot pick the Cap Bastion solo especially of the Kiri getting involved
Yeah, they do a nice job there with the Cap Bastion just kind of binding a target chasing it down
Goldenpants is not going to be the one that they consistently go after that time
They see Maimon has no cooldowns available. They go right after. Oh nice need there
Ron Karmes long range takes our Kai
This is the face of the game where you really need to abuse your favorable positioning as Mexico
Get those free grenades on great Britain as they try and approach
With the camp Bastien in a weird spot and try and make it hard for golden pants to set up with the rest of great Britain
Minefield on the point now this might be you know
Allowing it only flip the gold pants trying to make sure we get some connections off those mines
Guy can roll but the way that those shots are being staggered out there by the Bastien ultimate means he's in danger
And that was already a Susie used there by a federal sky so an easy pick off now and they're getting rid of the cat obviously not an issue
For someone like Kovacs Kai it was also a really nice play there
I mean Kai we see him use the roll when that artillery is coming through Chris be able to move Kai out of the way from the next
To coming on through now. I'm gonna move him in here with a dead eye
Free cat kill. Oh, yeah, yeah, Susie with the invulnerability frames was pretty crucial
I was gonna stay here play a bit more aggressively now right 99% the cat map comes down Santana has already fallen
Apart from Mexico having to run this back, they are not going to find success on this iteration of a village as I posited Matt.
Now that the Great British team have had a chance to lead into this cop, they found an answer for it.
They also have been doing a much better job here now at Great Britain dealing with the pressure that the Genji can apply to a hero and a player.
I know Cassidy and then Kai playing it while the Cap Bastion's up in the sky
They're doing a much better job giving Kai space to deal with a lot of the pressure coming out of it
But I think I'm gonna try this time. This is the map sides
We did not see on our first iteration of this map
The golden pants is out of it. You know have a pretty nice impact here
But for me, it's my mode dying once in the show crispy dying zero times very low
Yes, I guess. Yeah, you just see there just constantly just diving them with the cap bastion
No, obviously Santana
getting in his base on
the Queen
But if he gets like, you know, if he trades just one for one, right?
And in the amount of HP as like a resource essentially you're giving up to get Kai it's worth it
Yeah, we're great for it. This it almost always results in a least a trade as far as we've seen my mode
I'll be dealing it with many of those.
Mymoan has to be ready for this, but is able to use his Avaid cooldown to avoid the Bastion.
Kiles is looking for a fight, and he's not going to be given one.
Goldpence also obsconds very quickly.
Kiles able to play a bit of a solo off angle here.
We need to be careful, as it's not impossible to poke the Kastri down in this kind of position.
Goldpence is very disruptive right now. Look at the big damage he's getting put down on Santana.
Where's the healing supposed to be?
I guess Layen Theryskai were elsewhere, but Santana is able to be brought down.
Mymoan finds that execution.
right reposition in a pinch. Well and you also can't fully commit Antekai there
when you see him in your choke like as he kind of wraps all the way around because
you have Krispy playing right over the top of him right so if you kind of use
all your movement abilities then you're just gonna have to catch to scored him out
of the way. It's intended to play Diva now. That will be where the
France. I also like bringing in a Cassidy of your own here for Mexico
Right you need some deterrent to this ball in the shea
Yeah, I think at some point you have to respect the Golden Pence's wrecking ball
Getting chunked out a little bit here, but still has his adaptive area cool down. So
We're going to be able to find that extra durability if you needed it
It's like right now
Now let me take my getting sort of pummeled down in terms of damage it again
Here's the minefield glass place for that one Susie gonna be used
Gives comments the window to get away from those lines without triggering them and Kiwi's brought down
Get I4kai, that guy's for the opposite Cassidy, and that's get caught out by Kames with a parting gift.
He's with a hindrance.
Like, like, he just drops it. It's like, alright, well, I'm going to go live, so...
See you later.
It's just a risky car to stick around in.
He's getting a rush to point here by Ferris guy.
He went low in that window.
And it's now back to full health.
Kammath here as well for late.
So, Windu is here not only for Mexico to increase their lead, but also to prevent a retake.
I will see if Great Britain can get back to the point.
Does Golem-Pansel get there?
Santana just needs so much energy.
It's going to be very hard to get the D-bar.
Neutral catnaps here, but Lay gets caught out.
Crispy goes on in.
I think Crispy caught Santana, which is going to allow
for a pretty easy DMG opportunity.
And now without Santana's obstruction,
there should be, again, a pretty straightforward fight.
Elemental guy is usually getting elimination
in each of these engagements.
But again, converting it into a point flip
enough of a story entirely.
I mean, another opportunity here though for Mexico, right?
A whole suite of ultimates to work with.
I will see if they can get Elemental Guy in a good position with the blade to find anything.
Christie's done a great job of just kind of moving players around the map on that cat,
avoiding some of these big ultimates coming on through as Armets here with a dead eye,
an opportunity to fly in this dead eye.
See, keep it used as soon as you're too early, it's just dangerous, you're just
going to break the line of sight now.
You can't bring him into the close quarter though, can you?
Oh, dangerous!
Okay, what's going to be traded? Elevator guy comes with a blaze that they commit to now for Mexico to try and get to within spinning distance of a round wind.
Two eliminations here with the dragon blade that will be enough for a fight wind for Mexico.
Analysis for stall presence of Great Britain.
Yeah, and the stall presence is pretty strong though here is Golden Pansal get on.
Once you get the adaptive shield with that bubble, it is so difficult to deal with the ball.
It's going to be Kiwi coming back up spawn here using a rush.
Yeah, we're gonna have assassins with your spree here as well for my moan and save that for the time being self-destructive
Go respect everyone ducks and covers my murder be used with your own right go to get towards omega here comes the spree
I only suzer there for Ferris guy can they switch step away look at the moves here straight back through that gap my moan
Appears the Ferris guy almost was brought down by the execute itself
Sent out a lot of mech and now great Britain are on the whole stretch
Yeah, and it's brutal here because you know Mexico doesn't control the point right so in Sally's antenna can stand on the point and
and just force them to kill them, right? They have to jump off the side.
They'll force a huge reset. They're actually going to go in quite aggressive.
I love this from Great Britain.
There's a switch step. A lot of big cooldowns being used already.
Oh, it's open!
Come on, you break comments down.
And that's it. That's the map. Pretty much there and now, Matthew.
95% and counting in Mexico, missing two of their most important players.
So it's a doofus rollout here for Santana.
It's about trying to hold some space, but that is easier said than done.
They'll get topped up, still, well they were there, top there rather, another chance to get the touch here.
They're brought down, Golden Pants rides on in, Katnapp here for lay,
catches on to Kai, meeting Ferris backhand and find an easy pick off there, but
it could be dangerous here for Great Britain now.
Still have Golden Pants in the front, Kiddly's very, very low though,
I think he was actually giving the adaptive barrier from Golden Pants,
who's trying to do a Ferris guy, 99% and counting the Great British presence
has almost neutralized on the point that Golden Pants is here,
I think Mahmoud's working it off angle.
Yeah, few players coming back off the spawn here though, as both Curies are gone, Santana, they come back on Doom, and this is Mexico still going in this.
Really hard to get rid of the wrecking ball here.
Santana trying to hold that space, but Layspin brought down, and now the whole support architecture of this composition is beginning to crumble.
Santana has to get off the point, give that ground, and Kai catches him out with the right click.
Or even that major perk now, it looks like Great Britain have done enough here to secure victory on Nepal.
Pretty strong performance there from Great Britain. They end up playing that
wrecking ball composition and they obviously look really strong. That is
going to be a hero that is most certainly going to need to be banned at
some point in this series from Mexico. Most likely in this next map. Yes I
mean well unless I mean now it gives an opportunity for you know yeah I mean
Mexico's got to get rid of it right I mean
Mexico I don't know if it's up here for Great Britain, but as well whether like
We've returned to seeing the hero band screen and we're reminded the demon was actually
Banned out by Great Britain at first map just one of two things either there's some screaming tell
But whatever reason to play demon. I still don't know how that would sort of warrant a band or
There's a bit of a Lase there approach to the Great Britain. I well, I would see here, too
It's like if you're
You're very brilliant, and they get rid of the balls.
We take a look at some of the highlights.
They're still like, you know, with the compositions that we've seen from Mexico, like you can
play a research, you can play Moga if you're Golden Pants, right, and you're fine, right?
Like, you know, if they play D.Va, you can clearly play like a Moga, potentially like
Rush type of style into it, like you've seen that have success, you know, D.Va I think
win against the Moga over time but I think you'd have to play it at a really high level
if you're in Mexico. And then like the Queen, you can just play like the Orisa or even Moga.
You're throwing a mind deck, your advance comes after substitute as well. So,
you know, in Mexico we would be aware, is the level to go and ban a ball map and then
there are the opportunities to approach like treads back into the lineup here.
I think that's why you keep golden pants in, like it forces them to have to do
something about it right and I think you feel confident some of the other heroes
potentially available that golden pans can go to that you can still get it
win. There's a lot of Genji playing from an elemental guy over the course of this map
certainly seems like it's it's a comfort pick for them right. Genji you feel like
he's finding a bit more Venetian compositions where you have like Isaiah
for example, Isaiah bubble can be handed over. We talked about Command and
Shout just having that sort of team-wide utility aspect to it that
extra over shield that speed boosts that Genji can certainly make use of pretty effectively.
And it seemed like there were situations where like elemental guys able to get into some of
these fights but maybe finds one elimination but she comes a little bit too late in the
day for Mexico.
It's also now like if you're in Mexico what kind of map do you want to play?
If you're thinking that you want to play like Queen, Diva, things along those lines
like you'd be looking at maybe like a you know are you talking like Suravasa, are
Are we talking like but the issue is like a suravasa is pretty good for ball atlas is really good for ball
So now you're looking at like what?
the new junk city spot
Even at the band of all in new junk city like you probably there's one that you really let the ball kind of go through like maybe it's new
Junk City and then you kind of go play maybe it's like ram you can play some
Things along those lines. That's a survival. The game plan tends to be either like banned the ball or invalidating by map choices
kind of what you're getting at right. So there are obviously a few maps where
wrecking ball is not going to find that same level of success. What if we went to
Route 66?
Uh, we've seen teams play ball on Route 66 at like, you know, and have success,
I think just the last point is brutal for ball, right?
But, last point is like pretty strong for like if you wanted like,
Golden Pants can just play like Moga there at the end,
you know, even if you want to try and play something that you put as well.
It's not entirely you know out of the picture
There's something that could really bother them is like if you banned ball and let's say you played like Shambali, right?
And for something that's really like Ramatra's Sigma reliant. Yeah, that could be something that definitely
It's also where like it's very Britain's terrible jetpack cat bass in combination to be very powerful
Very strong just because you're able to pop over those high buildings also tracer is like available now
So might see like my mom just run out on that it does look like it
This is kind of expected like the she on was the comfortable analog for my mom
You know in situation the tracer was bad, but we saw you know
Proper play a bunch of tracer on the bottom on street just get dropped into the back line
You know tracer is always like like always viable, right? I mean
And I think but obviously tracer really good with the ball like in combination where if like that's like something you're gonna allow in
could be pretty rough so obviously some time for the players to figure out
where we are going here is
I mean it's an odd list okay so I would be shocked if the day pay Atlas and
don't ban the ball right ball is like very even when balls not very strong
this is like one of the better maps for ball there could be this is also we
We saw Santana, they were playing some Doomfist, they're mostly in jump time, right?
But like this is also the kind of map where it's been theorized that Doomfist can have decent run.
We see a lot of Orisa like on this map. I think like you can try and play the Queen right?
There are certainly scenarios. I think we're like especially first point like you just you can control the high ground effectively with that Queen comp that's fine.
Right, but I think we've seen what would happen though. It's like if Mexico were to play Queen, right?
Great Britain will end up, okay, so the ban is deferred here it looks like.
Yes, it would be a Mexico not picking first ban.
Yes, so the ban looks like it's been deferred here.
So, they ban Zarya, that protects the ball, right?
I mean, that is like as good as it can get.
I'm curious why Mexico decides to do that.
They will get rid of this.
but okay so the getting rid of the Cassidy makes fashion stronger even if
you like they are not as worried about the ball potentially but I can play I
mean you could play she on tracer with the ball combined here right you can
do that go back to the side she plays so much especially you worry about like
Malgo obviously Oveclop pretty important against cage fight yeah just to sort of
blow that up. I also think that there's merit behind banding's
higher in general because we did see that on sanctum. Santana had switched over
towards his higher and even the Great Britain found success on that map in
general. It was like a rich loss of our Great Britain though. I mean getting
Atlas with ball in play that's uh that's a probably a pipe dream for them.
Yes. This doesn't also mean that Mexico are leaving their ball ban until the last, potential, the last map of the series as a bit of a Hail Mary.
But yeah, we talked about how selection of map can invalidate Wrecking Ball. We don't feel like that's what Argus is.
You can play, you can play Camp Bash if you wanted to here for Great Britain to match Camp Bash and then just play Ball Tracer and that's like...
Super strong.
That's really bad.
Unless like for comments it's just not...
Well, if you wanted to play Genji, right, and you wanted to play the Cap Bastion, Kai was very difficult for them to deal with, they were obviously putting a ton of pressure on him, he ends up with like 5 deaths, 5 deaths after round 1.
In those hyper-mobile, like, cat-cury, backline comps, the Kastan is the only valid die target all the time.
She on to some degree but she has a Tennessee girl super way enjoy writers like pretty insane mobility for someone of her designations
Cassie's
Relatively mobile even though they changed his combat role perk now to actually give him that as opposed to movement speed
Yeah, that is true. It's just interesting
That ability of see like it's a lot of that like damage reduction on that they had like it would
Kill you based on how much you reload which is really interesting.
Now smooth as big.
I feel like this just gives so many opportunity for Great Britain though to like make comps
that can work around this great like I feel like if you're going to pick Atlas you need
to get rid of the ball.
I don't know where it's like this is a good map for the ball right like if you didn't
If you didn't want a ban ball and you wanted to play Flashpoint and you were going to play something like, you know, let's say, D.Va, you wanted to play something like a Queen, like, just playing you, or like, Moga, just playing you drunk city, right?
Is that off to Atlas and with the Casting Ban, Sojourn is the next best thing for Kai.
Another hitscan hero that he's certainly got more than just make a name for himself on and then a guy might yeah
Okay, so three would be interesting you do favor the vertical mobile to the Genji office in here
And it looks like Santana is legitimately going to be coming out on the team on
Okay, so we didn't have this one
You know
solid up but maybe they yeah I mean look just gonna kind of like constantly
aggressive here with the demon they maybe expect the ball on the other side
but Arisa's very difficult matchup for demon as my moan takes that elemental
guy right away yeah I mean that power barry just does not last very long
under the pressure of Arisa right it's kind of one of the reasons why she's
so effective against the Reinhardt so Sintana obviously has decent mobility
There's like a buster, very bruiser-y roll here for this demon.
Unfortunately, it's just really easy to, like, get rid of the demon, and since that she uses her movement cooldowns, goes all in, right?
The Orisa can fortify, stand there and fight with the demon.
You can also just kinda like, if she's trying to fly in, constantly pressure backwards with the spear spin, and yeah, you're gonna be on the mage right away.
Yeah, let's switch off there. Obviously it would've been fun to, you know, see the limit break in action with that damage amp.
uh... affecting your opponents is pretty devastating
alright sweet called for polls here and this is
from the
teemexico side of it
yeah it looks like uh...
one of the players
Mexico uh...
potentially uh...
the issue here so we'll figure out what's going on
uh... with that but
orisa's a pretty awesome pick even into maga right we saw that a little bit
uh... you know
the mid-season championship and EWP.
It's important because you can prevent yourself from being knocked down by that storm.
Malgror essentially has to find a way to get past the reset.
Obviously he's also unstoppable during shoulder charge, so that's quite doable,
but we're talking about a comp that features Sojourn's ability to slide away,
Sheehan's joyride, switch step from Jericho,
and the fact that Crispy would never need to touch ground for any space and time.
So where does your valley from this storm come from?
You maybe wait for a window with a soldier to power slide maybe the Genji's able to force the outfit hard to save
But then obviously the Orisa can just
Stave it off. She with fortify
You know you ban
Acity
You then give them sojourn to then claim Vogue which as we discussed
Page fighters the exact thing that I like this whole thing
Maybe they've stumbled the man phase a little bit here. Well, I think like we should start by asking why defer
Why defer?
Because when you defer first ban you actually defer the opportunity to protect ban.
Yes, I think that's like the logic there would be let's pick a good ball map, let's defer the ban and force them to ban a tank that maybe we don't even want to play or care about.
that then we can just kind of, you know, basically essentially thinking that Great Britain doesn't get a ban here, right?
Obviously, not the case. We did see some Zarya, you know, early on from Mexico. Probably not going to be playing it moving forward, but still.
You know, you've allowed the Great Britain to really, I mean, especially with like, you know, Christopher Bunny Ashrow, right?
Like, they know how to handle this. They're not gonna, you know, screw it up, so.
It's all both Chris and Tony Astrow come out.
They're more than half of the band process, so great minds there being able to kind of
read into this and how it was going to play out.
It's looked out great for them so far.
It's a great combination.
It's like 20 years of the better level of experience there.
It's that coach that we've fought.
Supply decided somewhere where we can lead this team even up against some of the
more complex, you know, all-beard comps that we're seeing.
Looks like our issue's been resolved, folks.
Thumbs up. We liked that.
We'll keep the cent on our first flashpoint.
We're ready to bail back into game.
Then we'll team on it for Centanus, which we'll go over towards the Amalga.
Let's see how it plays against the confident theories.
Pretty resilient to that disruption.
Then you give Kai the ability here on Sojourn.
Is Karten going to be able to match that?
Being able to just kind of farm these railgun shots,
as the container, they're going to hit with a spear.
Now they're going to decide to move on in.
Golden hands he will just back up.
Okay, crispy.
Going after the Genji there.
Terrasurge, keeping getting caught up at a solar charge.
Ever since I was very low,
Golden heads was really hoping for a trade.
They're kind of off angle.
That's going to make it
pretty prohibitively difficult for Mexico
to get a flip on this point now.
That is so safe here.
I mean they keep Golden heads up, crispy.
The only support I think for a while there.
Or Great Britain, a spring coming in from my mall and that's going to be first point here in a second heading over towards Great Britain.
I see that in Cliwity's second, it's a rail gun headshot on Elemental Guy.
And that's our first flash point here on out and it's picked up.
That's a great start here for Great Britain.
I mean, you're going to have an OC here available with a Katsune Rush.
Katsune Rush was invested by Mexico.
Trying to keep Santana up. They were so weak, pushed into a corner.
Then eventually, GoldenPans and Kai were able to deal with the Maga, so...
The issue for me here is this the big imbalance in Kiwi Ultimate Charge.
Between Kiwi and Ferris guys, so...
Catnap could be important here, but again, it's easy to top up the Catnap's target when you have that high spot from Rush.
Here's Karmus' slide on him. Karmus spotted, very low. Just one tap would have done it!
And Kai eventually is about to get the job done.
That means it's quite Britain that's going to start in control at this point,
and it's been able to hold onto the Kitsune rush, which to me might be even more important.
Yeah, it's a nice spear from Golden Pants.
It's a thing in the perk that allows Terrasurge to heal.
The Orisa Ray already has fortified during the Terrasurge.
So pretty important against a Sojourn, Malachocon.
Yeah.
But you're going to get battled in the top.
While I also think it's pretty sick against Cage, right?
If they Cage, I know the tank, you can actually just kind of keep yourself alive on through.
Can Cuney Rush here use Vine, Kiwi?
There's a temptation in overstep if you're great Britain to turn this rush into something more.
Terra Surge though, could be a little bit problematic there as Kamez gets caught out.
It's the displacement aspect of Terra Surge that's far more important than the damage there.
As Mamo is having to line up an easy kill.
A lot of ultimate so still available for Mexico.
They don't have that rush now here for Great Britain, but one rail gun here from Kai.
Be quite devastating. Elemental guy trying to make the cross.
Deflect already used, nice job, get rid of Kai.
Yeah, this is a try opening. Katnap here could be destructive.
Crispy, that was a little bit low. Katnap gets quite a bit of spree though.
Or is Mimone looking for more? Can he hunt any further down? It's Ferriscribe picked off.
And even though the fight has started so low for a mental kite, it's fallen apart.
Yeah, and they're not able to get a touch there.
Crispy actually uses the catnap, just drags the player right over to Mimone,
able to finish him off with a spree.
And even with those ultimates invested there from Mexico, not able to get a touch any flip is 2-0 already here for Great Britain.
Definitely probably a lot of discussion after this about picking this map and then deferring the ban.
The ball obviously, not an issue, but allowing even something like the Aresa to walk on through.
Pretty rough.
Oh no! No, he hit the rush! Oh, that was the opening!
You saw him get lined up though, I mean it's not.
You know, from the position that guy is playing from, Ferris guy, it's a really easy target.
Their whole win condition was to abuse the Malga cooldown rotation with the Katsune rush, and they're fine.
I mean, we've seen, uh, Tintana, they've had the whole onto this cage for like three fights now at this point.
The problem is, is they've given Kiwi the chance to lap Ferris Sky.
Yeah, and you've also given a chance for Golem Pants to lap with the Terrasurge.
Now, let's say you decide to go in here trying to cage this Orisa.
You're able to just kind of fortify, then into another, you know, essentially another fortify with the Terrasurge.
You're in a great spot.
Here's your match, Rushless Kiwi, he's gonna have his two, he's using the Spice of Thirst guys, one.
I'm still looking for a decent side lock.
Oh, the cage gets interrupted there.
Yeah.
Every clock down in play, Clag gets to use it, not on a Malgo Ultimate, but on anybody who's silly enough to get his way.
Aw, that is brutal.
Ah, Santana, they move up onto the point, they try it into going with the cage, and as soon as like the animation comes out, it is a spear from Golden Pants that just interrupts that cage animation.
And now, I mean, you're forced onto the SIG, I mean this is brutal.
It is disastrous. I also don't favor this match-up with the amount of the SIG, either.
Golden Pants has been, there's something very careful about there,
that there's sort of resilience cooldowns. It's not wasting them at all.
The commas get forced down as they get pushed onto.
And this is tough for the Sigma. How do you hope Space gets someone who can just
strike off the accretion?
Yes, I mean, SIG wants to play this battle with the Orisa kind of controlling space and distance.
But in the situation we're in not able to do that nice shot from Kai
Rippin laying out of the sky as Karmes will come in here with an OC
But that is a fast one as Atlas a clean 3-0 for Great Britain. Yeah, and this is kind of my concern right after we saw
Nepal version one right the first run when we saw Mexico man able to take that yeah first round
I'm like, okay
This seems fair like on village you're playing a junk a queen pop right bit of felt gimmicky
it felt very tamed for that map scenario. When we get out to like,
Artless for example, where you're playing a bit more of, you know,
I don't know, a bit more of an open brand of Overwatch, where like,
the more standard meta comps really start to rise to the top, you realize,
that might be a little bit tough for him with his Grave Britain team.
Goldenpence also switches over towards the Orisa,
which is really well-appreciated against the Malga in general.
Kai opens his fight up, I find like, really nice off-fangles here,
and Mimone ends up winning their first flashpoint just for the nice,
really timed rush.
I just feel like Mexico never really even gotten to the game, right?
Like they were never really able to get through a flow, wind bites, feel like very jointed
a lot of the times, felt like a map that was just really, I mean, obviously you can
tell by the scoreline, but just decisive from very brief.
Now Mexico with one more chance to pick in this series, the United States, give
a shot for Ky, right?
They would've been better off banning the Sojourn.
Right?
Sure.
Blindside is 50-50, but I'm probably 20-20.
Khyme is probably...
Well, you were gonna play Moga.
You would've been better off banning the Sojourn.
I just don't know if...
People are not banning Sojourn just so they can play Maga Ride.
I do know what you mean about that Railgun.
No, I'm saying you would've forced Khyme to just basically just stick it on Cassidy the entire game.
It's like they were never...
Like...
Great Britain was probably not gonna play Kat Bash, and they were not gonna make any type of like...
huge wholesale adjustments that, like, I don't know.
I mean, my team is more like how the macro is managed when we actually get into the game, right?
I think like, you know, losing the chance to find a good Tuneer rush,
because obviously, like, Kiwi Margaret is very strong for a very good reason, right?
That heist in a buff is something you can, like, abuse quite maliciously with, like, multiple stomps in the fight, kind of, overdrive, getting used.
But, you know, coming into, like, a pivotal fight, and first of all, like, you're behind an old charger anyway,
like, we noticed, like, by the time Kiwi builds up first rush, they're at, like, 25%, right?
which is not remotely quick enough.
And then like you can look into my mode here,
doesn't have to play Tracer,
looks like he's quite happy on the Shion.
I don't know if there's a really hard and fast answer
to the Shion when you're like playing Soju
in these kind of comps, right?
You don't have the ability to lean back on,
you know, the Magrenade there
to try and sort of like win that fight out.
You're over on the Soju and on your own.
The Orisa is just really hard to shift.
And I noticed something,
Goldpence is like not,
he's not overusing that Fortify.
When he sees Malaga coming to charge at him, he's like, jump back.
Like, okay, I'm not gonna get knocked down, I'm just gonna get out of range here.
The Javelin spin gives that, like, extra burst of speed, so you can, like, reposition pretty quickly.
We talked about this, who's Malaga stomping? What is the purpose of playing this tank in this pop?
It's like, what, you're going after the Orisa, if it fortifies, you really need to.
Also, being able to displace Malaga through Javelin spin, all by throwing, is pretty important.
Mike and Bald is the pick so maybe they feel like they don't need to ban like a ball on
some of these map selections we'll see what Mexico decided to do here in terms of their
ban.
So their final map selection here, this does open up the door like you know we didn't
get it all in EWC but Junkertown obviously a really good ball now, potentially Esperanza
as well, right?
can play a ton of balls so this feels like a opportunity where like if Mexico
to come back in the series right every map from here on out would be a Great
Britain selection and ban to kick things off right so this feels like if you're
gonna ban the ball this feels like the moment here the problem is is that
Mexico have you know play now gets great Britain on like on a map that you
could easily play ball it was a research so okay so we are picking a map
But that, you know, bowl can be a little bit difficult to play on, but now just like banning it straight out.
But where does even Mexico feel like they get the advantage here now, right?
Because like, we just saw now that could have been good for ball, they didn't ban it, obviously they deferred the ban.
And like, they just played Orisa, we're able to win it.
And I think this is a rough one, Elemental guy has really been putting a lot of pressure on a kind, now with no Genji, that's, that's brutal.
Yeah, I mean we saw the flash the reaper at the start of that previous round like if they're gonna stick to that or not sort of remains to be seen I
Have just not felt like the Genji's giving them really enough momentum in some of these fights though
There was that one like five
We're like there's like a 2k dragon blade or and I know guys have to get off to a great start and Romain to a great
Britain still sort of mopped them up
Half like also great Britain
Getting off to a great start here in this group stage
It's a group that features both Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia great Britain certainly gunning for at least
second slot. The last chance here for Mexico in this series, obviously still a
lot of time with the groups. They're just kicking off, so an opportunity for them to
make some strategic adjustments and it bounce back. I don't know as things go on,
but Great Britain off to a fantastic start thus far. I can ball it'll be fun to see
how this plays with some of the, you know, obviously the math reworks to come
through with this last season. I can vault one of the ones that got a lot of
adjustments right so I know some natural high ground here off the start for
offense right out of the spawn at least giving them like another angle to
fight from the opportunity to kind of make it easier for more heroes to wrap
around the whole flank. For me honestly the one that I thought was the most
interesting is now attackers get access to that first bridge. Yeah you can make
your way up the right hand side and because in the past normally like it was just ignored
you normally just wanted to rush through that choke if you could like get enough good poke
damage rush through the choke now and it was ever really safe for defenders to perch up
on that bridge anyway they usually didn't right but now the attackers can actually make
use of that space that normally was just just prohibitively complicated to get
set up on and actually gives you a chance like for a tax side high ground like heroes
It can hit scan to benefit and playing up on that bridge gives you like sightlines on both the angles around that clock tower
So it's Mexico really needed up here with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia looming in this group
It has to be other Great Britain or them that fall to their hand and I feel like this is their best chance
To try and pave the way to blizzcon
Yes, KSA gonna be very difficult
To be in this group as
Nothing too different. You can play the Shion, you can play the Cassidy here, with the cat,
so a lot of pretty good options. Curious what we see from Mexico, it'll be Mexico on offense
first to kick things off. The Echo would be interesting. Echo obviously gets some major
perk adjustments in our most recent update here as well.
Even a minor per, like we said, she had an extra ammo during flight, it's nice.
But it's kind of the idea with Kirk's, right, that sort of smooth out that gameplay loop
for you as much as possible.
The echo of the fallback after the Genji is banned away from Elemental Guy, is it going
to be good enough?
Chris is going to get a lot of info here, so he's going to be able to spot this
Echo cop out straight away.
This is one of the anarchy of the Faris guy.
The Clio obviously, you know, Cassie has that reasonable damage falloff at some of these ranges,
but it's still well apportioned in the fight against the Bastion.
The Gold Pants here, just do pretty careful about it.
Back it up with a javelin stick.
And the Echo can be pretty good here against the Arisa,
because if we talk about like Arisa when you kind of lose the armor,
it becomes very much like a glass cannon.
The antenna there under a lot of pressure here. They do get caught. Yeah, but at what cost, right?
I know that Eva end up losing the mech here
Honestly like the blue with a pack of sportive violence that you kind of might be enough I don't know
Here's the cap beginning now one tick for next go very close to now is that Britain start getting on defense
It said time. It was just low and not met
So you're able to just kind of push right back out of the point
don't have any staying power especially if you want something like an Aresa I think
the beaver being V-Sooner is a big part of what makes that virtually impossible
to start a legitimate capture. Bomb has got a jockey back, get again.
Tommy's on that she-onsons motorbike their way. Again attackers have
access to high ground a bit more on this part of the map but still there's
the risk of being small camped here in Iconvalley.
There we go, you make it again, Mitch.
Obviously I think Connie is a target you want to get out.
It's just not worth like a full team commit onto, though.
Look, and it's one thing to dive the Kyle when you're playing Wrecking Ball.
It's a completely different story when they're on a roosa.
It's just too easy to get in the tank.
Ana here, Ana Cat, so a little bit of a Zayna Division-esque look.
They're very shoot-violent, Cody.
I think it's a pressure down on Crispy, but you're able to play back on the safe side of this clock tower.
Defenders have always really benefited from the line-up site-breaking capacity of that building.
And then a guy with a copy of the Bastion Ferris guy gets caught out, though.
The tournament's trading his life for it, though.
Doesn't feel like the trade with Fabius, team Great Britain.
However, with Thames being picked off and Elemental Guy being so close to the Mies,
I don't know if there's much to hang the hat on here for Mexico.
And another really deep commitment there for Kai.
I thought Mimo was going to try and go with the joyride there,
taking out the baby Diva and his sides would have ended up dying to the self-destruct.
It's intended and they're going to get the Nano here as well.
There's a window here, depth for an elimination. Kai is brought down.
Now Centana has to be managed by Great Britain, but the dive for L.A. is also solid.
Very good use of that outer ultimate.
We'll get that first kickdown of Capture 4, Team Mexico.
It's gonna be a Hitsune-Rashir-Britjivi. It looks like Great Britain wants to fight this under a minute to go.
Lager to away though just in time. Brisbane was eventually brought down by the Arna.
Ferris guys in the perfect position. They've taken a long time to get set up there.
It is nothing Great Britain can really do about it.
All right, so Mexico
After a pretty rough offense at the start they do finally get
That first checkpoint get that payload unlocked and now obviously you'll see some dope or high ground
I know access added for the offensive side here
You move into the second point, but look at this great bring they push up through the choke there for just a second deny
The doors opening and then they have to get golden pants out of the way
Top 12 he for Centaur a lot of ground to cover
Kai is going to be getting pretty consistent attention here though from Crispy.
So just giving this like consistent poke damage on the cast he's not going to have to come
in.
I like that from Santana.
Pop up right from below.
Getting across that side lane and now I'm going to set up here with a mortar strike.
Golden pants though.
Trying to push up.
Kami is getting caught out now and Elevent is forced away.
It's a good sign for Golden Pants.
You can start to accost his back lane a little bit more.
Attempted rescue there for Leib, trying to pull a Ferris Sky out of the way.
Looked a cat out there for Crispy though with a big knockdown.
Two plays affected by that, and Ferris Sky's eventually found.
Golden Pants, if they need to get out of our free card,
there's always that free fortify of the Terra Surge,
but the damage is more than done for the defenders.
This is going to be a really rough choked.
Going to move that Orisa out of.
See now a Terra Surge available.
It's Suneirashi or two.
Nano Bastion here over the top.
We're looking at probably for rather Santana. Yeah, okay
Thomas is gonna go for it. It's really rough though in place
Who's it was already used to give that moment off in vulnerability and so Thomas has lost the element of surprise
Great job to dodge that from great Britain. I mean, this is such a mobile composition now
I never cost him up on the high ground and I would stick it around if I was late
The cat is in the bag now and play gets to play from the parrots. Yeah, since Anna. They're gonna get you Mac
You know left to live there is
that is a really look when you're nanoing that fashion and kind of going
all in on that I mean you got to come up with a killer to that is a rough one to
not kind of come out with anything so.
Playing the adjustment for Kai here now as well. He's not playing on the highest level all the time now
because he wants to make sure he can see Sanktona coming.
Yes.
Because he's playing on that mid level of the castle.
And Golden Pan's also probably just getting told by, hey, don't let them
be able to cross for free here. Make sure that like you at least let me know.
Back to the top level. Kai dead eye with the jetpack cat. The sidelines are bound.
We do the kill opportunities. Oh nice, they're there! Nice little TP away, but I think that
ran into someone pretty much straight away. My moans are going to go in and get Ferris
Kai and Kai joins to help me get my moan out safely. A baby is off cooldown now so
my moan has some theoretical over shield available. And if you want to commit but
the Kame's cooldown was used in Disrespected by Golden Pants, you just run the Bastion
down 30 seconds left here and look how close golden pants is playing I think
kind of just trying to farm up towards the tear surge look to see they've done
it a few times like catnap plus tear surge combination right like knockdown
in the tear surge going for a crazy amount of damage you're not getting in
here I think there's just so much disruption that goes to the various
guy as well pretty fast build up okay bastion comes in so we're gonna buy
some time don't have to get away he comes to get you to rush down the
Well, they said beam me up Scotty, but where's Kame's supposed to be going with this? What's the play?
The Bastion just is not set up for success, and Santana can also space his moment of dashes away,
but you can guarantee Great Britain will be back to collect.
The Cat and Bastion combo is down, Santana goes for a self-destruct and gets picked off in the meantime,
a very strong showing in for Great Britain on the defense side of Iconbalber.
And they were able to read that extremely well, a lot of times Great Britain,
where, whether it be with the Nano, without, here comes the cat bashing over the top, trying
to put pressure on the Kai, and, you know, they use obviously the movement cooldowns to
get from the cat to get the bashing in place.
The Cassie's nowhere to be found, looking all different directions, trying to find targets.
Everybody on Great Britain doing a nice job, you know, playing at a distance, also finding
just natural cover with the way the Mafia is.
And then all of a sudden, you now have a cat bashing that's in way too deep without
any cooldowns, right? The Ana can't really get through the choke because it's so much
pressure from the Shean and the Orisa that you're just in no man's land there if you're
Mexico.
If you find like one or two kills on the defensive side of the map, you're just going to push
out for more. It's a pretty long open stretch back to spawn for the attackers, so it's
pretty easy to punish that. Kai, it's my little focus on him. Three deaths. Kamez
on the Bastion. Eight times brought down. Elemental guy also. Nothing had to pay the
against here tried some Reaper trying a bit of echo as well both pretty susceptible to
Cassidy especially when Kai was able to play in really comfortable positions
to that defense side.
B.
We're going to see Hanzo Echo here on defense.
But I can't, Orisa, this is a...
I mean, Hanzo's pretty good at, like, just putting a lot of consistent pressure onto Orisa.
But I wonder if this is an opportunity to play something else now.
Like, do you just play Moga into this? Do you play D.Va?
The Aria too, yeah, the Aria is not bad right? The Aria was the band from Great Britain in the previous round, but this is a really good comp, like to just pressure out the D.Va, just constantly, you also have the bubbles here for the tracer, right, for Kai.
I think like Tracer is going to want to go after the Hanzo as well. And this Kama's going to lock the tracer pretty quickly, it's a bit of a dangerous match up for the Hanzo.
Tantana here, hit that flash. Yeah, can't quite get away. So much damage here, front loaded.
Tantana won't be offered an opportunity to remake either.
Oh, don't have the thought of the elimination there, Tantana's still alive eventually.
The Bunny Blaster toting deep is gonna be put down on that. It's just a triple tap, pure and simple from Kai.
This guy does not miss.
Oh, it's, uh, pushing on forward here. Oh, Kai!
I mean, this is a sick shot from Gazi.
You've got to shoot back at this guy, bro.
can't be letting guy play like this. Lay trying to break the line of sight with the buildings
but Krispy can go after that enemy cat. Lay hoping there'd be a contest opportunity but
that just doesn't come. Santa falls up short.
And this is brutal. You can't fight with the diva just kind of into... sorry, I know
how you lose the lay. Oh, rough here for Mexico.
Fortunately, you're not playing Bastion set up here, so like your DPS is not gonna be immediately
hamstrung by your absence.
Yeah, but you're in a real spark here, though, Mitch.
The box of victory is not too far away here.
You didn't put any pressure at the gate, so that's gonna allow them to move on through.
And then the dead-eye.
Almost a 3-1 there.
Come as if I slip away.
Find a pretty aggressive spot there, maybe laying it just a little bit too long.
A little bit of an aqueous moment from the lab.
They thought they probably could have played that a little bit better, right?
Because if you would have just kept this like, Clark pressure, if you would have just had
the dead eye with the cat up in the sky, denying some of these players kind of moving out,
you could have easily have just dealt with Santana, Demolone on the payload.
And then she's free after that, right?
You didn't really need to kind of make a hero play kind of go inside.
So the Cassidy gambit has been shut down.
But my mode has now built a pulse bomb, and even more importantly, a Katsuneirashi,
it's ready for activation.
The talent is going to break the line of sight as often and as early as possible.
But Karris has already been picked off, Crispy finds that one.
Diva cannot mitigate this direction of desire, not at all.
POSTBOMB will ensure that the baby Diva is handled and ultimately it's a comfortable
three to zero victory here for Great Britain.
An important first step in this Group B campaign.
Really strong performance.
I thought Mexico got off to a pretty good start in this series and then just
kind of tapered off there towards the end, where Great Britain really able to show a
lot of dominance, a lot of different compositions that they're able to play
here as well, Mitch. I definitely think Bode's well for them moving forward, right?
Especially able to play Golden Pants on things other than the Wrecking Ball, right?
Just the threat of him in the lobby. I think it's definitely something that
they'll use in weaponized moving forward in the group.
I think it's pretty easy to be blindsided by like a Wrecking Ball player.
The assumption is that that's kind of it's a one-trick not a specialist moment
But we're in an era now of Overwatch where you can't really bank on that
And I think the Mexico understood this like they'd say that wrecking ball band right towards the end
And choosing trying to sort of choose a map and they felt like they did best set up a success
They would have been better off
Getting rid of the ball and Atlas and dealing with it here and I can ball though
I would still say yep and kind of where we ended up. I think so
I mean you I feel like they picked a map that was like not amazing ball and also banned the ball in the same time
It's like you've kind of got a
You've got to spread your wrecking ball in validation across more of the series than maybe one map
But the problem is that we very early on we realized the golden pass could just pick up the orisa rim just run it down
Well, yeah, I mean that was the they don't even end up really happy to play the ball on Atlas, right? So
Really, uh, no interesting series all throughout. I think it's really good sign
I do see golden pants really and we talked so much about golden pants and our racking ball player
But really showing the depth of the hero pool
I also feel like a crispy looks right here on the jetpack cat a lot of like that level of aggression that was sort of
What I see from like a completion jetpack cat teams
That stuff the funny aster is also striking to balance a little bit out in Paris
That's right
We didn't get funny aster in this series
but they made it work regardless. Great Britain getting their first victory on the
board against Team Mexico. Of course Rocky started here to the season with you know
some delays and pauses and whatnot maybe taking the wind out of the sails of
Mexico. A tiny little bit still feel like there were some bright spots so
there's definitely still a potential victory in their groups available to them.
Yeah look I thought the Ginchi play from Elemental Guy was quite good
early on. It feels like I know if they could revisit probably their fans
process. I also think Atlas starting out with a Demon comp and then just going to
get a roll there. He just snowballed the whole map there. So I definitely think
Mexico will have some better performances to move forward. The option also to defer
their ban in the second map is an interesting one as well as it sort of
means that you can't really protect any category and we ended up seeing
a Zarya ban. Something that Sentana had tried to play a little bit and
found some degree of success with on the ball. So that for me is obviously a
a little bit of a head scratcher, they end up taking out the Cassidy and Clyde is just
so pure.
Yeah, I mean on that second map they just couldn't find an answer all together, but I feel like
seeing them playing the demon on that second map probably now makes more sense or shed
some light on that first ban from Great Britain when they banned it, okay here listen maybe
Jake was trolling you but he was in the back and I was like what do you make of that
He told me like he can see the synergy between a Genji and a demon like he felt like if you're playing a Genji
Which they will because they have elemental guy that that could be a potential very good combination for them
It's a space that like hazard occupies. I think a little bit right now that that mid range dive not full commit
That's sort of like heavy disruption
So I'd like to see more of it teased out over the course of this one, but it's a receipt
It's horrific because you can't hold space with that short duration barrier
I mean Haster's not very good against the recent either, but also leaving out the fact that Hazard has
crazy survivability with like life steal compared to a demon, right? So...
I wouldn't believe, I'll leave that open like, we'll leave that maybe there's some demon...
If Jake Overwatch says it, I'll let it...
Yeah, I'll take his word for gospel always and forever. Now I'm Mexico unfortunately finding
themselves at the bottom of the standings, that's just the first of so many matches that
will be played. We've got a good one coming up as well. Overall if we're looking at the
the group B. I think most people would assume that Great Britain and KSA are probably the
one to make it out, but for Australia, is there potential in somewhere based on what
we've seen from Great Britain?
He built the team.
Let's ask him.
No, it's been a long time since I've been the president of Australia e-sports or whatever.
He doesn't even speak Aussie anymore.
And again, when I built the team, I just took blank e-sports and made the play.
So I just want to be very clear that that's all I did back in the year.
That's the playbook for some other people.
He's still hard to say we, he's still hard to say we when he talks to them though.
I think like one of the most dangerous players on Team Australia is a Singaporean.
I think like Soggy is a little bit of a cracker.
I think that team is great but I think it would still be an upset win over Great Britain.
We know it, they know it, I think that's the match.
And KSA is still going to be extremely strong.
Yeah I mean they are the team to watch out for in that particular group.
We will be heading into group A I believe next.
So that's going to be an interesting one as we do doubt them the group of death.
First we're going to head into a quick break and then we're going to break it all down for you after this.
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I've seen them all over the Chinese fans up on the girls.
Yeah, that was.
I mean, I'm already getting flashbacks to 2023 in the arena
and then we're popping off.
Oh, and then we'll be popping off again.
This is going to be a good one.
I'm actually really, really excited to see these two teams clash.
So let's dig into it and talk a little bit about the two rosterists,
starting with a team of China.
Obviously, like, they've had the reoccurring faces
over the last couple renditions of the Overwatch World Cup.
This time around, we see a lot more of those young,
up-and-coming Chinese talent
that had a good run at the mid-season championship.
I especially am looking at for Sun-Zo here,
like he's been one of the real standouts,
I think, from the region as a whole.
He was unreal during the mid-season championship.
I mean, they were just,
Webo was not losing any maps that he played pretty much.
And like they kind of went towards him
a lot of the time a little bit later in the tournament
where I feel like if he plays well,
I think this team can start rolling, folks.
For me, this is a coming of age
for the second string of pros out of China.
I think like these guys, they inherited the jersey,
which means they inherited the expectations of the fans.
And now they've got to make a wall cut campaign
with that lead, China, and Bishui,
three of the most recognizable names in all of Overwatch.
The whole OCR is still on the stop bench.
Yes, I mean, yeah.
Also, we see that he's up for a Missing Year
and Recall has doubled up,
but the Alpari is of course also on this also.
Yep, and obviously, I think Pineapple and Kenneki
are going to be the go-to DPS.
Do I write the brunette existence synergy over from JDG?
Link's obviously has been around for a very long time now.
I'd actually consider him more part of that first generation.
But this team, I think, have to prove to us that, like, you know,
because I just think in China, there's like, you know,
way we're gaming, there's no one else,
they've really got to prove that they respect your teams
and they individually are up for the task.
You're talking about the team needing to prove themselves.
I feel like all these individual players on Team USA
have the same kind of weight on their back.
I think them as a region, the NA region itself, they want to be up there again, and this is
a great opportunity for these players that we all know so well.
It's like this up-and-coming youngsters joined by more veteran players such as Hogg and Landon
who are putting together Team USA.
It feels like for me though, like there is so much like, would it be like cautious
excitement for this roster, right?
It's like, I think people are excited for this team, and I think they should be
I am, but I also think that like everybody is just in the mindset of like, oh, things could go bad
Also like we can be no double up on this one. It's gonna be infected on this roster as well
Uh, I just think there is a lot of pressure on them, especially going up against China here first
Um, I mean it's a group. It's a brutal group to begin right because you've got the pan and Sweden
Right who like Sweden could be a really quality team depends on that side chance
but like for me, I'm wondering like
You've got every reason to be excited because it's like this the young generation of America
It's 3 and 0 for me obviously like they're on that liquid team with infected attacks getting most of the game time for that roster here
Hawke has done well. He's been a mainstay for me
But I don't think he's drinking the world by storm and I think he's taken over he's been around for a long time
And there's a really sort of consistent stable player
But the fireworks has to come from that DPS line. This is a group as well
No, we are joking. We're doing the pre-show going through that whole list of tiebreakers
This is a group that could have some crazy
Yeah, like the loser of this then obviously those like next to games we in Japan both of those are gonna be like really close
Like you could have multiple teams in this group like I don't think there's a clear cut
Then when you look at like group B right like KSA seems like they're gonna they could finish three and oh right
Just kind of walk on through this group could be like a two one like everybody's beating everybody like there's no like
player dominant force in this group. I was about to say we're really deep into the tiebreakers here. I
love to see the players and good spirits miles across the board for both of these teams. Again,
it's a difficult task for both of these teams. I think they will be equally excited and nervous
to take on the opposition. Also, we just talked about Park and how he's been a main state.
It's kind of crazy that he's never represented Team USA in the past. It's been, you know,
Super and collusion
Mooma literally everyone except from Hawks, so it's great for him to have finally the opportunity in the year 2026
It is wild like even like we know when we were 6v6 he was like clearly one of the best. Yeah off tanks
There we had yes
I think it was maybe partially that as well because there was a time where like it was a bit more desirable to try and
You know get a main tank player in previous matters in wall cups
someone who's not going to be able to win steam for you especially that's kind of why hawk maybe didn't get those
opportunities. I think now that we've obviously risen to the cream of the crop in NA region that's also
using import slots on tank players right. Hellen and attack are both from Korea so now like maybe
your stock the stock of USA bred tank players is a little bit lower. This is a great opportunity
for hawk to raise that up a little bit and his own profile as well. There's someone who's always been
in the mix but not someone who's guarded that like international attention was always a part
of a machine but never once. It does feel like he should have a little bit more like
street-critic excitement about him than like what he does right because like he's had great results
on like all the teams that he's played on historically. He's just not that flashy player
you know and then the teams never had like phenomenal results they were like up there but not
up there. Well they need to land on rain right back in the day they make the finals like that
I know right like we gotta address the elephant in the room and that is that globally NA in
in OWCS is not respected as it was.
And that carries over not only to this competition,
but also like individual NA tank players, right?
Like Liquid was built around Infected,
like he was the build around for that team
and they clearly started to go in a different direction
with the tank on that roster and kid is right.
So the question is like, okay,
this guy was supposed to be the promising prospect
and now maybe he's been set aside for now.
The Hawkers maybe stepping up in this place
to represent this team.
But I want to see some Infected as well.
We're playing the first and three serious here.
So there's plenty of opportunities to bring out infected and lighten the mood in the arena for sure
Now if we're looking at predictions for this one
I went with team China just based on the recent performances of those individuals like again
I'm a mega stun press answer
I think the way he played under depth that some of these players have on that team. I think they have the firepower
I think they have flexibility. I can see them going really far
I made my prediction for this and then now I'm like
great side of this I'm pretty sure I have yes in USA as a I don't say
never come for that one before I got on my flight no I'll stay by it
although I I do feel like at least what it was since I've got here I think they're
just can't everybody talking he's been pretty high on China and I think obviously
they have a great Ross I went with China in this one I think they probably a
lot more pressure on their shoulders it feels like they've got like a lot to
play for and I think that's you know it's time to see like the pineapple connect you do a really sort of pop off I do
Think I'm underselling the support line of the USA with this prediction though because I do think look me no land and combo is
Kind of crazy, but I do feel like China probably approaches much more seriously because they know they've got big shoes to fill
I do have a question for you. Yes, you think these are the two teams that make it out of the screw. Yes
I do think a lost here for either team has the ability to kind of like
I think these two teams are the teams that they're going to be in.
Had Sweden looked a little bit better in their conference, I might speak differently.
I don't know if that roster is as strong as in previous years, so yeah, USA gets that
long side-side.
Alright, and now that we sorted out the proof is in the pudding.
Let's see how both of these teams perform in their opening match here at the Overwatch World Cup in Busan.
Guys, please take it away.
Thank you very much. We've talked at length about what the fans want from this team and what they want is gold.
They want a gold medal. They do not want another one.
There's a lot of history between the United States and China at the World Cup.
China have made three World Cup finals, 2018, 2019, and 2023.
They have won zero of those matches.
Three silver medals.
And in 2019, it was the USA that beat China 3-0
in order to become world champions.
So I'm quite sure that plays in the background here
is China have chosen to start a start.
It is such like crazy expectations though, right?
That like, okay, you know, especially like
we haven't seen China obviously
have the greatest performances like in the OWCS.
to now expect them to come to the World Cup and like anything less than first is basically
unacceptable, it's a really high bar obviously to me.
That seems to be the close band to you, coming to this game, to USA man.
It's funny, it feels like the expectations of the fans in China, they always expect
a way of gaming to be, not because they are way of gaming, not because they were
the Chinese team.
Yeah, yeah, that is a country that is so in love with Overwatch as a game
They put a lot of resources into a lot of time and also the fandom puts a lot of their emotional energy
It always feels emotional when it's China. It always feels like it means more with this team
And I don't say they've tasted success before do have a little bit of an issue being lined out on the stage
It'll help me, you know, it's pushed back from his
From his PC, having that address at the moment.
And then, to the USA, I mean, this was a team in the early days of Overwatch, that much like South Korea,
were just considered to be very strong, like dominant.
How many players can you name from, because it looks like we got some people working on it.
The first Overwatch World Cup, how many players from Team USA?
Honestly, guys, we had the great Seagull.
Oh, okay. Where's the tank?
White play, huh? Do you remember Messer?
Oh, yeah, Mezzo. Yeah. Adam was on that team?
Adam was on that team? Yeah.
Wow.
You know, obviously the Overwatch World Cup was much different in the first iteration, right?
Each team had like a content creator type of vibe, right?
So like, hot played for Canada.
Sure for that time.
Seagull, Messer, Adam, Paul represented the USA during that event, that was Zumba boosting
himself through the top, and I could probably have had some tremendous Overwatch World Cup
moments all the way here.
That was 2016.
Yeah.
Going back.
Yeah, it wasn't long before we spun up a World Cup circuit.
Honestly, even before we really had a serious competitive over a T-Sport circuit,
but the World Cup almost sort of came first.
2016 was quite a year. China did top their group back in 2016
and then ended up getting eliminated by Sweden in the quarterfinals.
Those were best of three games in those quarters.
has changed since then. United States back then was Seagal, Ster, Star, Talisman, Godz and Meza. China!
Ready for this?
Gemli, Lincoln, Pao Pao, Niber, Meng Mao, Hange.
I mean dude
Yeah, Overwatch World Cup has been like I feel like the program that is jump-started more players careers than like almost any other program
I think we have in
Overwatch really
It gives players just from all regions an opportunity to compete at a high level then the players have a good performance here
They go on and like join a different team something along those lines
What do you get a look like a we're getting not who can mean oh get set up here?
You know and a few so that's the reason I get tie wrong. Yeah, I run by
Miro
Ryu J Hong yeah
Flash
Trisa
Very handsome
Why is the name like
Cause Tyron played support with Jaehong.
I think Lunatic is fine.
Oh, Lunatic is fine too.
Esca.
Oh, Esca.
I was gonna want to say Flash Lux, that's uh...
He played, uh, he played some Mei at that event, if you've ever...
Flash Lux was the first flexor on Esca.
Yeah, first Overwatch World Cup Mei was uh, like, dominant.
Yeah, actually, that's pretty good.
It's like Luke is all getting set up.
Good to go.
That's a big B jersey.
Yeah, it's a fan who's kind of
sort of floating here for this game.
And this is a...
Wait, is that a mono?
Was that a mono jersey?
In any case, yeah, it's classic.
Danny caught up with mono a little bit.
It's always good to...
Yes, so I had to do that the first night.
He caught me, because we're getting back to the airport,
so we could catch up there.
See a lot of the fans showed up with signs.
This is one that a lot of people did not want to miss.
This game is so much on the line.
Here is Team USA's sign stadium in 666.
That's the sign.
That's what I'm trying to say.
So remember, I remind you, Busan is our first map selection
in this series.
We had a Bastion fan.
That was from Team USA.
I'm going to deep up there.
And, you know, Wendy, who's the great she's with Team China,
took with us a bunch of different events,
trying to do the translation.
She was saying that the,
we're still doing those 1v1s that we did
during the group stage,
so determine the map selection and things like that.
And it was actually like,
so getting some tips on how to play Genji,
as it was for example,
I believe versus Lukimino on the Genji to decide
decide how who got first to have it bad.
Why don't I feel like looking in again G brings a bell for me?
Did we ever see him play that?
Yeah, you know, ironically
But Pete could have been in time at some point, but I that one I don't
Almost and I'm like a third of my life. Yeah locked away
You'll be dropping in at just a moment
In United States, obviously the way serious business with this roster
They're, uh, obviously, chronic sugar-framed Vagaboo also listed themselves for this team.
And I'd love to actually take a look at it, you know, probably after, you know, when I
get out to the back of like, how many Overwatch World Cups, like, where Sweden, USA and China
haven't made Top 8.
It has to be all of them.
They've been to the Top 8 where it's, you know, wild, but obviously with the random
root draw.
And then I think just the strength of like Japan and, you know, I feel like
So the global Overwatch is kind of more closer in terms of the skill than it's ever been.
You know, a chance for either of these teams to not make it to BlizzCon would be wild if you said it a few years ago.
But now, obviously, the competition has gotten that much better.
It feels like it's tough to see Group A resolve in any way that doesn't make you feel like something's been lost.
Japan have never really had the chance to play on that kind of stage, right?
Always been heartbreak for them in group stages.
Sweden have really waxed and waned in strength over the years.
I mean, one thing to notice now is that one team conspicuously absent from this competition is in Finland.
Yeah, they've always been green.
I mean, look, did they get third in the last...
They beat South Korea to get third in the last of watch World Cup.
Sweden had always sort of stood in their shadow Denmark wasn't even part of the conversation
But that's how much the tide to shift it now
Then mark is I've got to be a force to be reckoned with the Swedes at outside Charles qualifying through this group
There's they'll be waiting with beta-breasted conclusion of this game. This is going to be a first to three
in China and the USA a
Lot of history
Yeah, you know a lot on the line here
for both of these teams as we've talked about where both in group A with Japan and Sweden
both of those teams extremely good so the last time these two teams made as well it wasn't close
China were so much better than the United States and three owed them in 2023 and then went on to
big South Korea that year right but for all of us they were basically they were expected to win
yeah we did not expect Saudi Arabia to turn around and reverse sweep them in the Grand Final
But we've seen Saudi Arabia from that point on
Just growing me some brown. Yeah, and I mean those
The Saudi players, you know when you look at look across the team sprinkled across EMEA like twisted mines
No last year was Katya now GK
They're really kind of like what setting the par right like they're like world champions, right?
Constant finals at events. It's uh
And then that a one-time occurrence a really kind of like jump-started with that overwatch Royal Cup final
All right any in the Busan folks
first map in this series I
Think the band's pretty telling see the Bastion band out coming into this one
there are two teams that
Might doubt with a couple of different looks especially in terms of the back lines links and recall will be up against
Landon and Luke Mino. Obviously landed playing his trade in Europe
Yeah, for the longest time, right? I see an American born support player that was playing alongside the very best in PVA.
Look, we know, doing very much the same thing from Pope.
Is that Demon?
Demon would be here, would be...
Something unexpected, but...
What we're gonna get?
Demon with Tracer here.
It's a tree going to play the M-Ray here as you plant apple playing the Freya, so I think
M-Ray in a pretty good spot is we're going to see Hawk look like there for a second, maybe
kind of breaking some high ground with that can.
Right, so I'm going to plant apple here.
There's Val Lupino.
The Freya here of course is going to be able to stay sort of loosed away from the pressure
from these tanks.
So I'm going to hook, trading blows over towards that mega side room.
Still no attempt at a cap though, it's trees playing ultra safe back here on this
Now we have a point take straight away, China are in position, you were saying not so much, but they ought to dive on pineapple, not easy to catch the freighter, there's a very high value pick to find.
Yeah, it doesn't look like that pineapple was in a position to really kind of defend himself, took some shots there from the tree and then all gets right in the space with the help of the jetpack cat.
Although Pineapple gets Lukavino early on, they do get control. It is not going to
result in much there for China as USA flips it right back.
Org trying to make himself as hard as possible to shift from this position.
I'm not going to try and challenge for this space but it's hard to make any real inroads here.
I'm hoping to bring in Tee, he's hauled him.
Oh, the Mega Room. It's a real focus point for these two, especially
Ah, Demon with a very high effective health pool.
Certainly benefit.
Ah, now that we're getting chunked down a little bit,
gotta watch out for Hawkeye just peppering away at the fray,
and with limited support, Pineapple has to drop down.
Lancet is very, very low.
40% already here for Team USA.
And Hawkeye controlling this place more than adequately,
turning this shield health here into a bit of extra time out in the open.
Yeah, Zera is putting some pressure here up on the high ground,
and exactly at this just yet.
Recall drops down, and it's up using the rush.
Dero's gonna recall out of the explosive vault that was stuck with him.
His override protocol now. Tree in a pretty uncontested position.
Oh, Kineke! Good call out! I don't even know if he intended to find that bollesshot.
That's gonna be the exchange for Pineapple.
He's in a chromatic position over the point now.
As Hawke gets forced back into that alcove.
Do not get too close to Demon.
Limit break at the ready for Hawke.
And it's really just cleanup now.
The USA feel unassailable in this position,
but a continue rush is still deployed now.
Recall in the fight. Landed through down one of his own.
And where are Tintra supposed to come from?
Pineapple just dangling out the open taking a lot of free damage but Sunzo gets landed.
Yeah Sunzo used to be a little under right there as Hawk ends up using his catnap used here as well from Lukavino as is and all out brawl here.
Hawk able to just live a little bit longer here than Sunzo.
Recall on a really dangerous spot here Mitch. Will end up getting taken out and this should be the first point for Team USA.
It starts to make you think a little bit about how we justified our predictions earlier.
Trying to look a little bit disjointed at the moment.
Could just be like how they deal in the Demon Cop?
I think Zera's been running right for much of this round and Tree's been hard to contest
in so many of these positions.
Tons of DMACC here and it will simply be clean up for Team USA.
Once things began to become a little bit disjointed for China, they struggled to
actually get their ducks back in a row.
Constantly staggered out for much of the route.
We've seen teams have varying opinions
in terms of the hitscan, right?
We've seen Cassidy from teams, we've seen Sojourn from teams
taking back the MSC as well, right?
EmRae, it seems to be pretty short, right?
I believe we saw Knife play it a lot.
No, obviously getting a win there at EWC.
Just the consistent damage output from EmRae?
Like nothing too flashy, right?
But you see Tree there able to pump out a lot of damage
early on. I love that Hawke is his big name, he's a franchise player. Honestly, that's what he wants
to be Atlanta Rain for many of those early years. Yeah, I like that you want to bring up this sort
of hitscan conversation, right? Because I think Tree more than most has been gravitating towards
Emra in a lot of scenarios like this. Again, I think like Cypher Blast was so good at
busting these tanks up, got the mobility, and it feels nice just to be able to use that
That's pretty pretty quite frequently
One day was a while where emerald is like a you know a must pick all the time is a pineapple and
Zero end up trading out
Themselves there nice to do there
So he dropped down on to a length so for free call able to keep him alive is
This is looking much better from China
I like Hulk's been so much of that fight just sort of swinging aimlessly over a length set
They dim on the ability to traverse vertically, not always so simple.
So if you just want to try and hold this position now, just be a little bit more of a bruisery
right about that long.
Or if you're playing back towards the edge of the back.
My infill of course is this player.
Planet was getting a lot of value here playing from a very safe position.
It's just errors being pulled up here to try and do something about that.
More often than not, since they're trying to dive after a recall though.
I mean, he's controlling this show, but like the rest of the team of USA is just kind of like on the point directly behind
That's what they had to see, right?
Dero eventually wins his way towards pineapple, who doesn't have a lot of supportive architecture
Yeah, you're working around Sunzo, seems to be pretty straightforward
They can see with the changes to Becca base, one of the things is that like that door is much wider open, right?
Yeah, not as easy to stuff that choke
I also think it's like, you know, here
It's a little bit harder for like the Freya, like you know, the previous map, right?
And it can have like so much verticality, great sight lines here. It's a lot harder for Pineapple to hide.
Look, obviously, he's perking into his damage over time in the slash, making him a bit more potent as an offensive tool.
How's Hawkeye going to use it? Up to the high ground? One way to do it?
Kichun and Rush, they're going to be in play here for recall, and Hawkeye just hops to duck away, but you find that mega elsewhere.
where Kineke drops a little bit low on that high ground.
These balls continue to come in from pineapple.
Tons of ghosts for a little bit right here.
Can't even be contained.
Pulse bomb for Kineke, an easy stick here on the hook.
He goes very, very low.
He's hanging on for the time being, and yeah.
Oh, that's not what you want to see.
Yes, it's really disjointed from China here early on.
And look, Lukamino picks up a hawk,
brings him over the top.
China thinks the fight is going to be, like,
kicking off there.
They drop a Katsunei rush,
And then Team USA just dips, right?
Hawks just ends up like, you know, popping up a shield,
using his primary fire, just kind of dashing me up,
so way getting back to the low ground.
Looks really good here from Team USA.
Lot of ults to work with.
Dangerous here.
Nice little charge here with the Hinderant straight away,
then Hawke might be in an dangerous spot.
There's a little break, throwing out big damage
onto the backclaw, but now Sunzo is a bit of an issue.
He's impacted with the damage and deep up though,
the card's quite turned into elimination,
but look at how much time has been bought,
He's now ticking up to 90 plus and you're gonna be walking into here trees ultimate
He's gonna pop it now the override protocol
They can't get past. Oh, they can't do a thing about it a tree past the shield
Get some of those heavy rounds to find that elimination after the high ground
He'll be chilling connect you not really sure what to do in this position
Try and get a flip back but instantly Hawker is there Luke. Meena drags him back into the fray kick in screaming
Make sure his main take earns his money for the day and no one can contest tree up on this angle
Pineapple switches over towards the Cassidy again for the hindrance you'd think, but frankly it's a map that's dominated by the USA.
That is not the start you want. If you're China, that is as good as Team USA could possibly look there in the Demon Mirror.
Bawk, obviously getting the best of Sunzo.
I also think the tree, obviously, with the Override Protocol,
he talks about the consistent damage that comes out from Emre.
It's really high, damage output all the time.
I'd also say that, like, Override Protocol is one of the hitscan ultimates
that it's like, are you kind of almost guaranteed to get value out of it, right?
It's like it's good for a kill in many situations.
Yeah.
It feels like it's good for a kill, you know, mobility, right?
Just like the threat.
Obviously over a clock at this level, you know,
most of the time you're going to get like a kill or two,
but it also feels like a right protocol, right up here
as the shield comes up.
Is he going to put it up for the doorway?
I don't know.
Or it looked like he needed to try and re-call, didn't it?
I don't know.
So something I like a lot in the first round on downtown
is that Pineapple's putting a ton of Freya pressure down.
It takes a while for the USA to actually get up on that background
and actually start to press through him.
It's, look at me, it was not dragging walk up there
necessarily being that space,
but I wanted to see Kameki follow up
on a lot of that Freya damage, a bit more on that tracer.
It felt like though,
Xera was controlling a lot of the flank angles.
It's like in the dueling, it's a tracer.
Kameki's not able to get through
and like serve up those like proper eliminations
and just capitalizing on the good Freya poke damage
we saw from Pineapple.
Again, Freya's looking for other heroes to follow up on a lot of that damage.
Right?
Not like a...
You're not really going to have a long-range hitscan one-on-one between a Freya and an Emre.
It's going to be a lot of landing an explosive bolt to do, and then all of a sudden now
the demon and the tracer are in that player's space finishing them off.
You've never really saw that, and then I think as we got into Mechabase where there's
not a lot of verticality and it forces that Freya down, it's an easier target because
They think like we saw a little bit off was having some people just accessing the Freya in the first round and not as much round to now
We we saw a demon ban in the first series. We theorize like a month like we've been trolling a little bit by as so
We sort of mentioned expecting to see more but we also did see the demon in the second
That's true, and it lasted for against the Orisa
45 seconds. Yeah
What are your thoughts now like on what we seem from her in that first time especially given that she's no
She's gotten a bit of love since release right obviously the reception was that maybe she but she's had potency
But overall didn't feel as powerful. Where do you stand on now?
I'd want to see demon be successful against other tanks consistently before like making a kind of
You know seeing it play for an extended period in the head to head when you're at even footing like I think that's obviously
No a sign that players like playing her like she has some place
but I'd want to see like a okay demon has a clear distinct advantage against
X hero type of comp or play style I think right now we don't really kind of have
that because some of the comps that you would think like okay like we've seen
Reinhardt be successful in right against like some type of you know
composition sort of like maybe there's like a Missouki in the mix on the
other side and you're able to use a Reinhardt pretty successfully it
It doesn't feel like Dimon is not sturdy enough to exist in that type of space, right?
So it feels like we have to figure out where she kind of fits in best.
Coaches L&LD and Junkbuck there on stage.
Junkbuck is not his first campaign as a coach for the United States.
Obviously, he's rubbed shoulders with these teams for quite some time.
You have a chance to look back over some of our stats here, I feel like this is never start to tell you much of the story
Hawke is just
Hawke is so good at doing this by the way
This is someone like he never dies bro like straight up very very safe player
Even when he's having to pay the demo which requires you to sort of play up a little bit
I also want to notice the there's no agreement on what perks yeah take him the demo
I kind of Hawke is gone in like a heavy shot
You know with that sort of that sort of blaster as opposed to the other perks there
So interesting to see a very different take on that.
We hang over to Neon Junctione, obviously.
China can select this map.
And obviously, this has been the kind of map
where we've seen it before, that Syntetra.
This is also a map that I put SunZo
and his best performances on in Paris.
Lots of Sigma play, right?
From SunZo, I mean, that's kind of where
we saw the strength of his hero pool
and just him as a player.
Ah, then this would also like we've seen teams play Ryan here, right?
Curious what the fans will end up being
China DCS advantage. This is one where Freya could be a bit more impactful right longer site lines high ground
You know probably outside of just that last part of the map, right where you're inside limiting the verticality
And obviously North American teams were I think less eager to adopt the Symmetra game play
on quite a few different maps but that also might play into your planning here if you are kind of
you don't want to obviously deal with that because the attack side is a metro giving you like access to
that high ground above that first capture point right and frankly like giving you the ability just
to like out the river or something that generally is desirable. I want to see the time of synergy
between pineapple and Kameki really starts to manifest on this card. We didn't get to see it
previously I think that it's a tough matchup for you know and I keep to have to
fight in a tricycle mirror yeah very challenging I'm also looking at the
supports here for the USA like Neon Junction you can play I mean look
Luke in landed can play a lot of really aggressive comes it is a Moga
band very reasonable against walk yeah especially if you want to play maybe
maybe some like sick poke slower style what is team you're thinking what is
that your very experienced yeah very okay music so we're already going after
the sigma busy look yep finding chains harder to hit still pretty easy though
still very much especially if you're going up against like Viva base
competition they don't want to see her in Mizuki is still even like with some
Adjustments where I think he's like falling off maybe a little bit more than like kind of when he was played a lot
With these Sigma comps still very good
And he just really took that like the ability to win like the pokematch up for Sigma comps to 11. Yes
The kick-eye sanctuary basically being like, okay, just have to run out. There's no kind of play to a comp
Yeah, I think this is like good also for camp bash if you wanted to play it, right? Like Mizuki was
Mizuki's SIG was always a pretty good response, you know to camp bash it now that's a
Now at least you saw the second play, but the Mizuki really kind of makes it strong great
Being able to hit the binding chain on whether you the bash or the cat
Fairly easy targets when they kind of come on in lock those players in place
Mizuki's you know his
Major perk that in power gives that moves speed around him when he's yeah, he's also in tuned out a little bit
They're not quite as close to the set move
No, I don't think so.
Not too much loss, you can see him fighting that.
Absolutely. It's still a very, very, very important part of the game.
I feel like we've... it's the longest we've gone in Overwatch, probably, without Lucio being like a mainstay.
Yes, right?
Yeah, for sure.
I feel like we've uh, it's the longest we've gone in Overwatch, probably without Lucio being like a mainstay.
Yes, right?
Yep, sure.
Uh, typically Lucio has always been, you know, sound barrier really strong, speed obviously, great.
I feel like this is probably the longest we've gone without like Lucio being a must pick in like every situation.
Of course, this is not Lenx's first rodeo.
He's part of the World Cup team of 2023, the one that suffered that heart-breaking loss.
In fact, he is the only current player that was there, that experienced that.
The time he was on Hunk Show Spark, Lenxer, I'm sure those memories bitter.
Getting through the USA, though, something they did in 2023 just fine this year, though.
The big 26 is looking a little bit more difficult.
Well, you know, it's also like obviously we're really early in this series, but
team USA you're able to get a second map here. You're worried about map counts, right? As we go
in the tiebreakers when we think about how good this group is, right? Three-way tiebreakers,
we're thinking about map counts, things along those lines, at the Rio. But obviously you can
mask for USA if they're able to pull something like that off.
I never thought I'd see the day where the USA would ring out in the Busan eSports arena.
Already one map to the good of the United States and we're going to be in a demon mirror
again.
Very interesting.
This patch hit what yesterday?
The 19th of August?
It's been a few days since she's been hotfixed.
There was another hotfix recently, with I think her and Kat included in that one.
The first hotfix is the one that kind of really boosts her up for a long time.
So it's Kat Bash in here, with Dimon, for China on offense.
But for the most part, it's a bit of a run out of pressure there for War, because
he wants to hold that statue space.
Jumped in China, Pineapple.
The commanding view of things is a little mindful about Horde friendly from the back line and here comes the DIE tree just gets disintegrated. Nice connection there with attack grenade.
And Horde unfortunately just really doesn't have much to be doing here. Landon got picked off there by Sunzo, a very effective dive here by China.
And I actually think there's another lot of damage here from Team USA to potentially deal with this Camp Ashton, right?
right? Demon can't exactly engage with the camp bash up in the sky. It's very close here for China
taking this first point. And yeah, I mean, I know, some are just kind of chasing down Zera. Very
difficult here. I think you're gonna have to see big, calm change here, continue to say.
Okay, so hasn't gone well for the one defense at all. Pineapple's able to run them down.
Okay, we have a headset immediately removed here by treat
Got eliminated so straight away calls for the pause
Yes, that was fast they've seen somebody chuck a headset off so
Wondering what's gonna go on here. Are we at risk of getting a normal post?
We did the brief second there is
China looking in a great spot here though, Mitch, right? They obviously, they're going
to take first point here, most likely. And then, okay, so it is a tree sound issue. It
looks like, oh, we have labels here for the, that's awesome.
Okay, looks like it's been resolved quickly though.
He's happy with it.
Thumbs up, we're good to go. We're back in. So, we'll get this one underway here
shortly. It seems like we are all good. So when you get back into this, China in a great
spot to take first point. Team USAI, I'd expect to see some adjustments from them. All can't
really engage with Cap Bastion. M-Race damage is good and consistent, but doesn't have
that burst, that something like a Cassidy potentially would have, or even a Soja with
the railgun to be able to kind of threaten. And then Xera on the sheen on doesn't really
have a ton to engage with it as well. So I think you'll see some changes here from USA as we
move into the second point.
And obviously for those that you know were with the St. Paris saw Demon sort of enter
the game and then wondering sort of what has made her so potent right now. They were
obviously like bugs that like prevented from the oilhole from limit break from being
applied adequately. One thing that had put a lot of pros off of playing here. Also just
the cast time for Surgeoning Strike was like really slight, like really telegraphed. So that got
brought right down to 0.05 seconds down with the recovery reduction. So just changes are made
to make you feel much less clunky, much more responsive. Fusion Repeater also has like a
cast time reduction there as well. But that's like outside of that. No huge changes. Just
There was some like bug fixes in terms of making sure that like her ultimate was working
intentionally
All right back into the action here obviously wasn't much to receive from team you says they get blown out of the water straight around this first point
Now we'll see if they do make any changes. I think they probably
Should make some adjustments, but looks like for now
Gonna kind of match yet again with the same type of comp feel like they potentially beat it
That's a hot minute before the United States have it set up. They like to play in this underpass here, but it's a bit tough, but you can only get set up.
They're just tracking Luke through the sky.
Yeah, you can obviously hear them behind him very quickly here if Link's at the sidestep.
Link up with him.
When the Cardsmen move in this whole time, so the USA allowing for a lot of greedy push here for China, they can't realistically engage until this corner comes up.
comes up. But right about now, Pineapple can punish this, of course, with the Bastion ultimate,
that's going to have them scurrying like a kicked hand heal.
Here we go, push up real close. We can't just play past the demon as much as possible.
With Mino, that could be a life there. Has to make use of the perk, get the healing back.
Walk with the shield up now as Pineapple's cooldown has expired. And more wheel smoke,
but it feels like Xero was not ready to be accosted there by the Bastion who dropped
back down, but the healings could very good land, that's kept them topped up with Mino.
Also in the fight, Sanzo gets teased off to the side, but it can't still pushing up here.
In some how they're able to keep Zera alive there and all of that, I mean we're on board with him.
He is so low, nice finish off.
There from Hawk on a Kineke, getting some healing there from Luka Mino as he ends up using a catnap, but this fight, Hawk has to back up here.
It's a little bit too close to Sanzo, looks like he might be using his Luma Break in that fight.
Here we come out of Ultraman's development team of 14 USA, including what we talked about
often is overripe protocol for tree, colloquially we've said it's good for at least a kill in
most situations let's see if that holds true in this next encounter.
And you get up in the sky, you fight that catbash, you want it too, but uh, give me
a sec, getting very close to all five Ultraman, blue Camino is going to be able to farm
this up pretty quickly.
Sun's out rounds the corner, already looses a ton of armor, they're going to have
Take a beat to kind of keep him all topped up.
It's going to be cat bashing here.
The bashing ends up using the turret form.
Doesn't find anything.
See, ultimate dead.
It's going to be tough to cast the shield.
No, Joyrod had expired, but I think, yeah,
Zera just got pulled out of there.
That's an interesting bashing ultimate.
I won't lie.
Not sure what pineapple is looking for there.
Tanzo shield protects him from one of his three dashes.
So there's some free damage down.
Pineapple is going to be healed up.
So Tanzo's getting awfully close.
Pineapple brought down that.
Zera's able to find the damage here.
This is where the cohesion between China is really being put to the test.
I mean that's also two fights in a row pretty much that we have Sarah there with a spree.
So really making his impact feltier on the Xi'an.
Hawke pushes on forward.
Hawke will end up losing mech.
Looks like he's actually trying to have, oh that's nice.
So Hawke was moving forward trying to have some of the players on China finish him
off.
They start funneling shots into him and then stop when he's at like 10 HP.
They allow Lukimino to build up towards that catnap, but still no demon in that is brutal.
He's gonna go for it now. Widow is going to close pretty quickly.
Pannapple on the run in now, looking to get pretty close to the back rail on this bastion.
As the catnappy for the lancer lands in here with it.
Hawke stabbed up, Sunthrow better finish the job.
Hawke never got back into the mech. Hawke with a little sequence there from the USA tank player.
Tree's getting some decent damage in here, the override protocol no longer available, Sunzo did go for a big limit break.
Surely you catch out Zera here, you just get snarled up amongst too many bodies on that stairwell.
Yeah, but you're gonna have Hawk back.
Can you have both supports? I think this is definitely fightable for Team USA.
Although down one player.
Zera's gonna get back here pretty quick though on the Sheon.
Yep, pushes Sunzo away, he respects it.
Pineapple over the top, he is the element of surprise!
Gonna make use of it!
Obviously he is perking into the Mortar Mode.
The big burst damage, feeling like a bit of a Pharah analog on this path.
Now an ultimate to clear the way.
Gonna be tough to get test this now, trying to have the hot foot out of there, probably
pull the Scythe and Blast throughout for that speed boost.
Orc at Sunzo, very low.
It's a D-Mech here on the D-Mond.
It looks like that Tuzu kept just a little bit too late in the day.
Something's off the map now. Look at Xeris getting some serious airtime off this screen.
Thanks, Zeris! Has his wings clipped!
Dude, Xeris had a sick nap so far.
And I think there, China's just not aggressive enough.
Like, they get that one player advantage.
You have Cat Bash and Still Alive up in the sky.
That's actually the Kitsune rush used there by China as well.
I think they were just way too passive there.
I think they had USA kind of dead their rights.
The first hit was huge, man.
And they allowed them to just kind of walk their way back up into the fight.
Uh, and then Hawk now, look at this, he's up on the high ground and he's going to be able to use his D-Va though, maybe like, uh, just drop him down?
Dude, I mean, it's not even nice. They've got a Sune Rush for it. Like, they are in such a good shape.
Hawk drops down, needs to fight Sonsor on the card, get again, ah, my old Nemesis.
The charge in.
Sonsor has to turn his back on his down dangerous Hawk looking over his shoulder, picking up as an opportunity for the downstream for an elimination.
Yep, recall, nice connection there with that.
Limit break, no chance for any escape.
Something here, in here.
Okay, yeah, and overtime, we gotta go for it.
Use that all of it to try and stay alive,
but that over shield is not nearly enough,
but what started off as such a decisive push here
for China really fizzles out on the second phase.
Neon Junction.
I think they kind of fumbled that there
towards their end of second point, offence.
I mean, they had like clear advantages at times
then just nah, they just didn't push the p-
you
you
you
you
you
The tree was hovering the Emory, is this going to be new?
Yeah, he's the Mayer, I think the castle is a safer option, which I agree.
Emory is fine, but I think like having a hindrance element also shows you with these
These comps, how strong Jetpack Cat is, that you don't even need the Vash to play Jetpack
Cat anymore, just kind of playing Jetpack Cat in all situations.
Can you see there, like, pineapple, by the way, the catch looks, you know, big damage
taken by tree there and the token.
I mean, you can see now it takes a long time for you to get killed after that, look
on the field especially.
You can actually also see, like, you know, shines where, you know, mazes are strongest,
obviously that sort of medium range.
I feel like it's a very comfortable look also, it's good pair with the jetpack cat.
He forced out an ice block, the dead eye always gets you some value.
So if our suns are holding his face pretty effectively, it is a war of attrition between
these types of pups with demon on the front lines.
You're going to see these be quite slow especially.
Oh good bodyguard.
Nice, yeah, that is really nice there from Sunzo.
So heads up.
He's over at the center.
Yeah.
See, notice there's an opportunity to double back and catch out there, that is
so good.
He's going to get a bunch of pre-alcharge for this.
Hawk might get demacked. He's got Luke helping him.
It's a team USA you're going to have this continued rush to bite in with.
See if they decide to use it.
Hawk got out in the end, so that's a big old charge.
That's huge.
That's what I got on earlier rush here, Matt.
There's a small, small window here for Landon.
He's going to go for the rush right away to the dead eye of the top of the danger.
ZOO! It's hoping he's up there!
Tree gets picked up by the dead eye.
And plan up to hang around for a little bit longer.
That's back-breaking for the USA
Landon lost his rush
Trigger picked up amidst it. He's a cat mapping and Landon doesn't actually get out with his prize
Yeah, it looks like actually Luke Amino connects a recall there, drags him out
But not gonna be able to do anything with Akiri, China looking awesome here on defense
That's also the revelation man, really. Yeah
They have definitely gonna pop them off guard. We'll see what Luke decides to do
Staying on the camp, probably using the Grip to grab somebody a little bit forward into the spawn.
A good lead here, for the USA.
Yeah, a lot of areas you can hide though on the defense here.
And you've got a shield for Sonto, you've got a nice spot for Kineki.
We're going to go for it anyway, it's like it's enough to treat.
He will do what he's told, pressing Q for the boys.
No luck here on that king of pineapple, oh she's an opportunity to go towards the main,
it could be Hawk, what a little break, it's Zara, gets in there with the spree, and all
of trying to get baited into the room, it's a 1-2 punch strategy, dead-eyed to force
them inside, and then the shield ultimate to punish them for grouping up.
Well especially like you get the me ice block out, right, as Sunzo's gonna get
staggered here this is a brutal especially where the car has to get to
right so a little damage for such a big guy
it should kill a little faster than that but you know can I use this ice block
and then that gives you the limit break plus the spree right the damage
amp off of that really sick stuff there from Team USA so trying an
opportunity here though to put together a pretty good defense. Three minutes on the clock for
USA to get it done. Now the pineapple dead eye wouldn't go amiss. She's asking the USA are a little
bit dangerously my friend. The pineapple is ever taken down again. Hawk this will basically
get back to safety. It's at the main wall doesn't really break him up though. He does slip away
then delay things a little bit further for the USA and it matters on this stretch of the map.
As long as that seems...
...Cunecino Rushed Alpha landed.
This time, it doesn't quite line up into the data.
Canecki's been holding this Blizzard for a while.
Yeah.
It looks like he's gonna charge with the Climbing in Europe at the moment.
Yeah, wait...
They're called to you.
They would love that Blizzard.
Yeah, bring that on.
I hear they're melting into this one.
Alright, here we go.
Cunecino Rushed Alpha landed.
Off they go.
Canecki low, it goes for the Blizzard to try and slow things down.
Landon gets caught over the right click of pineapple though.
Four Castle of God face now.
Season China of vaporized.
Half his team into the merge behind him.
Pineapple dominating you on the Cassidy.
Trena able to hold a cannon to him so far.
Yeah, I guess.
Four team USA.
You know, Rush, the Blizzard comes out.
You have what?
Like, you probably need two fights with where the box of victory is,
to be able to take this one.
But you're getting yourself set up in a spot where,
Ultimate wise you may be in a good spot recall actually has to use this continue rush really early
Yeah, we get snapped if I'm clear big damage here suffered by team China finally a
Consular rush came down so Kinect he has pushed up really far and he has to use ice block
He takes some serious damage and then like when he ice blocks. He's so far forward
They want to at least get a fight there so they use the kitsune rush
They're not able to see them and that is as bad as it could go there. That is a dark
hole in his stagger on Sunzone. He's just now spawned back in. He's looking at the chance to
spray here for Zera. Oh the wall! Pardon! You're trying to contest! Kierke eventually
able to get out of the rest of his team of trees. He's going to be waiting with a get-a-head.
Planet for first and for the most problematic of Team China has been dealt with by Tree.
He gets himself a triple in this fight. Hard break city for Team China.
And the United States once more prevail, allow Matt that there were more moments in this particular
map where you start to believe in what Team China are trying to do.
Sun Zhe looks great.
Pineapple plays a fantastic Cassidy game.
In the end they crumble in a couple of crucial moments and that attack side push there.
They'll be wishing they had that one back.
Their offense should have been a little bit more aggressive, you know, when they
have the player been shared towards the end where their push ends but you know in the on
defense I mean connect you just push it so far off there's no way he's gonna be able
to kind of stay alive in that situation it kind of forces the scramble a little bit
and then they do a great job of staggering Sunzo and that is it.
See how important when you're playing with these demons you know identify opportunities
where just the point is a little out of position.
It looks like we're going to get a sub here potentially, with China in terms of support.
Or actually no, is that a...
Connecting.
Connecting again.
Connecting again.
Yeah, I'll fire potentially the one coming in.
We'll see where this goes in terms of nap, obviously China.
I was talking about it, you know, this group is going to be so closer, at least we theorize,
like every map is going to matter with map, you know, win percentage, things like that.
You cannot afford to lose 3-0 here. I mean, you at least got to get one. I mean,
we are looking at a nation who put their team into the grand final of our 2023 Overwatch
World Cup, including a victory over South Korea on the way there.
Well, and if China was slightly nervous coming into this series, there's probably a lot of
nerves at the moment with how this is gone.
Obviously, they'll probably expect this series to be much closer at this point, right?
Like 1-1, you know, maybe they thought they would be up obviously 2-0.
To be down 2-0 in the fashion, it's gone, right?
Been rough.
been uh been rough and i think like the consensus the consensus from the fans is
they're trying or not sending their like strongest possible team this year
i'd leave shying gushway all three of them beside the team and still that's a pretty good
and that's what i'm that was the next part of that is that but the players that are stepped
up in their wake are demonstrating that there's some serious depth in this region the united
states have picked up this demon composition really effectively they look comfortable and
and i'm not supposed to see a connect these up here that you like he has
probably
but it's right
yeah i mean do we see uh...
is this like a
route sixty-six is like a shambhali
uh...
on the answer to that depends on the answer to the question
i don't think that fari's
yeah it's uh...
you know i'd obviously
I mean, what? There's also like the push maps potentially in the pool, right?
Esquire, we have what? Junker Town, Root, and then Shambali.
We have Esperance and Colosseo available, right?
We take a look at some of the highlights.
Yeah, of course, Kareki Highlight Reel. Sorry to disappoint.
Oh, yeah, I know.
And then.
Give me, we have the Flash point maps, but like.
have you seen enough positive that like oh yeah we want to get in this kind of
non brawl consistently against me to say for us to win I don't think you've seen
that I honestly wouldn't even be like oh that is such a nice way you set up
the spree and limit break your opponent's just the damage amp is
insane there's a great series you talked about out he was gonna know
playing really strong Tracer, like really kind of matching Kineki in the first map,
felt like every fight he had a spree here on the Shion in map 2.
I think that like a big part of the job as Tracer is to challenge the other Tracer for
control of the flank route, right? That's like the first point. You don't get to flank,
you flank like without dealing with the Tracer, you get shot back right after that.
And that's why like I feel like Kineki had very limited impact on
Busan in general, I think like Zerah just sort of dominating in that next grid.
And I think trains there are like that, you know, all American DPS water.
And if you're expecting to really artless step up,
Artless, see how far he looks like he's taken to the stage now.
From H-E-A-L?
You know, right of like a, you know, ball or anything for Team USA, right?
Like, in fact, it's not coming in, you know.
We saw, in our first series, right?
Obviously, Mexico tried to play some DBON here,
So potentially it's one that you also gonna feel like is pretty strong.
If you're China, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a Xi'an ban here.
I mean...
Although, like, I feel like there is a fall off, this is like on Tracer, right?
I mean...
Yeah, I think you might want to try and give Afari the most comfortable matchup.
Is he going to play Genji, maybe?
Are they gonna play some Genji here?
I mean, Kineki also plays Genji, right?
I saw Elemental Guy play it, obviously, for a Cumix girl on this map.
Yeah, I think it seems reasonable when I see came to that what I want to see normally is like as I get pairing here
It is so they are looking at zero. They are trying to lock. He's out of six year. Oh, he's out of six series
Not surprising whatsoever
of your team USA
You get banned you could go into the tank pool here
Lucy up. Okay. Yeah, why not?
That's fine. I think you're
Happy playing. There it goes. Anyway. Yeah. Clarion has now just now sat down.
We'll take a minute for him to get acclimated here. See how long it takes to have him all plugged in and ready to go.
Obviously, yeah, we saw him at the mid-season championship.
I wouldn't say that team was ever to make a strong impression of that tournament, but again, you know, I would definitely have to miss like the third string in China.
It's like there's some JDG.
Probably ranked a little higher than that.
Rough spot to be subbed into though, right?
Oh yeah, salvage series team.
Yeah, it's Atlas where Flashpoint we saw how in the Mexico-Great Britain game that it just
kind of started the snowball really fast in favor of Great Britain after that one fight
at the start where they just get a sick advantage.
TMSA trying to, I mentioned, I picked them obviously in the series, but cautiously excited
about how this team is with the potential, I think just off of talent, it has such a
high skill ceiling as a team?
Well, I think, yeah.
We have a lot more experience as well.
But we've also seen a lot of these players have some low set of moments, where you're
worried about it all crashing down at one time.
But when it looks like this, you're like, wow, this team could win.
I think that liquid campaign empowers really rushing for them.
I think who's a Tweet? Tweet or Zera? Tweeted like literally what it's called, I've got the half half of it.
Yeah, I think it would be even Zera. Tweet also kind of went to Twitter I think to get, or his discord I think, maybe, to get pretty hard in terms of like, you know, how the season has gone for TL and then so far where you're probably looking at this as those players like this, the pressure right there, right?
You know, being able to kind of play as this unit, right, with the way they've looked.
Obviously Hawke gives them a different look than, like, Infected at times, where Hawke obviously seems to be the go-to here.
And I mean, you have to use a lot of UV on the roster as well, right? A very talented support player, so...
No, also, it's someone who can really easily, like, it's like he has a limited hero, that's why...
No.
Bro is chilling, though.
It feels like between him, Luke, and Landon, they get like coins to figure out which two
are out there and still play just about everything.
Like it don't be all in the ultraviolet, it's like on a die, right?
We've just seen so much death from here before.
It's definitely like between Luke Mino and ultraviolet, like America has produced something.
It's down to the back line, like, land and not being left in that conversation either.
That's definitely been a strength of the region.
I think that right now, like, yeah, the United States tank players, I think that's an area
where they're often being beat up by import slots in the WCS, where the import slots
are often getting seen.
Yeah.
I mean, it's also, it's also a rough when you look at land and probably, I mean land
the best support in North America plays in the NBA, right. Hawke, I think, he also just
kind of speaks to his skills that he's able to come back into the OWCS after taking some
time off. And what, is he the best tank in like the best North American tank, right? At
this point, like, is he past infected? Like, at some point, right, like, you know, with
the way that SSG is performed, the way that Hawke has performed WC playing a lot.
Uh, you have to kind of see some valleys near the conversation again.
Yeah. I'm, I, I will put him back there, frankly. I think.
How many, keep, you retired, remember? They, they're like fully retired.
I mean, like, you think like Dallas Fuel has Kellan, that's an import slot.
Liquid obviously are using ATK, an import slot.
Obviously, like in North America, you've got plays in tip, right?
You know, uh, you're disguised using the import slot on their tank as well.
It's a pretty short list.
Peluge obviously having stepped away from that sort of same class.
Historically, it definitely was a role in the South Korean plays,
but I have a few things to say.
You kind of think historically, right?
You know, best North American tank players are like, what? Super obviously, right?
Tell me, does that sound like you?
You know, I think like, you have the, like in terms of longevity, like, hawk, right?
Gator had a run where he was like, very, uh, good in terms of like, his tank play.
In fact, it obviously kind of coming in, right?
It was really supposed to be, yeah, that like, the next, next up, I think,
It's like the American Civil War 8-Block.
Obviously like, you've got like, Sniper, well, up to C9WCS.
Yeah.
8-Block.
Looks like we are getting, uh, Alphari all set up on stage in the, uh, Atlas.
Uh, we'll be the next map in the set.
You believe, Ronnie?
It's only a second game of the day.
Right?
Yeah.
Now he's got four more bangers after this one. Yep.
The match is that.
I promise to be exciting. I had this slated as my match of the day and now I'm not so sure.
Honestly seeing China stumble. I mean like I...
I predicted it, I guess.
You know, overselling the veterancy of the Chinese roster a little bit compared to this American one.
Now like the reality sets in when you get into the game.
I'm sure it's a region that has maybe, you know, been on the wrong side of the kill feed, internationally, for a while, but these guys are very, very solid, very comfortable.
Exciting to see KSA play. Saw them all in the back as we were getting ready to come back out here for this next game. They're all high spirits.
I'm really sure that group see that to me such a ending Canada Germany Thailand spot. Hmm all loaded up into
Right, that's a favorite in that one. Germany. I think so. I think so Canada is a really young lost
Raisin Oaxias Alex Astro high on Spain when we did the online component
I thought they looked like it was also to a so you know you might have been seeing saying it wasn't there
Yeah, but yeah, they've played really well. I think like we were super high on science
Yes, also, but they had
Gala and canal who were on that first pro roster for a time, right?
And I like pretty like pretty high profile support players. Yeah, like what gala was on that's here
All right. Yeah at the moment
Don't know what this coming gun, but might be a shits and light on what's going on there. Obviously like it's all a gala and box
Now 16 a l is playing on one two three four
And Spain has had some moments, you know, an overwatch World Cup in the past.
They have a bad...
I should finish that sentence. They have a legacy of, like, getting upset, though.
Yeah.
This team, like, Spain in the past has been upset in some, like, World Cup outings.
Which is, you know...
But in the past, like...
Like, Garland Canale played in 2023.
But before that, right?
It was like a really early class. It was like...
Neptuneau, Harry Hook, Braumas, Wingy Haven, Harry Hook, I'm on that team as well.
LionPro played in 2016 as well.
The region looks very, very different.
We had Health back in 2023 though, a pretty solid player.
But yeah, we've got Zodiel, Santi, Gala, Canale. I think that...
They stick roster!
I mean the best in Spain has been so that group for me is like a huge headscrapper
and then for me like Germany were a revelation I think through that group stage
I didn't expect them to top the group and not in the way they did
Yeah
beating United Kingdom
probably no ice top
obviously it's fantastic player
but like guys like SXJ, QRXU, Candy
yeah
I think like SXJ is multi so he's part of the breakthrough player program on that roster
I mean that's an awesome addition right some players who would obviously have the skill
But just don't have the uh, you know a ton of other players in the region is we see a lot of signs here
You know the TV I say
tree
Signs for tree as well. So
Lotta
Here yeah, I love the Busan
Plum here getting behind USA
Respect. Yeah
Although there's the sign does say son's oak
Are you gonna blame a guy for playing both sides? No
I'm sure teen USA lenses you can say they'll be saying you guys do it all along. They're back. Never doubted you for a second
I must say my son would so you look in a more foolish part of second without
China predictions
To be fair
No, since I got on the ground today, it's been a lot of hype. They feel like for China like how how this game potentially goes
so I
Think the push is in the game that like a fiery is all set on a redder all it is
China on the precipice of dropping their opening game here against the United States of America who looks strong
Stable and confident across both of our maps so far
They make no substitutions. Still the same gang.
Lucmino and Landon will be in the back line.
America finally gets Landon back to represent them.
Nortz looks very good. He looks very, very hard to shake.
Vendetta? I mean, obviously, still some time.
I really thought that Vendetta was more of a tool to deal with the Simcomps.
comps? Yes for sure. That's what Alphari's got for us now. Subbing in for Kineki. Last
opportunity now for China to put themselves on the board in an open end game.
Like Trey's been hovering this Sierra every time in spawn and I guess we'll get the
Sierra here. Okay. So Sierra plus Vendetta. Sierra is another hero right that is kind
always on the edge of being extremely good very good at like lower ranks so
it's like we have not seen really even since your inclusion a lot of play at
the pro level. Oh man you get some serious mileage off that overhead swing don't
you? Here's Tree. Got to play behind from behind the big bulk of his Malga.
Pineapple's got to respect the seismic grenade there for that low ground.
Already getting set up now Tree to swing through the air and it links over the
Right click, actually! That is a massive pick off!
Jetpack Cat can't do a darn thing about that.
Couldn't dump altitude quickly enough.
There are a tree literally in aimball.
And Sierra just has like a really high damage output, just...
Like, you know, we talk about our Ambrick, right?
I feel like Sierra's even strong, right?
Eighty bullets, I believe, in the clip.
Able to just kind of constantly, you know, hold down that trigger, just generate pressure.
So this map does get a bit funner than some trucks.
I think trailblazers could find a ton of value given trees able to develop it
They're here to try to get clear of Sunzone with a break already built
We're trying to tank player
We're getting picked off though. Look at this again disjointed China look disjointed through everywhere
Too much butter over two little bread. You do end up losing Hawk
Now we're gonna have you ever both sides the Sunzone gets de-macked
Yeah, the mutual catap is brutal though
I think lengths are actually might have gotten caught out there look me to can see all the old charge
developed in that fight, folks, very well for the team with the jetpack cap.
That's 25% already.
And I'm looking forward to seeing what TreeHastress out his trial plays, but
unlikely to be necessary on this first Flashpoint.
No, I mean, this is as consistently as Dominator's team USA has looked at
moments throughout this series as, are you even going to be able to come fight this?
It's going to be a sundering blade here from
Zera.
Oh!
Better one though from Alphari.
I mean, you've used everything here, though, for support ultimates.
Limit break also permitted there to the fight by Sunzo.
I do like that though. That's beautiful from our fiery.
Just hide behind the pillar.
You can see around it in third person.
You get a full charge, Submarine Blade on.
Very nice.
No, obviously we're not talking about this combo a ton.
Cage swasts Sierra's ultimate into it.
Just like unavoidable damage, right?
I think the one thing that Sierra's ultimate is quite easy to avoid.
Obviously with the cage not going to be able to do that, Pineapple takes a ton of damage early on
They're going to have to just kind of run.
But again, this puts them into a weird spot. Look how far forward Alphari is by comparison.
They're lucky enough to get caught out.
Good job, my recall. Heads up. Keeps the Suzu as-
Disjoined it again, folks!
Alphari has a different plan for the rest of his team.
Katsune's rushes are going to be matched here, but Recall's not going to be able to make much use of his at all.
Apple is the second to fall and there are no more DPS left or child.
Yeah, it's like Sunzo here just gonna try and do his best to extend this.
Pretty nice damage down on the Zera, but can't exactly just stand there and fight that Vendetta.
Don't know why I said that, just throwing up his blade guard for a moment.
The overhead slash gives you three nice latches here which can be amplified further with perks.
I'm just bowing people down.
Sierra, man.
Did you get much of her in WCS?
No, we don't at all.
It's a hero who performs extremely well at lower ranks.
It's very difficult for players to deal with, but at the highest...
I've heard the data, yeah.
At the highest level, she does not really perform as well.
Now, obviously though, like, tree an opportunity to come out and play it here.
The tracking Darden can obviously be pretty good against Cap'Nash.
He's really good at lasting in general honestly.
He's just not that mobile even if he's here in real small.
Oh man.
Yeah.
Look at me, I was going to be happy to live up his life for that one, I think.
Landon and Tree both double down in that fight.
Honestly, the CR Alts is not even that impactful.
Like you'd rather just hammer it consistently just kind of,
vomiting damage on it.
Well, if you don't have a way to like hold people in place,
like you mentioned, it is quite avoidable because of that delay in detonation
with the trailblazer.
And her gun works in like a, an odd way, right?
It's like the spread titans as bullets fire, right?
So...
Also you can make it titan quicker as well.
Yes.
That is the perfect world to see.
And the minor perk, one, that we'll see if we get a tree POV.
A lot of people go to is that it actually gives a 25% extension to like the drone lightings.
You can actually go really far.
Really great mobility.
So far in this fight we saw a level Katsuneir rush. That's the big story of it
Tree does get a big right click on the Sun so you can really burst these mausers down pretty down quickly
with this Sierra
And there are just not bothered at all about pineapple
Honestly man
I'm just gonna say it. This is not what I was hoping for from China this year
This isn't good enough
I need...
Wee.
You know, you're watching this, you're like, they get by Sweden.
They get by Japan.
Sundering Blade coming in here from Zera.
Alright, Sunders are very low for that big burst damage.
It makes sense it's so easy to peek off. Tricks is a bit of a right click now.
There's like a slight second flash point about to be snapped up.
Ooh!
He is just...
I mean, obviously Zera just like...
The pressure that Zera is putting on here with Hulk is impressive, buddy.
They have just allowed Tree at a distance to just kinda dominate here.
Yeah, I just don't think their comp is adequate enough at a costing.
I do wonder, I was taking note of it because we saw it on every single map.
Tree's been like in the spawn just playing this year the entire time and then just making the switch late.
It's like I do wonder if this is something that we see from them maybe like more as the tournament goes on.
Possibly. I think it's like height fight.
Alright, we have the Terrasurge being inferred into the...
There's the...
Continue to rush.
Yup, there's the Sierra Olderman.
Okay, got him.
Picked up there, our Farry goes down.
So we'll go over to the whole Hawkeham place eventually.
Nice little cage for our Demonsons, so it's very low.
Watch out for those Sierra right clicks.
Could be over before it really begins there.
Pineapple, I'm going to find a Bastion Ultimate.
And Zero is caught inside that room.
And now the USA are going to have to back away and allow China to take priority here on this potentially last flashpoint.
Yeah, it's interesting.
talking about using the Sierra Aldrin into the cage.
Free actually uses the break in the cage, Sunso.
Just kind of, just all the air to put down.
Yeah.
He also got a free kill off.
Yup.
I wouldn't be complaining.
Sunso has to be careful here with Blue having the can now.
Get dragged off the side.
Really early Susie though.
OK, the orbital boy in the back seems to be the most
party as the captain at Hawks says, OK, well, good luck.
I can be unstoppable.
That's fine.
It's really a rush now. How do you make use of this if your team USA? What pineapple get? Like I said, Xiera.
Really well matched up against the Bastion. Hit it right click and the guy is cooked.
Alphari catching up for a brief time caught in front of Hawks purview.
There used to be some more damage on the Vendetta.
I'm going to see how Alphari runs out of defensive cooldowns though. The blade block only stays up for so long.
Yep, alright. I mean, the tracking dart, the right click of the Sierra just gives you like a, basically like a Pfizer auto-aim.
and like the damage amp and you are just like the fashions up in the sky you were just able to just
if you hit that right click which like you know for somebody like tree it's not hard to do you
can delete that bastion and it gets tanks as well taking the fire rate increase when you connect
that tracking that means that like you can really work through tanks very fast is there a looking
for a southern blade angle maybe no just trying to get back off to safety hold the blade see
I don't know if there's a connection there, somehow something was having a sidestep and here comes that cage fight.
Luke Minocourt out, oh man, the trailblazer is just too good inside that ultimate.
Alright, did break the cage, but three of us eventually was brought down.
Zera needs to do some work here, I've probably certainly left his imprint on this fight.
And that is Plantapple here falling.
With Hawk down though, the United States might be struggling to assert themselves here adequately.
Yeah, Zera will be felled by the curious.
Looks like the Luke gets there for a touch away
Not able to get another player there too with those so
Finally China they battle back
But they need to be perfect from here on out
Double support will be available here most likely you know from Team USA right Luke is close enough to it that you'll earn it in this
Fight and look at this. I mean they spawn right next to it there for Team USA very favorable positioning
Pineapple, however, get to hit this from a bit of a different axis, whooping around on
that left-hand side.
Reels mode active, and we go, look for Lutmino, he's going to skid her away, not quickly enough.
Avarela caught out, good shoulder charge there by Hawkin, he's happy just to tank that
from Sonzo, who is super low.
Another stop, beautiful from Hawkin, he got exactly what he wanted in that engagement.
And also, I mean, if the Jetpack Cat comes close, right?
And we see so many more Jetpack Cats want to play aggressive.
If you're able to hit the dart there,
somebody steps off for a second.
We saw there, Tree able to just take out Lancet, right?
Lancet can't get away in time.
Team USA.
They're set up perfectly here, Mitch, right?
You have a cage right here,
and a thundering blade, yeah,
and a lot of great ultimates here.
You're probably gonna get up to at least 50%
on this one. Azera uses the Sundering Blade, doesn't get anything.
Yeah, apropos of nothing if I'm not mistaken.
Let me slip up here in this fight now.
H5 from Hawke.
Throwing good money after bad, if I'm honest with you.
However.
Hawke gets two.
Yeah.
Recall in Alphari, both down.
That's pretty big.
That's a consumer rush.
He's actually off the table.
So I can see why you're feeling like you can commit to this.
Hawke does get flipped though.
Hawke swings a little too hard out into the open there.
He might just burn deep into the damage.
We can't be having that.
He thought he was going to make it to the health pack.
Not able to get there
Just the tip of the edge there. Sunzu has the shoulder charge ignite she
Is that China desperately here trying to hold on
No now though they have a chance to use these kids in the rush man at least get a map on the board here
I mean they're good for a flash point here
Trey just got mowed down again. I like this China now playing a bit more aggressively.
Realizing there's an opportunity just to lean into the USA.
Who's... then Buckle. Pretty badly.
Still now at the Xunia Rush. Like USA wouldn't have been able to make use of the window,
but Rekal got picked off earlier that previous fight and now Rekal's just going to sit on it.
Now if you're a team USA, you need a junk bite here to just get some of these ultimates out.
Going into the final flash point.
You need a juice plant.
You know what, Skage from Sunzo, there's one.
And we'll be able to touch.
There's shit.
Yeah.
I don't think you're gonna get anything else now.
I got the touchy.
Oh, and I say that, it's gonna be artillery and...
Suddering Blade here.
Okay, King Sean already spent being in this fight, and what do they get for those?
Very little, I thought we got Trigo eventually.
Ah, okay, he's good.
He's good.
Well, what, they traded Sierra old for...
Essentially artillery, Suddering Blade, and they use...
The rush early on.
That's a lot of investment there from China.
Tree now going to go over to Xi'an as...
I think the Sierra experiment is well and really done.
Xi'an for Tree.
A lot of pressure going to be able to put on.
We were seeing zero on Xi'an for the most part.
So this is going to show some of the flexibility of the USA DBS.
Suzu coming in.
Oh, the timeliness of it there.
Rekal gets picked up by Tree and is being traded.
I've capped up multiple knockdown there by Luke Minow.
Talk about making an entrance.
That's a big spend though, I will say.
Big spend for this first place point.
You've like reset the ultimate economy though, right, if you're team USA.
Like, you end up getting three ultimates out in that, uh, you know, the last smash point towards the end.
Now you set yourself up at about even across the board here, you know, as even as you can get.
Now we're going to double back to the point.
Team USA, something blind at the ready, Zera.
All these single down a carry boat.
Oh, I can't actually see with a smooth step.
One, two, but a super extended pineapple.
In wheels, Vogue, Hawke also taking a licking in damage terms.
From these setups for a team USA, it looked really shaky.
Very punished by pineapple and Alphari.
It'll be 52% here for Team USA.
I think they just did a better job here
of trying to punish in Zera as well, right?
Now letting him just kind of...
Obviously the tracer ban here coming in for China
Really targeting him as a player. I think it's got to be said China will look much better after the substitution. Yeah
31% and counting
If you take the tracer away though from Sarah, which has been really what's been brutal
Sorry blade no catcher off our illiterate to limba
I would avoid it. We've been in the first catch of the up this fine line
Spelling him out four.
This looks all China all the time now.
Sun Zou just making sure he stalls Hawke Gaffer as long as he really possible.
Landon doesn't get caught by the charge.
One last chance here for Team USA, but they're going to be staggered, trapped down.
To the loop, he's got the fall here.
Has to stay alive.
Case fight there from Hawke with short lived.
Trian's there a very, very low.
And Pineapple in a safe line to pick them off.
China looks to be in such a great spot here to close this one out.
Team USA, they start out so strong here, Mitch.
On Atlas, and then they just kind of fall apart.
Dalbari comes in here for China, it'll just be Lukamino.
Continually keep this one going here for Team USA.
Hark is back on the doom, and he ever rush.
Canapto, with Mino taken down early, we've got a Doomfist,
Hawke been dragged away, Adria, Petri is going to come in,
a five-requel win, Pineapple at the same time, is there a window now?
Zera needs to get there. Sunzo taken down by an overhead swing and USA are still in this map!
And Lukimino does an unbelievable job on the cat to just keep that contestant like constantly
darting in and out. He does end up losing his life first, but who cares? Keeps him in this game.
As he's got a cat now, but opportunity for him they'll really kind of turn the time.
Luke and Mio just trying to drag them across the finish line here at the end.
Time for the Hawke doofus to see if that's going to be enough to win the series.
Luke, where does this go?
Really needs to be perfect.
That opening pick is everything in pineapple.
Time for the fine kids.
That's Hawke going down.
Not my deal at all.
USA forcing a bit of a weird cop.
They had a fight for their lives though.
How far it was picked up but they are low on personnel.
Hawke can get back into the fight quickly enough.
Short tree tries to stall out but this one is done folks
You know barely getting attached keeping that overtime going what should be here about now
But again, he's lost with you know, yeah, they lost Lou
That is gonna be the map surely zero attempt to dive himself into it. He went for a sundering blade. Okay
China are alive and kicking
The alphari sub it pays off your for China
Team USA felt like they had an opportunity there for a bit to take that map, take the series 3-0, but feels like they kind of fumbled there towards the end.
Yeah, Hawkeye obviously switches over towards the Doomfist just to try and keep the game going, which is reasonable, but he's in a very lively matchup against Sun Zofa.
you
you
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We've seen China play a lot of the demon as well, so I wonder if they kind of go back
to that and like that's a yeah I think if you're a team you see you probably feel
pretty good about that right Hawke was obviously getting the better of Sunzone
in that matchup so the Moga looked a little bit more comfortable there for
China. I do wonder what team you see is nice to do here. The the inverse would
be is that you pick an escort map because most teams feel pretty decent
about both Colosseo and Esperanza. So do you take your first pick of Escort, right? You pick,
you know, I don't think we've seen anybody pick Junker down. So I think they're probably looking
at what? Either root or Shambali? No, if you're looking at root, right? That could be like
like some Diva Sigma type of play.
It is Rude.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Um, do you need to be that fan at here?
No, that feels kind of weird.
I mean, you know, Luke and Landon could play like double flex support type of looks, right?
I mean, that's always an opportunity for this team, so, uh, I do wonder what we
see from Team USA here on Rude.
Yeah.
like a carry cat would be a little interesting to see here yeah it's a cat
man from USA so yeah here there are windows I guess in which they feel like
they'd like to do away with this I think like they enjoy playing jetpack cap and
the bastion part of that combo is like that just kind of bothers them and
obviously USA do not prefer to play that way so this is this is the second
way to break up that if you're China okay demon interesting obviously the
Hawke has been getting better of the daemon than Sunzo I feel like, so...
Getting rid of it here.
This does open the door for like, you know, aren't we looking at double, black support, like, sigma looks or something like that?
Like, D.Va obviously really strong here on Route 66.
Sunzo can play D.Va, can play SIG, right?
Any map is a rematch rematch, right?
So, I think that Rematra is an option.
Yeah!
Yeah, I think if the attack side team is having access to a little bit of a high ground, that's
the only limitation Rematra has is to see that in issue with some verticality.
But as you get towards the end of the map, I think that's an option that easily opens
up for you.
D.Va is going to be the more expected look here.
And yeah, you can certainly play that Sigma Mazzuki on this map.
I think your ability to disrupt the D.Va pretty effectively accretion obviously is
cool if we don't end up in like a if we're not playing Lucio here we probably
will obviously with the jetpack cam but like the jetpack cap ban excuse me but
like carry comms don't like trying to deal with the gravidic flux that you've
got a tight end sues as well and doesn't always have the range to cover
everybody that's put inside the flux so certainly a few considerations you've
got to weigh up I mean Landon could always play BAP right we've seen
BAP obviously play I know it's sick in the past if you wanted I mean yeah
You certainly could, but...
And PAP does have now some lateral mobility via perks?
Still, like, as a dive target, like, he's very much firety number one.
Oh, for sure, but I mean, what are you playing on the other side in terms of damage dealer-wise, right?
We're looking at probably, you know, you're not playing the Bastion, so...
Pineapple showed us Freya early on.
Sojourn is probably...
Are you playing like, like a Freya tracer here, maybe? With Alpharion?
Um...
You know, Freya Treaser doesn't really scare me that much if I'm, uh, you know, backline team USA.
I mean, I was able to simply see, like, Alphari playing in Vendetta.
Given that, normally, she'd been used as, like, an answer to, like, Symmetra comps rights.
Well, I have a, like, better frontline pressure, right?
Like, and playing that against a Sierra, who is pretty mobile, usually able to, like, avoid scrutiny.
Also, like, Vendetta can't prevent the right click from Sierra.
Yeah.
But I would say Sierra's mobility is good, but it's also predictable, right?
Because you see the throat in the sky and you know where Sierra is.
While you know where Sierra is, you know when she uses a mobility where she's going to end
up, right?
It's also like, you can't set up the drone in advance because it just gets shot by any
player that's above gold.
So when you have to deploy it and then grapple to it, there's like a second delay
that can usually be the difference between left and right.
You have to like turn and then you have to throw it and then you have to look and then like that's a little bit of a
No process there. Not super reliable very very good if you'd like have a front line the whole space
It's like I would venture to say she would be
Like if she had mobility like on demand without the
Absolutely all right folks
We're gonna head into our fourth map in this series as discussed it is route 66 the bands
USA take away Jetpack, Cat, and China. Go off to Demon.
We will see what we get from the tanks.
Obviously, Emaga, Ramatra, Thievah, SIG, some of the better options here now with Demon gone.
These two teams look to be playing more than others.
And then what do we get now with Alpharion?
Right, we had him in for that last map playing the Vendetta, wouldn't exactly say this is a great Vendetta map, so probably gonna be looking towards some other options.
I don't think we'll get that, but I want to see the Tracer matchup for our party.
Brig is interesting. Brig gets some adjustments recently as well, right?
They've read the DVACOM pretty well, if this is the case, from Lynxer.
And I think if you want to try and like, deny gap close, deny dive, or if your Sikron base composition is quite reasonable.
However, I'm surprised that it supersedes the Mizuki option here, but he was also very good at stopping D.D. in the tracks.
It's gonna be so cheery with a Genji.
Look at his black line. Cheery Honor.
I think Hawk is thinking about a swap here, but...
So what would be the question? Right?
Yeah, we're gonna get him out.
How good?
Uh, probably Ramatra.
That's all good, cool.
Okay.
Ram is just so good against SIG.
Uh, like, you know, SIG's obviously primary defense of cooldown is like the kinetic grasp.
Ramatra, it just pretends like that. It doesn't exist.
The hard part where Rematra though is like there's no way to really get him off of this high ground
right where SunZo's playing.
Also later in the game, once Sigma has the perk that allows you to knock him back
really annoying is Rematra playing into it.
And then just for me to try and run up and just get knocked back it's just like okay.
It's just uh...
Ram is like an over, like a all arounder, just very strong.
As now they've kind of gotten SunZo off of this high ground.
Yeah, but it's still being... that's basically being helped by pineapple...
As I say, the grander finishes the job!
What a good on follow-up battle with a nice little railgun connection from Tree, and now, you are absolutely going to go after this high ground.
Zera just daring our fiery to dare switch into Genji to fight him.
It's a nano-blade, or a nano-genji, excuse me, that feeds a dragonblade.
Yeah, and Luke is able to get that so fast.
So, Lancer looked to hover the Mizuki there for a second.
Speed boost here, four lengths as the Lucio here.
So the Lucio is good here with the Sigma right,
he's trying to get Sigma out of the way of the Ramatra.
Nice flocks.
Okay, Sunzo actually.
Is that a creation there?
This is winnable though for Team USA.
I mean you have the Ram still here.
Afari there can really sort of punish any movement off the card.
He right pulsed there.
Nice U2 though.
Yep, but this one's a land and that's two out of two.
Great plays from landing on the carry.
Orc being kept alive, now it's gonna be a two-knee rush here coming out from China, length's up.
Over towards the Lucio now, no more Brick.
And Zera's sitting on this blade.
Yeah, you're waiting for a Lukimino to come back here with Zera.
Get used to this blade.
You can't wait for a Nanoboost again, there's no way you're gonna go for it here.
So, on this Zaya, then Annihilation is gonna be very tough to deal with at the best of times.
Now, Farah did very, very well to stay out of line of sight there, but eventually, length's out.
Will be swept down with a Maelstrom.
That'll be a checkpoint pickup, I imagine, once Sunzone is cleared, however, he's pretty charged up, you've got to respect him.
And the carry's still here, so this isn't, they're completely over.
Now though, it is Pineapple's gonna use, uh, he's gonna come in with the override protocol over the top, just the way too late.
Apple what? The car hasn't gone through yet, it's very respected by USA, they all back away from this, they even committed nano to the diva.
to the diva look me know build a memo in both fights that we just saw we'll see
now okay off deciding what to do also pineapple played a lot of the freight
early on in the series and the team is able to kind of deal with it it's only
good if you can control this high ground and then uh then dinner here is a well
I mean, we'll see how they make it work.
I guess the other comp is f- okay.
Fair.
That's the only aspect of this copy we can read your laughter though.
We, uh, we'll see here Pineapple.
Uh, he's kinda looking through the doorway here, seeing if he can just kinda, you know,
It's a primary fan. Some of our recall ends up dying here.
Yeah, no idea. Obviously, he's going to be first target for Alphari.
And I wonder if his change is to your mind about playing Ana now.
Yeah, I mean, you need something maybe a little bit more mobile.
Or like, what are you looking at here to deal with even Dettar?
Are you looking at like, would you play a Brick of your own? Would you play a...
At least your carry is more likely, if anything.
Yeah, at least your carry.
Okay, we have off to hazard now.
The Hulk just wants to avoid something really good against Geeta.
I guess Zarya, right? I mean...
I'm going to mitigate a lot of that damage, right?
Replay your feet!
Oh, crap! On the backside! Recall in that one!
That's worthwhile!
The longer fight, Sojourn's certainly going to start to come alive, and Afari's picked up by Lukmino. That's the threat on the Ana.
Eliminated.
I'm going to have to recall out though, but the USA, they're disengaged away from this. They're still potential to win this fight.
And Zarya's lost for one.
This Ana position is...
Pretty out there.
Yeah, nothing you can do at that point.
So some adjustments here from China, looked quite good, Alphari coming into the series.
They have ended up turning things, right, with where we sit right now.
Nice connections there on the Lugavino, gets him dangerously low.
He has another nano though, but Alphari got picked off there, caught inside the disruptor shot from Tree.
An apple getting, again, a ton of value here.
Alphari has to step into Kineke's shoes and find a follow-up damage.
It's not an idea when he goes down first in the fight, but the idea is still going to be there.
Consider rushing out, deployed by Recall.
Give some small staying power on that low ground, but it's a nano boost over towards Hawke.
Look how low everyone is. Links up.
Seemed out of days. Hawke's not really sure where to put himself though.
As the disengage was wholesale from Team China.
Yeah, it's no way he can really kind of collapse on top of the Zarya,
not able to access the high ground there as well.
This has been rough here for Team USA.
Starting to fall apart a little bit.
Yeah, I'm not lovin' it!
I don't know if that has a pick while it gives you, like, a great amount of mobility.
Is the answer. We're back to the Rivalry now.
Well, you would wanna play D.Va against this Raita constantly, like, pressure the high ground here.
You're not playing against Zarya?
But you're not playing against Zarya, or even Vendetta, right?
So...
You're forced into a pick that is not ideal, really.
There's Hawk.
Alright, Tray has to have a pretty inside ultimate, but his sight lines are gonna be severely broken up.
Look at the pineapple as well, just slowing this Raita around.
I like this rotate, though, from T.M.E.S.A.
The Pineapple's still flanking them. That's the problem. I don't think they've got the bandwidth up.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's wanting them like a fly.
Now, setting safe so that Southern Blade come in, is up and avoided there from Alphari,
and now he can rule the roost to soldier it up in his high ground.
Alphari drifting to his crosshairs for just a moment too long, and if easily he's picked up.
But now and over time, the USA is set up to get an extension.
Yeah, and when I say that, I like that flank there from Team USA, like the rotation around.
It just takes all high ground control away from Pineapple.
Can't do absolutely aiming in that situation.
As team is trying to block them here from coming out through the doorway and they will be successful in that, China will not go to challenge.
That'll be a second checkpoint in the final moments for team USA.
So there'll be a ground bastion here.
Okay.
Oh, they're gonna go fast to the ground.
Yeah, Sonsa reps around. I think you just like, get a group graphite here.
Throwing a landed tree, caught inside of this hole. That should be enough! A chap of the wheels, boy! Go, it's scary!
Sunzo wisely uses the cart to break that line of sight up and only how far he's picked off in the end
You don't link you here too long though. Yeah, I yeah ball
There's no way the exit right? I mean, where do they go Sunzo's trying to boost himself up to the high ground
It's not gonna do so
He's up very well to stay alive you though
Even if you couldn't quite get that purge or committed again a lot of this damage
And now we flip the map entirely to tune around to come down for recall and it's gonna have one of his own though
So it's gonna be mirrored, Sunsoap is gonna have the lowest shield cooldown as a result of this,
but still that's not gonna be enough, and Street just mows them down.
Perhaps a little inadvisable there for China to take this kind of fight, but they have bled.
Half a minute, class up the clock.
And the Bastion's pretty good against the Vendetta, right?
Can just kind of blow up the Vendetta, through the block.
And the Bastion also, fairly good against Zarya, right?
Zarya obviously doesn't have a lot of mobility, mitigates the damage,
you know, and obviously can kind of turn it around, turn it into offense,
But you see Sun Tso going over to the hazard gets hit with a pole spawn there
Beasts, but it doesn't connect with Sun Tso. Yeah, the line of sight is so broken up there
That is extremely speculative behavior from length so that might have thrown this one down the gurgle
Look at our father Carlos moved in this window
Sun Tso not saved by the beat frustrated there for team China
Hawking has ever double back to the card and in overtime the USA are threatening a full cap tree
here gonna fire off a couple of mortars pineapple is caught out and oh dear from
where things looked for China so where they ended that is brutal I mean
miles here's landing to look me no sharing a bit of a oh they like they
stole that like they were OT to get the second checkpoint and then I think like
they get so aggressive change that they end up using the grab they push on
in but then they're just stuck there right and the Bastion Swap from Tree was
good and you're able to clutch up I mean this is a difficult map to finish they
had what probably a minute and 30 to be able to do so and the last point opened
up they lose one fight so they have like what 45 seconds 50 seconds to run it
down and they do. Things that we'd like about Team China's opening.
How far he's going in 9. Yeah.
They're like, he was a little more impactful than that.
Watch it. Well, yes. Yes.
Yeah, I thought that obviously there's a reasonable pick against this
honor composition. I threw him out, right?
Kill Luke, the end of the first time, like, OK, this is good.
Well, to be fair, he did start off on like what?
He started off on the racer I believe for a bit, right?
And it wasn't wasn't exactly going great.
But that's the problem, that's concerning to me because this is the second player that is not able to match their is Tracer in the S.
I feel like Overwatch really just converges to that one point a lot of the time.
You have to better Tracer players, it's been ten years of this.
So we're gonna try for the Vendetta on the attack side again, reasonable.
Very standard looking comp here as far as Tinius and I can certainly...
Paul can't exactly stand here and fight the D.Va head-on, the back-side around the corner.
Sorry, does not want to be dying here.
A great outlet for these Aya-Bubbles.
Paul can't mitigate any damage, right?
Between Bandetta and Zarya.
So it's going to be very difficult to play around this.
Okay, stick there on three. Just safe for now.
But yeah, Hawk is suffering. He's not having a really limited effectiveness of Afario Sonsou at all.
He will end up by helping Lukavino build up towards A-nana.
Okay, yeah, he's a healing battery.
I'm fine with it, bro. He is doing everything he can to stay alive, but he missed the Mega there, I think.
Okay, we've got to do something about this guy.
I think the Mega was taken.
Yeah.
Little unfortunate.
So far, so good.
Orc does he just play to the rematch?
He has her here maybe.
Oh come on man.
Looks like there's a thing with the diva.
Maybe he can be the recipient of the nano here.
Look how much damage Orc takes to try and get out of it.
Yeah, he doubles back to the nano.
So now we can fight for a time.
If he gets our barry, he's great, but he's not contesting the cart in the meantime.
Yeah, but he has zero there.
Yep, he's fine after trying to ward Orc away, but he's getting out of four spots.
Orc will play his back around at the head pin turn.
And this is so demanding for him to have to play into this.
into this. He's always fought like, you know, the strongest soldier that gets the
the type of battles, right? Yeah, it's an all-newish tree. How do you fight this?
you
you
you
you
you
I'll do the better challenge those like high grounds so in theory trying to have set the
stage for pineapple to succeed.
Realistically tree and Lucbino are the only ones that can interact with the Freya.
this pineapple gets a good vantage point. It's topped up every now and then. Should be okay.
Yeah, should be fine. Not going to be able to control some of the high ground, so it looks
like we're going to be jumping right back into this one as that pallet's all sorted.
Oh, there is one. Oh, and you're going to lose Sarah. That's rough. You've got to look at what a
pineapple's bolt's like just as they were falling back. So now all of a sudden you
don't have to give up nearly so much ground. This is not a good sideline for tree. No.
So, uh, recall does get hit with a railgun shot there.
Oh, look here, on the flank there, nice use of the Suzu from landing.
Right.
Uh, that landing gets doled, right?
No Suzu to be able to kinda protect himself.
Pulse attempted here.
Alphari gets a couple slashes, though it zeros.
He tries to go in for the kill.
Yeah, tough matchup to fight through.
Diver obviously has the mobility, the mimbleness.
China are pushing forward beautifully now.
Look at how close they are to this next checkpoint.
In reverse, sweet territory. I'm starting to think.
I think quite a bit.
Be brutal for Team USA. It's going to be overclocked here. Use sound barrier as well.
Double support ults invested here from China.
Yeah, it's worth it though Matt.
Winning this fight and having a big time makes us huge.
And SunZo was kept alive there by that sound barrier. Very heads up stuff.
If we found Lancet, not enough to stop this card getting through though.
A whopping 4 minutes and 10 on the clock.
Uh, Luke looked like he wanted to end up using the Nano there onto Hawk, but they kinda get split by the Vendetta walking out through the door.
Uh, now we're gonna get the Swap here over to the Bastion yet again, so this is what was so good for Team USA on their offense towards the end of the map.
You think you have a guaranteed fight win with a grab potentially here?
Something yet normally just lets you go to catch a single player off right. I imagine like, Zero's gotta be careful.
I feel like they can burst walk down quickly.
The little flank pressure coming out from Xera,
makes it almost halfway through to another beast.
Jolly Susan was there for Landon.
Look at this thing on the slide.
It's a portal towards Nanoboost for Tree.
Landon with Kitsune Rush.
Maybe some overkill considering just how much cock there is to Burm.
But sometimes you just need a double.
Yeah, you would think though that like,
I think it's worth investing.
The end of this map is like fairly,
I don't want to say easy to hold, right?
hold right but compared to some maps it is.
It can get muddy for a tactic for sure.
But I think though in the spot that you're in for USA you need a fight win.
Find an Alphari.
Inapple now going to go over to Cassidy here.
Good against the tracer and the bash.
Hulk was looking for Alphari, they've landed and found him first.
Just clenched like he was about to send a stormy word and let it.
At least I got a 4.
SunZo doesn't want to just solo grab Hawk, right, because he'll just nemesis form
A lot and just tank it all, yeah.
You probably want to get the Bastion if you can, because they're a spawn camp.
Hey, the May?
I love this for Team USA, them going over the Bay.
Yeah, anything to get them off of like that, can have been dead up, pressuring the backline.
I have so much pressure now to take it off.
Okay, here it is. SunZo still holding onto his Graviton search, and never had a chance to let it go.
Annihilation is pretty hard to fight into at the best of times.
More careful by the flash, the pineapple is caught through the rock and the tracer plays.
Two minutes already off the clock here, that's half the time.
Now at nano here, right? Nano for probably the hawk or tree.
This is a great spot.
Alphari now over to tracer, so we talked about how bringing in the headshots to bring it in here from Luke.
Like, go Luke with the critical hit perk.
On Ana.
So you see that very satisfying, like, land tick, right?
Gives you more of those shots.
There we go, it's very expected that Graven's gonna-
Oh my goodness, he got caught up, but that's not good at all!
Can't be still alive!
Oh, that's devastating!
So, so, sat on that Graven, hatched it like a bloody goose egg!
He came away with it all on his face!
So, he obviously gets the benefits of the Nano, which obviously help him mightily there.
And a biotic grenade comes on through, it anti some of the members of China, and then
also gives Tree the amp because he's healing himself inside of it, obviously takes the
perk where he's able to do that.
SunZo now over to the Orisa, as things have gotten bad to worse here for China.
Oh god, they're up against a rush in this next fight as well.
This could be curtains.
Four minutes and 14 seconds, but you're a spiralist into an annihilation too, right?
The game is getting away from you, especially when your team forced to make these switches, right?
The old economy continues to work against you.
Unsurprisingly, SunZo is trying to go off the hook, pushing back to the rest of his team,
but Hork hasn't even been able to use his defensive form.
Here's the rush, SunZo just burst down, and this one could be cooks.
Legitimately, one more chance for China to break through.
And at least just get the map done.
I mean, they need the map completion to extend this series.
SunZo over to the diva here.
Now they're comp like you have to move off of the fray here at the end right obviously we saw the sex to have
How far are you getting punished on the vendetta?
Yeah, they've not been able to settle in to something that makes sense
They've got to continue their rush to lean into that is yes, but you're gonna run into the annihilation. It doesn't matter
Yeah
Well, what are relations gonna do is?
Make it hard to kill your team even with a Russian play
Rico knows he's gonna be up against the early annihilation comes into play soon, so since I rather a risk of getting caught out a
Lot of pressure on him healing is good enough for the time being but where's the rest of the damage here from the United States?
It's about to come Zera finds his way enough of playing angle with the United States is well-cited China have a shot at this
We are no time Rickles low man real real low plan up. It's a good little button spot and trees been taken down
There's a shot here. It's a slim one at that, but what can't get a mega again?
It's taken out from under him, but Zeran Hawk have already struck at the back line at the healers for China
Yeah, but it's gonna take so long for China to come back
It's gonna be there getting the boost here off the spawn the nano from Lukamino onto the tracer
Sunzo just trying to extend this as much as he can can't make it back to the card and
USA gonna take the series here
3-1 against China
Not gonna sugarcoat this this is not the debut that China are hoping for here at the World Cup the last time
They went up against the USA, they flaccid them.
But it's a new generation for both teams.
As much as I'd like to say the kids are alright for China,
there will be some concerns about the rest of their campaign.
It also changes the complexion of this group.
The group that we had dubbed the group of death,
now with a theorized frontrunner looking a lot weaker than we maybe suspected.
There's a way in for some of these other teams in the group.
Yeah, you know, I asked you and Sowie before we started the series, I was like, are we
confident that these are the two teams that make it out of this group?
I think we all thought yes.
I...
I still will say yes.
I don't feel nearly as confident though.
I thought China looked much better once they brought in Al-Bari, but
he also really only looked...
Like, he only really looked great on Atlas, right?
Like, this map, I would say, was pretty rough, right?
He was like, I think he put it out like at the side change. He was three and six nine three and nine nine
So not where you want to be and he is playing that better and I think that the deadest use cases are a little narrow sometimes I
I thought it gets it on a back line
There will be one of the situations in which you could find some success right at the very global support
But look me knows gonna hit your sleep smoke. Yeah, at least at least half of the time
You're diving into the backline against a guy is gonna sleep you and be able to play one
It's also kind of worrying, right? Like, I mean, we've seen Pineapple play the Bastion and they play Camp Bastion at a high level.
But when the Camp Bastion isn't available, they're trying to play, like, Freyja comps and stuff, and it's just not working out at all.
Yeah, I think there's a lot to take away here, though. I still want to be seen more from Neki. Maybe they have more to show us on this roster.
U.S.A. is getting their first victory on the board, a slow start for China, honestly, in those first two maps
it took a little disconnected, a little indecisive even, they were not quite as active as what we know from, especially their aggressive DPS players.
Map 2, it feels like they fumbled a little bit, second point, they just played so passively, allowed Team U.S.A. to get back out on it.
But also, it is a different, like, I think when you think about China, you think about
the aggression of Guxue and Li even Shai, and that's just not this team, right?
Yeah, it's a very different look, but it's also in the mix.
I think China is a cabastian team through and through.
They only get to play that comp for half of the maps, and they win one of them, right?
Obviously, like you mentioned, they kind of feel like they're tossed Neon Junction
a little bit.
I thought the, honestly, the demon play from Sinter was really solid there.
So there's definitely some things to work towards, but you need to be a bit less band-sensitive.
Like you cannot rely on that Jetpack capacity at all.
Like you just have a good capacity comp as well, you know?
Yeah, I'm interested to see what they will be cleaning up and getting into their next match.
Of course we're playing around Robin, so just because they have one loss on the board, it doesn't mean you're out by any means.
There is a very tough group. It's great to see, of course, USA after such a great start,
one of the front runners as we already talked about from this group.
And we see a lot of demon plays. What are we making from that?
Like it seems that we underestimate them. Are they overestimating them?
We're wrong.
We're wrong, yeah.
I think we underestimate them.
A lot of the issues with demon like were like
well, we're buck related, right? Like like things were procking like
adequately like the obi-sheat I think from her ultimate is a big part of it as well.
It's had a lot of quality of life increase.
So I think she's for a team that is coordinated and knows how to like
identify positioning errors to punish. I think she's very very powerful.
Yeah, I will say that we only saw Dimon's success into another Dimon.
We didn't really see Dimon play it, anything like that.
Yeah, the server size is a little short right now.
Well, we didn't really see it played into anything else, right?
That could potentially, I counter it, give it trouble.
So I think, like, yeah, we probably underrated it a little bit, but I'm curious to see how it kind of plays into some of these other comps.
Yeah, I'm curious to hear how one of our pro players has to play.
As we already established, we are usually wrong, whatever we're saying.
So we have Landon joining us from Team USA.
Congratulations! First victory on the board after a great start here in the Overwatch World Cup in Busan.
First things first, how are you feeling? How's it have been in Busan?
I'm having a great time. We've been here bootcamping, I think, a little longer than most teams.
Like, Team Liquid sponsored us. They helped us get here for a while, practiced a lot.
I'm having a blast. It's a really fun time.
Yeah, I gotta ask, we were just talking about Dmon, right? You guys played it a little bit early on.
What is like, is it just strong into the opposing Demon?
Like, do you feel like she has an advantage in any of the other tank matchups that we haven't seen yet?
Well, I mean, at least for my POV, that character is insane.
Like, imagine you're me, you're out here, you're just playing Kiriko, you're throwing something you've been doing, you know?
And then all of a sudden just a flying Demon, dropped by a catch that appears in front of you,
he's shooting you, he's smashing you, he's got a swan, a 100 HP shield, a thousand HP, that character is terrifying.
Further supports. Yeah. Yeah, I mean
Most of your trade has been plied playing in EBA like you've been out in Europe for a long time
It's not great success there
But how does it feel to come back and like represent you know the USA and be alongside a lot of players feel like you only really got to like
Interact with I guess when like we had international events. We all came together
I mean for me, it's been a lot of fun. I think I was thinking about it yesterday
Like I don't I don't believe I've played with an American player in over four years
That's you know much less like an American team
And getting to play on this roster where everyone is from a different background, you know
You have like Dallas feel with Luke team liquid guys. You got the space station guys junk buck from
Falcons. Yep, and then obviously I'm from BP. You get so many different insights
I feel like I'm learning so much about the game. Yeah, I think that's a great thing about the old World Cup
Right because you see people who are usually rivals they get together
They get to represent their country. It was a good time for everyone watching as well
Of course that are cheering the people on looking at your group here
We call group by the group of death. It seemed really difficult to predict
Everyone feels a little sorry for Japan being brought into the mix there. How how do you rank the group?
Do you feel like it's as close as we like
Consider it or think it is? I'm not too sure on the very first day that we arrived in Korea for our bootcamp
We scrimmage channel and we actually lost
but as far as Japan and
Sweden
I really don't know, I have no idea how strong they are.
Off roster strength, that shouldn't be as strong, but you never know.
We were curious, no I'm fascinated by your opinion, it felt like China, we were talking
about map 2, they just weren't that aggressive and they felt like a few times they had
an opportunity, especially by that second checkpoint to really kind of take it.
Are you guys a little bit surprised maybe?
I think we were just chatting before this, we're so used to the China roster with
Gooshway and Lee been trying how overly aggressive they are that maybe they weren't as
Aggressive against you guys. Yeah, we actually made a call on the very like first on the very like first point of the song
My gap to like two fights against the team you can you can pretty easily tell what the place
And me and tree like hadn't been dove at all like we had been under no pressure off two fights
So the call was kind of like these guys are playing like really really scared like just pocket hawk and keep them like on the back
And that stayed true until Map 3.
Yeah, no, it looked really, really dominant.
They found a little way in the offaries
when they're obviously causing some issues there and there.
But yeah, you guys got the dub.
So once again, congratulations.
We're going to let you get back to the team,
get ready for the next match,
and enjoy the sun.
So Mar, everyone, land and make sure to show some love
to land and, of course, the entirety of Team USA.
We're heading into a quick break now,
and then we're back to the third match of the day.
Don't want to miss it.
The 2026 Overwatch World Cup is brought to you by DHL.
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you
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What's up everybody, I'm here joined by Kiwi from Team Great Britain coming off a great
win against Team Mexico. Kiwi, great job. That was your first match in Busan. How do
you feel?
I feel great. I was a little nervous coming onto the stage. I didn't really know what
to expect and the delay didn't really help but it worked out for us in the end. So
we'll take it.
How did you prepare for your match against Team Mexico? How would you say that?
Well, we knew that they'd really like to provide a game. We came up with a mental
So we kind of planned our drop around that I was kind of surprised not one that in Van
Wolf as like we have gone pansies a very good bull player for the best in the tournament right now
And they just ended up protecting DPS to take that again. Jean we've got people where we wanted to it was great
Awesome, and of course, you know you guys do need two wins you got one down
You have one more win to go. Are there any in your groups right now?
Are there any teams that you kind of scared of we're not scared of anyone
We're coming for you will come on now
We're gonna three other group sure they're going down next and then we have a good matchup in Saudi
I think they're the same team and we have a reckoned rule. So I think we got that well. Hey, look at big congratulations
I think it's also the interview
I
Welcome back everyone to the
Overwatch World Cup coming to you
live from Busan. We're here with
the group stage. It's day one of
four days of action. I'm Zoe
and joining me here on this
wonderful couch are now Moxie
and Jake. Felt like a long day
already, but we're only three
matches in. I know two matches
in and we have four more to
go and you guys will be on the
mic for this next one. And I
believe this is going to be a
banger. I'm very excited to
see how these two teams are
measuring up. But first
things first, how you guys
enjoying your time so far in Busan.
We had a blast.
We had K-Bombeq yesterday.
So you did everything you needed to do.
You were there with us.
That's true.
That's true.
That's true.
K-Bombeq lost.
You know, for the old heads, the other night
I went out with Mano, an OG player
that I played against, you know, what, 10 years ago
in the Overwatch World Cup.
So for me, it's been an incredible blast in the past.
Always excited to get out to Korea, you know,
and to see some of the world's best Overwatch being
played.
Excited for this next match, too,
because as you said, this one could be a banger.
These are two teams that could go very deep
in this tournament.
Yeah, so I think we can dive right in and take a look at what is ahead of us here because
yeah, as I said, two teams that we have a lot of players on both of these rosters that
we are very familiar with.
How will they match?
How are they coming together?
That is of course the big question.
Of course we know most of these players from OWCS, right?
these Saudi players have been playing at the very highest level for Twisted Mind, for Al-Qaqsiyah.
We've seen them, we know what they're capable of, and a lot of them have been representing Saudi Arabia
already in past run distance of the Overwatch World Cup.
But how far can this particular squad take it this time around?
This is a reigning world champion team. There's no reason that they can't win it again.
I mean, you think about the success in the international stage for almost all these players.
I think the support line probably going to be, you know, the element of this team in question
Zox, maybe not quite being typically an ODBCS on that elite level, it's so much of it being out of the game with that level for some time.
You look at the rest of the lineup, sports lab, that's the odd, I mean, incredible world-class players here, any team would be lucky to have them.
Yeah, and the World Cup 2023 was sort of the first time I think a lot of people really got to see some of these players in action because they were part of contenders teams, right?
Twisted Minds was not able to make it up into Overwatch League, a lot of their players weren't able to, so we got to really see Quartz go up against the best of the best.
all the way back in 2023, where I think this roster took a lot of people by surprise by how well they could play.
So now, especially since we've had a couple of questions on Twisted Minds, and you know, can't see its performance, GK's performance so far in 2026,
there's even more scrutiny on them to see how well they do when they're defending their title.
Absolutely. I think one thing to mention if we're looking at the roster graphic here as well,
Sermajet was doubled up, and TDNT is of course the second hand here in the mix.
This also means it's the first time we don't see KSA representing Team Saudi Arabia
But I don't think we need to be worried about that department because quite frankly
Seattle and TVNT has been phenomenal over the last year
I mean for me those are really the only two tanks you can consider putting on this team with Timmons being
You know world elite in order to be CS over the last few years and Seattle being one of the most exciting young players out of Saudi Arabia
But their opponents Australia find themselves. I think as an underdog team historically
This is a country that has delivered strong performances in the Overwatch World Cup
But this year, I think maybe there's more questions about their ability to perform.
Other countries have really raised the bar in the competition
that we expect to see even here in the group stage.
Yeah, they had a rough group stage as well for their qualifications.
They lost some maps to teams like in Thailand.
It was not always clean,
and they didn't really play a lot of the current meta back then.
Kava really liked going for this rematch.
D4 with things like Soggy on that May.
and they like to play the mage, the soldier, and stayed away from the bastion from the cat from the maga almost entirely.
That was a couple of months ago, so there's an opportunity that they've started tuning into some of that meta here,
and especially up against Saudi Arabia, they'll have to play it more than likely, because we know, Quartz Lab did they've been both rocking the bastion lately.
They're also looking at this graphic, Zox, of course, not playing it for Team Australia,
BirdLock will be the other support that we see here in the lineup,
But there's a lot of pre-existing synergy obviously on this roster as well, right?
They have been playing in the Pacific region for a long time.
Essentially, so many players here that have been around forever.
Like the CollarHags, the Kaffas, the Punk.
Punk has been representing this team for how many years now?
I think last year he set out, previous two years.
But last year everyone set out because we didn't have the watch.
In 2023 he set that one out.
Previously he was representing that country as well.
So like we've seen what those guys can do,
but they just never quite made it to the very end.
I mean, you know, for Australia,
they've often fielded some world-class talent,
but I think historically,
there have been more Australian players at the elite level.
Right now, it's kind of only Kafa, really,
who's competing at that level,
and even he has been a little bit outside
of the top echelon in ODBCS,
so this is gonna be an uphill battle for Australia.
They need to show us something innovative,
something different, but in fairness to Kafa,
in terms of, let's say, a preference
for Rematra, a rush style that could really suit him,
the World Cup is where you can really get that done
And more so than anywhere else in Overwatch, there's an opportunity to play your own unique
style and make it work on the server.
Maybe even a team like Saudi Arabia, it's like there's still going to be weaknesses
in that squad.
This isn't just a one-to-one port of twisted minds, it's why is Ubi not in the starting
lineup, right?
Interestingly enough, but playing those sim comps is incredibly hard to do, even if
you have literally, we have the sim, the hitscan in Quartz and Ubi, the two of
them together, but do you actually want to play that as Team Saudi Arabia?
Maybe not.
a comfortable, easy style to slip into as a World Cup team.
Yeah, if we're looking at predictions for this one as well, I mean, I think it should be said that
Team Saudi Arabia is the heavy favorite here, but I definitely think there's an opportunity for teams such as
Team Australia because they're just mashed together from like different teams.
We know the individual players, but they could come out with something unique.
It could be a surprise, especially with meta changes, with demons in the mix, etc.
Etc. So like there's definitely a world where they can take more than just one map here, Moxie.
Yeah, I think there's a world where they could potentially take more than one map. I think we're all
You do not believe in that.
You do as well, right? Everyone here.
I mean, you guys speak for yourselves. Frankly, I think I should have had no chance.
I mean, to me this is a trio. Like, I just gotta be real with you guys.
Like, I mean, Kuffa's the best player on Australia, and I think he's at best on a similar level.
But to be honest, I'm still looking at the KSA teams as as as being stronger across the board
I mean full of world-class talent. So Australia would need to have a generational performance to make this one competitive
Where can you start here? They're looking to repeat and beat world champions once again here in the Overwatch World Cup
Yeah, and I think the Saudi Arabia. It's very important that they have a very strong staff, right?
Lots of people will look to see how they establish themselves here for this World Cup
you have some very strong competition ahead of you as we head into our first map which will be picked by
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and it will be Nepal as we get Malga being banned out
So right off of the rip taking away that main tank that we really got to see when all of these other
International teams faced off leave in those options like from mantra the diva
the wracking ball, but also potentially that demon because as you talked about, there's
a very rush heavy composition style that Australia like to play, both for the qualifiers with
that run, but you can also transfer it to something like the demon too.
Yeah, I mean ultimately for me the Maga Band for Australia makes a ton of sense, it protects
a lot of Kuffa's pool, whether it's the demon, the Ramatra, the Winston, I mean
these are the kind of characters the Kuffa is known to be one of the best on, but
for Ziad, you know, it's not a limited player, right?
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The opposition, in a quick retake now off the back of a confident swing of the Quartz
Bastion, world champion player for a reason, but uh oh, seems like, let's see, Quartz
get back in and look like even the Bastion was lagged out there for a moment.
Yep. Still, 34% built up for the side of Australia, not the worst in terms of losing that first
fight. Eventually, Hamster will have a match of Rush vs. Majed, but we also don't have
something like a Musuki to be able to absorb all of that damage potential of the Rush
to allow Majed not to have the match. So, there is an opportunity that you start
chipping down KSA's overall ultimate economy. Plus, ColourHex has been hitting some of his shots,
73%, the ad was in charge of defence matrixing water's position for a whole chunk of that,
so he has been able to actually land damage past the deva and start building up to that
Jedi because we're likely just going to go down to hope, attrition for this retake until
those ultimates are available. That's always going to benefit KSA, more time between fights,
small point percent of picked up but if you're Australia you're going to be
banking on things like that play by with the dead eye take away the threat of
poke as you try to walk through the front door. Yeah you know for me I think it's an
interesting tank matchup we haven't really seen before which is a demon
versus diva mecha squad turning on one another. I do like demon in that match
I mean the plasma saber should be a really powerful tool to challenge an
enemy diva as he has lost his suit a couple of times in these fights but the
damage from the force of action has just proved to be too much. Reading the
play now. Saudi Arabia they're gonna be well aware of this angle of approach now
from Australia. Come out on the high ground take a bit of positions. Y'all a lot of
early poke but Saudi's gonna be happier to rub the clock down just a bit. Still in
control of the point. Zock's making sure Fasher does not get in too deep on that
flank waiting for the opportunity to go for a more committed swing.
Forest Rush from Hampton, matched by Mached, no catnaps to the truck, just yet great!
Sizzling from the dead to stop the pulse from this Colorex from the dead, I try to get the damage fast,
but it's Saudi who finds the follow-up of the Tracer on the point.
That great experience of Colorex gets a little bit of damage from the dead, I finish off by Tracer
and given the chaos of the low numbers deathmatch, Kappa's really able to shine here,
but you get a handful of final blows on the demon.
And now, retaking point control, for the first time it feels like truly comfortably for Australia, right?
In a balance, but it was an expensive one in an old economy perspective, and that's when King of Saudi Arabia are gonna be really turning the screws now.
Hort's already in deep behind, this is a real challenge for Colorex, how do you play Cassidy in this situation with no comfortable position, no comfortable angle?
Haki's forceful, the Haki's not about to get Colorex out of the play, instead Koff was called in for the limit break to be able to hold KSA off.
A couple quick kills from Kafa, and really a lackluster attack.
From the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia here, game just boxed out a little bit of a delay, and
Kafa has really been doing a good job leading this team.
Alongside Sagi's Tracer, the aggression they able to put along, into Ziyad and SurmaJet
in particular, is really significant.
As powerful as Quartz can be, you don't really have an answer for this bathroom,
but if you can deal with the rest of his team, then I know the Cap Bastion in the
sky, isn't it?
It's such a big deal on their own.
They need assistance to be effective.
First the flyby from Forts, again forcing everyone from Australia to respect the Bastion. Look at him, not the rest of his team, the line-lapsed closer distance with that spree.
Oh, great beam.
Oh, great beam, right through Aggie. Bastion, Cat, going to find the first pick. Now turning onto the Gatsby.
Great head drop from Colorex, but it's not enough. Forts gets the assist from the team, swings around, and with their back against the wall, they will make this retake.
retaken, not only finding the retake, but doing it without deploying any ultimates, they're
going to be defending now with a full bang. Skynoon really going to be crucial here for
ColorHex. Antimostrarily, if they want to win this opening round, as you said, Nox, he's
so crucial to build some momentum for these World Cup rosters.
But Australia also just bought that flight dry, right? So they gave up the point, they
got just 99% they activated OT and now you can try to bang to win yet again that
watch for World Cup match with helping them be able to play dead set of it. There's
the fly by Fongkola Hacks. No channeling, really.
No chance to leave down any opportunity in allowing the team to walk on to point.
Pretty insignificant damage and it pays.
Sagi's life 4, the Catnap knocks. Puppet down. The bike is going to break the suit
and I don't think there's a chance for a reset here.
So, Team Australia ending this first round with pretty much a whimper here.
In the Mosadi Rebi cut them to pieces on the walk up.
A great Catnap from Zogged.
Secure this first round act. He's going to get a final touch
but I think that's actually slightly too early for overtime.
round ends instantly, as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reach 100%, looking to repeat that championship
still a long road from here to there.
It sort of felt like Koshua got a little ahead of themselves that last fight, where they tried
to finish it slightly too fast, very preemptive, dead eye. Hamster's so close to that rush,
but he does not have it yet, and I think you're also worried about that potential
early pick from KSA off of something like the Bastion Cat damage. If you're trying
to walk by grand, they could potentially just catch on to you with a split of that
she-on hitting in behind when the cast is on the front line having to create
that space. So everyone sort of piles on for trying to take advantage but they
lose soggy very early on in that fight and that stops a lot of that pressure
on to the backline especially on the jet as we move village. Do you see any
changes composition wise here? It will remain close to the demon and the
The cat still in play for Australia was working really well forcing Ziat to have to fight directly into the D.Va mech, like you said, being able to melt through the mech, because Saber just goes for a matrix.
Yeah, and Kuffa, now, being moved to the high ground by Accuette's can be an interesting angle of approach, Colourax always public enemy number one.
This Australian squad is going to be enough damage here to back off some of the opposition, even Ziat called in to bail out courts in the Skybox, but Labda wins his 1v1 in the low ground,
and without the tracer the aggression from this team is going to be much reduced.
Just trying not to stay alive, like when Nate hits on a whole swarm of Australian players
and of course instantly picked up, carried back to safety and even finds Akky for his troubles.
Yeah, Koff is just close or handed when the tracer goes down, right? He has to pull double duty
holding onto that point and then peeling for his team when they can't pass, he deposits
themselves on his backline. So he sees how close Saudi Arabia are getting to spawn,
tries to go for the cheeky widows one can't find a shot so back onto the tracer they go
answer though is who you're looking for color hex as well dead eye has been built up in the
interim so you've got that to be able to unlock the space before this high noon is uh it's going
to be a real challenge to really leverage here there's like another possible for by kafa if
this is not one of the same to those network issues you can see the frustration on his
face i mean understandable honestly i feel for players in this kind of a moment like he's at
high noon here, especially with the cabash and it feels so hard to gain value from just because of
the amount of buildings that are to sequester yourself in until that threat has passed, especially
because KSA they sort of acknowledged okay we're getting a little bit too far forward, the cast
will soon have that dead eye, we don't want to be caught out crossing open space, when that hits
let's start pulling back to point now so that we can play alongside the building on the
both sides while still being able to keep control of the point itself. So if we have to play Rush for Rush, we can go for that style of play.
It's not an easy map for Cassidy, right? Even with the Jetpack Cat to enable you, you know, when you...
It feels like one of the things that Zayda Division really showed at the Esports Warclock in Paris was just that, you know, Cat has to be so much more than simply a hard assist for the hitscan.
Yeah.
that was in vogue for some time, but now with the cast you need to be able to make things happen
without the cat's assist, letting, bringing the cat up to make plays as an individual, put some pressure on,
put some of the damage down that cat can kind of uniquely bring into enemy backlines.
Well, if you ask Violet, cat's a DPS first, a support second.
I mean, I think that's true, I think there's truth to it. I think there's a reason they win
the world championship, you know, playing with that style because Cat can actually get a ton done
and bringing out a little bit of extra damage to, you know, a die that is being led by your tank.
Maybe followed up by a flanking DPS, and now there's a secondary threat from a different angle on the cat.
That is so powerful, whereas we've seen, you know, from the Clorax's perspective,
flying around with the high noon, it's hard for him to even get the channel going,
so that he actually has a threat to find kill shots.
I mean, so far, the best he's been able to do is land, hey, a few hundred damage here and there,
meaningful enough to clean up some kills, but it definitely leaves a lot to be desired,
Whereas Quartz is finding so many of these opening solo kills and it does feel like for Team Australia
It's like the burden is on them being to produce something something unpredictable with the Cassidy and
It's just the high moon. I mean King of Saudi Arabia. They look incredibly well prepared for that kind of a threat
It doesn't seem to be catching him off guard. Yeah, especially because I mean they played so often into the cast, right?
It's almost become stale
I think to this point because it's always the same style of play right so even if you go up against different teams
You still understand how the staging of the fight is going to occur and how to be able to fight and react to it
Once you've been able to deal with it once you'll be able to deal with it multiple times and just
Manufacture that result again and again and again something else
I think that's not quite working for Australia is this tracer
It feels like there's not that outward exterior pressure being put to split the attention of KSA
Like when you look at Kuffa, right? Take the first fight on Village
It felt like he was being overwhelmed like he had to do so many different spinning plates
But he had to be able to keep balancing as that tracer just got killed almost instantly and he had to use up the duties
All right, you guys seems like we're gonna have to change out some of Kuffa's devices
you know get reset and be able to get back into the action hopefully more smoothly and so all of that is
going to be coming out on the other side of the short technical break so stay with us we'll be right back
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In the break, and honestly, both of us are in agreement, like just both are something
that embraces watch-fell tempo, something that potentially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is
not as prepared for.
Soggy, when he had his performance with Team Secret at mid-season for EWC, was the most
impactful on things like the Vendetta, and in the past, when we had these players
on Twisted Minds go up against the likes of Herdyscroft, they did come undone underneath
the split pressure of both the Vendetta and the Tracer that Herdyscroft were able to feel
towards them as we do resume our match.
Quartz will use the ult, stopping Kalex from being able to actually go in with Jedi because
he has the weight to roll the damage reduction off of that artillery strike to dodge,
and now that's got what, 41% of the point already for KSA with no forward movement
from Chubb from Australia.
Cassidy coming in over the top here in SkyDude with big damaging.
We can't find the follow-up shot here onto the Jetpack.
Cat Zarks barely slips away, but Kappa finding that kill
on the lap is going to keep this fighting contention.
It feels like a must-win scenario here with a later rush
coming out of a jet that is going to break the back
of Team Australia.
The Cat pulls Deven away in just the nick of time,
but it's not good enough.
Ziad chases down, finishes off the suit,
and he'll find more as well.
This Deven now cleaning house on the ball.
And at 70%, it feels like Australia's last chance
bring this opening map back. Okay, here we go, a little bit faster tempo. Colorhex now on the
Xion, but is it too little too late? Ziad herself is struck called the Remag if his supports get
caught short, having to deal with the split pressure for the Tracer and that Xion now in play,
and Lapta and Corsak both are about to have ultima for the OT, which means also they simply
can't disengage. Kafa has been chased down by Ziad, D.va trying to get past,
Maybe you should hold on to that next, but do a lot more aggressive boosting groupings like the Hellpacks to deny club for the healing opportunity.
Lapta wins the duel against Colorex Yad, playing with the second life here, the sub-strix is going to get him back into the suit, back into the action, now Katnap comes in, but Kappa already down.
Just the dranks of Australia here, desperately trying to keep this overtime rolling, but they cannot accomplish it. Lapta with a clean finish onto Aki, he's going to seal the deal on Nepal and for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia team that we expected to be dominant.
This was number less an impressive map.
Yeah, very impressive performance from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
And as we said, for this first match, it had to be a dominant win,
since so many people will be looking to see the strength of that performance.
I think moving forward, Australia could have some very impactful fans, right?
Taking out the cat could be very good for them,
as it does take away a lot of the options that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is looking to,
especially at being able to set 4 toxins. So much of what Sharia had to do it really felt like
was having to first deal with the cat bastion, and only then being able to turn their attention
to the rest of the team, and before they could, Color Hex was dead and Zox was flying free.
You know, the moments Kafa on this demon was able to find success and the Tracer
was able to be a significant part of that, but it feels like the overwhelming majority
of the time. It's the sports fashion that's the star of the show and the rest of the team is honestly
doing a solid job like Majed. He doesn't need to be in the line like on character, he just needs to
stay alive, be effective, you know, keep the fight going and Manziat, which world class on this
DBA, feels like he's constantly applying pressure force in Australia to just keep clearing these
angles. They're never able to comfortably enter the action and you can feel in some of these
death match moments just that the raw mechanical prowess on the Saudi team.
Well, it's also the fact that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, like all of their heroes barring ports in the Bastion,
they have their own means of mobility, so it's not as much pressure on where Zox is forced to look to be able to help the rest of his team.
We were talking about the fact that, okay, Demon does struggle with a lack of a third of Kassity, which can be overcome by the Cat,
but that means that Cat's then not there for the Kassity, and then if the Cat goes with the Kassity, she's not there for the Demon.
Both of those heroes just struggling without those resources, getting overran ball and short,
without a lot of ways of pressuring Ziad as well to use the self-destruct.
She's just able to, the moment he has that ultimate, be far more aggressive,
playing directly into the face of Kuffa, despite the fact that Saber splits through that defense
matrix because he knows that he has the Remak available if he loses it.
Yeah, it's an interesting matchup to watch. I mean, definitely so significant about
How much your team can't afford to support you, right?
How much power you have to deploy into that tank battle.
That first map looked great for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
I mean, unfortunately, we had all those tech issues.
Hopefully, we'll be able to get those resolved
and be pretty stable throughout the rest of the series.
But, you know, from a player perspective,
that's got to sting for Australia, right?
A map like that, not only are you, you know,
if we cut out all the pauses, right?
You just got flit-stopped.
I mean, basically a total beatdown, you know,
the first round, relatively competitive.
The second round, frankly, it wasn't.
And so for Australia there's definitely a mental question about their ability to write the ship and that too feels like a crucial one
Right that they need to have a decisive map pick and an intelligent band that gets them back in the series
You mentioned maybe the cat's a possibility there, but back. He also leveraged the cat. I mean maybe the Bastion
Yeah, maybe maybe you go directly for like the root of the problem
You leave the cat in place so you have it open for your backline
But you take out the Bastion since you're not leaning onto it
But then this becomes even more of an important map to be able to win, right?
Because this is a first-episode series.
If you then ban the Bastion, that's the one time that you have the opportunity to ban the Bastion.
If you then want to remove that from court, you would have to ban the cap,
but then potentially the Sin is left in play as well.
Yeah, I wonder if we would see Yubi come in at any point in the series.
Maybe there's a certain map pick.
It's definitely something that can kind of be in the packed pocket for the Sadi team.
But I also wouldn't mind if they can kind of hold on to that in something like the group stage.
I mean, I think there's a real question in my mind about whether the Saudi team even gets challenged here in Busan, right?
Like they, you know, are pretty much a world-class team, you know
You're looking at maybe a few of the other top teams in the world to give them a genuine run for their money
For me, they're one of the most obvious teams that's gonna advance out of Busan to BlizzCon
And you know, if it's even like Australia can't give them a good contest
Then I certainly think that votes very well for the Saudi fans watching around the world right now
There's a reason why a lot of these players are world beaters.
It's great to see also, you know, LAPDA and Ziad in the lineup alongside
the board showing the depth of talent from this country in this region that
has really impressed me over the last few years.
Saudi players have been some of the most exciting newcomers into elite
Overwatch play and so to see the World Cup team that kind of paved the way
back in 2023, making another run here is exciting, interesting.
Yeah, I think that's what's always been so special about the World Cup, right?
Players who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to showcase how well they can play Overwatch
got that opportunity now as, oh wow, is this our first Icon Ball?
I think we saw it earlier in one of the Mexico matches, I believe they took an Icon Ball.
Because this is reworked.
Yeah, the reworked Icon Ball.
This is going to be interesting.
This is very interesting because now the attack actually has a lot more agency.
especially at being able to approach second point. Before it sort of felt like you really were just
battering your head up against a castle wall, old school medieval style, where you're just
equipped with a spear and someone sitting on top of you with a boiling cauldron of oil waiting to
dump it upon your head once you try to walk any step forward. Now you actually have, you know,
staircases to be able to contest those angles, or you can play below the actual high ground
itself similar to how people try to overcome the Havana highholds and you just keep pushing that cart to force the defense to
Naturally have to give up that high ground advantage as the cart moves slowly away
But it also does come with the crux of that new window spawn for the defense on third a little mercy bad
Okay, okay, Saudi a band on the diva, you know for me for Australia
It feels like you're patching up what happened on last map
But I think there's a real weakness in in tank bands against a player like Zod. I mean, I just see him as a
Player who I mean from for me he can handle every single thing in the lineup and so you ban the diva
But what does that really do? Maybe it opens the door to to some more impact from tracer, but you're mentioning
Hey, maybe we'd love to see a more of a rush style more of a vendetta look
And now the maga can come back into play here
So I do like I could fall to the sense that the map that de-emphasizes hitscan in general
with just less of the very long open sightlines.
Although with the cat and Cassidy, maybe I say too much there because, you know, with the
element of mobility that cat provides, sometimes those hitscan can kind of really find unique
angles, unique perspectives, especially with something like the Sky Noon combo.
Yeah, Bastion also not banned, so still available if Kingdom of Saudi Arabia want
to re-run back the Bastion cat that worked out so well for them before on the fall.
I think a lot of pressure to see how exactly Australia tries to change things, right? We've already seen the D. The Man, I think that's probably the best, one of the best steps that they could make, since it does mean that Diaz is not able to be as shadowing to Katha that he was before, when he's trying to follow along with that demon's mobility, since it does feel like we're going to be seeing the cat-mouth from the side of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, starting off on the defense,
to get across sight into some of these changes.
Everyone's having some fun.
I love Trunkelene's, so it's who apparently does.
What says you will be lifted, deposited by air zonks into position?
Oh, I'm a little suspicious of Dima into the Maugra matchup.
I wonder if Kuffet doesn't have to go back to the spawn and take a swap once he realizes
what Ziad is bringing to bear.
I mean, and this is the double hit scan that has really been pre-meditated for the last year, right?
Cassidy and Shion together able to take different angles,
Especially Shion, playing weekly mobile, or a hitscan hero with her different options in that category.
The Shion's tissue paper as well. It feels like demon tier, since you don't really have a way of interacting nicely with the Malga charge.
Since even though you do have movement with your roosters, it does not actually count as contested movement.
So you just get absolutely overwhelmed in rock, paper, scissors. As speaking about overwhelmed, there goes Akki all the way back to spawn, thanks Malga and Gas.
Ah, they're just getting blitzed down here in the deathmatch.
Kappa sees a low player.
He's going to be able to run down Laptop at what cost.
The rest of the Australian team falls at D-Suit now,
seeming along the cards to the company.
He does slip a weave for the moment,
but he expects to see him in getting run down here.
Support comes in just in times.
Yod, I'm actually not able to find Kappa huge for him
that he's able to keep the suit alive.
That's going to minimize downtime here for Australia
as they look to get back in on this offense.
Yeah, Laptop's already back.
Sheehan rejoins the fight so quickly as Kellehexnire
swaps onto the sojourn,
Harming off of that mouth is hitbox. The only thing you can really do as Magrish won't directly into that bag.
Oh, the demon's getting blitzed.
And the demon gets absolutely blitzed. Has to look at the Maga, which means that there's no support for Kullahax.
The Sgt. is already down. No chance to one-shot Snipe one of these players from Kingdom of Sanity Raider.
This fight's absolutely one-sided, Jake. Someone has to pull the plug and reset this faster.
Yeah, it's looking pretty grim here and the sojourn like in theory good against the Maga here
But I mean the level of pace you're you're you're forced to bring here is a real trouble
Diot constantly able to find the first initiation and now with the high noon in the pocket quartz
Calling furiously trying to set up the timing for this play
And there's really a lack of ability there's nothing that can scout this other than the cat himself
But over the top comes quartz big channel comes in a lot of low players the TP out
It steps into the room, only one kill, but huge damage to the mecha, the rest of Saudi
are able to swarm in and just clean house Australia, set packing a clean team wipe here for the
defense.
Yeah, punishment on how narrow that demon shield actually is, right?
Only really cover this cup, but the rest of the team left absolutely defenseless having
to rely on the timing of that Suzy, and blocked as well, the exit by Zia totally
body blocking Australia's path out of that fight.
On 47, so no last fight territory, there's still opportunity here, but Cuffer just denied the opportunity to flank onto that right side by Zed's poke, forced back, more time given up.
Big ulti fight here, Symmetra going to top the first rush, big ult committed, now let's see who's able to draw this one out, but that cage fight's so valuable, the frontline's tracking into pressure, Latha's quarks working together to clean up some of these kills,
and now with Kiriko falling, it'll be forced into a quick reset here for the attackers, even a little bit of a delay on Colour Hacks.
looks like he gets an off-sink spawn and it's the minute 15 to go
we're dying now and with every old expended it's just ColorHex with the OC to try and open this one up
but the angles are so tight here I mean sojourn's gonna really struggle into this kind of a close range brawl
especially with the Catnap and the Zatzariku spree available here for Labna
yeah you're really worried ColorHex has to come in absolutely
launch Catnap to grab the soldier and off the map
And there goes the chance, but wait, no, he's able to power his side back out!
Clops the overclock, looks for the clutch, but gets taken down by Sir Majed!
And that, it feels like, was Australia's best chance at being able to stop this from being a full hold.
Nice cat saved here on Kuffa, keeps him in the action, but lad the
pumping to the air, somehow able to find Haki on the way out, Toggy forced now into a desperation tracer swap,
just to get this touch rolling. 30 seconds left, there's still just a shred of a chance here,
but Soggy gets low in the free fight, the pressure is just overwhelming from this defensive squad.
They're constantly looking for opportunities to punish these attackers.
Even Quartz stepped up on this high guard and refuses to give any kind of position.
Nosus got the cat in tow here to ensure that this decision is always safe,
always the possibility of bringing this one back.
We just one more shot to channel this dead eye, gets it online with the headshot.
Soggy finds one, hold on, Tampster finds another,
and now the Saadi find themselves needing a clutch from the hero Cassidy.
Coming down with not much chance, it is enough to find Quartz.
Still, a possibility to make this defense with a lot of cap time to give up.
Sorry, I found one kill, and that might be enough to get them back in with advantage.
Yeah, Zed's so close to that cage as well. The difference is they don't have a tracer,
so Zed has to slam his position onto that point just to get up to contest.
Labda on the Shion goes low enough that he's forced to pull back for the health pack.
Zox and Majed also taking damage.
Cat down, Mauga falling in turn, and this could be Australia able to clutch it out.
Full hold denied. We go to the rest of Icon World's map.
And Australia finds something there that I think maybe portends well for their future here, which is attacking into the enemy backline.
Maybe ignoring that hit-scan cat that proves to be a bit of a bait to try to focus down and taking out more vulnerable heroes like the Shion and the Kyrgyz.
I still won't be easy to repeat, see if there's any adaptations from the Saudi side.
But winning that fight with no ultimates delivers a huge reward in terms of the ultimates here.
And Australia want to make hay out of it. They're going to continue pushing into the backline.
Limit rate, but I'm not sure if he got much of a connection here.
He can't have fights more, and with Sagi's pulse bomb, he'll find a crucial few kills,
but it's far from a clean fight, Moxie, as people from Sagi were able to take a ton of kills back in the way,
and no one is pushing the cart on this offense to Australia.
We'll get nothing for this fight.
Yeah, and potentially, late picks as well onto Aphalia's players.
Sagi goes low, but trying to cut off the Tracer's disengage,
you can see Zox trying to hunt him down. To prevent that, Tracer is still being deep on that right side,
as now we'll see those new stat cases pulled into play. ColorHex with the Overclock is available,
but Xotu has Xox got the Catnap to disrupt the Xotu's position and stop it from being the
ultimate wing condition that Australia will be looking for. No C now, available for ColorHex,
but on IQ Auto Attack, I mean it's so tough from this low ground position, you're not
really getting any targets. Xox throws a Catnap in Africa, tries to pull this demon
off the map but a save comes in from Aki's going to keep Kafa in the fight.
Opportunity now is that positions have gotten chaotic.
These defenders have struggled to continue to keep this card game contest.
Colorex now comes in with the OC, Demon over the top as well, assisting him with his high ground battle.
Machette just trying to stay alive on this character but he'll do one better alongside Ziad.
Drops the threat of the soldier, Neiman Kafa now, the last remaining member for Australia out of the suit being staggered.
Court seats a bit of heels to the land and Ziad is forced to finish the Demon to prevent that hitscank going down.
This is last fight territory as well, 34 seconds left, no opportunity for Ham to divide his time.
And just battery the rush off of poke damage that Kuffer takes.
Quartzlabs are both having ultimates available.
Here's a more than happy to hold that leverage of Pygrain Force.
The angles to have to be cleared or a life to be paid in debt if Australia ignore them
and try to go directly to the point for OT to hit.
Deadeye available to channel for Quartz still up in the sky already set in position to punish Australia when they try to walk forward
They're so ready for the dead of it. He's not giving it to them. He's just keeping the pressure on naturally with this cat
Now they come in trying to assist but here go that may be the death of an attempted
Saviour from guffaw but the shield is not able to get the job done
Sagi finds a kill back the other way but Quartz still alive still firing and now forced to keep this party into contests mobility
Yeah, that's a brutal kill onto Hamster.
Rush would have been available for the OT if he'd been able to live the fight long enough
to use it. Great heads up play though from KSA to basically hostage Australia. Have them
know okay, Deadeye is in play, OT's about to hit, you have to walk your position onto
that point or you lose this map. Now we're going to be able to swing from behind with
the Kacacity, put enough pressure to force out Suzu before the Deadeye is actually
used and know that it's not there to eye frame hamster through the hit, absolute. Again,
Koffer punished for not being close enough to his Kiriko with the thinness, the width
of that demon shield. It's so much more selfish in comparison to say something like a Sigma
or a Reinhardt to be able to keep your backline fully safe from that ultimate. It's absolutely
lethal and without the Kiriko, the Jets just able to use one sided rush, Ziad on
the Mauga absolutely having a whale of the time getting to play inside that one
with all of the self-sustained possible.
I don't hate this from Hanster though.
Look towards an Ana on the defense they're gonna need a rock solid hold on
first to at the very least burn a ton of clock to set themselves up for any
possibility of winning eye-convalled and maybe Ana can be part of that.
I will say for Hanster he is gonna be tested here. I mean Quartz is an
experience going up against players like Shuin Violet with this setup so
yeah you're gonna have to keep your head on a swivel. Colourax is gonna
have to be blasting incoming players out of the air to want to protect space for
Hamster. It does put more pressure on to Ziad as well though with things like the
anti-nade. Being able to deny that Magus sustained charge used from Ziad.
But Lap does already down so that shield on engagement has been totally
denied, as surely if I'm too very early for a pick, totally blocking off the
heals as well from Ziad live at that demon shield.
Hensher does go down though, and this fight is getting a little bit scrappier than it has any right to be at all.
Colorex would put it to bed. Headshot onto Quartz.
With only Zox's cat able to come in here, surely Zia's in trouble, but wait, hold on, he gets back in with a big overrun?
No way he's able to bring this one back, but he's done enough to take Kuffa out of the suit alongside Lap, then, you know, the kingdom of Siderear.
But even in the fights that don't go their way, they still are able to accomplish a lot.
taking now a bit of map position. Kala has to take a quick hop off the map but I
expect the Saudis to be pushing sooner rather than later just a little bit of
tempo hamster out of a comfortable position here on this honor. Yeah Kala
Hex has to buy basically Jedi for them to be able to hold off but he can't do
it. King from Saudi Arabia already onto the point. Sure they're having to just
give way until that demon returns back to the parade. There's the Jedi to take
the space they gave up before and that allows them the space to actually
walk on to those Lapda and Zot. Long tick given up, but that might be all.
Great re-aggression here from the Aussies here. Getting a little bit of damage off the Heineen,
finishing off the kills the old fashioned way. And they've been able to really turn the
ties in terms of the aggression on this defense, right? Consistently taking it to
the attackers, ensuring that Hamster has a little bit of a comfortable space to work
with. So far, besides his struggle to get on top of this Ana in the back line,
for the ones on the defensive. Labda has been going down so early in these fights but with the
Heineken over the top, maybe their fates can change here and you had Catcoth dead their rights
out of the open in the sky. No chance to save Quartz here. Yeah, Agus split from his duo by
a great flyby from Vox and Quartz, divorcing the two, twist that from the Kirikou,
Touching away the damage of that boss one as now that first picture translated to great some on to color
Hex no opportunity to cast return fire on Mauser
And this is just a stall game now for Australia to wait for that regroup
But they're losing player after player copper mid-next taken off of the map by the catnap from Zox
And lose the opportunity to use the limit break
Yeah, great catnap from Zox punishes a full HP copper
We're staying alive deep into the back line and Ziyad with the cage fight
Just ensure there's no opportunity for a nano tracer to miraculously turn the tide
Short of America like don't see how Australia could bring this one back because now with a clear wincon in sight
Masati's weaves no time attacking into this high ground taking a powerful position Kava brawling well and
It'd be a fearful shout here out of Ziyad
As Australia's able to retake the high ground as is hurting some control on Ikevall but the cart continues to roll forward
Bushing's ass now up the defense, some shots rain down and even Colerx and the high ground
struggling to keep the pressure on.
Limit break, Tron Koffa slammed down to go by Ziad with the Stomp, stopping any ability
to just keep that damage going, so much at one-sided rush as well.
Matthew put against the wall by the Sabre, flustering into him by Koffa, but he loses
the neck, paying the price, fighting directly versus that Malga, and this is slowly
But surely Kingdom of Saudi Arabia cleaning the fight up and taking us to what is probably the last of this map
So gets one chance to build this rush and that will be what Australia have to put all the hooks on to very slight percentage
Gap here in terms of the high noon
So dead eye available for Colorex could be able to swing this early and accomplish some sort of positional advantage
The court just one more shot would be enough to get the dead eye and color X is a little bit slow getting into the cat comes in
Start shitting the gun, but the no-touch comes in, not the C9!
Oh, the Saadi steal that one away. I mean, in fairness with that much time on the clock,
you know, their victory felt inevitable, but that'll be a gut punch to Team Australia,
who at least had a couple good fights in them.
Yeah, that's a painful one.
That is a brutal way to lose, because you were coming up to one-sided rush.
you have the opportunity to buy safe passage out of choke, forcing respect with that Deadeye
to be able to match Quartz's high ground position. But that is now match point to Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia in their first match so far.
Yeah, taking a look at these highlights, Quartz, who's the force to be reckoned with on
the Cassidy? I also think Ziad, being able to do so much on the Maga here, Kappa
as well was fighting some great moments for aggression, but you could definitely feel the
difference in consistency between these two tanks. I really like the Moga look from Ziad,
able to fight often times Kha'rax and the Cassidy, if not even sometimes getting on top of
the back line. The difficulty for Demon in terms of the one-to-one tank matchup against
the Moga though is very significant, right? The shield isn't nice, but it's just
not enough, right, Moga? Just keep standing there, keep beaming down on him.
Yeah, because you can break the shield very early on. As we said, even though Demon does have those propulsives,
it's still not actually going to be able to actually shut down the Mauga when he's going for those stunts.
So the only way that you can really shut down that damage is Suzu, but then you're down Suzu,
a very valuable cooldown on the first engagement hit from the enemy team, who then have Suzu with Vantage.
And even...
But when someone gets low enough to actually use it for the Eyecrack.
Even defensively surviving an overrun with the Suzy, like it doesn't feel good, you know, like you're just running away, you're just stalling for time.
You're not actually moving the ball down the field and, you know, for this Australian squad, they need to do a lot.
But in fairness, I mean, I think we've seen so far in this match, just how strong the Saudi team is this year.
I mean, and this is even with lap to end, right?
Like, they're still the threat of the Symmetra lurking in the wings.
If you do want to come in at some point in this tournament, that's just a whole another ball game.
But you honestly can't even contemplate as Australia so far in this series
You just need to win in terms of the lineup you're facing off against now
I will say the audience they did good in punishing lab that the Xi'an was certainly having some trouble on Ikebald
But it just didn't matter like this audience that they're willing to lose a player here and there
They know where their bread is buttered. They know ports and Ziad have the space to make their plays
They're gonna get the job done in the end and Xi'an still puts a lot of damage down
Before falling in some of these fights and also she owns like one of the best heroes to sacrifice
Right because of how fast she comes back into those fights way better that it's she on that you lose very early on because she can
Still come back halfway through when the fight's not done
And it means that your backline players who actually have to be present for the fight both at the setup of it
But also when the main fight kicks off being able to hold on to things like the objective
It means that you have all of those resources still to be able to pump to make the fights last long
Even if you lose them, you're still one boarding of ultimates and two taking off time
Which a lot of the time and actually was for this map right time distance
That was the true killer for Australia to have to contend with
Yeah, I will say the Kingdom of Saudi River
They look very good in these kind of clutch low number situations as well
You know the experience shining through in some of those moments like or it's just patience in popping the dead
I read just waiting waiting, you know knowing that he can get a lot done without the dead
I up in the sky like his aim on the Cassidy
He's still able to deliver meaningful damage and if the enemy is going to be baiting playing in the rooms trying to wait him out
He'll play that waiting game and he knows that his team is generating advantage constantly in
Australia they kind of are forced into these desperation moves a little bit too late into the fight
I also got to give credit to the Saudi supports where to me if you look at the slide up
That's the obvious sort of issue or question for them with Majetta and Zock's being
relatively less experienced and fairness because the other players on the team are all like you know in competition for
You know top three in the world for their roles, but I've been impressed with Zox and Majed
I mean very few mistakes out of them stable consistent play on the cat Jericho
That is all the JSA need to make a deep run not only to blizzcon
But maybe within blizzcon to like a meddling position for this team
Yeah, the synergy I think is really strong from them right especially if you're playing like cat
You have to really trust the person who you're playing cat with because if they mess up or if they're out of position
slightly. It's not just the cat that's punished, it's the person that they're towing as well.
As we will move to our next map choice, which will be Once More Australia, because they decide
to take us to the sunny streets of Isherah Rans that we'd go to push. And now I really
hope that we see the cat or the Bastion Band out, because that, damn perfectly, I do
like this with the demon though, I think like being able to sort of fight, especially
on the low ground traits on the objective itself will be really strong, plus the high
ground positions are mostly usually accessed by Tez as well, so this could be a lying cuff
it's here. So maybe Australia try to guard that hero by locking the tank roll instead
of going more aggressively for something that they think would be a radio launch?
I think they've got to do something different, because they've been banning tanks so far
in this series. It has not worked, you know?
It has not worked, yeah.
That is the best strategy and to be honest in the end I see this as an extremely favorite match-up for KSA
I think they are a pound-for-pound drastically stronger team as we've seen so far
And I'm sure they are gonna ban the couch. I do I like this move
I mean they both been running the cat, but I think it's their wish team is getting more mileage out of it
I think the experience of a player like warts
It's actually a great opportunity for someone like Zox to be paired with a world-class hitscan and you know to play on an elite
Team it's an opportunity for a player like that to really improve and he's been showing that right some of the cat
That's been super annoying taking kafa off the map in crucial moments would have had him more often than not if not for
Aki making some crucial saves here, but a responsive demon ban
It's gonna force kafa to show more versatility
But if there's anyone on this Australia squad who has versatility it actually is kafa
So I think this band shouldn't fight too hard on the Australian
Team's ability to show a strong performance. Yeah, the vulnerability, right?
There's a reason why they've been going for those tank bans because it's been able to safe with guard
this hero, maybe it's a return to something like the Ramatra, and you go for something
like a Juno Kuroko, to be able to just try to, I temper, run at your opponent. I think
like, going away from trying to take a Quarters Hero pool is smart as well, because if you
ban the Kasti, in my opinion, you lead his Bette Hero, but his Sojourn, he'll just
go for the Sojourn, or Bastian, she has so many opportunities, I use this like,
of if not the best yeah I just don't think I don't think you're gonna get any
mileage trying to give you ports to have a bad map good luck with that if you
might just accept it but I mean that just shows that the incredible difficulty
of a series like this for Australia ports I think he's the best in the world
on the Hiscane role I mean obviously there's always gonna be a few players
of contention for that kind of a spot but you know you be tough to find a
competitive player in the world who doesn't think ports is a very serious
contender for that title I also worry about Kuffa right now because so
So many of his strong heroes, I think Ziad's Mauga is perfectly suited to deal with him.
Not only is Ziad one of the best in the world in this aggressive rush style role, but he's
also an amazing pilot for something like the Mauga.
It's great against Rematcher, which is one of Puffa's best, and so as good as the
Ram can be, not against the Mauga, it just doesn't feel good.
Yeah, and I mean, if you are going to try to play the Ram versus the Mauga,
which is something that Australia did multiple times, they did not like playing the Mauga.
I prefer to counter it both with the Sigma. There were times they tried to run things like the Ram or the Diva versus it,
but it was always
not the cleanest, I think, is the best way to say.
And now you're facing one of the teams who has one of the best
understandings at how to be able to play the Temples of that, and if you're taking so much time resources at looking at Malga,
that means that you're not putting those resources, time, attention, care, into being able to angle clear out players like Quartz.
who will absolutely punish. If you have to spend so much set of time just poking the Maga down or dealing with the Maga slamming
in school team on that engagement. If that forces out something like Suzu and people still get hit and still have to take down
Zia. If the fight in engagement goes long,
Quartz is walking away with at least one kill in that downtime.
Yeah, and Labda has honestly been able to play that
secondary low resource for all really effectively even though like you mentioned he goes down a fair amount.
He's able to get back into the fight so quickly with Shion able to be really efficient even when he does go down
And while that for me has been the most successful moment for Australia's when they're able to dive in deep
Papa soggy working together producing an early kill tried to clutch out with numbers from there
The Saudis are so experienced and modern overwatch
There's a lot of clutching going on right seems to knock back down because you get one kill even two kills
Teams will go for the 3v5. They will try to force it, especially if they have an ultimate to leverage, to stall those few more seconds out, getting players back into the fight.
You've got to keep fighting. You've got to be keep pushing the tempo and trying to stamp out your opposition, but the player on the other side of the field is Quartz.
He's got the cap protecting him. At least this time, maybe without the cap, it is more viable to try to attack Quartz, right?
He's not going to be up in the sky, but he's going to actually be forced to play some sort of a normal position where you could actually reach him conceivably with Kuffastay.
Yeah, and you also don't have to worry about the fly by dead eyes, right?
It's a lot easier to be able to now kite out of dead eye when it does not have wings and can catch you.
By the same token though, we say all this, oh, like they're going to get into my quartz.
I feel like he's just going to pull up the sewage here and just take thousands to town.
Like, you know for these guys like this is a huge underdog team and now they have to go up against one of the most dangerous threats in Overwatch E-Sports period
I
Yeah quartz I almost you know
I think he's almost even a better player is crazy to say when it's a more conventional in its game role
And he's just able to play the sewage. I'm saying his best hero is so true
His best hero has always been in my opinion so true
Like he had one of the best understandings when that hero released at how to use the kid not just always like kills
but also the information he would be able to Skype for his team.
I saw multiple times he would use the drop to up
just to have the accuracy tick of understanding if someone was on that angle
and then with that information feeding it to the rest of his team
so they were able to set up kinshiz.
Yeah, I mean he's just such a highly aware player in the mechanics
I mean they speak for themselves.
You know, you don't have to be an Overwatch expert
to watch what this guy does, all day it's get roll and you have the overclocks.
Good luck, good luck.
I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the field from a Quartz OC
But you got no other choice you got to beat this team. Maybe not necessarily to make it to BlizzCon
But certainly they're one of the standard bearers being the arguably the current reigning world champs in a few years
We have the Overwatch World Cup, but yeah, I mean, I think if you're not considering
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as he favorite or one of the favorites, you know, take home gold once again
I think you got another thing coming. No, this is by far one of the teams that has the highest chance of making a
very deep run
In this tournament because they have the flexibility right we know that patches will like the change metal will shift
Cat probably sticks around unless we directly go for like the root of the problem the flight time
For me, I think you know for cat it's just
Not just the flight is so powerful, but for me like yeah, I get that that's what you picked here before it
It gives mobility to a player a teammate. That's not typically expected to have it
I like I actually don't think they should change that
The amount of like deathmatch you're able to bring on Kat and just you're like kill people you killed the sun killed enemy supports on Kat
Like you do not want to be a Jericho one be wanting you Kat. It's hard
It's a tough kind of a test to be taking and you know, that's what I think players like Violet showed so well these parts world cup
For Zox and Aggie. There's also you know a lot of opportunity with the Katnap
Like how many support ults are effectively a solo kill generator, right on an any map with with like a reasonable
reasonably close edge to the drop players off like that is deadly it can be a big
stunt into a solo kill like it stops old too right yeah it's it's a stun like if
you watch the EWC finals the amount of times that time barrier was stopped by
Katnap it's almost impossible it feels like sometimes in this current meta to
play Lucio because you just don't have the opportunity to use beat the way
you want to if catnap is in play plus the fact that it's been reduced in duration so it becomes
even harder to be able to use that beat aggressively or defensively at ultimates that now just
simply outlasts it unless you kill the player generator. I gotta say though Marxy it's great
to see on the camps Kafa you know with all smiles right and he's been dealing with a lot of tech
issues in this match so for him to be kind of leading the way setting the tone for the team
that you know hey let's play loose let's bring what we got of course we're underdogs here but
You know that kind of positive energy is so crucial in a moment like this a lot of players will be frustrated with the way this series is gone
But for him to be showing that kind of leadership
Joe some hope here for the Australian squad they could have bring up there a mantra the Juno carry you mentioned
Yeah, see if this ends up being real of course wait till wait till it leaves the spawn
Important advice for overwatch. Yeah, every caster knows this don't talk about a composition change
I think these are pretty legit celbs though.
Yeah, I would believe that this is something that Australia will stick with.
I'd say potentially there's some metro for a soggy here.
Which, do they stick with it? Or do they swap traces to try to match?
No, she on!
I like this look from the Australia team.
And now it's going to be the Kimura Sadegrayba who find themselves needing to get really aggressive.
They're going to need to bring the tempo, poke advantage, firmly in favour I think,
of the Australian team, but will they be able to fight for the map control?
Right now, the Saadi's comfortably holding the cart position, low and slow fight.
It's going to be what the Australian team wants, but...
...Hingman and Saadi are not going to take the bait too early.
They're playing patiently, but overrun in, big stop connection into the back.
With the damage from poor Ian's yacht, struggling to stay alive, a lot of support now.
Pouring it in that QRCO backline, keeps him up just long enough to run into this back hall of the court,
producing two kills, seemingly out of nowhere, always with a little bit of space and a little bit of time.
He finds kill after kill, and some out of nowhere,
despite heavy pressure on Ziad, the rest of the side of team are able to step up
and decimate the australians in this opening fight.
Yeah, so many people look directly at the tank matchup.
No one was really looking to help Hamster.
They got close, right? They must have believed they could get that kill on Ziad and, you know,
they thought they could wall and mage, and then just tempo roll the fight afterwards.
But then Hamster falls, which means that you lose the speed ring to disengage
when the fight starts going sour, and it's not leading into wall.
There is the aggression, still not to acce forces like the Suzu.
He's trying to keep himself alive, Kuff actually just ignores the tank and coachs for the trade onto mid-jett.
But he's down both because Juno and his Kyuriko and Kim Jumosaji are very able to keep the tempo all the way.
I'll just hear some aggression right now.
From the sod he's able to catch this Australian poke comp into a really tight corridor where they just can't fight effectively.
Like Kuff is able to find a kill but it's not good enough.
The DPS just cannot stand tall in that kind of a position.
Now that the map is pretty decisively turned against them, it's going to be rough to make it back, because look at that, fully set up, every cooldown available, takes a lot of pressure from Hamster, that'll slow him down.
But he still has Rekal, he still has Rekal, still has the confidence to be able to get to the top, so he's being forced.
There comes the Spree as well, into the back line, Quartz finds one, Ziad finds another, Akki will stifle the Saudi Hutski, but at what cost the rest of the team falls around his ears.
And once again, Hanyu and Sadi Rave are swarmed forward with five.
Sure, they take a casualty here and there, but they come away with the fight win.
And starting to feel like a full cap is on the cards, the way these players are looking.
They have them with the pulse bomb. It's really going to be up to Aki to mitigate this one.
This could be an ult dump fight.
The issue is, oh, often this white whiffs onto the shee on.
So, no series of collect with the ult to plot Zed using their case, eventually.
So first you have to be able to break through and then the Naga slams
constantly disrupting Australia's coordination
and they just have no opportunity to use any support ultimate to react.
Oh, this is looking scary. They've got some ultimates.
They can get out to the cart, touching some winnable fight,
but I mean, the end of the summer even making such ridiculous progress.
Seven minutes on the clock, 135 meters in the bank,
come by me since the point.
Everything trying to stay alive, a big lead in from Zock.
Full aggression. They're killing off Hamster.
before you can get into the fight is drop the orbital ray,
Songi finds one with the spiel, get him a second,
and so Australia looked to be doing enough
to stay alive on this map, but only barely,
Ziad still trying to take a few kills out of the other side
of this fight, Puffa, trying to roll the cart back
the other way, but a little risky if you haven't yet
gotten these cleanup kills.
Surely this really is going to be able to find Ziad,
this deep in their backline, but a lot of them
drags one back the other way, formation is now split.
Ziad's still alive, similar or healthy on this manga,
And out of an unbelievably difficult fight, this audience seemed to have snapped a good opportunity back.
Kappa has to defensively use annihilation. He was so split from the rest of his team,
and he still falls before he can be killed or with that rush from Aki.
This is looking like full push territory, especially with ColorHex falling.
Quartz will have this free-summa-jet one-sided rush,
and this is time for Hail Mary plays.
Oh, they get touched.
Kappa slaps onto the hazard.
Oh, they get touched right now.
Nothing's going to be able to keep this one in contention, but only barely on the precipice of disaster.
No ultimates left to deploy. Colorex getting close is actually going to have a crucial solo kill.
Should be protected from using the OCs. Yogg going to force this fight on a 4v5, so he's going to go for it.
Sounding like he's making 3 for 4. No joy yet. Kates right as well.
But Colorex still alive with the OCs. Still delivering pain down rain.
And the rest of the Australians rally around him to make this hold.
This has been one of the most desperate defences at the final moment of points that I've ever seen.
They're still alive, but I've been 140 meters. I didn't know this map was 100 meters long.
The distance, the ultimate that they have to just stretch all the way essentially to the other side of the map.
And do you know that Kingdom of Siderator will take as many fights as possible to force those out?
Rush available from the jet to be able to shelf down Hamster's ray and they've already been able to
slide away blood control! Oh no, they're on the objective! They're waiting for the drop down!
Hamster doesn't have the ray yet! Until they have that Juno, they just don't have the confidence
to commit to the fight! Love the decision by Kappa though, knows he has a bit of time to give
both for the kill on ports first. Now over to Ray comes in, surely this is going to be enough
to stabilize Australian team. In the Saudi Arabia, still brawling, still trying to grab
something back. It's like they won't be able to find any counter-kills. No, as I say that,
Sermajet grabs one back, still fighting alongside Zox, but eventually it's gonna have to take the
reset, but somehow it's a second as well. Disgusting deathmatch here from the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia. Now it's just Kafa and Colorex on the payload, and as they run the card back,
it's kind of meaningless, you know? You're rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic
here. The Saudi's just constantly able to find something, even in losing fights,
Turning them around more often than not, it's been a long time since we've blessed this Australian spawn.
I mean, Cuffle will have the damn core at least, but they're just going directly past the hazard, right onto the rest of his team.
Aggressive beat forward from Robson, but team forward, then Acce is forced to use the rush, but you're already down Soggy,
which means no scree to capitalize on kills, and yet again, Australia back against the wall, back against the spawn door,
having to find some form of magic with the OC.
Oh, Colorex tried to stay alive, he can't quite do it,
Seattle brings the damaged laptop, dueling on the payload,
it's just Sagi trying to keep this one alive,
but surrounded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
if the Caves fight at the door, they will be denied.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in their opening showing here
in Busan crushed the opposition.
A brutal 3-0, a bruising one at that.
Australia couldn't get anything going and it felt like,
finally, when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
bring an aggressive comp built around the Lucio, able to seize the temple for themselves.
They show an even more threatening look than we saw in the first two maps.
Just no respect as well for Kappa's position on the tank, like every time they could just
get that Malga into position with the Lucio, with Stomp, they would just take the reins
of the fight and deny Australia the opportunity of dictating the pacing of it.
Without that downtime to really shore a length in out those engagement opportunities,
The sojourn had no opportunity to von Reloff of Malga and look to one-trap someone from a thought.
I was impressed by Zox in particular in this match, like, from running some great beat connections,
like constantly in the thick of the aggression, but staying alive deep into the fight,
which is so important on Blue Geo, and yet so difficult to do at this level of play.
Like, you know, you really do risk yourself getting into the action, speeding the team in,
but I feel like he was almost never picked off first, really letting Siat shine through.
Also, Majed, I mean, he might have been out of the top level competition for some time,
This was a fantastic performance in the Kiriko.
Tons of deathmatching impact from him.
And, yeah, I mean, for Kafa, this one just felt too difficult, right?
He's setting my attackers on all sides throughout these fights.
It was the macro as well.
I think, like, when we had that great build-up that Australia
were trying to use to be able to contest,
it was the understanding from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
that it wasn't quite there charged up
to be able to fight directly onto the point.
So what do they do? Ignore the team, ignore the rest of the map space, just go directly to the exit, steal the bot and force you to have to give up that time, give up the distance, allow the culture round around the corner and play that long clear line of sight for the magots to be able to find the opportunity to engage.
That was an extremely dominant showing here from Team KSA. Pretty much what we expected, but what did this showing tell us about Team Australia?
How will they stack up against Great Britain as well as Team Mexico that we both saw earlier today, guys?
In fairness, I will say I think Australians maybe have a better chance at some of those teams for me.
It's not even like maybe the best team in this group right now, so I don't want to wipe them off because of this result,
result, but look at team Great Britain.
I think that team can also be quite strong in this tournament.
So it's going to be an uphill battle to make it the BlizzCon.
That's what we saw here, that like, frankly, none of these maps
was competitive.
And that's not a great way to start things off mentally,
right, for this team to really believe
they could do something.
There were moments, opportunities where when they all did,
they commit heavy with Kafa.
They're able to find a killer too,
but not able to clutch the fights out.
There's like a few of the players maybe struggling
under that kind of tempo and aggression from an elite team.
I think it also exposed the weakness in terms of their compositions, that they're able to formulate, right?
It probably, they were very stuck to certain heroes, they weren't able to dive into the cat Bastion,
which is always going to be very problematic when you're facing off of all of these teams who do have their own versions of the cat Bastion.
And the castie just was not shutting it down. If you're running that castie, you have to be able to defy the bastion by taking the cat out, and that just was not happening.
If we're looking at the Saudi team here as well, they still have some aces up their sleeves,
UB still on the bench.
I don't know if he's going to sub himself in this one as well, or if that's going to
be decided by someone else, but we still have yet to see different layers to them
as well.
I mean, I really liked what I saw from them, showing really competency on the cat comp,
and then Crucian and Esperanza, they go to a very classic look.
Playing the maga with Lucio Kiri, sure, in this case it's a Shian and a tracer,
They could just as easily be a Sojourn and a Tracer.
So for me to have that kind of a classic, aggressive, rough
style deliver a brutal full cap on Esparanza
to finish the series, that's exactly what you'd
hope to see as a fan here or the Sardi team
that they do have depth to them.
And then we haven't even seen that Australia just
couldn't possibly force the full range of that
to be shown in this opening series.
We do have SirMajet joining us now for a quick chat.
It's been ages, I feel like, since we got to talk to you.
So first things first, how are you
the team doing so far? How long have you been in Besan for? Where you're here for food camp?
Tell us everything.
Okay, we're actually boot camping in Seoul for a couple of days, four days I think.
Okay.
And then we took the train one day before the mid-day.
So you're all adjusted and settled and prepared. You might have looked easy, like
didn't break a sweat, like that was a very, very dominant showing. Is that something
you expected heading into this group? Like how do you feel like you're stacking
up against the other teams in it?
I think our group is, I would say, easy. We just have to focus on the UK match.
And yeah, I'm very excited. I'm playing with the best players in the world, so it's great.
Yeah, I mean, with the star on the jersey, do you feel any pressure to be able to repeat that?
I mean, are you even thinking about something like meddling, blizzcon, being first in the world?
Or are you just right now focused on the group stage, focused on match by match?
I'm just playing for fun to be honest.
There's no pressure, I feel like.
That's how we win.
I mean, that's how you won, right?
No one expected you guys to win gold last time in the Overwatch World Cup and now.
But I feel like now, at least for me, I'm like,
I kind of expect that I'm not maybe expecting gold as crazy, right?
But expecting a top result from your performance so far, I think that's fair.
I think that's fair with like, you guys are playing well,
you talk about the best players in the world.
I think people who don't expect there to be a really strong result for KSA this year are crazy.
Like, this is a really serious team.
Yeah, I mean, just, you know, get through group stage and then focus on playoffs at LA.
Hopefully we can win the game. I'm very excited.
So then speaking about group stages, are you guys expecting to drop maps
or do you think you're going to be able to use Golden Stage?
Because you said you're wanting to prepare for that match versus EBR.
Why do you think they're going to feel strong this challenge?
I think Golden Pass is a really good ball.
It's very annoying to play against.
Even in one, I hate playing against them.
But yeah, I think it's going to be 3-0 with all matches.
Okay, I mean, understandable. Do you think about Team Mexico at all with the Genji?
I feel like they're an interesting team, you know, a little bit well.
But yeah, of course, you guys showed also some range here in this comp.
But we were talking about this. Do you think there's a chance that the Symmetra look from UB comes in?
Is that something you guys have been practicing as well?
Are you sticking to maybe more of the comfortable basics right now about that?
I think we're trying new stuff for now, and you never know what's gonna happen in the future.
You'll never know.
Wow, we're always in for a surprise, we know when we're seeing you and the squad taking you to the stage.
It's so great to see you back in action, rock the performance.
Yeah, of course, you're always welcome.
Whenever you want to come and chat, please join us on the couch.
Everyone, show some love to Sermajet and the entire Saudi Arabia squad.
They are off to a very good start here at the Overwatch World Cup group stage in Busan.
We're gonna let you go, and we are heading into a quick break, but don't go anywhere.
because Canada and Germany are setting up on our stage right now.
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Suns every day, didn't it say?
you
you
you
you
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We've got Mixed V, Kratos, and
Super go-men's here. Yeah, I was walking around on team Columbia. They were dancing to an interview. So I'm just gonna we're gonna have a chat
I mean, let's I think the biggest thing is you guys are in group D and you guys have a team South Korea in there
Like how confident are you that you guys could actually beat South Korea?
Not very but I think
The whole point of it is to have fun last year
Literally the same thing as my last time we just had fun. So I think we might do that again
Talking what talking about fun? I mean we are in Busan, right great. This is your first time and in Korea and Busan
What was what was some of the things some of the good foods that you guys have in Korea
Intestine
Total picking pop
Ah, where are you?
7-Eleven, Kimbap.
I love it.
Goat it.
Honestly, convenience stores in Korea go pretty hard.
Pretty hard.
Alright, I mean, you guys are kind of, today you guys don't have a match and you guys are
just chilling here watching the games.
Who would you say, in this, in World Cup, other than your team, is the most underrated?
I think Mexico.
Mexico is clean enough.
Yeah, I would say Mexico.
Mexico is clean enough.
I would say Mexico.
I would say Mexico.
I would say Mexico.
I would say Mexico.
I would say Mexico.
I love that, love that.
All right guys, I know you guys are doing your meet and greet
and I know your fans are here,
so I'm gonna let you guys go
and thank you so much for the interview.
Thank you.
Fighting.
I
Welcome back everyone to the
Overwatch World Cup here in
Busan. It's the group stage and so
he's gone to maybe hit the beach or
run a marathon. I'm not really
sure, but I'm covering her for
the rest of the evening. I'm
back here with Jake and Moxie for
our upcoming matchup, the fourth
matchup of the day. It's going
to be Team Canada versus
is Jeremy and talking a little bit more about this team.
Can the roster first Jake?
This is a squad where we have, you know,
some old guard players mixed in with a lot of new players.
What's the litmus test because they placed out first
in America's in their group.
But I know there are also conversations about
how much of a challenge it really was to be able
to find those results there during the A qualify.
Canada, they find themselves in an interesting spot.
I think where yes, there's some strong players
who historically had tough performances,
But on either of these teams, is there a super star-spreaded roster?
So these are the kind of bubble teams that are going to be battling to make it to BlizzCon.
And for Germany, having Aysnall on their side,
Canada's going to have to deal with that pink threat.
It's going to be crucial.
But I think for Falsett on this team, it's also a playwright.
Have a lot of faith, a lot of trust in playing at the highest level.
So for me, this particular matchup is maybe one of the most hard to predict
of any that we've had so far today.
Yeah, it's tough.
I think it is that conversation of these litmus tests
when we're talking about this international competition, right?
And talking a bit further about this team Canada roster,
Moxie, I wanna know, hey, Jake was just talking about
how we have some of those older players,
newer talent coming into the fray here for Team Canada.
Who do you have your eyes on in this roster
to maybe be that difference maker,
be that star power that Jake was talking about?
I mean, backline always has to be really, really strong
in this current matter,
both being able to prop up your yes
to be able to find the opportunities,
but also surviving, right? They are prime targets at the start of these fights because if you
take out one of those supports, especially if you're playing the cap alongside your second
hero, it means that you literally have one support to be able to try to keep the rest
of the team alive. So I think there's going to be a lot of focus on a player like Cal,
especially because he is one of those older players that we've got to see a whole lot
of. He's able to hit his shots, he's able to hold his own, so he should be able
to play things like the Kiriko really, really well, but Gravefeld's a newer player that
we're really starting to see come into his own as well, and he was really actual crucial
in Canada doing so well in that region because he was able to instantly pivot onto things
like the Mizuki when the hero was very fresh.
Yeah, for me, I think Cal is just a veteran player now who's experienced top-level competition
for a long time, so I definitely have high expectations for what he's able to do in
this particular match.
I was also talking with some of the team Canada guys earlier on before the tournament got going
They were saying hey Alex is actually a heavy hitter coming out of face it
But with a lot of respect on this team
They certainly have the faith that he can be maybe one of the key DPS to deliver for this team also
Astro versus false gives them versatility in terms of tank flexibility able to play different styles throughout a match
Maybe adapting team to team in terms of how they want to approach each series
But I think you guys are right in general talk about graveyard of Cal the back lines gonna be key
I think that can be a real strength for Canada.
Yeah, I think you also mentioning that flexibility within that front line here, 14 Canada.
We have seen Dimon coming out so far today, some mirror matches coming in, also one-sided matches.
Do you think Canada might be falling out of it today, Monsignor?
I think maybe it's more likely we see Wrecking Wolf from Astro instead,
especially because Germany had issues.
I think it's fair to say in their match with Great Britain
they had to play Golden Pants on the Wrecking Ball, and we heard a little bit earlier from
so Majed that playing up against a really strong Wrecking Ball player is very annoying for
backline players to have to deal with.
Yeah, and now talking about this team Germany that they are facing up against there, you're
mentioning what they struggled with in that matchup against Great Britain Moxie, and this
is the squad that placed first in EMEA Group B to qualify to Busan, and they
They are surely against the Wrecking Ball, but they still won that matchup. What are expectations looking like for this roster?
Yeah, I think everyone was looking at that matchup. Germany vs Great Britain really set the tempo for teams to be able to watch out for.
I know a lot of people had different predictions for who would come out on top, but we were all in agreement that it would be a relatively close series,
and the reality was anything but outside of them having the issues into the Wrecking Ball,
they were able to deal with a lot of the compositions that Great Britain builded very easily,
even being able to match the Bastion Cat very quickly as well, and they looked much better on it.
Plus, those DPS players, I'd sort of like Ice, like you said, Ice being that huge presence on this
team, playing for Virtus.4, really becoming a household name in this year of 2026 professional
e-scores, you have some very heavy hitters in the form of DPS who have multiple times
on things like the Sojourn, being able to-
OOOOOOOOH!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Wait, I was not expecting this!
What the heck?
Look at this, I love you, So-Ee!
Go hit the beach, enjoy!
That's so sweet!
So much love here over on our overwatch team, but we are going to get straight back into
these matches as we dive back into Germany.
I was not expecting that whatsoever, but I think now the conversation also, I feel like
Aku is someone I've been very impressed with on Team Germany.
I think even getting to talk with her about her experience, getting to the opportunity
to come to Busan, it was really cool to see her getting the call up to represent
her country, and she's a really impressive support player for that backline.
Yeah, her Mizuki honestly has been really stand out when we got to see her play, and
she took to the hero really, really quickly too.
Mizuki's had some changes here and there, some very huge buffs, and a very slight nerf
slap on the wrist.
Some would probably say to being able to hit your chain slightly more harder, but
it's still very easy to be able to hit on something like that tank.
So, it really puts a lot more pressure on things like Malga and Rematra, plus the Diva as well, since that goes right through Bootscots.
Yeah, for me this is a pretty interesting match to particularly watch, because for Germany, for Aysnam, he's like a young player who's just in the start of his career.
But for this team Germany, I feel like he's called upon to be a leader, to be somebody who is actually expected to be the veteran on the team.
And so, I think it's an exciting role reversal for him, and one that could be crucial for team Germany.
He's able to succeed in that role and really call up some of these other younger players.
That's always what the Overwatch World Cup has been about, is an opportunity for younger players to match up with more experienced veterans,
stars, and to really show what they can do together, representing for their country.
And so I think, especially the synergy between support and tank, as you were mentioning, is crucial in that regard to this level of play.
For sure. I think I'm so excited to see this match up because it is a big litmus test for both of these teams heading into the group stage,
starting things off here in day one. And we've got to get straight into our predictions, guys.
I don't think it's any surprise.
No, you're going to do that.
Who could ask for it?
I'm Canadian, guys.
I got to go with my whole voice here.
I think that also it is cool to see, you know,
that core of Bluvion being able to play with these players
who have been at the Overwatch World Cup before,
have played within OWL as well and OWCS
and within like the tier two in contenders.
So it's going to be fun to see that mesh together.
I feel like 14 Canada has to have a crazy support staff behind them.
But Masi, who you got?
Germany. I went for Germany.
They'd be at Great Britain.
OK, so they have my respect for that.
And I think as well, they have a lot of potential as a team
to be able to really come together and form something very fresh,
very unique, which could slot very well into the current conflict.
I had to go for Team Canada on this one, I have some faith in them, but I do think this
one is going to be the hardest match to be today to call, I think this one is pretty
much a 50-50 and as you pointed out maybe IceDom can be a player to really, I was like
one of the best players in the world right now, so it could really be a huge difference
maker.
I don't know that Canada is going to have one player who can stand out on that level
and certainly for either false or accurate, it's going to be a huge test to come in
and take that mirror, but I do like the chances for Canada across the board
historically that they've had good results from the World Cup.
So I had to put my faith in them, but I'm not highly confident
that prediction.
I really think this is one of those matches that
is a huge opportunity for either team
to set the stage for their performance further in this
club.
I 100% agree with you on that.
So we got to see who is going to be taking
the win in this litmus test between Team Canada and Germany.
And then our opening map, Germany
are going to take us to Nepal.
Are we surprised?
I feel like this is the map that we always see,
Especially because it's just the most diverse in terms of what you can play.
Plus, staying away from Busan with all of the changes that Ken and I very recently, I know a lot of teams haven't had all that much opportunity
to be able to test out some of those ones.
Like, some of them don't really notice, and some are absolutely huge.
Like, navigating first, born doors of Mekabase with all of the new flanks that are available.
Plus the fact that they finally knocked out the walls of the side room on Sanctuary's drum on the other side,
so you can't just hide your backline to play super safe, untouchable,
as we do have a deep of that coming out right off of the roof, so safe guarding one of those tanks,
able to play things like Maga if you want to, you can play the Rematra, the Seigma,
potentially something like that Orisa, the Wrecking Ball also in play as well,
But that does mean that we could potentially see some more clean play as well.
It's actually a pretty fearsome look here for Graveyard and Cal.
Katniana, I mean this is what won the World Championship so recently in Paris.
I trust Cal to play with Viana.
I mean he's one of the OGs been around for quite some time at the very top of the game.
Always a player I put a lot of faith in.
As well, I think the Emory here for Nocturus could go very well
that you do still have that insane amount of reach with the scope, but if your car has
to play close to the anus, just kill your backline constantly, you can be far more self-sufficient
with the Scythe and Blaster of that pistol, as Asra will stay on the Arista, so if no
one's gone for the throat of flying, everyone vying for control of the lanes around it
inside, no one wanting to anchor their position and give up the opportunity of a tracer
she on, getting past the tank and hitting backline is not just this already down,
that a lot of burst damage has been removed from the side of Team Canada.
That's just Jake, holds a bit of attention to himself, steps back, now comes back in looking for more.
First cap for Germany, Heismann's winning pressure on that left side,
forces a lot of Canadian resources to deal with it, and DPS are able to make hay with that opportunity.
Graveyard pulling some attention on himself, but maybe a little bit too much,
as the team comes in, but not in time to save this can.
Another fight looking solid for Team Germany.
Yeah, Cal will have the nanobus, but my other question falls,
Who doesn't go on to potentially Alex if you want to be able to just worm your way past the defenses of Germany's point home?
Maybe Astro for the sub-survival ability to get through these churches, not just this so far away from that override protocol, the consequences of going down first last fight.
Nano's going to be crucial here. 32% per team, Germany, Heisman is barming here on the SIG.
Ari's picked up that flex, and Nano risks a strange move his face. SIG is going to shrug that pressure off.
Now supports potentially calling into question.
Aizan does get the sling down, but where's the support trying to keep him alive?
They had to back out too far from that nano-Narissa.
And losing the standard barrel on tank, it should be a quick flip.
Four cannons, see if they can find more on the exit.
D&D supports happen to just get out and leave to fight another day.
Sigma, as strong as it is, defensively holding the point.
It's kind of getting a little bit questionable on this retake, trying to move fast.
Yeah, getting through these chokes, having to look not just playing off on that right side lane,
trying to break through the second shield and hit the meat of the players behind very early rush connection as Astro
with the Terrasurge! Lift it through the edge!
Buried two of Team Germany's players sends them right back to spawn packing up with the Terrasurge Catlift combo.
Sick combo here from Astro in graveyard, picks up a full feed for the Orisa
Now, even able to take a forward posture on the choke.
Tom's coming in big and fast now from Canada. They know another powerful attack is on the way,
but that was rushed out from Daki, one of the key threats.
Look at Cal, he's lying down, he's waiting to go watch Clinton!
Oh, they don't see this coming at all! Huge knee in the back of the cleanse though!
Look from Daki, he keeps this fight in contention!
The support also comes in after a failing out Cal from a tough position,
but really, it'd be enough for the rest of Team Germany now.
Tom's back around trying to clear out this back line.
And a risky gamble from Team Canada.
Almost comes out successfully, but you're ex you enough damage from the Cassidy
But flip the point back, but it's not with the casualties also you still have retake potential right like yeah, it's risky
But buys you 68% of the point you've got nanoboost to be able to re-engage
You don't have to worry about being zoned off by something like flux if you go fast curex you also
Denied that dead eye for this fight as Alex takes some will try and create that other angle for the eye of team
journey so that Cal and Noxious can make the space work with that override protocol.
Noxious is so low with the type of grass that though he's able to stop sustain on to the
hits from safety.
Whoa, I wanna sleep!
Cal, Kansas, the flock's unbelievable, but is it enough even with the nano out, Exister
is found to kill the tracer.
Now it's a 4 on 4.
Huge play from Cal has kept Canada alive in this round.
Now Noxious is gonna open up here with the override protocol.
There was a huge damage to the Isnom.
Trying to finish off this Geely's isolated alone,
seemingly on the front.
Darkie's in a come in and trying to bail out that position.
McKinnon has done enough, winning themselves to flip.
Huge individual playmaking.
And with the Nether Terror Surge online,
he's seen what Great Dark can do
in combination with his ultimate.
Ready for the pick up now, Chalen?
Huge damage, ready to be brought to bear.
You cannot come into this,
and they're gonna pop Isnom from full HP.
They do not see it coming,
or maybe just without the tools to respond.
and Germany put us down.
You're a really tough spot to win this opening round.
Yeah, last five.
Counter have to be so careful
they don't overextend into this rush,
but this, if they can stop Germany
from getting passed on to that point to touch,
could be it.
Baku trying to get a touch.
Overtime, he's gonna be forced.
Catnap is available,
he needs to be found something for Germany,
but over the line,
Great Dark gets a Catnap,
pulls in the cast of the big stuff,
hinders enough to grab the trade back,
and now in a three on three
Still a win of a scenario for either squad.
Aizam on this technique to get a lot done.
He's got two support behind him.
On the other side, it's just Cal trying to heal up.
Noxious and Alex proves to be too much of a struggle.
Aku and Daki win that fight on the flank,
and Aizam still here holding down the point.
A pulse bump is good, but not enough for the finish.
And it seems like Germany have got their hooks
into this opening round.
The flip.
They've been able to find Alex as well on the trace.
Astro's back on the racking ball.
The accretion hits onto him,
but leaves him vulnerable enough.
He gets taken down and the dead-eye from QRXU holds off the rest of Team Canada over terms of fight for an eye.
Cal has just used the net if he's on the grave, about to send him deep into the back line, but he comes up clutching the cast.
That's a huge kill, Aizambo. Won't be denied in this opening round, but Cal has great position on it.
Bored in damage. Flux from Aizambo is enough to shut down Cal once and for all this time.
And it seems like the beginning of the end here, a couple players coming back in, wrecking the ball for the stall,
But team Germany so strong around this position. It's just a matter of time
But incredibly competitive opening round and if that's a portent for the rest of the series
We could be in for a good one Monty. This has the opportunity
I think out of all of the series so far to go five maps from what we see of that opening gambit
insane plays from everyone also petition to call the
Terror search lifeline combo helicopter. Oh my god helicopter it is
When you were setting it on, I was like, it's got to be a helicopter, right?
It has to be a helicopter.
We're mind-melded.
We're mind-melded.
Also great to see Cal back in the field in Overwatch.
Hasn't lost a step, man.
They love fearsome.
That sleep on the ice, though.
This round would not have been competitive without that.
That should have been an open and shut fight.
Flux for a kill.
Shirley, Germany clean up from there.
But Cal is bringing incredible individual agency to this match.
Not afraid to make a big play.
Not afraid to take a risk.
Yeah, the Antinate too, right?
But when he's deep into the side of Team Germany's own walk, just around that corner,
banking on the fact that they won't check his angle, could have been punished massively as
yeah, it has to be the helicopter.
You know it's always Terra Surge that pops up on Reddit.
Remember when Terra Surge was first introduced and people found out that you could use
Terra Surge onto Ilya as well to grab everybody?
helicopter, this will be the new version that everyone tries to replicate on their matches.
And you just don't think about the physics too hard. How is Cat carrying this giant battle
monster? Especially with fortify active? Spitting a javelin, yeah, I mean, but alright, alright,
Cat's got it like that. Cat lifts weights, apparently. He's been working out. Gotta say,
XSJ was pretty nice too on this, uh, Shion, you mentioned the importance of their impact,
I think it was really felt this opening round like getting a lot of winning do all
Well, it's also like it speaks volumes about how much attention
The DPS were able to pull for the teams playing retake right because
Sanctum can be really punishing on retake if everyone's just trying to cram out of one joke
Especially if you're walking into something that has that really just poke angle that totally suffocates you out
gets you low enough that you're forced into burning resources on your walk, you don't
have them later for the fight, the other team does, and they win off a resource advantage
lose.
Alone, but because it went down to the wire, both teams hitting the OT, you really can
see that both of them, despite having to play those unfavorable retake positions, were
still able to get map control, were still able to get into fights without losing players
to the point where they lost the confidence to take them.
Astro gonna make the swap over to the demons. He'll be able to have a more favorable tank matchup.
I will say Saepo was absolutely tearing through the front lines. He finds something to replicate that.
A little bit of a slower lock up here for Saepo, and even actually able to box out of the choke.
Back over the top from pure XU, able to put a lot of damage on the Grave, but it was strong enough to get you to cover.
Now maybe the cast of the one to be in trouble. Tracer looking for the flank kill, doesn't it?
Hop on with the cat, and Alex will be able to find a crucial kill. Shots down the cast on the flank.
Maybe looking for more, Doc can act low, Astro finds the finish, not just with another.
And Aiznop, wondering where his team has gone back to the spawn, it would seem Canada.
A vicious attack on this first fight, they crushed N'Germany.
It's almost like that change of tempo, I think, that Germany just weren't ready for.
Cal moving onto the Kiriko, a license plate, a much faster pacing,
especially with Astro on that demon, like the pacing of those propulsors,
ready to take those fights, get into those positions very quickly,
and it actually forces Ice to have to go for the mirror match as we get.
The team will make deposit into the backline clearing out Noxus very quickly,
with Akum setting up that position so deep
that it allows the rest of the team to throw the choke onto Pointe trying to find the clip.
Good move from Noxus though, he comes up into the high ground, re-engages off the position,
and steals control of the Pointe.
Team Canada looking for kills, Germany starting to get weak, starting to be vulnerable.
Astro down all onto the Pointe any longer though, so the Pointe will be found,
supports, stabilizes for Germany and quickly Aiznall moves forward, wants to be able to
turn this into a victorious rush.
The rush!
Kals about to have the rush with a retake and Doki does not have match.
Oh and maybe they won't even need it, this would be huge, KAL!
Couple of headshots, gunitech, massive Aiznall, foxes in but only forces the TP out and
KAL's comfortably going to be able to clean up this fight just to delay for Germany.
It's nice that they're able to get the flip back but they're not able to get
a meaningful retake nor are they able to force major ultimates out of Canada who
are sitting on a full bank defending in this next fight.
It feels like Noxious being so much more self-sufficient,
not having to play angles dictated by the cat.
Also if he gets pressured early on, he still lives, right?
He gets that, he stays on that pressure,
and he gets a very early limit, right?
You're actually with the dead eye,
but you've already lost your Kyroko to that demon ulter,
and that might just be, well, no, I was about to say,
fight dumb, but Germany give up the full five.
They'll lose players,
but what they have been able to do
is at least take the point. They've denied the advancement of point percentage for Team
Canada buying themselves one more team fight.
It's always huge when you're able to grab the flip even in a losing fight. It really
mitigates the losses, but it's really the high noon that's needed to accomplish that,
right? The force Team Canada into some of these off-angle rooms to wait things out.
But you're okay with that if you're now moving on to the Bastion because where Bastion
finds value is not with the ultimate, Bastion will find value now the same way that
The cast was with the dead eye, flying bird to put pressure on the back line.
Yeah, Nox and Cal, very hard targets, Astro able to take through a little bit.
Because on an island here on this, demon!
And Aiznoth uses the limit break to finish off Astro.
Daki's able to finish that kill as well.
The four remaining members of Team Canada don't all have their ultimates online if they want to look for a clutch.
A post bomb though.
Good enough, alongside Recuron and XU, able to clean up a couple of key kills.
Cal finds one back the other way, but it's just the support snap.
Brawl and 15th Canada trying to snap something back.
If Kaka just stay alive that would be victory enough, but the opposite steads just delay, stall the point, getting up to 98%.
Yeah, it's just, they're so split. We see it there from QRXU's POV.
Everyone is in a different position because they're having to just run for the hills when they see their Bastion,
and now you've been able to equal it after QRXU Ultimate.
George, you do have to worry though about the Bank of Ultimate that Canada have to be able to split.
If they decide to soak the brook off the point itself,
Gray can't nap from Graves.
Y'all just forced security behind Avenue Lines.
And now we have to fight off of the point itself.
Oh, but somehow Team Germany bringing in lots of despite force
to fight in an in-favorable position,
and Team Canada are there to support it.
Good poll it pulls Bastian into an impossible scenario.
Germany valiantly attempted to keep that one interesting,
but with another headshot that a cow is so sharp right now,
the action like nothing has happened.
And then it'll be one to one, Canada, even the score, and I gotta say, I like Kyle in
this character.
As fun as the other can be, as, you know, exciting as some of those hero moments are,
there's like the consistency of the Curie and his ability to produce those big deathmatch
moments in fights invaluable for Team Canada.
Yeah, he's also just able to survive on his own much more frequently, right?
Which then frees up Razor to be able to go off and do plays like, well, that,
the catnap onto QRX, he was absolutely massive, grabbing out the Bastion, forcing
the fight off of the point, which means that Germany just don't have the advantage of playing
behind cover. They can't keep their backline all the way out of the fight safe behind closed
doors. They have to push, extend into un-friendly territory, trying to bail the Bastion Act,
something which is instantly punished, as Astra has been looking insane on this team
as well. Like the tempo of fights that this team has been able to take to keep
Two schools of thought here with the cat. Whether to free up the cat to make more individual
plays or whether to support a powered up hitscan like the Bastion. First they zoned Noxious
into the corner, Astro now hopped to your rock in the hard place, Aiznop blinking aggression
in the front with the Bastion beating down from above. And they're still alive, normally
barely, they've gone incredibly low and Noxious forced back into the corner. The
cannon's still fighting, still keeping this one into a 5 on 5. Aiznop now brings the
The aggression opens the team to get behind him, but it finds himself in the corner and
it's Astros turn this time to look back in for a punish.
Bastion tank shells raining in from above, but it's Alex who finds the crucial first
kill and Noxious, although he goes down and gets his boots against and shurs the counter
kill, comes in from graveyard.
This one is getting incredibly scrappy, but in a three on two, Canada, they're
never going to be the ones to clean up this fight.
Alex again on this tracer.
I see why this team Canada players talking about how important he would be to their
fate.
to is just able to take advantage. He has so much threat constantly as opposed to QRXU,
whose main threat is when he's in the turret form, looking for that burst damage to be able
to chunk someone down really quickly. But because there's so much natural cover to be
able to hide away from Bastion, it's very easy for everyone from Talon to just stay
safe. Now, we'll be reliant yet again on Bastion clearing up the space, allowing
the rest of the teams to walk on to this point. But after has that limit break available
already as the backline has been scouted you have to present the M-Ray which means that
Alpha uses the Linnar Freight to keep his team coordinated. He still lost the M-Ray though
who was so far away and how Astro has to ever aid the flame on help back is likely
don't be losing his neck as the team will lose the fight alongside.
Cal still in the action such a crucial player here and is able to win the tank
duel alongside Astro and as good as sometimes these fights look from the perspective of
the bash getting that opening kill.
Gravner is able to find a counter kill at the same moment, so also producing from the flank on this cat,
and another crucial deathmatch fight, one, directs you over to the Cassidy, but starting to feel like Germany are grasping its straws on this third and final round here of the ball.
This also had the same time that Noxious will suffer from the M-Rate, and onto the Bastion!
58% picked up, two more good fights in it, but before us, we're from Dark League, how goes for the match? Gravner contributes the cap on top of that makes him too vulnerable to the cat's position.
Ice with the Limit Break sets up the Damage Boost, and that is enough to finally dethrone the position of Canada on point.
Canada committed heavily to that fight, they really wanted to get it done.
But the Limit Break was just too much, great find from Aiznan.
Holds a relatively low Aku, stands alone here with the Catnap.
Aiznan able to defend this high ground is going to be awkward for not just to get it, but to take a long route around the coast.
Yeah, taking out one of those main rotations, this is going to cause that rotation, like you said, on to the outside.
Noxious Earth, back onto the M-ray, as Ash has been able to find Acut, has probably damaged them by Noxious from afar with Skog before moving in for that kill.
As both cats created, but Acut won't be felt more without that catnap available, or to set up the lifeline for QRX's dead eye.
Then a break. Big hit, but where's the value from it? Alex finds one with his system back damage boost.
Maybe the Tracer can get more QXU backflip finish now by Astro, Aiznop.
Graves one back, makes his game needs to produce with his pulse bomb, and maybe with Astro out of the suit he'll be able to do that, Aiznop.
Rain supreme so far on the demon.
Able to grab a blind share of the kills. Grave girl's also back into this one and is getting incredibly scrappy in the death match.
Alex, can he get more done on this Tracer? Aiznop forced back to help with his supports,
but seems a team journey is done just barely ends up to keep control of this point.
QRX, you should be back as well alongside Akute with the dead eye.
Canada have to pay respect to what exactly damage amp of this limit right you can do.
Cal has to hold the Suzu, but that means you won't have it to be able to absorb the hit
of the dead eye. Pick your poison moment. It kills like Canada unless Alex can find a
great open possible monster that backlight.
Cassidy, up here, dead IFA able, is going to start channeling, puts him in big channel
and the Noxious, they're going to try to step inside, but he steps just around the corner
in time, reads the place, Cassidy, still going to swing in deep, Noxious goes down, and potentially
a huge limit break now!
Germany swarmed forward, breasts the team behind Einstein, and they're going to clean
house Canada, falling all around them.
Alistair grabs one back, but it doesn't seem to be enough, it's just the tracer,
and there's no touch to come.
We bram that one back, a huge performance from Aizanam's D.Va to seal the deal, but as
you said, Moxie, this one, it certainly feels like a series that can go the distance great
individualism across the board from both of these teams.
This is what we wait for the Overwatch World Cup to live.
I hope this one goes the distance.
I truly do, because, like, we see the potential of both of these teams, and both of them
be looking for these matches to plateau their way up into the story of the Esports scene.
Very similar compositions, but we do have those slight differences, the N-Ray versus the Casting,
not just doing so much in between the fights, but not really having those heavy-hitting
alternates with the override protocol, and then, in comparison, the dead eyes being able to
take a lot of space away from what exactly Team Canada want to do, get QRXU into such
forward positions that like you said he can still swing deep, even though Jedi does not find its
mark. What it has done is split the team so not just without support, can't match up to the one
versus one. If he tries to call in resources from Cal of something like a first step,
the Kyureko has now teleported into danger instead of outside of it and is therefore much
much more vulnerable and also a much higher priority kill.
In a match as close as this, there's so many players who can step up and be the difference maker at a given moment.
Eisenhower is an obvious one for Team Germany, and I mean, incredibly consistent on the tank role.
That's what we expected to be a key strength for this team, but Team Canada also finding for service the strength of their own, right?
You know, getting really aggressive, I feel like Alex is impressed with me.
I mean, the Team Canada guys are telling me this is a guy to really be watching here to get his chance on the big stage in the Overwatch World Cup.
He delivered on tracer wasn't wide enough, but certainly a valiant effort on the Paul and team Canada
This feels like a crucial series if you want to go the distance and at this point you're hoping right?
We get into a deep series map 2 is always for me a critical one. You need a powerful map pick a well-thought-out ban
Not necessarily easy to see where you go in terms of the bandfaser. I don't miss this like this is why verse pro looks
So good because you can't play anything. He's so flexible
Yeah, like so I think for Canada they should focus more on me. What is their strength?
What is their best look don't try to do different you're not gonna get ice on to have a
Is that happening? You know you throw whatever band whatever map. It's just not happening
But you can give yourselves a comfortable strategy something that you know you can pilot well and honestly
The differences on that Nepal map was incredibly close incredibly minimal
So hey any any little advantage could go a long way potentially you go for the cast fun since not just has been liking to
Lean something like the emory. I think both teams will keep the cat in play because they both look very strong at it
We also both got to see the Catastion, come out from both sides too, so they're both comfortable being able to lean into that playstyle.
Malga, as we said, is still flexible for both of these teams, even with the Cat, or without it.
So I think potentially we start trying to chip down some of that EPS value, especially because like a lot of what Team Germany were able to get done.
Yes, Harper for the fighter was like some really clutch moments, and also probably some great IGL-ing as well, from players like Ice Mom.
but they were given those opportunities because of the space provided by Cap with that deck.
I also think the Curie ban would be a pretty interesting one. I mean, Cal was a nominal on the
Curico, but I think Cal is such a veteran player. I mean, it has the experience to go,
you know, maybe Curie is a top meta choice these days, but you know, go back to the lab and Cal
can, you know, just about anything in the flex support role. So I think that we, you know,
even the Ana, particularly gets hugely enabled when Curio goes off the deck.
If Curie is out, you don't have that Suzu, right? And then that puts a lot more value
into things like the Antenade, but not just that. If you want to lean more into the Stamplode Demon,
Limit Break! Because if you go for that 50% damage amp on to those heroes,
suddenly you don't have suited Field Cleanser. The only way that you would be able to stop it
short was by ceasing the actual sword swing, or going Zarya and Bubble Cleansing, which
not the greatest of options. And we saw that from Aiznab. It's like, there's no time to
formulate your response. If the Limit Break comes in and hits a bunch of players, like somebody's
going down you know that much damage on a bunch of players but also the difficulty
in actually getting that big old connection right like knowing when to
pop it with it being of course our newest hero in the lineup that's gonna be
especially important in Canada I'm gonna take us to Paraiso a post rework for me
this is the first time I'm seeing it played competitively really excited to
see how this one shapes up because Paraiso now a much more interesting map
from my perspective a lot more options in terms of different ways to
traverse the map you're much less forced into some of those tight
corridors, limited options that attackers had on the old version of the map.
Yeah, and when you only had like one good option there's the Kiriko Band by the way that we were
expecting. So yeah, you will be able to play things like that Ana on your defense to be able
to try and like slow things down or go for something a little bit more faster tempo on
your offense. Also, safeguards the cat, right? Because it did feel like they were getting
a lot of value with that cat. And there's the M-ray removal as Germany will say,
Well, Noxious on defense or attack will be able to sit back with that scope and have a whole lot of reach and say in fights
And we don't want to lose someone early because of the insane amount of damage the N-Rate can deal
Plus, Kyrkos out of the mix. You're fielding Ana. You absolutely don't want to have the N-Rate with a nano boost on top of that
Yeah, I think I like this ban from Germany and maybe mitigate some of the threat
But I'm really curious to see where the support comp ends up going. Are both teams gonna go for Ana?
these are going to be a different perspective.
I like the Cureblade especially because
Climb is such an incredibly valuable thing to have
in order to support
a leading tank player like Aizan.
For Team Germany, for me it's kind of obvious
this is the best player on your team.
You want to be giving him as much resources as you possibly can
especially on these fast-paced brawling tanks
like Aimen.
And so the Cure goes perfect for that.
Ana is a little bit more selfish, a little bit more about
what Ana herself can provide
which I think suits Team Canada a little bit more comfortably.
So where the support comp ends for me is the most important choice and on a map that has been freshly reworked
It's gonna be very interesting false also gonna come in which in fairness actually quite like on this map where I think
Although there's a lot better options or heroes without verticality to still get up the high ground now
I think it's a very vertical map second point first point
There's a lot of these key high ground positions that need to be contested and for false the Diba the Sigma both are gonna
be great heroes to utilize that hyper. I think especially as well because if you
sort of do your homework and look at how Germany played a lot of their hybrid maps,
King's Row especially, the first point on attack, they love going all-life
damage, like they love going for this fire, this sojourn, this crossfire setup
where they would absolutely get every angle possible hammer in with damage,
even if it didn't get fixed, it's still suffocating out the angles and
positions that the defense can hold, which means that they lose that
opportunity to be able to kill some of your key players. They have to give up that map
space, they don't get the opportunity to fire back the board of ultimate to be able to hinge
their hopes of the retake on. And I think with parry, so there is a lot of potential
now for the attacks to be much more fluid, like you said, you're not just sort of strong
one way, forced to walk one position, getting shut down time and time again, until you've
being able to sacrifice like two ults, er, two fights, right?
This map was, was, was deathjoke central, I mean.
Just pushed forward, yep.
You were, you were between a rock and a hard place, just about the entire map.
That was like the only way that you would be able to get away from being choked out,
unless you dove and even then it was so easy to pick apart key elements of the dive
before they evened in.
Yeah, super strong defenders positions.
Now attackers with a lot more options, it's gonna be something that you're gonna
have to factor in for both teams right as they consider how do you want to play this but in the end
I you know for me just put every hybrid map right your ability to run the clock down on first point
tends to be crucial it's a fixed point you should have a well-prepared setup you kind of know what
to expect you should have positional advantage can you crucially win the first few fights get
deeper down the stretch because if you have limited time in the payload section it's a lot
more forced a lot more pressure to roll the cart forward you don't necessarily have the freedom
them to play the map as comfortably as you'd like.
Bird especially, like the changes that they made to bird's defence side, especially just
before the last checkpoint, it's very hard to actually bulldoze your way through because
now that there's a lot of cover on both of the sides for the defence to be able to hold,
it's very similar to Havana, bird and Neon Junction actually, I see a lot of similarities
where you'll show out like your supports, you can be very strategic about how you position them,
so you can still get a lot of value line of sighting for your team, you can always keep up those
heals. But if you position yourself deep enough to one of those wall sides, it's almost impossible
for the attackers to actually catch sight of you unless they're hard swinging out into open space,
which is going to leave them much more vulnerable for the defense if he has to be able to
pick up. So you sort of trade off a lot of the powerless dances in terms of being able
to control the space on third because now it's also much more open for the attack because you're
not just restricted to sometimes having high ground control but first having to take it wrestling it
from defense the staircase on the sides of the attack when you enter initially onto third to be
able to keep that up but then you also have things like the jump pants on the far left side
which allows you access to that now second room which has a popped on up making it a lot harder
for the defense to be able to just hold down that one choke, which they were able to bottle
that cue into for the whole duration of time.
A lot of changes on Thrysocurious to see how these teams adapt to it.
Tracer, also an interesting choice, you know, one that Ilex was phenomenal on in the last
map.
Both teams were running, so the hero actually has been a little bit more out of meta, surprisingly,
in this most recent patch.
But with more of these ramps up the high ground, there's more options for Tracer
to convert that horizontal mobility into verticality, right?
to attacking the high ground, but Kira go out of the mix too, even for support lineups right?
Public mobility is going to be quite the limited resource, right Kira is a master of course with
the wall climb, but you know with Ana potentially being the look, I mean that positional choice,
especially for me, first point, second point, really crucial and one that is potentially open
ended, you know I don't think even even these teams have necessarily mastered this map just
yet. So for Team Cat I like that they picked this, it shows that they're confident,
They want to bring it here, Team Germany. This is going to be a new test, a new ground for them to cover.
Yeah. How often have these teams scrimmed as well, since like the map rules change drastically with the additions of these reworked maps?
So if you're splitting your time between trying to master all of it, potentially it's a whole jack of all trades, master of none situation that could be weaknesses to be able to expose as Alex will be starting on the far and noxious, looking for that first grapple shot on the bidder.
It's pretty sick for widow like you could probably play here and you know poke out just a little bit
But it seems like they just want to take a chance at Bastion
Yeah, this can be Cap Bastion
I saw him do to get a lot of work done here on Sigma
There's a lot of pressure now on the Tracer's winning that long view on so because they are the buffer to stop them from both hitting that handle
Bastion go in the sky also crucial and if any play this Cap Bastion mirror who can get a little bit more curious you both
Killing Germany, they can play a little slower though, right? Ice can anchor onto the point, the force also have to come to hit.
Oh, there's that threat though. Now you don't have that tracer to bomb you, you can go straight for the Ana.
Fucking trouble. The option though forces a responsive turn from Alex, but the beam is good.
Bullying these players back off the point. Ice no.
Now you don't have a trace, it's a long game, you can go straight for the Anno.
Fucking trouble.
Bastion though forces a responsive turn from Alex, but the beam is good,
building these players back off the point, Aiznoff.
Wyzey backs off, living to fight another day, setting up a potential retake for Germany, but...
Canada free take, just about any position they could want.
Cal crucially, on this attacking Annoff, finally with a comfortable spot, Aiznoff comes into touch,
Bastion's going to swing wide over the flank into another crucial tool in the sky, Alex.
Lips fighting them that they miss time, but Germany actually got into the engagement decently well.
Eisenhower has to come out and touch the point and that's where things get uncomfortable here for the defense.
They done well though, Eisenhower's blocked quite a distance here and Bals just barely keeps the suit alive.
Yeah, Bals can't stand up to the Sigma directly, especially without accretion,
but what he can do is keep the neck up and take all of that missing health,
transfer it to Cal to have the first nano boost massively ahead of properly.
Alex looking to clear out this tracer who SSJ very deep does up the pulse one but dies to graveyard and now artillery strike hits on to the back line space
putting a lot of pressure and allowing the team to work forward onto that point to try to find the last hit.
Eisenhower just indomitable on this Sigma has kept this fight in contest way more than driven him any right to but it feels like
the beginning of the end here eventually Canada are going to overwhelm that pick onto the tracer.
Two times XSJ, dying first on the Tracer Canada, very aware of that and that's only the advantage that D.Va offers, right?
Giving you that plus one in a Tracer, though, that Sigma can't quite provide as much as Sigma does bring huge damage, huge frontline pressure.
It's not able to actually connect into Crucial Kills in the backline, as well as constantly comfortable on this on it, due to a lack of highly mobile tank pressure.
Yeah, it's early on, right? So Ice lacks the perks to let him fly, to take that verticality.
So, for the first fight especially, he's sort of stuck immobile, as opposed to falls who can play around the signal instead of directly into him.
Cart will continue to move for now, as Ice Lich for the drop down to contest.
Nanobus is available for both of these anus to supplement up fashion's damage.
So far no one though has decided to actually start to take the fight.
There's the Nanobus swing by Alex, stopped in his path with the Rock Connection from Ice Nom.
That buys them the time to totally back away before the fashion can find the kills
Great rock from ice not just barely holds on to that one
But here comes graveyard now tries to find a cat that pulls ice through a tough spot
The rock barely flips on the corner and falls on the other side also napped off the map
But D.va able to play her way out of it now Canada crucially win a clean fight
They're gonna chase for more no sleep start cocky in real trouble
Has it done enough though to sleep knocks at least that's gonna buy on a new lease on life
Balls now clears off the map though and Germany forcing to a tough retake
It's gonna be a little too little too late. Okay tracer does get the touch
We're gonna get some kind of fight rolling eyes on now
No longer able to leave this position bashing over the top just beaming down from above eyes on needs help to hold this position
And I'll maybe that you can provide a cure XU brings the swing in but a post from doctors revenge for the sleep
Duffer earlier still does the recall and without the on and now resources lacking for the German defense Canada
Bearing down trying to finish this one off Cal though hold on goes down to the other side for the false pop
Just barely survived by Alex get a still trying to finish this one off, but it's more in contest than it ought to be
I system acts does not have self-destructive catch it back
And that will be second checkpoint we go through to third
Not a great bank of ultimates available for the defense to try to hold off team Canada
the QRX, you're actually flopping as the casting, I try to take advantage of the fact that there's less open space for the camp bastion to operate on.
Of, uh, hitscan will become much more oppressive.
False with the self-destruct though.
When ice is on that B, then you have to worry about self-destruct potency when there's no shields to deal with, lock out the one-trap potential.
Balls, perspective the cart, kept on us now.
Alex, big artillery strike actually rains down able to find surprisingly a quick kill with a slight assist from Balls XSJ forcibly in early recall.
Now Balls trying to up this one down with his assist from Machus.
Eyes not getting whatever point stall that he can, but things marching inextricably forward, Canada with a massive time bank.
Looking to get this one done sooner rather than later.
This is so dangerous. They're getting temporal.
Oh, it's totally out!
Yeah, the losing players, they're bleeding.
Despite opportunities, as more and more Canada are able to wear apart Germany's defences,
they'll at least have Nano Boost and Catnap to try to employ for this potentially last final fight,
but look at the amount of ult that Canada have to be able to get the hands into.
You're actually doing really well, but Catnap touched him in a tough spot, Nano!
Bails him out of that situation, that's a state grab, so never kill back the other way!
way, Aki's gonna lock this one in with a catnap of her own and Germany able to
dig their heels in and able to find a bit of a defense here in the final moments.
Fals in the baby before, I mean could remeke here but actually I think he's in a
rough spot, has to get somewhere safe or else we should be cut down. Aki is
gonna finish that kill so finally Team Canada's offense stalled in the
crucial final moment. I mean that was Germany's last chance they do provide
a couple key kills to get that one in but Fals and Nock just both of
to their own they could keep this pressure on. Yeah and now you have the issue right you lost all
of that tempo control so the defense will be able to set up to poke you down you can see ice just
scanning all of these lanes trying to work out where the rotation is it's not just one main lane
now you really do have to keep your ice field for all of the pivots the attack can make you
don't want to get caught short if your backline gets pressured out early you can see so much
resources right there for Curaq you could go for hold his position to hold that dead eye
to hold off the attack and chip more time down!
No attack able to formulate, which means that no opportunity to find thick
inside the defense find first blood, and that is the whole reposition called...
They'll give the fight to try to regroup, but they're just losing more players!
That's what a lifeline! Mostly self-destruct held locked by Gregor, who digs the grave truly!
Drops the D.Va bomb right on top of Team Germany's heads.
Team kill announced.
Out of nowhere!
Kat carries the bomb into enemy territory, annihilates four players in Team Germany instantly.
Desperation retake, Germany need to get out, need to get this one rolling.
Phaser will do just that behind her as well.
Forces came to the back into these rooms trying to stay alive, but asleep from Kat!
He's lights out with it!
It's gonna fully awake your ex-US to be pulled back into a safe position on it as well.
Struggling to get out, struggling to get into this fight,
Icon's left on an island, on the payload, pops the self-destruct,
and able to knock wife, pick it back into the suit.
Alex, crucial kill there.
Falls from the baby D before him though, he's also in trouble.
QRXU keeps producing, XSJ holds onto the payload for now.
It comes down to a low numbers deathmatch.
XSJ with the pulse, may be able to get a connection.
Some splash is enough, he gets the finish,
but maybe not able to touch the payload.
The stun is good, but who's gonna push the card?
Cows too far back for it, nobody's here, it's XSJ.
Trying to get back in and still off the respawn.
Down to an absolute dogfight in the final low-hands, Germany.
Hoping to run this one down with the Nano on the D.Va, surely.
Too much for the German defense to handle, Canada.
They've been so impressive the rest of this offense.
Surely D.Va will be able to get it done.
Maybe, but D.Va duckly so close to Nano boost.
If he gets this, the defense could hold.
Nano on the cat.
It's up to Akku. What could she find?
Any crucial kills in this deathmatch?
Down to low numbers? Does Cat scratch hurts?
With that, Nano boosts online.
And with the Catnip as well, somehow Germany dragged this one back from the brink, hero plays coming out from the entire squad after a Canadian 4-man self-destruct.
Unbelievable sees here on Paraiso, this map is back with the vengeance.
Yeah, this I think will be one of those maps that we very rarely see a full flash.
The fact of the DMs, that last cap, like I said, Havana, Neon Junction.
There's shades of both, like that current point, the walls here, the fact that the defense that supports can play just on high ground really force the attacks you have to commit deep into those positions to chase them down, which then draws off those resources from where the point actually is, so you can sort of bait your backline to drain out the players within the fight of the objective, so even if they start finding those kills the way that previously actually happened, right?
Cal, if he's been a little bit closer to that payload, probably pushes it that last little bit
required to find the full cap, but it's denied off of how far back he's playing, and no one on the
rest of his team is in position to push it for him because all of them have had to go deep,
hunting the backline from the defense. I mean, there's an argument to be made,
in spite of what you're saying about how hard it is to cap last, that getting that done
enough to win this map, they can just have a decent, you know, first, second point defense,
There's no reason they can't full-held on either of those positions or at least clutch out in that final meter ridge of the map
Germany now called upon deliver a strong offense. Canada would love to even the series one-to-one
Take us deeper down the stretch once again. It's going to be Bastion in the sky
Your ex-you speculated with a shot surely not able to produce meaningfully in this moment
Defense matrix the only thing that the widow shot will find before back to spawn onto the Bastion
And that's how well Canada stabilised those Divas. They haven't fallen for the Sigma, that anchor.
Except also beyond the Divas, so much more fluid at changing his positions, trying to catch the rotations of the attack before they can bear down with Vengeance on that backline.
Also a life that defends Matrix versus Bastion Swingbite.
Great Matrix from Falls, protects Alex so effectively in its eyes.
Needed brought down mostly for a huge effort from Cal not just let them to try
They will cost in the tracer, but I think the tank is a well worthy reward for that investment
Boxing exposition with the high ground and now hold on things get scrappy on the plane
You're ex-due potentially in trouble the matrix is good from false. Do they have the damage?
No, we're after the manga unbelievable
Bastion snaps it away, but Alex comes in to finish the job
Baki and XJ continue to produce kills into this one
and though it's getting scrappier than it has any right to be iced up back in the mix full resource of Cal
certainly he's cut out now.
Yeah, Matrix, white on top of the Ana, false lost his mech and his life going deep, trying to find that pig onto the bash
and punished the Q-Hertz-U-A being able to pick up the health pack and that allows the ground that sets the foundation now
for Germany to stop picking up this point percentage. Cal will be closer to the Nanna
And now, since Dockley did lose the opportunity to heal Ice earlier on the first fight, though, the retake potential still.
Capriccio continuing to be forced, players so low for Camila, but there's still four members alive!
For the Skadyn squad, and with Bastion,
putting down damage, not just holding the point, they may have done enough.
Artillery power from Malice, Tony players back to Goa to get off this point.
IZON finds another kill, and they get the cost of the Super Gala.
Nano just comes in, German tank now, pressing forward,
Faust just trying to stall for time, it's a Nano on some great nerds.
Cap not able to boost nearly as much frontline pressure in this spot.
Faust still has a self-destructo guard, charged up just within the nick of time.
that new Dominus statue provides a new position in which to rematch and keep this one rolling.
And they'd have for Cal stabilizing for the moment, but eventually these attacker positions
are just too much to handle. Canada forcing this low ground brawl through the choke
cannot restabilize the fight. Germany get it done.
But so much time. Chipped off, which will be felt if we go all the way to third.
The good news though is that look at how full are the positions.
Germany can already take. They were able to totally flush Canada's positions out
on that last fight, no opportunity for early high grounders to be able to hold off the cop
progress or the position that QRXU has already been able to develop. He'll be scouted out by
FALSE, but he's so far away, he's looking for that pressure on the Bastion and oh no! The drop!
Alex the little live though, Akal's doing so much damage, perfect accuracy on the honor.
You heard those shots just ticking away, eventually eating QRXU. And without the Bastion down,
Surely the damage is too low for Germany to stay in this fight. They're gonna keep contesting the map position
But Alex and Cal doing enough to put Canada on some burn pudding here on this event
Ice can still be forward with his position though
He has the rematch as Akku utilizes that catnap, tries to grab false off of the map
Not able to complete though the animation before she gets taken down by gray belts
I would ultimate chasing her out keeping the tank in play and allowing Alex to
to establish this forward position to really put the pressure on the walk-up height of choke.
Yeah, even with the full focus bar coming in, here comes the nano-on-back in counter to response by Cal.
He's able to give us good hits and another sleep from Cal! He's too good with it!
Half-drump your XU off, let him sleep off that one.
Iced off dropping so lots of self-structs to get back into the suit bigger,
would love me to find a kill in this moment, but steps up too close and on 2 HP,
Iced off back in the suit, back into fight.
False without the same resource does end up just going down and Germany are gonna be able to get this one to the final hurdle of second point
Canada on the precipice of finding themselves on last not a place
They'd love to be they'd love to be able to run this clock down quite a bit more
They still have one last chance to do it here though retake coming in for Canada
False as well has that staying potential right self-destructs with the remix
So if the fight goes long you still have advantage the Anna will be vulnerable
but Doc Lee still has access to the Nades,
so even with that the Q-Rico is able to survive the hits off the Achilles strike.
Is that the self-name?
This is a difficult choke to break in the best of times.
Cal, swinging wide, now potentially a target for XSJ.
Cal's gonna have to fight this one, Alex off the map,
or somehow dies to his own damage, but as soon as his eye is on,
Doc he finds one on the notches, could make the difference.
Canada with low numbers up the falls now to maybe hold on to this payload,
but she has the perfect tool to score it with the self-destruct.
Germany needs to rather focus their fire onto the supports.
While it's able to get back into the zoo, it will be crucial to hear the substructure
threatening George to attract the top spot and now it's his back to finish the job.
In Germany, it's a valiant attempt, but it's a difficult point to finish in the best of times.
Canada, with strong positions, Cal staying alive throughout.
Let's see if Germany can get a reap of going. They've got just one more minute on the clock,
but the ultimate is still a little bit away.
They've got Nanobus available. Cal will have to match their Alex.
Back on the shield, Nair creates much more deeper angles that he can take with the flank.
He doesn't have the burst damage to stand up when Nanobus is a fast flight like!
Maybe our full speed of focus hurt again! Cal, he just does not miss!
Unbelievable, completely denying value from the NATO.
A Gagnab comes in with a lot of damage on the ice, and on the frontline.
Really struggling under this pressure from Team Canada.
Cal in the back putting out so much damage on this auto.
Not just forced back on the trace we go, Germany hitting their hooks into this one.
Eisenhower is so low, needs support in the back club, but can't get it.
With a lot of focus for our false though, to get them a knock-quite.
Oh my, the tracking just good enough for false.
Is the touch there from Canada? Yes, it is.
Cal is just too damn good on this honor, with only 10 seconds left on the clock.
A reset will be the end of Team Germany.
That's map.
Eisenhower literally swaps onto the Doomfist, trying to get through onto the touch,
but it will not be a love.
We said that Team Canada had to find a superstar to rely on.
We talked about the potential of it being the backline.
And Cal was absolutely light out that parry, so this leaves multiple times to deny the strength of the cat fashion process,
especially in the window timing of the Nano Boost.
Those were absolutely crucial to allow Canada to hold off Germany when we headed second.
Gal is too good. Look, he's got the lucky plushie out on the desk and the luck, I mean, emanating.
They didn't need the luck, but this way those sleep darts are connecting just every single time.
There was any question that Anana, you know, needs to deliver a big moment, a big performance,
and Gal was just there for it. Like, that is incredible pressure to be going up against.
Saw this crazy cat nap highlight as well or other a self-destruct taken into the German territory
I will say you're right. This last point looks brutal the cap, but second as well
I suppose there's also been a really powerful spot for the defense to dig in and
End of the jujus that not allowed in Germany to even glimpse that golden box of victory in the series now tight up at one to one
Especially like when you're trying to attack versus a team that has a battle on that last fight of second
It's so easy for the Anna to just bunk up like look here at Cal's position. How are you supposed to fight into that?
This is just Cal like for me. This is like, you know that this is not about the honor
This is about Cal like you know, he made a huge difference in this map. Crazy accuracy
Not only with the sleeves, but you know every time the Nano comes in against him falls also
I mean a couple moments like this like they go world of difference, but yeah
This is a crazy honor MVP performance for Cal the Curiband pays dividends
maybe a must-win map for Team Canada, but they deliver in spades.
Germany gonna be happy that maybe they don't have to deal with as much of a
issue from that on a threat, like now that the Kiri is going to be protected
through the course of the series, but you almost have to wonder like with Zeta
being able to win in Paris with Katana, like this could be something that you
keep going back to for Canada, even without the Kiri ban in play. I think
this on a could still work if Cal has the skill and he individually clearly
does. Yeah that's sort of what we saw like he said from Shu, where Zeta
we're just like, well, we have the best Anna in the world.
Let's just take advantage of that.
And now we can sort of take advantage of all of Anna's
kit without having to worry about the disadvantages
of her lack of mobility, because Cat just totally
picks all of that pressure entirely off of the support.
Some would say that Cat can be fairly problematic,
because when heroes are released,
they are baked in with weaknesses,
and Cat sort of breaks the game in that fashion.
But I just say, like, let's just ignore the-
I hear your criticism, Marxy, but without Cat we wouldn't have Lana in the meta right now, so I'd say it's a worthy sacrifice to see Cat make those plays, I'll allow it.
What I'm saying is that even though the Kiriko ban has now been gone, one, you still have the Ana ban available, and two, if you really want to make that Ana vulnerable, you could take out the Cat, which then takes out the Ana's mobility and means that she's much more vulnerable to be able to die,
because ice is also very good on things like the D.Va and these are going to be a trap for Ana.
This series gets chaotic, right? Because both of these teams have been pretty firmly committed to
playing the Jetpack Cat, so once you take that out, it's like all that's wrong. We have no idea
what to expect from Kither's Rod. It would probably be like Juricun, Mizuki, Kira for Lucio,
more than likely, especially if tanks like the R in play having that Mizuki come out would be
really just good at being able to keep up the pressure on the tank, but still have a lot of
mobility with the Mizuki like the Teleport. It's really good at letting this change your
position very quickly, depressively playing to find some early picks, or if you want to use it to be
a little bit more safe in defense so that you can survive the late-bots.
Last but not least, you know, going up, getting out of the top level of the game for some time now,
and went toe-to-toe with Aizel, like no issues in that last map. I felt like the team overall
pretended that's like a comfortable style that they could look to, so showing the depth of the
roster, waiting them out here, presents a potentially thorny question now for Team
like where does Germany want to take us, what's going to be their strong suit, is it just more of the same?
I mean there's no, hey, take us to a map where Aiznom can play the Sigma
But no questions, no speculation needed. It'll be Route 66. I guess it, I feel like this doesn't tell me all that much
I mean, I guess it says, hey, you want to keep things a little bit closer range, but it's not the most fantastic
cat map. It's fine, but I think this is also a map where different styles can come out
like we've seen Lucio here today, there's Anakiri here today.
Honestly wouldn't mind though if Team Canada banned the Cat as well because
you know in fairness like for Germany, the Cat and the Kiri, it's like that's all they want to play
and can have been the team who've been kind of pushing the boundaries a little bit more widely.
And so I almost, I think you should force Germany to like show us something different,
show us more versatility in the support line.
I feel like the deeper we go this series though, the closer to Merrimach will
Oh, that's a... That is bad respect. That is, in the year 2026, a band on Ana, and it's...
Well, I mean, Rude is a decent Ana map, but it's not, like, fantastic.
Yeah, but it also allows you to keep Kat open for the team.
Yeah, fairness. Treated as a protector. So, for sure, you get the Kat.
I think it's, like, two birds once on, as Mauga will now be removed. He is just one of the best.
She's also just, like, one of the most frustrating tanks, even when you're winning versus Mauga team.
The fight takes so long for you to actually win versus him, it totally drains out your time bank and then you find yourself ahead into third where we've seen even today, right?
Teams 4 minutes plus on the time bank try to full push for a 4 and still be held.
You then packed it in having to fight a team defending with a Malgo who are more than half just keep taking fights, keep taking fights, drain out the time bank.
You're not looking at 4 minutes plus to cap third, you're looking at properly scraping 1.30 if you're lucky.
I also think Mauga is a great look for Aiznom, and so I think they're banned away because it's a tank that almost
puts a huge spotlight on your tank playing, like their ability to get in with an overrun.
The whole team can follow behind that, and if Aiznom, I mean the way he's playing incredibly clean,
like always making the right reads, the right attacking moves, like the whole team can just basically pile in on that moment
and then they found Karin and if the tank has made a good choice you put your trust in
Aizanon like that's a good bet the way the series has looked to take them out of a way
you force maybe a little bit more responsibility on the sports on the DPS which if you're
doing Canada that's the kind of situation you want you don't want this to be a pure
tank duo with just how individually strong Aizanon is as a tank player for Team Germany.
It'll be very interesting to see the different approaches in terms of attack as well do
Do you just directly ignore high ground and try to fight on the objective itself to force
the defense to have to drop and contest it, and you play something like the demon, which
ice is currently showing, or do you go for a more proactive style of approach on your
attack and go for something like the diva, which can still move from the low ground
to the high ground and go put pressure without forcing out the cat's position instead
draining away some of the resources that QRXU will have available as Akku will be
playing a cat and we now have to see that split will it be the casting will be
the demon popped up by that white light tracers cats and curies differences are
the demon and the diva versus the Cassidy in the amaranth I do like it so much
here for doctors able to get a lot done as an individual curex you now on the
low ground not a comfortable position for casting not easy to see even how
cats necessarily changes that they move eyes now up into the high ground
I'm trying to box out Noxus, it's gonna create some space here on the low ground, the cow,
Crucial kill on the tracer so early in the fight, I wonder if Termini can even force this.
Maybe it just has to be a reset for them, but Aiznum still wants a little piece of this,
wants to buy it at the Apple as it were, and Vols actually getting incredibly low,
he gets saved by the support, so...
Well, Vols will always follow when he tries to contest the cut, right?
Because the moment he does, Aiznus turns, boxes out the diva,
uses the shield to be able to block one of Scythe from the heals,
and then utilizes the Sabre to cut through defense matrix.
So a lot of this is actually obnoxious to be able to farm Cloak from afar
and Alex to find these pigs early on, but that's just not happening.
Which means that when the fight moves to that point,
it's just done in the blink of an eye.
Yeah, once Grey Dread goes down, Canada is sourcing this really intense aggression.
They're trying to clutch the fight back, but Aiznop being trying to dash into him
is the recipe for disaster.
See, there's a retake available for Canada.
Do they have any touch coming in?
Maybe just too little too late your odd roots is he said it's not a meeting map when it comes to your retake time
You need to be faster. It just doesn't happen at all. Yes, you could please
you
you
you
you
you
lifeline into propulsors, putting him into position to mark the diva.
Yeah, a lot of deathmatch potential from diva and putting that in the hands of a
player like Ice. I think there's a, there's an intelligent strategy from Germany.
I mean, like put the carry on a hero that he can really show that kind of an
impact on. The damage is a little bit lacking from Team Canada.
Right? Like the enemy is great for the ability to run away and stay alive,
be self-sufficient, but to trace your enemy, you don't have the best,
like pure tank busting threat. A lot of times you're going to be looking
at QRXU as the key target to get on top of, but he's been the one slinging out, kills left, right, and center.
Alex has been on the receiving end of that a couple times so far, I'm rude.
And that's kind of a crucial matchup to be watching here, what QRXU can find on this Cassidy.
And usually you think, you know, those opening fights are the hardest when Cass has no position.
Now he's going to be surging forward on second.
They're going to have full map control.
It'll be Noxious trying to just get out through the choke against the demon.
And that is a tough situation, right?
The demon is insane at aggressively contesting these jokes, maybe even going through them
if you dare to leave your hitscan alone.
I mean, Hoss does at least have self-destruct.
So he has two lives into the demon, and you do have a higher alt-back.
But in terms of just like one-to-one damage, it really does feel like there's a higher
potential despite the fact that Noxious is on the M-Rate.
It feels like Germany just have that whole bursty opportunity before these fights
really properly kick off as last chance, do they try to go for this as-
That's letting a very aggressive brush rush, just get him into the face of the defense,
overrunning Noxious literally going past the D.Va directly for the Juggler on the DPS.
And it's like the defense should have it.
Ah, great aggression to Germany, punching the hitscan, everybody just running power.
That's a crucial kill back, but really be able to survive this doesn't seem to be the case out of the cooldowns.
Germany, taking matters into their own hands, false is going to go over to the mirror, recognises
that D.Va is just not cutting the mustard so far.
That was also a mirror rush from Cal as well, right, to try to attempt to see that bike
greenly out so you don't have it to force space back from the attack, instead you have
to totally flip map and essentially drop down from the high ground to play the attack
position.
Catnap will be shoved down, great hinder from D.Va, you break up, not able to
For someone out of position and the worst for the defense, Cal goes down to trace him behind enemy lines inside.
Isegaw, Foxy's so well here, he's gonna go for the limit break, trying to clean up a couple of kills and maybe has done enough here.
The tank's starting to drop low, the car's continuing to roll in, next to him, we're born for Germany.
And Isegaw's playing with his food now, he's gonna stalled out, falls, can't quite make it to the payload and this is looking like an absolutely ridiculous cap time for Germany.
May comes out from Alex, Knox is going to go over to the cast, they're going to try and make something happen with the Hindu graveyard, pretty hopeless for him in that fight.
Breeze is out on the cart though, maybe just a chance, 14-Cana, but they have no position, they're just stalling things out one by one, it's costing him so many kills.
Left, right, and center, the Catnap bulls, falls away from the payload, he's not going to be able to contest from here, just Kalmau trying to hold the line.
But even eventually he will be cut down and wow a ridiculous pace that'll be a setback for team Canada
I mean I rule 66. It feels almost out of contention three minute timebake is absolutely unheard of
I feel like we have to find the team for a speed ticket, but I was able to full cap
They hit that shrine this map it feels like the first point they were totally able I think to disrupt the game plans of
of Canada who want to play it slow, who want to be able to run the time back down, who want to be able to play between all of these different pockets of space
being able to litter between both the objective, the high ground, the backline, really try to force ice to have to give up those aggressive positions to have to play more reactive
and Germany just said no, we'll take first tempo, we'll force you to have to play reactive
And they were always just finding those early eliminations.
Like sort of that one pick, like Cal picks up the kill on him as a chain.
Early Kiriko being able to win the duel versus the Tracer like he did some tonight.
Funked into the head hitbox.
That was really the only clean moment that the defense had.
Everything else was just to the drum of the attack.
I mean, I's not just annihilated that much.
Every time, it's like clearly his cons, his aggression.
He destabilizes the Canadian position, and the rest of the team is there to follow up, there to make opportunities.
False? If you're gonna look for an early hook here,
if you have a cheeky, nice way to start them out, you can find an open and kill maybe onto the tank, but I...
Yeah, with Cal's Bully as well, Disco and Xen Bully, we could see a one-shot potential, huh?
Surely you're wise to this. IZOM is gonna hold the shield, wait it out, false.
Which takes the gamble, and the off chance, and IZOM would drop the shield too.
Just going for that though. This Canadian cheese opener, this rifle for now, I'm just basically just stalling for time with this gold position, but I wonder maybe Germany actually want to fight here?
Very close hold, which actually forces Alex to have to burn the phone just to be able to clear out those train carriages.
This is a lot of time already taken off of the clock going for this early hold.
the high ground but drum demon you want to fight on the flat so that your cat can play closer to
your castle. Alex though on contest on the high ground now sees an opportunity to hit the back
line and look at the amount of grind that has to be given until Akku is able to put ice on back
onto the high spot. And the only downside of that board all they kind of messes with the positions
here later on on first point but it seems the germany are able to have them take needed to
run the clock down by a minute and still get to a nice position for this initial choke hold
so we'll practice team here big dive in from the bastion but straight into the small room
if you're actually going to survive there eyes on the left of an island in a nice plank angle for
alex eyes on purposes one kill on the cow and maybe it's done about where supporting me to keep
this team alive in the back balls strikes back dropping the other hitscan now out of the suit
vulnerable opportunity team can't uh maybe able to get something rolling here on this off the
fight is far from settled german defenders still trying to rally around one another
And that's actually a stew on the point, then not getting free push.
That's huge.
Eventually they'll fall, but damage may have been done.
I's not a 70 to the resuit, 80 now, always getting so low, the Bastion, that's perfect!
And recharging that mech takes so much percentage.
Pure XU just barely able to stave off his own death.
With some well-placed shots up into the air for that Bastion.
Alex and Graveyard though, we're going to be a serious threat, and...
Especially with Demon on the field, there's not much to answer Bastion and Scott.
Last fight territory here at the first point.
Alex, you've got to try to make the walk up uncomfortable and the defense.
Icehub's in deep.
He's a lot of assists to stay alive.
The carry-on could be just that.
Double support all out from the defenders.
It's enough to stabilize for the moment.
Limit break available.
Icehub with a lot of damage on the other side.
He even breaks the suit up.
Falls to Germany.
Stabilized.
He's so well to run the clock down in the last two fights
that now Canada are on their last legs and only on first point.
This is dangerous too for Kandler, right?
Kall has one side rushed, but that's if Germany give him the option to use it.
And QRXU will have zoning, DEADEYE, too.
Pulse with the limit break has to close up the distance to be able to use that ultimate.
This should be rough for the defense.
I mean, surely, in Lusker, if you find a kill with this, that I mean...
Limit break plus rush sounds like a devastating combo on the point.
If you can get to the point, that's the thing though.
QRXU with that DEADEYE, place the high ground,
puts the pressure onto the backline, gets grabbed up with the ultimate,
And I hit the buck one.
Got to get some decent kill on Alec Breesnayers back there the way of a cow with a well-timed cleanse.
Times the shot well.
Limit break, even being held by false.
Seems like the rush alone is gonna be enough with the tank falling.
Dermany trying to find something back there the way QRXU, Akku, hold on!
Producing a little bit of something false.
Not forcing to a limit break, but is it too little, too late?
Get to kill Altsdok, leave Akku, XSJ, QRXU.
Still fighting a pulse.
We'll break the suit of false.
And Germany clutched that one out and Lübele Grieff, who's in Canada, trying to hold onto the limit break.
It is brutally punished, and it might cost him the map.
Oh, ice now kills falls like such a late pick up onto the tank.
They're not there to be able to fend off Germany grabbing up the hydrant position,
just bleeding out time and building ice is damaged,
getting closer to having that limit break if it's called in for the overtime play.
Something has to be found here. The talents make a move forward, and they're making it almost impossible.
As long as one of the tracers has to get Valsaline hitting on to that point to activate the OT,
this is the last chance they have to touch.
Oh, Vals, great opener on Fogli. A cosc fashion is light, though, with the poke's fire turned elsewhere.
See if two arcs you can produce any more.
Not until the Valsal puts it right on his back!
That'll be enough to drop the Cassidy.
Maybe enough to see Canada threw into the second point, and it will, as they cap,
just barely staying alive. I mean, the map.
You can't think about the Sherman time bank what you're up against an overtime finish
Maybe the best you can hope for at this point for Canada, but that would still keep them alive on an escort map type
Yeah, it's brutal. This has to be such a fast push for a second to make up for the time that you lost
That late to cap person QRXU is absolutely
Rocketing towards that that I wish to buy all the space back the defense Alex
Unscouted waits for the tanks to move past. Drops onto QRXU with the help of Graveyard.
And that Deadeye declared his base back to the defense, is totally denied.
I think Limit Break missed from Aisnaw. It seemed like it was just barely out of range from Alex.
Faul started to attack the high ground, but he learns his lesson pretty quick.
He's a lot of support just to stay alive.
Aisnaw makes so much space, but this rush deployed is an expensive commitment.
Germany need to provide a solid reason and justification for that, so they can deathmatch out.
Kills traded both ways, falls in the oxes now standing side by side trying desperately to finish off Aiznalov with Akku and QRXU supporting from the high ground.
Kast is now stepped up the brawl trying to finish off these Canadian attackers.
Just don't think they have the resources to be able to finish off this fight cleanly.
Kal's down so no kitsune rush on the point itself, no one's really able to push Akku or QRXU outside of this artillery trap.
but he still has the combat role, he still has the help of his Kiriko.
You've given up some space with the bash enforcement to cast the Ivo,
and that will allow Cal to put his position back on to the point to use the Roshis.
Early hiding.
Dead eye comes out.
Falls has to hold this shield.
He's so low, being flanked surrounded from all sides.
The suit is popped.
The rest of the team focus firing demon in that moment of vulnerability.
Now, Canada called into question what they can do here.
44 seconds on the clock.
Germany filling up the feed.
Alex and Noxus though, striking back.
Crucials kills, but...
Icedom's still healthy. I don't know that it's gonna be enough. Even with some heroic kills from the DPS,
Icedom doesn't really worry about that. The cart cannot roll forward. That's the objective here.
Noxious should be able to be back on this tracer to keep that overtime in play.
Kal should be able to find this rush opportunity, but there's two ultimates that generally hold to be able to totally deny the space that could be taken with it.
Limit break and Katnap both use the disrupt once a critical ultimate.
Alex, the Cat-Tact here on the Bastion.
Pulls back just enough.
Maybe there's going to be an opportunity for Canada to push forward.
Ballstress keep this card going for QRX to a crucial kill on the graveyard.
Limits the ability now of these Canadian attackers.
Limit break is out.
So too, use the Cat-Tact, let the Germans keep finding more Canada, struggling on
their final opportunity here, but without support, without any kind of sustain in
this fight.
Surely it's just too tall of an order.
Rocks falls now.
The last player's alive.
Trying to keep this overtime in contention.
But you are too boldly denied. Cleaning house now from the back line.
Iceland as well, just chopping through the attackers. Germany!
Gonna go up 2-1 in this series, laying their mark and setting the first series point.
I sense a demon ban.
I wouldn't hate it. I mean, okay, don't look at the stats guys.
Do not look at the demon damage stat. Do not look at that.
Yeah, I for sure foresee a demon ban after that stat line.
Oh boy, Ice, we said he would be a standard, we said that he would be not just one of these people that the team had to look for for his experience in the field, but also the leadership qualities, the IGL, the target calling.
His team totally on the same page, every engagement that Ice wanted to take, it felt like his team were there at his back supporting him, and someone just instantly dropped on the side of Canada, every propulsion call he could make.
And I'm just taking a look at the stats here.
You've got to give some love to Akku, one death on Kat in that entire round.
That is huge, right?
That is incredible uptime for the rest of your team.
You're keeping people constantly in the fight.
You know, it's one of those things that just the Kat is staying alive.
It's not exactly a hero play that you'd notice.
We call it on the Kat, but it makes a huge difference.
I mean, Germany would not have had that kind of a completely dominating victory
were it not for the Kat being so consistently alive in the fight
and supporting the team.
This German squad looks like a well-oiled machine right now.
Canada got lacking in a lot of these fights,
I was not finding those opportunities as well
to punish any kind of a misstep.
I think as well, if we think back to that attack side
from Germany, the swap onto the demon to match ice
was a little late.
You'd already allow Germany to start stacking up
a lot of the ultimates in tempo that came off
of the back of it by sticking on that diva
and the fights being so one-sided because it also meant
that the support ultimates were lacking to be able to stand up to what you have in hand, right?
When you're de-necking the diva, when you're taking fights away from where the tank is,
you're denying the opportunity for the support to basically...
...silver lining.
If you're taking more damage, you're at least folding up your support ultimates faster.
But because that tank was always just out of mech, or out of flight,
or the supports in question trying to heal the diva were already dead because they were the first pig,
it felt like they didn't have a way back into the fight,
like being able to use Kitsune rush one-sidedly to at least force Jeremy to have to back off
and give respect to what could potentially come up against them.
I think Team Ken are going to wish they had that ban to do it Ken.
I think they would have loved to have the Malaga.
Be able to have something, maybe a different answer to the Demon.
Obviously, I think having that map went, hindsight is 2020, we would have loved to be able to at least take that hero away.
Look, Ryzee-6 looks like a pretty nice map for Demon, especially with Kat able to pop you up just for a little second, pop you up to a high ground.
and then Aizan was able to kind of pick it from there, really turning the screws in the opposition
and Germany looked like a well-practiced team when it comes to the demon strat, right?
Like, be able to isolate players with a dead eye and then just cut them down with a plasma saber.
Yeah, it's also something that's very fresh, right?
I think that's something to talk about as well because this hero is very new and when she released
I don't think a lot of pros really thought that she would have much stock in the esports scene
and then the hot picks dropped and people were probably like,
oh wait no she's actually really good which means that the time that you had to be able to practice
versus her was much more finite in comparison to being able to deal with the amount of years
that you've had to be able to work out. Okay this is how D.va operates, this is how
Malga plays, this is the temper that we have to have against and these are the best counters,
this is how we have to position against it because dealing sort of feels like the Rematra
temper when he's using that Nemesis form trying to rush forward into your team because
If you wish you'd do the same thing, ignore the other tank and just run at a squishy who's trying to play safe behind that tank.
And we're not really seeing the discipline that some teams have when playing versus the Ramatra to safely disengage because I think the demon's speed is actually catching them fairly by surprise.
Yeah, you can back up, but you know, the demon has a lot of utility that's actually forced those chasers.
I think Ramatra's great comparison to the Plasma Saber has a lot of similar utility to the Nemesis Spawn, right?
You know, consistent, leave damage. It is relatively close range, right?
But, you know, Aisnaam, really putting on a clinic, right, for anyone who wants to play
D.Va at home.
I think he'd be well-served to re-watch some of these POVs and see the way he approaches
the fight.
And the team behind him, I mean, thinking back to that offense on the second point,
able to, like, they know the defenders in that choke point, and they just, they send
them, they go through the choke.
They dive in on top of that, that enemy hits cannon, just don't even let him
play the game.
That's a great way to start a fight, right, like taking the tempo, especially
a land match when pressure is high, it's easy to make mistakes. To be the team that is aggressive,
striking first, forcing the fight to go your way is crucial. It sets the tone of the series.
Kevin are going to take us to Newjunk City and I believe we saw Falls wrapping up the keyboard,
so I wonder if Astro is not going to come back in and maybe try to signal a bit of a shift to
more of a rush tempo for Kevin. I could still see the Demon Band though having value here,
especially with how I've fought like that first fight on Newjung City Point?
That's a rough one to play versus a demon.
Yeah, I wonder, I mean, I think it's interesting, we haven't really seen much before, but
how demon is into other tanks? Like, you know, from my perspective, I would think
if you're gonna play a full rush mirror, maybe I would imagine that that Ramatra and Maga are
stronger, like head to head, I think, but K'Kander actually gonna ban Lucio,
so maybe they don't want to play much of a rush tempo.
If you're going to ban this away, it's an odd one for me actually, I'm pretty surprised by this, I mean it's not something that either team had gone through so far in the series.
Protecting support potentially? Anna was banned but Kat was still potentially banned.
Yeah, it's an odd one from my perspective, I mean I don't, I would have been surprised for Germany to ban Kat, Aki has been phenomenal, I mean she's been a really rock solid player,
Everybody banned the Orisa way which I actually think this signals that they maybe do want to play demon
I think the rest is another one of the heroes who would just happily take the like one-to-one face trade with demon
She can also disrupt like the engagement right with things like Javelin
Yeah, and I would think limit break you probably, you know spear is probably one of the better tools to like instant stun
Some of these old minutes and some of these not powerful tools especially for a character like demon, but I
Mean it's it's ice-num, right?
So, you know, he can easily counterpick, easily swap it up to whatever, and in fairness, if you see Astro coming back in, Astro showed the Erisa on map 1, it's like, don't overcomplicate it, just ban what Canada have showed that they already have a preference to play.
Also, it takes out helicopter, right?
Yeah, that's true. I mean, that was a little scary on, uh, back on, uh, on the wall there. It's always a possibility. And with Lucio banned, I mean, I can't imagine Cat is coming out.
I'm probably Kirikou Kat for backline staple defaults. I think if you're Germany like me, why do you keep the demon in flight? Like you said, Romantic could be a pivot for Canada here? Or Malga? I think Malga could be a good option as well.
I'm a Malga believer. I'm a fan.
All Malvah believers. They're probably, he's just such a strong tank.
Just like all the utility on the kit, you know, the stun from the crit stomp is so massive and these top level players are able to find it quite consistently.
Like speaking about ways to stun cancel ultimate, right? Stomp cancel on the limit, right?
I was just liking it into the cap because Malvah compared to most tanks has pretty much the ideal primary weapon to attack a cat.
You attack Cat, long range in the sky.
There's a lot of characters like D.Va.
It's just, you're just not really shooting a cat
at long range.
You just have no range, no consistent damage.
And it's actually also D.Va with that side blaster.
It actually is kind of nice at challenging cat up
in the sky.
With how important Jetpack Cat is to the current meta,
you've always got to think about how your tank
and DPS matchups are against those key supports.
Yeah, especially because Catnap, right?
You basically, every time Catnap's available
for the enemy team, you have to play into that fight,
fully expecting someone to be grabbed out of position.
Sometimes your tank, sometimes one of your supports.
Sometimes your de-ass.
If you're gonna be coming in for QRXU,
I wonder what this means?
I mean, QRXU has been so lights out,
does this signal a shift away from the Cassidy?
It is a bit of a tighter map,
and one where I think Cassidy's lack of mobility
can be a more serious liability
than it is on other maps,
where maybe something like a Sojourn or a Bastion
can be more effective in the tighter corridors.
Potentially you just want to play very fast wash-pounds tiles.
Yeah.
Because I think that's what Germany might have worked out,
that it wasn't just here or comp,
but Canada was struggling versus on Route 66.
It was also speed tempo.
Right? Especially when you're sort of looking at some of these rosters.
If you don't have that synergy bolt-up of playing with each other for hours and hours
and hours of one year, or multiple years, you can very quickly crumble when that template
starts picking up because you just have less time to be able to react. You fall back to muscle memory
and the trust established between your players is why Dive has always been so strong, right? Not just
the heroes who are released, but also the fact that it totally disrupts what the enemy team
wants to do, that normal comm cycle that's sort of established in the anchor that a lot
of professional teams look towards, to be that sort of eye of the storm if things get rough,
that gets totally denied because all of a sudden, like your comms, your alt-tracking,
your fight planning, that goes straight out the window because suddenly you're having
to deal with something like a demon powering directly at you, and your backline's now
at risk of being walked on and will die if you don't have someone ready to dive
Yeah, maybe the Lucio Band maybe makes sense of that in light of how good Germany have been when they're able to get aggressive and
force the issue, you know thinking back to map to a Paraiso what was so comfortable for Canada was slowing the game down letting Cal
Have a little bit more individual impact on the honor
But going to Newjung City, it isn't where you take it
I think if you want to slow the game down like this is pretty much decisively
universally since it has been released, a high tempo map and even the higher tempo option when it comes to Flashpoint.
There's a lot of close quarters points, a lot of really rushed favorite styles.
Looks like...
All sobs, Razor.
Yeah, looks like Razor also gonna be coming in alongside Astro.
So, Razor typically plays things like Reaper.
I actually like it here. I like the idea of doubling down.
I think Alex has been impressive for me on the aggression. I want to see Canada try to match this pace.
I want to see to try to flip the script that we've seen so far in the series where
Germany has been the team to to dive in to set the tempo
And I think if you're gonna try to bring this one back
You have to show that you can actually match that way to play and taking it to junk city
Is a confident way to do it as a way to potentially rock the foundation of team Germany for the team that wants to be
aggroing forward
Abandoned Lucio certainly an odd way to do it. I mean I would have thought hey, Lucio is a potentially good look here, but
maybe you still want to play for the cat look maybe that's still a strong one
I think for honestly all the paid-sport players playing right now I think pretty
much all of them have been grinding cat on stop that's a strong hero not just for
team utility that you provide of light the lifeline but also the scouting
potential off of that shift even when someone's not attached anything that
gives you the opportunity to go for a person in this game is so so strong at
being able to work out where your opponents are like. The instance thinking about earlier
demon limit rights right being able to hold around a corner understand when your opponent's
walking in so you can already start the animation of that sword swing to catch them as it arcs
directly into their hitbox they lose the opportunity to react or you're able to perfectly
scout out when exactly the tank has been able to move past and the backline has been left
behind and vulnerable, Cap Ascian always is able to do things like that, especially if
they're just already hiding themselves and questioned above a doorframe or colet side.
As it feels like the subs just keep on coming.
This is almost a chess match of its own, self-made shake, as Germany sees the adjustments
they can't have made, and think about continuing to make more of that own.
It's been a competitive series so far, I mean this is a crucial one for both teams,
you know for Canada I feel like they look at this as how you win this, you're probably
going to BlizzCon, this is a crucial team to be able to beat.
And for Germany with their strong placement out of the NBA, they should feel confident
the way they've been playing, I mean I get a lot of credit to the rest of the team
for, you know I was looking at this roster thinking okay this is, this is eyes now
versus the world, can the rest of the team keep pace, but they've answered
that question, the answer is yes.
They've been able to follow that to like maybe he's leading some of the aggression setting some of the tempo
But they've risen to the occasion across the board. Aku with only one death on route 66. That was huge
XSJ has been fantastic on the tracer through the series and QRXU was pretty lights out on Kassi as well
Like finding a lot of opening kills
So I think this German team is really impressed me beyond just the expectively strong performance from Eisdorff
Canada this is gonna be their last chance to adapt right series point against them
Razor needs to come in hold off the bench deliver a strong rush performance but I
do think he potentially could be set up for success if they can just win some
of these opening fights set the tone maybe put Germany on their heels with a
tempo change yeah I think for Canada it's crucial winning first point I think
what we saw from Roots 36 was that they got bowled over by momentum and I
think they got a little bit in their head when they start losing some of those fights back to back.
So they have to be able to boy up that confidence. So starting off with a very stable and decisive
first fight into first point win would be the best possible way forward.
Braza as well if we do see the Reaper. Is this going to be in response like are you expecting
something like a mage or do you play into that demon and just try to get the reaper
directly onto the backline when the demon's there not to feel? Or do you just go directly for just
pumping our damage onto the tank, try to chun through the mech as fast as possible and all in
versus ice? Because if ice is being de-mecked and it's not there to be able to pull the
engages, that also really weakens Germany's construction. I wonder if if demon is even
even the choice here for Germany.
I mean, I feel like there's a lot of questions now,
especially bringing Razor in for Team Canada.
Me, I put a lot of respect on Maga
as a key pick for both teams.
But for Astro, I mean, it's the rest of before,
it's Bandai now, he's gonna have to show us
a little more depth.
We're sure here on Newark City,
is it gonna be enough to keep them alive
in the series though?
I mean, Germany bearing down on the 3-1 victory,
there's no reason to really think
that we're hopeful that Canada can show us
a stronger rush look, but they have it.
as far as the series, right? Like, they've wanted to play as Florentine style. That was
what got the win on Paraiso.
Well, this could also be a May approach, right? From SXJ and Ken. Like, Ice, you don't have
to match the Malga. You could just play Kanto. Like, you could literally, without that
looser there, to be able to boost those Engages and Disengages out. You can very
easily split apart the Malga from his team and just shred him down with all of that
damage chances. Fraser not on the Reaper currently, showing us that Vendetta to be able to tear
off of these Malgus lands. A lot of burst damage as Ice, there we go! Bowls out on the demon
as it has been working out so well currently for Team Germany. They're going for a very
vast aggressive composition both for Shion and that Fraser. Ooh! Ideally, does Astro
try to find the sum of gauges all because no one's really going to be pressing for the
mag to catch.
The Caster has a lot of responsibility here, has to overrun backwards actually, without
that cooldown.
It's an opportunity to really aggray specifically, aggray yard's starting to get low, Germany
trying to twist the screws, but here comes the overrun coming in, Razor pulled a bit
of the tech down himself as the back to the corner.
Struggles cannot get out of the engage, where's the T-Sport behind him?
It's not to be found, Germany, building up the feed just after aggray yard of
the trites of HP.
Yeah, there's just no easy target for this mage to slam onto, which means that Razer's
not getting the opportunity to hit a stunned-eyed target, he's having to deal with the lane
control of the Shion and the Tracer, and that damage the ice is able to output.
Yes, you can probably catch the Kirikou at some point in the fight, but enough damage
just being done for a pet chunk of them to still be able to win it out with the cat feels alone
as Alex has already been forced to use recoil.
The fight has been strong here because Vendetta alongside Maga the boxing and the ice top
steps back for a minute now finds a vulnerable on the flank one to one with Vendetta though may
not be where he wants to find himself a big crit from Razor opens things up on the doggy but
with Kiri's off the field it comes down to crucial mechanics in the deathmatch but a lot
How do connections from this vendetta make it
than enough to earn Canada back into this point?
75% on the board for Team Germany so far.
How well now? Can Canada defend?
They've got the engagement composition. They can bait the walk-in
from Team Germany to know who they can hit on to.
It's not a simple game of Kai-Ip the Malga anymore.
All spot. No joint practice, join.
Eyes on, taking some frontline trades, but potentially good overrun here, good connection
into the backline, crit on into the cat, Akru just barely staying alive here.
Now, with the rush out, so much faster from Dockly Cow, 10% away from it, Germany flips
the point down, let's return into the throne of final flight up first point.
And with the limit break, Manga has to run for the hills.
They may not be able to run far enough away, the damage pouring in from the rest of
the team.
Surely they're going to be able to finish off Astro with the flip earlier in the
fight.
That'll be first checkpoint, going the way of Team Germany.
Yeah, they had to get the kill on the dark wave before that rush came out.
If Team Canada wanted to be able to walk away with that fight when they're not able to, one side of the rush,
with the linear break from ice, no opportunity, but Cal does now have the one side of the rush of his own,
and there's no linear break to be able to disrupt it.
Akku does have that catnap though, so she can potentially grab someone out of position
and stun everyone up on the side of the curio.
Ask for a report on the point for Germany trying to contest this rollout.
They find Graveyard before the point can even open so there's no opportunity to just pressure the objective eyes on kids another and Team Canada
Grasping its draws now, Germany look to finish them here and now.
Heals just continue to pour in for the Germans.
McKenna back on their heels, had to give up first point, but the number of holds they brought to this fight has got to stay.
Yeah, they were so split, just by having the lion share of the ultimate.
Everyone was spread across the map, they got a little bit too greedy for all of that space.
And now, yeah, everyone from Germany will just collapse onto the back line,
as for at least Tracer's zone, them ireth, punishing the overextension,
catching so many crucial players without the cage.
So finally now, they've been able to walk onto point the way they want previously.
Good value from the cage fight, though.
Seals the deal, takes down eyes down crucially,
who's always been a key part of any German aggression.
You need to see a very tight formation for this Team Canada squad.
The lack of the hitscan means they really cannot play these long angles.
They need to be attacked in the past unit.
And on the defense it gets a little bit awkward.
You gotta hold on to the point.
Wow, look at those opportunities.
A bike, a little bit wide.
Kent's gonna pop the screen.
Maybe before a deeper connection, give me this backline cow.
Ready for it.
Pops the cleanse.
And Razor just drops Kent.
Maybe a bit of over-aggression here from the German she-on.
Aqua as well called the digression.
Razor keep picking up these kills with the feed.
And Germany just had to beat a hasty retreat now.
Wonderfuck who's even able to get out. No Alex finds that cleaned up.
So Canada showed now, maybe a new lease on life here on this second flashpoint.
The kills just came, come on, it's turning into a real stagger for Germany.
Yeah, ice, swollen, fully out.
Having to hide behind cover, grab a health pack instead.
Doffy does have the rush, but 86%, you lose someone early, you lose the character early.
They lose the chance to retontest and look at how aggressive Team Canada already are,
playing into the faces of Germany 40 at that loss, being able to shut down the space with the sundering blade from Razor!
And that totally melts the chances of Team Germany being able to walk away from the plunking test.
They find kills with their own, though. Germany is still in this one, but only barely Astro's still fully healthy.
I stop trying to do what he can to stay alive and keep the contest going, but as Alex finds the kill of AxeJ,
That should be the finishing blow here on to Germany.
Eyes not out of the suit into the baby form. A quick one-flip for Alex, who's just been continuously affected through this series.
I mean, as difficult as it has been for Team Canada, Alex Tracer has been a standout,
and it'll need to continue to be that if Canada want to force a game five.
Yeah, if you're in Germany, they don't have a good response to things like this Palga Cage without that Lucio beat as well to survive it, right?
So we are seeing the value of the bandwraps through.
You don't have the luxury to disengage the Maga Slam too.
Akra has the Grave, uh, the Slam.
SXJ onto the Reaper instead of trying to deal with the Maga that way.
Oh, Reaper low.
Aislam goes in, but hold on.
Where's this hole behind him?
Both of them comes in.
Soup pop!
A rare mode of discord here on Team Germany now.
Razor steps up, looking to finish the fight.
Academy up comes in.
Namus Gendetta can do about that.
Holding the enemy territory.
Germany's still gonna fight this woman with a flip coming in between Canada. Committing to this one is a huge risk.
So instead they're gonna back off, take the reset.
Momentary power play as Razer's gonna be just a bit off the spawn, but this cage fight, I mean, how do you deal with it?
Yeah, like we said, you don't have the Lucio Sambar to be able to survive this.
You don't have something like Gaklos and Zeus defensively inside it, as Razer forces out that Raifo very early.
And the Suzy with the threat of the overhead swing!
He's gonna go deep trying to find a kill onto that reaper.
Now turns onto the Shion instead and cans up absolutely defenceless.
Great crit.
Ako does find a kill onto Grave Gryffin.
Doesn't seem to be enough in the thick of this cage fight by Vendetta Rain Supreme.
Nice additional stall onto Aizan.
Adds Insel to injury in this second flashpoint.
Coming up all team Canada.
Feels like they've been able to really turn the momentum in this map after a hot start from the Germans.
They look so much more comfortable when they're the ones in control deciding when the fights start.
Crazy though, this time no Sundering Blade to be able to walk out darkly.
Rush, how about second instead? But what a catnap from Graveyard catching right through that rush.
And shutting down any chance that Jimny had of following it up.
Nice high-level play here from Team Canada. I mean fighting off the Flashpoint at 99,
forces and overtime touch from Akku and you're effectively down one in the rush fight.
So great catch from Team Canada, that's going to win them this second or third
5-5 point rather putting them up 2-1 and on the precipice of taking us to a Game 5.
And I think having shown this faster rush look and been able to weather a bit of difficulty,
like Razor coming in cold off the bench, that's always going to be a bit scary for a team,
you know, down okay on a serious point against you.
But if you can win this one here, you can, I mean, we're going to push as the final map
type where these types of fast poms can often be effective? I kind of like Team Canada's odds here.
It's totally thrown the dynamic as well of this match, right? If you're Germany,
you were very comfortable that you had all of this time to be able to set up where you wanted to
go, when you wanted to attack, who you wanted to run onto, because Canada were voluntarily
giving you that space before. Now they're taking it away from you, they're turning that
strategy against you and as he said it feels like we're seeing these fights
sometimes from Germany and we're seeing discourse, we're seeing sort of
disorganization within the ranks because I think just the same way that Kando
were caught out by the speed overwhelmed on route 66 the same thing is
occurring here for the side of team Germany so for both of these teams it
It really is about who is just able to push through and match that tempo.
Not a fan of the Shreaper either.
You know, I think it's like one of those picks you go to, you're like,
God, we appreciate Mauga, that's good.
But honestly, I don't really believe that matchup.
It's, you know, the Mauga is happy to take a face trade into a character like Reaver.
He's also being zoned up by Razor on the Vendetta multiple times.
Both Vendetta and Tracer are not fun matchups for Reaver, right?
They're slippery, they're high burst damage heroes that can easily punish you the moment you, you know, run out of wraith form
They can always run you down. They have better mobility than you.
It's not just the wraith form too. They're forcing Dockly's Suzu.
That fight where SXJ is on the point trying to contest the cap
gets forced out by the Vendetta has to burn for the wraith form and then you're down that
So Dockly tries to throw the Suzu on top to buy time for the shadow step
And then suddenly your cure goes down that really crucial resource which then domino impacts someone else on the team making them a much easier pick
So you're sort of not hitting the thing that you're supposed to be doing as a job for your team
But then you're also making it worse because you're pulling more resources away the sunk cost fallacy
Which then means that someone else on the team is left right
Yeah, I just look at this conference in Germany, I'm like, I don't see it man.
The Reaper she on with the D.Va, I almost feel like you'd rather be on a Moga mirror
than to at least to have more of a, you know, frontline hero that you want to hard rally
around.
D.Va feels like a character that wants to be a little bit more individualistic, right?
A little bit more about what she can do on her own, putting a lot of pressure on,
making opportunities for a hit scan elsewhere.
I like she on in that vein, but the Reaper I feel like typically wants a tank
that is going to take more of the, you know, one-to-one face-trade where you can beat out
plus one that turns the tide and, you know, when the Magas are mirroring one another, you
almost can't turn to shoot the Reaper, but you're just trying to life steal up the enemy
Maga.
Still a very fast point to play, potentially, 14 Germany, but Canada, they've shown
me something to really change the dynamic of the series, which is what you need to
do now.
Which Germany now has to do?
Yeah.
Right, it's their turn to adapt.
who said in terms of substitutions, we sort of have a chess match going on between these two teams,
and it feels like Canada now are on that checkmate round,
and Germany are the ones that have to come up with this new plan before they lose those crucial pieces.
SXJ probably keeps the death blossom here, and then I'm in agreement with you.
I would want to see a swap.
Things like the Sojins Open, Farah, Mei, Azal, Fenshi go for the double look of both the Tracer and the Shion, and just go to hit Kalth on the backline.
Yeah, it's interesting like also seeing the value test for D.Vaunt versus Mandetta. I mean, Mandetta is a very polarizing DPS who has amazing matchups into certain tanks like it was picked as a counter to D.Va for a long time,
But then really struggled another matchups and I could kind of imagine it going either way
But it has looked good for for Razor into the team on like the ability to you know
Get on her flank and like rain down those crit strikes from above
You know the melee battle it looks pretty good for Vendetta actually against demon
I think she prefers those matchups against hitscan characters
You can maybe pull me back a little bit harder somebody like Vendetta who's not scared to go blow for blow at close range
It looks actually pretty pretty scary for ice Tom
They don't have much time to adapt and change things up, but it looks like we are going to
be coming out of this pod shortly, back into the action, and with Team Canada up 2-1 in
the flashpoint, it's a crucial opportunity here for them to force a game 5.
They do not want to squander this one.
They do have good ults that they'll be able to fold up, so not likely to see any
comps slots until those have been burned.
I try to leverage that for control on the first point again.
Let it break, you go crazy here.
Here comes the swing, big connection on the 3,
Supreme from Kent should be a fantastic follow up.
That kind of AoE damage amp.
Astor's trying to stay alive, but alongside Cal,
there's not many resources left in the tank between Canada.
Ten and Ice Tom, clean house.
Astor grabs a kill back on the Dockley,
but won't really need much in the grand scheme of things.
So let it break.
It's shown to be incredibly effective.
I mean, that's where I do think the magic gets scary.
Four of Vendetta, but with Razor now,
Having the Sundering Blade basically go back the other direction quite easily.
Yeah, but SXJ also has the Deathblossom defensively versus Astro's Cage.
So the Maga ult should not find that same one-sided value it was finding before,
especially with how far forward Ken is currently being on this she-on-really,
putting the pressure. SXJ finally be able to find these opportunities to tag out Astro as well.
Fine, a lot of point percent.
Those low, those to half is able to teleport back to his team,
still holds that ult, waiting for the opportunity to use it into the cage.
That cheeky little corner for XSJ holding onto this raid farm for dear life. Here comes the group board from Astro, tries to step up, Cal just barely alive on 1 HP, stays alive, ganks my force onto the point, sundry playing, rains down from above and XSJ still able to find some value before he goes down with Ken.
Taking down Razor, maybe Germany had done enough to force a fifth flashpoint. It's up to Cal and Alex to clutch kills out, but it doesn't seem they can.
Off with the Cat now. Doesn't have to drop Cal and Astor has to take the reset.
I don't know if there's time for a retouch here though. I mean 90% already this 500% has picked so fast.
I mean it's a risk too because if you lose the fight they could potentially stagger you out
then you're not in a position on the last Flashpoint for Rush. So no, they will bend the knee.
They will rotate instead to hit that first defensive position of fifth Flashpoint being
Being able to mark out where Kennen tries to flank,
he must have catch where exactly SXJ will play.
The Reaper denied the range to play in close
to put the pressure onto the backline or the tank.
Kennen's decision not to re-contest though,
it does yield them an advantage position,
holding defensively here on this final flashpoint.
Series point here, 14 journey.
They can just get a little bit of line.
One more time, here comes Kennen with the rush,
Cal sends it in,
dressed the team following behind,
and the stun comes in, I believe that drops.
The limit break from Eisner, but maybe he's done enough anyway.
Still finds the kill on graveyard, despite that ultimate coming into connect.
XSJ can't stay alive on the extremities,
potentially Alex starts to strike back during that,
but the first flick does come in for Team Germany.
Ooh, good stick.
D-next, Ice.
Still won't be able to stall at this point,
just a little more darkly able to teleport out actually.
Now Akku takes up her position on the point.
Her is going to be able to keep the jetpack cats in play, and suddenly that still has been able to hit 27th of a Sun.
I like this swap from Aisdame, he's gonna come to the Magamiror, now the Reaper and Shion are gonna feel very effective in terms of pumping damage into that frontline with Aisdame.
Ready to assist.
Haku with the Catnatch, he's been fantastic on the Catnatch series.
No reason to expect this, you won't be able to boost yet, more of the same.
You can see Candidate giving a lot of respect here.
They don't want to take this aggressive frontline brawl.
Raze are gonna be struggling for his identity on Vendetta in this moment.
Ten has that spree, could use it defensively versus the Mav cage. Ice stomping not onto a play, but onto the point to force the drop early from after the four cages and play.
Cattle's left vulnerable behind and Akku takes him down.
Zilba with Kiri out of the fight to stay, brutally limited, Astro drops the cage fight. Maybe that's all the sustain they need.
Ice not coming in though, toe to toe. Here XSJ makes a huge difference, but Razor getting a Kiri kill with that Sundering Blade maybe is enough for Candela.
They've been in control of the point this whole time. They continue to tick up and the respawns come back just in the perfect moment
Canada now may be able to force a game five, Moxie
Very bad so close to having that catnap someone from Germany has to be able to get on to this point to touch
No catnap available for Akku. No traitor falls to Ken and Ice to cycle that position to keep it in play
Ice doesn't have huge trouble. The clan comes out. Huge sustain comes in. They just barely keep this tank from fight alive
Ken, a depth dash dodges the catnap for now, but it still gets run down by the brunt of
Team Canada.
XSJ comes into the backline.
Deathboss is healed!
Into the entire backline of Canada, scoffed out though by Astro, who may keep this one
still alive for Canada.
Aiznop, back to the point now with the support in tow, has a cage fight.
Canada, do they want to commit into this as well?
They're forced to now.
Astro, gaps kill back.
The other way, Aiznop, looking for targets.
No one in the cage fight stabilizing him for the moment.
for the moment. Canada hoping to get the regroup. I would love to deny it, but maybe he'll be the one who finds himself denied Astro,
stomps down on the star tank of Germany, and maybe, just maybe, has done enough for this team. Canada, win the deathmatch drawl,
and they will take us to a fifth map in what has been our closest series of the day.
What a kill on to Dockley. The rush comes, I bet. It's too little, too late, unless...
No, here we go again, SXJ vulnerable to the Sundering Blade from where he's at held aloft as Canada take us the distance.
Cheers erupt, Aliga, our first five map series of the day.
We said it was a possibility, but I struggled to believe the way the series started to develop, the way Route 66 went.
Gotta give so much credit for Team Canada for digging deep in a tough spot such as this.
Great adaptations in the final moments from Razer, from Alex to get the job done.
Hugely impressed with these DPS particular. I mean, Alex is phenomenal through the entire series.
But Razer coming in cold off the bench, that's a different kind of mental resiliency.
Something that a lot of players who may be very individually skilled
can't necessarily bring into a really rough spot in a series that was looking scary after Route 66.
But now all bets are off.
Germany, they'll have the luxury of advantage map pick and ban, but we're trying, we've got to be pushed
so that your map picks are so limited and I wonder what the ban will be.
Mauga, potentially.
True, right, because I think it was Team Canada who baned Mauga earlier.
There'll be a way to limit what Astro could bring, but Astro has also showed a lot of promise on the ERISA.
True.
Maybe you go, if you see Raza still in play, you can potentially go for Raza's hero pick.
Yeah.
because that, I think, was also a huge difference maker, especially the Kyroko.
For ults, having that Sundering Blade to be able to just totally ice off the pressure from the enemy rush,
and then also with the cage here, being able to find some really crucial picks there onto players like Dockly.
Speaking about crucial picks like that, last fight, that overtime fight, where everyone from Germany
is just desperately trying to throw their bodies onto point,
Getting the kill onto Darkly, who held on to that rush, they try to win out the fight with Malga Cage,
but the Kiriko's outside of where the Malga Cage actually is,
so still goes down to Astro on the Malga outside of the ultimate, with Rush intact.
That's the thing that punishes Team Germany, and allows us to go forward into map 5.
crucial map 5 and everything's kind of thrown into chaos in the series from team Canada switching over to a rush style
complicating everything for Germany's plans
push is typically a map type where rush looks pretty good like 90s fast pay styles looks good
however they got a hit scan I mean when you cut hit scan you really are committed you are all in on this aggression
It works out for Team Canada on Newjunk City, but even if you're going to play Rush, surely
you have a hit scan on push, right?
Like, you think things are open enough that, yeah, you might be getting in there with the
front line, but you want to be able to play range.
You want to be able to bring that threat.
Does that mean not just to come back in?
I mean, there are some questions for Team Canada in my mind if we go to some of
these more open push maps, which in my mind should be exactly where Germany want
to take us.
Especially because, like Jeremy, like you said, this is the advantage of losing both
map.
now have the opportunity to decide where we go and also which order of draft everyone's
won their map picks right so the high seed advantage has become the map 5 in that scenario
so you can use your map to save or you can use it to try to weaken your opponent it is
all up to you so we'll have to keep an eye on if teams actually try to substitute players
out because Noxious has the M-Ray available unless that one gets banned out so that will
be open if he wants to go for something like that.
Mauga could potentially be banned out or maybe Germany think it's okay now that Lucio is going
to be left open to be able to try to disengage it but then if you're forced onto the Lucio
You're not getting to run the cat, which in turn takes resources away from some of the rest of your team.
So it's a very tricky position, I think, for me to be in.
The big question is just what DPS do you run between Canada?
Like, do you go with this commitment to an all-in rush style?
Or do you feel the need to bring Noxious back in to have the hit-scan threat?
On Newjung City, I see why they go for the all-in rush.
Like, it makes sense. It's a classic map for cutting hit-scan.
And they get it done.
Also for Germany, like, you brought Kennen on that map, but it's scary.
QXU has been so good this series. Do you keep Ken in? Do you still have faith in him?
You know, it can kind of suck to be a player who comes in, loses their map and gets sucked out.
Yeah.
But sometimes that's what you have to do, right? Like to get the win in.
Yeah, take them for the team, right?
Exactly, exactly. It's about who can get the win. It's about who's the right pick for the job.
And maybe the choice of Flashpoint will shed some light in terms of the way you want to go for Team Germany.
But ultimately, I feel like it's always going to be about Eisenhower.
Where can he have the most impact? Where can he really deliver a carry performance?
looks like QRQ is going to be coming back in which is sensible. I mean I think for Ken it's like
hey come in to play the Shion on New Junk City where the you know the Cassidy is just a little bit too
claustrophobic for but obviously I'm pushed pretty much no matter where you take us there's going
to be more room for QRQ to play the the hitscan and generally more open sky boxes for the cat to
really enable as we've seen throughout the entire series with Aukin. Potentially Colosseum is the push
map big band, very strong for the castee but also very very good for the cat bastion to be able to
play those outer lanes of the glass panels and take a lot of resources away from the fight
occurring on the objective itself so that even if you lose the bastion cat you're still able to
keep on trucking on the objective itself. Did you just pronounce it though? Yeah, I mean
in fairness I do think Coliseal there's at least a possibility of cutting it scan,
I mean, I think it's a little bit crazy to do, but there are some like odd choke points and some close range fights around in the checkpoints
Especially that's around that. This is a this is a hit scan map
I mean if you cut hits can hear you're you're truly crazy between Canada, but maybe they are crazy, right?
Like this is the world cup
There's an opportunity to do things that you know conventional wisdom would say are incorrect
But if you just bring the individualism you have the confidence in the team and you execute your vision
Well that can be more important than what is quote-unquote meta
There is a risk attached to Esperanza though, because both of these teams have been heavily momentum-favoured, right?
And Esperanza is very much you win one fight, you snowball to winning the map, because you get to take the high ground control,
then once you've been able to take those first forward spawns, you don't actually have to fight around corner,
you can just sit back on the high ground and force the other teams to have to fight unfavourable positions to be able to collapse onto you,
As it will be of them Dettabang, which means, yeah, Germany, they want to defang Razor's
hero pool.
We had a sub for QRXU.
We did not have a sub for Razor.
And if you're thinking about being able to sit up on that high ground and basically
tax the enemy team into having to walk directly into you, then Dett is able to overcome
that because she has the mobility to go very quickly from the low ground to the
high ground and try to overwhelm that more defensive position.
demon will be the ban out on the side of Team Canada. No more having to match the tank they did,
I will say, look less comfortable when playing the demon versus demon banter.
Yeah, I don't think they want that mirror into Ice Knot. I think they'd much more. I mean,
Astro was looking very nice in the mage off on a ton of key stomps, which for me is always my
litmus test for an elite mage. Can they find those big stomp connections, turn those crit
where it stops into opening solo kills.
That's really what moves the needle for me.
And I believe in Astro. He looks solid in the rush comp.
I don't think you want the mirror in the new tank
against a nice nun who looks clearly well-practiced on the hero.
And especially without that vendetta as well.
Yeah, the vendetta was a huge part of the answer.
So you take away the vendetta,
at least we're not going to have to deal with what has been,
really, the thorn in your side all series long.
So impactful bans from both of these teams.
And as we said, despite the fact that this has been along the series so far, this could be one of the shortest maps of the day so far as Esperanto...
It's tough to beat the KSA's record against Australia on this map.
It is true.
Where we have seen what's possible on Esperanto, but I will say full-capping this map, well, that again, it's probably the easiest course map to full-cap, but it's still rare.
It still shouldn't happen in evenly matched teams.
Well, that's the last time you saw a Colosseo full-cap, huh?
That is true. I think it's more full-capable than Colosseum for sure.
But like you mentioned, I think once you lose the checkpoint, that's a real test for a team.
Trying to retake when the defender is just, we're not gonna push anymore.
You've got to come retake through our high ground. That is not necessarily easy.
With Cat in play, it's a little bit more viable.
Like, high grants in general, I think lose a bit of relevance when Cat can just kind of steal them away
or at least, you know, match you in that verticality.
But yeah, so much I think always rests in the first fight in Esperanza both teams would love to be able to take control
It feels like if you win first fight you almost assuredly
Yeah, the first checkpoint and like you said on the forward spawn and on a high pressure match such as this on land
But you know it's serious point. It's gonna come down to this
There's gonna be I mean nerves are a huge question here like who's got the fortitude to see this one through
This is what you look at fire experience as well, right?
Because some of these players do have that power experience like Al, Ice, they'll be able to keep cool under pressure, I'm sure.
And I think for Germany, they'll be looking for Ice directly.
Now I think him and having that experience being able to really helm this team and be the IGL, be basically the person saying,
Hey trust me, go in now, get out now, go on this person.
Man, XSJ's hype.
It will be a real surround.
Some people, you know, they deal better, they perform better under these high levels of pressure.
XSJ looks cool as a cucumber right now, he's vibing, he's vibing, I love it.
But if you saw Team Canada's camera actually before they loaded into New Junk City,
they were flashing the crowd with hearts.
They were looking super happy, they were not looking like they were
map point away from losing this matchup.
Yeah, I mean, if our team can't, I still feel like, hey, you might be bidding the vendetta,
but we still shown a faster-paced style, but playing with that hitscan, I don't know.
I mean, Alex, he also played Bastion earlier, I believe, so even with Alex in, I think there's
no reason that they can't have a successful hitscan look before Razor, what does he
go to?
Tracer Sheen?
I wouldn't hate it.
I just think that drop Bastion has to be good here, you know?
Yeah, I would prefer Cavassian.
I think if you're going for like that style of DPS lineup, because obviously the Vendetta
would have been preferred, but it has been banned out.
Reaper did not look great from SXJ, and I would imagine it would have the same sort
of level of performance here on Ysparamsa.
The question is, what does Germany play versus this?
Because if they're expecting this like very fast in your face style tempo, they could
just try to out-range it because now Lucio is open.
I mean, so you imagine that like the Tracer cat, Kiri, is just fixed or for
Germany the way they compare to this series. It's really Aiznam who has an open hero
slot as well as QRXU but for QRXU it's like are you on Cassidy or are you on
Bastion? I mean that's what we've seen from him in this series.
Yeah, of course Soja. Potentially Soja.
It could be the Soja. You know, demon out maybe if you expect the Magamir.
Yeah. I don't, I think Soja is really hurt by
cat in the meta, to be honest. It's tough to play Soge against cat plus one. You just
don't feel good as Sojourn shooting up into the sky because you're so reliant on those
rail shots. You know, actually building rails against a Cassidy being flown around the map
is not easy. And then if you don't hit a headshot rail, you just aren't killing anything.
Also, it feels like overclock is much harder to find value as well as everyone else.
OCE is like the one time I feel like you at least have a reliable headscan tool
you have overclocked like that that is actually a good problem for you but but yeah exactly the
character just pulls people to safety and runs away.
The speed that people can disengage it's so hard to be able to collapse on TV targets.
It feels like and also like how often do you build OC if you're not having those
opportunities to actually hit people board rail one time because that's always been
sort of one of the main differences of Sojourn her clutch potential outside of
Oh great. The one-job potential, the ability to literally just nuke someone in neutral if they're not paying attention or they're slightly too slow to be able to cross behind the cover of their tank.
Let's see if we'll be able to get into game shortly. Seems like everybody's getting set up to their satisfaction.
I think Razor for me, he's the player I've got to watch right now, came in in the top
spot, pulled off the bench, turned things around, changed momentum to the series, allowed
Canada to be the aggressor in a map that ended up being decisive for them, and now gets
attacked with a ban, like immediately has some success in the series, immediately,
okay, the dead is banned, you've got to go deeper into the pool.
What does he have next on deck, what's going to be the choice, and with so much
riding as we've set up here, he'll be opening fights at his paranza.
This is a crucial test of game sense and a read for both teams.
Your comp has to be perfect.
If you don't get the opportunity to be able to scout out what the other team is on,
and if you don't like the match-up, return to school.
No, not at all. Not at those rounds.
You have to take the fight. Even if you're in the worst match-up,
you just have to dive right into that depen.
The stakes are high here, both these teams likely seeing this match as crucial to their
hope of qualifying to BlizzCon, which is of course top of mind for all of these teams.
You came across the world to compete here in Busan, all for a chance at representing
your country and lifting a trophy for your nation.
Team Canada, they have made deep runs in the past, but the competition is heated
up man, even for Team Germany who historically hasn't been such a strong country in Overwatch.
team maybe one of the best we've seen. What are the compositions that we have
to see? Malga available, likely the player here for Astro. Does Ice try to match, do
you gamble on trying to counter the Malga or just try to match it? As yet it
will be Tracer Sheehan here for Alex and Razor. SXJ is this actual
far up that we see taking advantage of this is this is this is fasting cat playing
that range attrition taking advantage of how far away you can play from things
like that Fraser all mirror separate she on versus a bastion razor cast now with
matching up against one of the most threatening duos in Overwatch matter
right now the cap bastion what can you produce on the shield it's also the
window right of respect that Canada have to give as the cat will actually
position Alex deep behind the back line so now the attention will be split from
Germany they can't just focus on winning the frontline now the person how that
they have to go aggressive funds is traded now Astro getting some good life
so out of the shop but the best continues to bear down on them and
eventually QXU overwhelms graveyard trying to get kills back Canada
Desperately need something for Germany rally around Eissam, stabilize the position, and they'll surely be victorious in this first fight.
They haven't been able to find further kills, but as I see that count eventually drops.
The withering eye of QRX continues to find more kills, and Eissam, even looking for some cleanup traits.
Yeah, great target call from Germany. Just making the play understanding Tracer behind them.
If they play too slow, if they try to go pure the backline, the Malca gets overwhelmed.
What do they do instead? All in on the front line with everyone stacked up
So Tracer has no one to be able to jump onto isolated and that's the gamble that does not take off to Canada
First fight, first loss, instantly pitting back to the camp Astonian
Hold on, Alex comes in, turns the tide 13 Canada crucially before this checkpoint is capped
Astro is low but he gets support just in the nick of time
Shout is out for Astonian but Canada regroup with a player advantage
They can stop the camp here, potentially staunch the bleeding in this series
Germany though keeping the pressure on still looking for the fight, but it's Razor now comes over the
Crucial kill really onto the Kirikou and soon to follow the rest of this German squad Canada
Abastion swap from Alex exactly with the doctor order. They have good tempo as well for alt economy
So it's not just win one fight reset bought back to mid and then lose the fight afterwards to greater ultimate economy from the enemy team
Cow will have much faster rush build-up than Dockly, and already, after it's just keeping ice occupied, not allowing the team past the Malaga, they can start eating up some of the distance game.
Artillery form, after Malax will also find an early connection, speculative at best, but not really the crucial, ultimate in these fights.
Both tanks now posturing on the payload, a lot of time in the bank, everything rides on your ability to cap this point and get those four spawns online.
To do that, it'll take Heroics potentially from Team Canada fashion dueling over the top.
The either one wants to pop those forms early.
No one wants to make the first move until they feel they have the Bachelor of the Ultimates
and there we go.
Watch for Ross Cage for Cage, who will come out on top and raise her!
Raise her with the spree!
Hards the damage to overcome journey sustainability!
And that will be fight one for Canada, the hero of Newark City,
Bunt out of Vendetta, and he is the reason that Canada will be able to pick up first full with Spawn's first.
And for Mimachi, the Tracer is super weak in this matchup. I mean, when Mimachi H-Fights are down, you're not really even a hero on Tracer.
Artillery comes in, actually gets some decent damage, but damage is done. The point is, Cap, Germany coming into this one desperately won't last throw.
Okay, hitting a little bit too deep gets burned down by Bastion, so as I say that, Germany may have a nice un-life.
It's their turn to retake control of this mid-map position as QRX continues to find kills
Alex will grab one back on the tracer but doesn't need much in the grand scheme of things as Gerberty
Rumble the bot back towards mid-map even stalling the bastard a bit more nice little body block from Isnop
Ensuring that the card touch cannot come in. This is huge as well because Alex with the artillery strike
He'll be the one that Canada looked to when trying to free up the space to let them walk back onto the objective to try
to put the pressure on to where exactly the backline will be raised by the way off of the
she-on onto the Reaper and winning that fight, stalling out that Bastion should allow forward spawns
to be picked up now for the side of Team Germany. They are found QXU over the top,
can he find yet more with this Bastion? Ultimate's available here for Germany,
slight advantage for them as the cart marches forward, see what Razor can produce on this
Reaper, not an easy comp. Be playing those frontliners on. Bastion of course has a huge
threat, but it comes to that raw damage dual. Germany for now playing slow, letting Canada
make the first move now, mirrored forms, Alex tracking dual in the sky. Neither team really
finding enough advantage to meaningfully move the needle, but maybe Germany find an omni
forward here, XSJ in with the post bumper behind, shuts down the bastard, that's crucial.
All the damage now, blend out the team Canada. Razor though as I see that perhaps one
kill back, that's all that Canada could find. Germany stabilized and make deep progress
now into enemy territory. And now you can twist the knife right? With Dockley having that first
Kitsune rush. Cal 18% off Razor. Play and hear a roulette at the moment. On to the Tracer now
to be able to match out SXJ, but the damage might have been done. Ice has KJ ahead of Astro
too to be able to have an extra edge on the rush for rush fight. Stunned early on, KJ the Bastro.
There's the rush from Dockley trying to overwhelm the Madagascar.
Cal forced to match but he gets overrun by Ice.
And Germany just keep the ball rolling.
The snowball in danger of becoming an avalanche.
There's Canada on the precipice of losing Esperanza.
Great kill from Razor though.
That just stops the bleeding.
And maybe get you back towards mid map.
Late kill on XSJ will be a nice one to Tracer,
of course, so fast back into the fight.
He'll see if you go.
So Canada, win that fight, down ult, right?
Alright, so now they're back in with a real tempo swing back the other way, they'll need it.
But there's still a chance for them in this final map of the series.
Alex waiting his time fighting, waiting for the opportunity to swing wide.
If an awkward approach to them, I wonder what the intention is for this bastard position.
Trying to set up an off angle form instead of just ghosting the artillery fire, cage right from Astro,
catch his carry out to brutal position, she'll be finished.
Gehry, such a crucial healer. Without her on the field, it's hard to imagine Germany winning a long drawn out engagement.
Aiznab now, in desperation, tries to trade with the Bastion, but won't find any such long Germany now, just bleeding out one by one on the payload.
QRXU drags one kill back in the fight. XSJ with the recall stays alive and stays behind an enemy territory.
The fight another day, but Canada should be able to deny the forward spawn here and reset at mid-map.
Yeah, that will now be Canada trying to occupy up these high ground forward positions
Razor with the pulse bomb still having to worry about the Suzer from Darkly
They're not able to get bot around the corner. There's the pulse message
But it goes wide pal's able to hold on to have that Suzer available for when Ice tries to find the engagement
You can see Razor's waiting. Suzer's been forced but the pulse bomb works
Beaming down upon that bastard, losing the bastard
She's gonna really struggle now for Aiznab.
Astro happy to take that frontline trade.
Agu wins the tool.
On to our opposite number, but Aiznab running out of gas in the frontline.
Or is he? He's getting the cleanse just in time!
Steel has to run out.
Astro on a sliver of HP, but the support is good from Cal.
Good enough to keep the fight in contention,
but maybe not to win enough to win it decisively.
Aiznab now restored back to health.
On the flank, a cannon are the ones to find themselves backing out.
The rush though, it could be bait.
Cal is able to battery up the rush from after damage
He's got a forward down from high top, commits in, but with the rush under his feet, is he able to really finish the fight here?
Seemingly not. Cage fight denies any kind of possible retreat in Team Canada
Getting some momentum back in their side, they're gonna be able to cap this point and open up the forward spawn
They've got a lot more work to do to even the push from Germany, but this is the start of it
They have to overcome one-sided rush fight
For the side of team Germany, this will be one of their most impossible tasks to be able to overcome
if they want to bring their series back. Alex, at least with artillery strike, can blank out some of the rush's range.
You can see Astrod's playing corner, making sure that if Germany gets too close to utilizes that rush to kick off the fight,
his team aren't instantly behind him over on it.
Razor, oh, tries to get aggressive.
Blockley shuts him down, forced out into an early rush.
TFDF Trinity is here for Canada to back out.
Live to fight another day covered by the retreating artillery fire from Alex.
They'll do just that.
And cutting your losses is just a tracer.
In exchange for the rush, it's got to feel good, but Canada,
they're not out of the woods just yet.
Germany, press forward now.
Want to finish this map here and now.
1.30 on the clock.
We're coming down to the final moments of this incredibly close series.
Canada and Germany, we're hauling out for the finish.
Potentially a key series for their futures in this group.
Razor could be absolutely clutched with the pulse bomb, the Mauga vs. Mauga continues yet again.
Big spam from Ice Force as the reposition from Astro Graveguard tries to take advantage though.
With that catnap Force to reposition away as Cura Hicks you tries to find the opportunity
but he gets taken down too close to the tank and slowly but surely kills are bleeding the way of Team Canada.
Unfortunately for them though Jake, even if they win the fight they won't gain any ground
as they're forced to push the bot back to the position that they had to kite the rush out from before.
But this time at least there's no rush on the other side, they will have to deal with
essentially the entire full bank of Team Germany.
And as we're coming down to these final moments, kiting is not going to be an option
in the next few fights.
Well, Kall will have a rush of his own right one-sided.
So this time it's Germany who have to respect the damage that the Kira-Kall can do.
Our killers from Kira-XU speculative at best, Kall, is holding the cleanse,
Making sure to dodge those shells out.
Astro gonna buy this time.
What's gonna be the ghost on the team Canada?
Here comes the rush.
Right in top of the cage fight.
Such a brutal combo to overcome.
Responsive cage fight comes in with a beautiful plan.
It's great support for the back of the team Canada.
Germany wiped off the face of the earth.
Getting not a single kill in this fight.
Which is crucial.
They were hoping for some kind of trade back in the OT.
But it's Canada.
They took poor control of the map.
Dockley 70% to rush, but it feels so far away.
Last chance, Germany have to get into this, this series has been so strong for them, thus far, but it's Canada who find Purchase here to find the open edges down!
Cut out of the air, over aggression, punished in the crucial moment, and Navy Germany have done enough, a close-buffer-raiser gets the best, so incredibly low he'll find the finish!
The hero called in for Team Canada, in their moment of need, saves them, bringing them back from the precipice.
It's just chocolatey and SSJ, but it's just impossible for these two to deal with the brunt of Team Canada, magged by their side.
What a clutch for Team Canada!
I've written this one back, but it looked so impossibly difficult.
They'll win, they'll shut down Team Germany,
and potentially set themselves up for Blaise Combs.
The team piling in, coaches, staff, all celebrating.
That turnaround win!
win. Esperanza we talked about such a snowball heavy map it really did feel
like Germany were gaining that early ground that they would be able to tie
IFED series and then Razer just came alive when his team required him. That
Uber extension, the Bastion going down with artillery strike, that felt like
movie closing after series and then Razer's able to find what three in the
The space of about 5 seconds, despite being banned out of Vendetta, despite going through
about 4 different hero swaps, the Tracer pick in the end gets Canada across the finish line.
Crazy, crazy series for Razer.
I mean it's rare that you can say that about a player who comes in for 2 maps, but the
impact was felt.
Huge victory on Neutron City, pops a ban immediately in response, buys the adaptations
on Tracer and then to feed the player to clutch out in the final moment you lose your
Bastion first in this comp you are not supposed to win the fight I mean it's supposed to be
over from that position and somehow for Tracer to be the one to bring it back unbelievable
scenes for Team Canada I mean to see them all rush the stage like that you can tell
how much this match meant to them.
They probably thought they were out right?
Yeah.
They probably thought okay we might have lost this one especially like you said
with that Bastion pick so early on the fight, but honestly there was some clutch moments
from all of the team, like Kyle being able to save Rush as well as the fact that we got
Astro baiting out of the one-sided rush earlier from Germany to be able to kite out the effects
of it. Those were the huge moments.
Kyle, in front of the back in this series, I mean, the Ana came up for Izo, that
was crazy, but then just so rock solid on Kiri, it's amazing to see Kyle back
on the watch. It's just something
skills right in the world. It
is incredible. I think this
matchup that we got our first
five mapper for the group stage
being between Team Germany and
Canada and having so many
clinch moments across all five
of these maps here as well
journey. There were moments of
brilliance. I think still
calling back down to that
Canada. They stepped up in this last map of Esperanza and we had so many conversations, I
think, Moxie about the back line for this team, what they were going to be able to provide,
especially at the conversation of what the head to head also looked like versus Germany,
and it was stellar today.
Yeah, I think for me, it wasn't about like one specific bio outside of those insane
clutch moments. It was also Canada striking gold in understanding we can't play for second
temp, we have to take momentum away from our opponents so that we get more agency within
those fights. I think banning out the demon as well on that last map, the fact that Razor
was able to do so much on New Jump City that you forced the ban onto Vendetta on the
DPS roll which then freed up the tank roll to be banned out so you could remove the
demon from play as well, also meant that you could win a lot of those frontline
and fights almost easily.
I mean, Ice Nom was incredibly impressive
throughout the series.
Like, we knew that coming in, and it's funny,
like, I almost take it for granted,
because he's such an elite veteran player.
I mean, one of the best players in the world right now,
easily in the NBA.
As certainly an individual on tank,
it's really hard to think of someone on that level.
And he showed it, right?
I mean, he was constantly leading the aggression.
He could feel the influence of his communication
on the team.
And so, for Team Canada, going up against a squad
that had really rallied around a superstar,
like this was not an easy task for them.
As you take a look at the rest of the group,
Thailand and Spain, I mean,
this is a crucial series for either of these teams.
And so for Canada to get this win,
this is a massive victory for them.
It really sets them up for success.
I mean, obviously more matches to be played
in terms of qualifying for BlizzCon,
but Germany has to be considered
one of the really heavy hitters in this group.
Absolutely.
And it was up against Germany
that wanted to look to find their statement
in this first matchup,
considering the fact that back in 2023,
They weren't able to qualify to that tournament and into a group stage in general, actually,
with how strong EMEA had looked previously, and Canada has been the squad that was consistently
in that top eight.
We do have, though, now an interview and a guest joining us on the desk.
We have Danny, the coach here with Team Canada.
Danny, I've got to say congratulations for winning your first matchup.
Two, I think my first question actually has to do with the staff situation on Nintendo.
We're all kind of, we've seen the memes on socials about how it seems like you guys have
like a coach, assistant coach, analyst for every single player.
What's the game plan there?
Like, what are you guys cooking?
Yeah, so first of all, we have Taito here and he's been great to help us here in Korea
find some practice space and also help us with like translation and give some recommendations
for food places.
But also all of our assistant coaches, I really want to rally together like all
all the coaches in Tier 2 to also help with the trial process and work a lot on individual
feedback.
And everyone, I want to give a shout out to Ray Linney, Zae, everyone on the roster that's
been coming to scrims.
Even though it's really early in the morning for them, they're still really helping the
team.
And while I was away at EWC, they were also participating and practicing with the team,
and they're very, very helpful to the team and I want to shut them up.
That's amazing.
Talk us a little bit through the emotions, going through the back room of things, because obviously that was a nail-viter, right?
Of an Esperanto, it was back and forth and back and forth, and you're probably trying to calculate, are we winning, are we losing?
We're probably losing, but we're winning, and then we saw the win, and you're just sprinted out of that hole and exploded showing up for those players.
So what was it like for you as a coach? What were the emotions that were running through your head?
I mean, at the end of the day, I'm just so proud of our team.
Like, all of our players, like, they really clutched up, like, when it really mattered.
Um, I think I've tried a lot with this roster, right?
So, I want to keep the roster.
So, going into map 4, we put in Razor and Astro.
And I think we were doing really well, just playing a high-tempo Magokomp.
And I said, no matter what the push map is, we're going to keep this high-tempo up.
And I think that was really the success and how we won this map 5.
But in terms of emotions, it was just, ah, blah, just everything.
Crazy roller coaster there at the end right where it looks so dark. You have a great fight looks so good
And who's the bastard early? I mean it's just crazy to see that go back and forth back and forth
That's overwatch these days
Yeah comes down to individual players really a lot of agency for them to be able to make those big plays and speaking of individuals
I want to ask you a little bit about Alex
So I would say is arguably like maybe the least on player on this squad who has had some of the least
Experience or or visibility and top tier play. Yeah, he was lights out today. Yeah, this was a series
This is like fuck about a test for a young player for me. That's what the Overwatch World Cup is about
But I kind of ask you specifically about him. Where did you find this guy? What are you been feeding him?
Tell me the story of Alex. Yeah, so Alex he comes from facelink masters
I believe he was on ex oblivion before and he's a player
He also played with a st. Claire actually on a different role
So he's a player that can really learn new heroes and a bunch of different styles
So at one point on st. Claire he was playing Kirikou, but now he's came in to this world cup
And he's really shown that he is one of the best tracers players here
And I think he can also he has a couple of tricks up his sleeves right like he can play bashing
He plays Symmetra even he could play hitscans sometimes
I think there's a lot of like tricks with him
But I think I'm really impressed with him because he I think this is one of his first major lands and very major tournaments
And I think he's just done great. I'm super proud of him. Hey, he looks absolutely at home
on stage there and so impressive to hear about his flexibility there as well.
I know that we were so excited to chat with you about the results of this matchup
but before we head out, I also just wanted to get a vibe check with you.
How have you been enjoying Korea? How has it been?
I mean it was tired, I mean we missed actually our first flight, we had some delays
but the team practiced, all the vibes have been really good.
I mean we're enjoying some good food.
Thai Dola has been helping us a lot to find some food recommendations
and yeah, I think we've just been continuing to work hard.
And I think today in practice, we really showed that no matter what I've seen a lot of people say on social media that our scrim results are kind of bad.
But I just want to say the scrims don't matter until it comes to the match.
If you play well in the match, I don't I really don't care what happens.
100% results are what matters here.
Thank you so much, Danny, for joining us on the desk.
And we are going to throw to a quick break.
We will be back with Thailand versus Spain.
Some more groups see on OWC up next.
Yeah, love the Jersey.
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This Thailand roster, you've got a core coming out from Team Secret who did make it to that
qualification to MSC placing first during the Pacific Stage 2 and they're looking to
make their stand to get a little bit early back.
Yeah, they want to pop up with the numbers a little bit.
Like Thailand historically have not been too successful with their watch World Cup,
but I think this might be a good chance for them to kind of prove themselves on
the big stage I mean look team secret love experience they got experience on
the big stage two in midseason playing as the best teams in the world so yeah
we'll see how they go Sam. I mean successful in results Thailand might not be but I
feel like they're an iconic World Cup team because they always show up and like
they're having the best of times and going back to the early World Cups like
2016 2017 they would just bring the dive and then you know veterans in the
scene they're getting tired of me saying this because every World Cup I'm like
They got the good old days. Micky and the boys. Micky is the general manager of this team still.
And it is a country that has upset potential each and every World Cup.
And so I'm looking forward to see what they can do against the team like Spain.
I think especially with the roster that they're fielding this time around here for Thailand
and having that success during the previous stage of OWECS for their region.
There are pieces here. I think, namely, we were looking at that DPS line here for Thailand, Johnny, to be those different sneakers today.
Yeah, I think High Vision needs to have a great game today if you're going to beat Spain, because Spain is a really solid roster, right?
So you really need to bring something a little bit extra here if you are Thailand.
I feel like going back a few World Cups, Tyler has some real iconic players.
Obviously, Mickey was the first to go to, but also they were enabled to play such a fast, aggressive dive style
because they have some passive, can't you pay your respect then, right?
Now I think it falls to High Vision.
Truly purport them this series and make a statement in the first match of the week.
Much, much different game now, nowadays.
It's a little different, yeah.
Ace and High Vision have been both in this round for such a long time at this point.
It's good to see, like over the years you go on the Lycopedia and you're like,
the players they're still racking on and they are still getting big results.
Yeah, they definitely are, but let's talk about their opponents here within Team Spain
because we just sung some praises there for Team Thailand,
but when it comes down to Spain you have some key players honestly
I've always been very impressed by Santi and the success that she's had within the calling all heroes circuit placed
Inconficiently within you know top two in that kind of regard and you'll have players like exodial who have been popping off
Yeah, gala canal this back line
This is the best you see back line right here. Look at this Spain
This is what you rely on and in this current state of overwatch
watch, you need your backhand to be strong. You need a good cat player, you need a good
flex player as well and this is Spain's biggest strength right now. And Exodio too, make his
way back into the scene. I mean the guy was a freak on Cassidy when it was a tournament.
Yeah I feel like that is the big player that I'm looking out for today. Exodio, you know,
took a little bit of a break, has to be said after some of the success we saw early
on in the career. When we started the whole business, you know, 2024, Exodio was
one of the rookies that kind of came on the scene with like a splash or like
Exodiel is the next big thing and then that
train kind of like lost momentum a little bit and we're like Exodiel you know we
thought to be the next great hit scamper on the scene instead like
quarks and labs that they kind of took over in EMEA instead
um so i feel like Exodiel has a lot to prove here in this workout. Yeah for sure
let's see if he's been able to play that catch up with that time off but
let's get into our predictions now here as well guys i had to go
with Spain for this one very much so honestly because of that backline they're talking about their
toss yeah basically what you just said I think the backline is just too good for team Spain
it would be a really cool kind of upset story if Thailand end up winning here getting revenge over
the 2023 run but yeah Spain just seemed a little too strong out of the game yeah I got Spain as
well you know it's just a great boom coming into the World Cup when you kind of like know
your play style right you don't have to think about what heroes are we gonna play what comes
So we're gonna pay what is our strength or some weakness because you know, I remember why I played at least we had like a mix of player
But we didn't really know like are we a brawl team or we are dive team like what are we going for here?
In the case of Spain here, you kind of know that like hey, we're gonna like play around or fix
well
And a Reaper band from Spain here, Johnny
Alright, I mean realistically the cat eventually was gonna get a kind of picked off and I think
Looking at what has been bringing to the table, I think Thailand is going to be permanently targeting him in terms of fans.
Busan the first map too, as we roll out, Bones, TP and people forward on Team Spain.
Obviously, Remade, Busan.
Yep, indeed. And no demon of the map here as well. We saw some demon earlier today on this map, USA, playing it a lot.
I'll leave you here, getting a picture with Misuki immediately here and this would be a hero that you see a lot of from the team pattern.
Yeah, I think the kind of backline here is a lot to prove against Gala in Canal 2.
Obviously mentioning previous how good Gala and Canal have been in EMEM over the last couple of years or so.
I like these pillars, by the way, being able to actually get to the point that I didn't shot from the high ground.
It's way easier to transition as a support that is not as mobile. Yeah, not all the map rework
Sarah something was for a swap over onto this Eva does she here Spain trying to pull off this symmetric composition now
But in Thailand
They're on top of it so far playing to win stand which you typically don't see in the matter right now
Yeah, but the off meta pick for sure
Quick rotation here Santi trying to move people for taking control of the mid map at the very least I've been going really
No, force the snooze in, then he comes to jump.
Kyren's gonna have to sprint away, but unfortunately, bones.
Because they should have been able to basically walk towards the Winston.
Bit disconnected there from the back line for Kyren.
There's now Santi, puts some more pressure on the point.
Double kill for the D.Va, and that should be about it.
I mean, look, that was a fight that kind of displayed
why Winston is not getting a lot of play.
You get one wrong jump into the face of a D.Va
and you lost all your health.
And with Kyren going down there, I mean, you got no positioning whatsoever.
does team Kyler and it's an easy team by win for Spain.
Alright, first overs coming up here.
Look at the sanctuary for Gala, double spot.
Now it's going to have the rush.
Here's the wrap around here.
Much safer for the Winston now to try and get onto this high ground with a bubble.
Tanti's still looking to try and cut the team off though,
as he's the Winston diving in, nice little poop away onto Kyren,
but here comes the rushes.
For high noon, for high vision moves on to the point,
but Sanctuary's going to absorb all that damage.
Spree for Mace though, kills the D.Va, trivial clean up for Thailand.
Zixordia also falls, despite this wall being popped by Bones.
Your days are numbered here on the sim.
Yeah, it's not like a surprising amount of value there from the Kitsuner rush.
It has to be said Spain with a position on the high ground.
They could have invited their time, you know, played around the Sanctuary and the Kitsuner rush,
but instead they kind of forced the engagement,
not allowing Team Thailand to drain all their ultimate and V sources.
and Team Thailand, they'll take a team fight win like that, 65% already here.
Looking for something with the Primal Rage perhaps, just maybe take it to Spain.
Whoa, how's your score?
1 HP again, pretty early Suzy used to snow, Santi can make use of this space.
Sanctuary gets popped up, Ace with another kill, 75% moving in, final fight,
but a chain skill to high vision, kind of settles the score.
Ace with a double, Primal Rage on the point for Akai, Ren poops away, Canale,
but I'm looking for the TP, the Swiftzip has to come back online,
But it ends up getting shut down by Ace. A triple kill for the DPS, a Thailand.
And there will be a self-destruct to get the remake here.
There's a 3 vs 3 fight there, 95%.
Kyren playing pretty good now on the Winston and Spain. Of course it touched the pointer.
This would allow Team Thailand to look for picks.
Ace hops on the bike, Santi on the point now.
Trying to keep this in contestation, but one wrong jump and you are gone.
Kyren already down, but a quick refrag though onto the mech.
to the mech. Gala gonna pick up Pali as a rush on the point is deployed for Team Thailand.
I vision an ace still alive. It's a-scizzy! Oh, is that like a one-meter fight kill onto the Baby Diva?
Doof is now in desperation mode for Pirates. He tries to get back to the point but Gala,
the veteran support line for Team Spain, clutch up and cap the point. I mean it was just
Gala and Canale. Gala drops to Sanctuary and Canale still has to continue in hand. So despite
really fighting down to the very last year.
For Spain they still have a great ultimate in hand now to try and stabilize me.
Well though, Q-Pilot, they get up there, they have a scree available to them.
Just need one Q-Pilot to secure this round.
Alright, yeah, we've got a scree, we've got a high noon.
But the problem is, you've got no support on.
Can now reach this early.
Ideally, he gets the big win.
Maybe he can stagger, fight out a little bit, high efficient.
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Oh look, Gilgala, TP's away.
Hey, Dash, over there.
Health, the- why does my land aren't going to be able to grab point?
Looks like Santi tried to go for an entrance there, but decided against it.
He's wavering over another respawn.
Well, you can play so patient now if you are Spain,
because current still is on this winsome, and we cannot just looking for mistakes.
So, it jumped in the entire game.
In Thailand, they're gaming some ground here as they're gaming percentage points as well.
But Spain, they just want to wait for that one bad lead, and then capitalize on it.
Yeah, Santi, she ended up swapping to D.Va 2 away from the Sigma,
much better into this match up here. Kyron now separating with the pop-up, but here comes the high noon around the corner,
Exodiel escorted by the Deverth. High vision, unable to escape. Beautiful change from Gala then locking him in place.
And that'd be Kyron going down to Exodiel with a nice double. Instead, Tylan loose points.
Exodiel is the hero for this team. You can see they're playing so well with the pocketing around Exodiel,
trying to make sure that their cast is set up for success and works to achieve their team Tylan though.
Building a couple of ults here. Let's see how they take some ground here. This is the difficulty now. You can already see they're trying to get some ground on this flag, trying to get a lot of damage already.
Okay, they just actually say it's short. Use the rush, we can use the other point. In fact, deploy the sanctuary first. Look at this, Hyphision's already dead. Protect Xurri when you win the game, apparently.
Okay.
But Ace with a triple spree straight in the corridor, that sanctuary not lasting long enough before Ace decimates the team. That's a 4k in that fight.
Yeah, it's a very impressive retake by TD Thailand.
I mean, it's a very difficult task to retake with Winston like this,
but they go for that all-out engage to Spree from Ace, played really well,
finds the picks required, and now Team Thailand back in control here.
This team is not going away, though.
They're back down, they're never going to give up.
Look at this, Kyberin with the Primer, Laleigh, and he's hoofing his Laleigh in!
Popped the Primer, H2s, that's who's got the point by Canale.
Jump straight over the target, with Gala ending being slightly like Silver Bullet.
I mean, I think Kyron there was looking for an environmental on Exodiel, but Canel's right in his back.
Now trying to separate the team as Canel teleports away after using that Suzu.
A mic on the point as Exodiel was left high in try by his support.
Bones now trying to get at least a trade, but the bubble's going to separate him from his mark.
As Thailand win another fight, 75% online, and one more to go for Spain to try and get themselves back into this round.
I was not familiar with Kyron's game.
This dude is in there on the Winston and this will be another fighter where
he takes a lot of damage already forced to leap back but Spain they're gonna have to
contest the point here this allows team talent to get the high ground and they
can engage under their own condition. I did not expect a Winston to be this
successful Jody, I'm with you I'm gonna be honest.
Oh the high dude for Xerion surely. Oh what an HP! He couldn't be lower!
Oh my goodness that's a lot of free ult charge over the back line of Thailand
clip coming through for Spain as Xerion ends up hitting a nice little
Little headshot but split off and the rest of the team now as Karin jumps in again.
High noon for High Vision trying to stall as much time as possible as Bones looks a bullet to the head.
As Thailand are going to get a flip.
Only three members allowed for staying here. They're really going to go for it.
Yep, Xiongio gets a kill but quickly traded back. They've got it. The aftertouch is falling out.
Sanzi is going to be able to get on. Masuzu way too late from Kanel to try and save the mech.
Thailand, they're going to find this round.
Spree from both though might be what they need to double kill through.
The execution kills High Vision.
They're smoking a little bit too soon.
Quickflip around, there's no touch.
Not quite. Bone shut down at the very end.
Kairin also is there to help finish off the kill.
One to one so far.
Sounds pretty close.
I mean, you're going to Mechabase with Winston and you're like,
okay, you got the Winston team beating out the D.Va team on Mechabase.
That's good sign.
Not quite, not quite.
This is well-paid by Tyler.
Better win some mecha too.
I'd like to believe that they still channel the mickey energy
He's in fact there man, he's in fact there, he's in fact there, come on
Yeah, that's what I mean
Like you're not the coach, but like you got the veteran experience
I mean how many matches do they play in your workings?
Like 40 games per season
You know, this guy's been on stage even though he's been a little bit, without his people
He was, he's been a little better, okay?
But like you tell the players like hey, go after
Play your game
Tyrone's been looking really good on the Winston so far
Now, opportunity to win this third round on Busan and go up one map in the series.
Niki 2 with the smile that'll go down in a more chistery as well.
One of the best smiles in the league, I'll say.
Santi, back on the Sigma here.
Karin, like, no, you know what? Winston?
Welcome for me. Canale already dead. An assassination kill there from Ace.
Just a random pick off on Kurika.
Not a good look here. Bones is gonna get shaked down by Ace back.
It just rides the bike way to shoot it off, alright, fair enough.
Gala gets the kill, though.
There's a very scrappy affair.
As we do see Kari now, inching towards this point, there's no real big body here.
Santi is going to have to regroup the rest of the team, as it should be a cap for Thailand.
And look, you could criticize Canale for getting kicked right there, but also,
tracing Ace.
Ace has set a great map to start this series as well on the Xeon,
and they're finding the crucial pick necessary to give Team Thailand control once more.
So now Spain!
I mean they gotta step up with this composition. You can see Thailand already looking for these big flanks
Bones dropping quite low is going to be okay for the time being but look at this wrapper up in the western
Good headshot too. This could be an easy kill on it to Bones. Get a chase. He's straight up
Oh the shot rings over your head. No anymore
Little 90 degree flick to the bone. My vision shut down completely
He's already almost ending his contract there. Look at this. Iron unfortunately jump up jump down straight into the Sigma
But the bubble deploy is just not happening. Absolutely no way.
Exodio with a beautiful shutdown. Yeah, if you're Thailand you really need to take the fight early in the fight.
You're looking for that wraparound, you're looking for the flank, get someone low,
capitalize with the Winston Elite and then try to win in a 5-way support situation. At high in Spain
they endure that dive and Exodio takes a kill back. And that means that Spain
there was to outlive the aggression from Team Thailand in that one.
I'll be the one to hold them in for myself. I'm doing a lot of pressure here, gotta be careful.
She's playing all the way up here, so it's up to Kyrantz to negotiate that space. Good change.
This is gonna be the problem playing the Winston. It's a good match, sure, very open, very big, very easy to jump on the backline,
but with Mizuki just kind of existing there, the Winston's got more than just a rock to worry about.
Yeah, and I think you've damaged him on Spain as well.
It's on Dan to put a lot of pressure on the Tyrone and make life difficult for this one.
A lot of ultimates in this fight here Jaws.
Speed boost? All good, no problem.
Now Sanctuary's deployed straight into the kingdom of Exodiel.
Now the other proper rage is going to be quite annoying to deal with is the Cassidy player.
Speaking of which, High Vision gets rocked in the face.
Arch trying to get that deadline straight on top of Santi.
But again, Exodiel, the numbers of this guy is putting off on the kill feed here.
Here, awkward spot now for Thailand to be in.
Look at that old bank completely trained,
and they didn't win the fight.
Yeah, that's absolutely brutal.
You can see Spain already poking quite early here.
I mean, even though they're playing the Winston here, Thailand,
like, they've not played a fast composition here.
And I'm traveling around.
It's quite difficult to get this one.
So, Spain's bones, quite happening to...
That's way too far up.
Yeah, I mean, look, I thought they were gonna
tank their question, but in Thailand,
they catalyzed Spain's position in there.
Wow.
They're a bit of their own hubris there,
just spotted him back, way too pushed.
I mean, maybe you're thinking they're playing against a Winston,
we got that shield, we can put some pressure on them early,
force them into a bad dive, but like you said,
it was just a little bit too far off,
especially you could have forced the last fight
to that kind of scenario, 95%,
you could have waited a little bit longer.
This gives Team Pilot an opportunity here now,
get back into this round.
Yeah, now this is the space that the Winston
really needs to kind of excel,
So we'll see how quickly they can get on this back line.
High vision, softening in the mark.
Here comes the die.
Exodiel, silver full, it hits the shield.
But Ace now in trouble.
They're going to get chased down here as well.
Exodiel on the hunt.
Easy kill for Bones.
Look at this, two-man wrecking crew for Spain.
They've been trying to pick off onto Ace
and there goes the Winston Johnny.
Ain't no way they're getting this fight.
Halle is going to get forced out as yet.
It's just, unfortunately, just buying enough time.
But hopefully someone's come back.
But it's his fates back!
Busan is gonna go their way!
Don't you want a fair, though?
With Thailand buying back!
Alright, that was quite shaky.
I mean, Team Thailand, they're throwing punches here
on the first map in the series.
So even though Spain get a blue with one here,
maybe we're in for a bit of a series
between these two teams.
Acosta, when they have a game on their hands.
We saw one map five already.
Have we got another one on our hands?
I just made that take. All right, Spain. This is a Thailand obviously that makes it last
time. So, closer a fair here. Vicky's energy being pushed into team Thailand at every chance
they get. Like you said, obviously so much experience on stage during the Overwatch League.
I mean sorry I just I can't kind of get over that they're playing like Princeton
Come on you you're not seeing this and out of us yet. I mean the Winston. Yeah, I
I'm here for it though. No, I mean it's kind of what you kind of or farming on the winstif you're playing on mega base
I'm gonna be honest and that's the round they want that look no, I look I think the aura farming is working
I'm like look every woke up to talk about these new players
You know we've grown familiar with the show. Yeah, and I like it is Kyren just the beat
Is he the guy is even a Winston guy? Yeah, the task was in the green room and me as much as
all Winston game play like the love Winston
The Winston hasn't seen any play time and now we finally get to see some
Or a farming on the Winston, but I mean this really where it comes to far as well
You are against Mizuki, you are against Sieg, and Sandi was just kind of unmovable on the Sigma.
It's pain and suffering.
It is pain and suffering for the Winston players out there. I mean, look at this. It's just, I've actually got kind of dominated.
The Winston tries to create space for the dead eye, but Sandi with good micro management at the CDs was able to sustain through that whole thing.
I'm curious to see where they take this stuff, because there are quite a few maps where you can try to make the Winston world.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeee don't protect Banner Winston.
There's no way.
Right? Hold on. There's no way.
Hold on, hang on a second.
Come on. Wait a second.
I ban in the balls so I can play the Winston.
I just ban the Sigma, I mean.
So do you ban D.vo?
Ban the D- I mean, yeah, sure, yeah, ban D.vo, yeah.
If we see a ban D.vo, we know we're rocking the Winston.
Yeah.
I mean, where are we taking, where are we taking the map then?
Tyler, I'm gonna play a little Winston.
Got a little root.
I think it's not the best one.
Well, that's the second is, you know, maybe it's
Bariso
But he's a reworked buff. That's true. Wait a second
How do you say through 66?
Junk town definitely wouldn't there's a chance. There's a chance. I mean you kind of need
horizon in the hybrid
Yeah, yeah, you're not gonna play on flash
I think realistically that's that's a bit of a game
motion probably don't want to I'm thinking Paris I've got I've got
best yeah come on it's a Lucio with Lucio it plays way better now as well
it's not nearly as kind of like suffering like on that first point it's not
quite as suffering it's suffering I was thinking from our suffer as I have
That's hard to know, that's hard.
You do got it! Okay!
Playing all parries, everybody can relate.
Who can relate with parries though?
You want to attack as they just hold the bridge,
and just shoot down you constantly,
until there's like a minute left,
and you finally crack it open,
and then you get to the point,
and then you again get shot at entirely.
This is why they reworked it, man.
It looks good.
They got both of them down.
I might even vote for parries though, I think.
He's not going to. He plays Ryan in the ranked games. He ain't doing that.
I'm not dropping map games, but there's maps that...
Wait, you're doing to give your secret strategy away for the maps you vote for in ranked?
Um, okay. I mean, I'm not going to...
I don't want to like open up a can of worms here, but like I don't vote for payload maps.
Sounds like we are. You don't vote for payload maps?
I... I... Backpoint.
Really?
I love backpoint.
Oh, well yeah, you're like a main tank kind of guy. You know what I get?
Get a little ram, a little rhyme, which is probably,
pretty bad game, which is probably why Spain won it.
If they get to choose their map,
they wanna go to a flashpoint, right, beads.
Oh, and there's actually Thailand that goes,
flashpoint, okay, actually throw,
the last two minutes of discussion,
throw it out the window, Thailand have picked New Jersey.
Okay, are we gonna see the Winston?
Well, that's the A-man. They like playing to Musuki, so maybe they can force a Musuki channel playstyle here, but at the same time you cannot play to this mix.
I am here. Look, I am waiting with anticipation to see what kind of is covering here on New York City.
It's gotta be that one more time. No way, right?
You can just see like about.
I mean, if I look when still in New York City and right, I am getting...
I'm getting... Oh, you are getting flamed hard, my guy.
I don't know, but in Kiriko, okay. To be fair, very good ban, I think.
Is it that or you go, uh, Mizuki ban? I think it's one of the two for Team Thailand.
Right, so, yeah. Take Kirioff, that's fine.
Also, they like playing Mizuki.
Yeah, sure, yeah. I think it's... It's way more detrimental to your comp,
but I think, again, what I kind of said on the first map,
if you've got a ban summing, or a dry land, it probably will be the backliners.
And, uh, JQ ban.
Right.
Right.
Well, I mean, if I'm Spain, like I still feel pretty good about this.
It's like, okay, like, why don't we just keep playing Brawl?
We're like a Sigma composition, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's it.
I feel like the ball is in Thailand's court, like, surprise us, like, what are you gonna
do?
We've already seen one surprise, what have you got?
You know what I would like to see?
Probably never happen.
The little venture gaming?
Yes, that is, that would be a surprise.
That would be a surprise.
That would be a surprise.
I'm not saying it's...
It's not understandable, but we don't really see it.
You don't see the venture anymore.
It's so silly.
And I like it.
I like it.
I like that.
Well, I mean, maybe like Spain, you know, the peloton of that draw?
No way this, no way that.
We know it's going to be hard lock in the Cassidy, that's for sure.
All right, well, here we go.
Map number two, new junk city, Thailand's pick.
They end up banning the Kiriko, Spain banning of the queen.
I will say, oh, one more comment.
I know the jerseys are on sale now.
Obviously.
Look at that, the plug.
They didn't even ask you to do that, but I just plugged the blue one.
Don't get paid for that, by the way, the extra plug.
The...
Thailand jerseys.
Yeah.
The blue, obviously it's like a light blue on the blue.
Super blue.
Super blue.
Older blue.
Yeah, they're all clean, yeah, but I like the blue on the blue.
Yeah.
My favorite color combination, blue on the blue.
Alright.
So this is the game plan here.
It's gonna be back to kind of like an old, old meta here
14 Thailand but sorry and we see
And exodio I lied he's not gonna hardlock the cast but the so Jim you know what?
So they also hopped off on that thing. Oh WCS when he first debuted a few years ago
Before to see here Spain how they can play this illusio and back
Or before my you like to work around the map bones. I ain't really picked one for days here
Oh, what an unbelievable timing on the ship.
It's going to get completely like a kind of ignoring high vision,
mocking high vision almost there as he was getting shot in the back of the head permanently.
I've seen enough.
I've seen enough. Don't scare people off of me.
What did you say?
Brocey's won fight.
He just gained penalty vote.
He might have...
We just don't clock them. We've got two picks.
He did, yeah.
Who would actually be the best Reaper of all time?
What springs to mind?
Oh, well, you get up on the feedback like 22 grand finals.
Oh, okay.
Soldier and Reaper meta.
Soldier and Reaper meta.
Do you know what the first thing that I thought about when I thought of Reaper?
Shaxe 5k Reaper, Busan Mecha base on LA Valiant.
Ah, insane laur drop, but it was a good one.
Alright, let's get you back to the high ground.
Alright, let's get it.
Let's get it, let's get it.
We're not doing time at all.
Well, the Moira pick up here, the team's trying to go a little bit quicker.
Exodiel gets shut down.
There is the opening pick that you want to see.
Hive is in 2, just shooting Canale in the back of the head, special Reaper of all time down,
Bones goes down to A's, he's now that title, he's transferred to Tilex to keep him playing.
Yeah, what is that called? Like, unofficial?
Unofficial? World Champion type?
Yeah, A's has got it now.
A's has got it now.
It's up for grabs.
Bones is going to have to kill A's and then get it back.
They're going to play back at work.
Yeah, exactly.
Somehow, like, Canale will end up with it somehow, but I don't know how that's going to work.
We see a bit of a pause here. Look, I feel like Moira is the epitome of Thailand's playstyle.
So I'm so happy to see it now.
Just W. Press W.
Press W.
And also, I feel like we've seen great support players in the past pick Moira.
So now it's justified.
Yeah, it is.
If simple plays Moira, like, we can also play Moira, right?
Yeah.
But he did it so...
I can do it too?
We can do it. We're allowed.
The Moira does have legs.
She has two of them.
Yes. She can also fade away which is fantastic. Reaper obviously fading away from the Nazaria 2 which is going to be basically launched at you 24-7.
I mean that's the biggest cooldown you realistically have to get out of this team is like, okay if we burn Fade, we're pretty good, we're in a good spot.
So we can chase you down, guard, etc. Obviously small pause like we mentioned, give a little peek at the players though.
Shit, we get to go, don't see anything happening to them, set up a hiding zone, hopefully we'll back us this one in just a second.
You know, Thailand are really going to go for it, quick kill, then they lose you, and more.
Is it gonna work though? It's like, okay, we can try to kill the Bat.
Exodiel, we might take a bit more difficult time with because of the slide.
It's throwing everything at it, going to work out. I guess we'll have to see here.
You will create some space for a high vision on this soldier, which is a force to be reckoned with.
He did a free energy there for Santi.
So the low high vision rip in the OC, there's one hedge on the Reaper pod,
Bones gets away with his life somehow, maybe not, or what a bubble from Santi keeps the Reaper alive and picks up the kill.
Eventually though Bones is chased down as high visions opened up the way for his team,
and this coalescence is going to back the rest of them up.
Yes, Spain looking a little bit disoriented there, the way that we're trying to approach the coin in that one, and Thailand, that would be a pretty easy fight for them, high vision, uncontested with that overbook.
They're going to try and go early with the scratch, Johnny.
Go early with the gravity, 80% here, I mean you can play pretty aggressively, they got some barrier too, perhaps don't want to force it that much.
Just play in this choke and early grab, Karin actually has to get it online first.
Of course, only 5% away, Xodia trying to take it off angle now with this OC.
It's false high, this is a good time.
Salvar in there from Barley.
The deathmoss was going to rip most of that away though from Team Thailand.
Just a grab thrown in on top, but I think the fight's already over.
Xodia was existed up here for what feels like eons at this point as well.
Shots down the Moira on Team Thailand's side.
A team kill for Spain.
This should be Kat.
And 87% Kyren is just now spawning. This will be Spain pushing up here as Thailand tried to get back to the point.
They're actually not cutting them off here. Oh, but they can't get there in time.
Oh, rest in peace.
All good, all good. Go again. Very very close attack.
Yeah, Kyren kind of eats an anchor out at the last moment, but Exodia was on that high ground for so damn long.
No, Exodia's just refarming.
And I mean, both of these hitscan players are good enough that if they're left un-contested by one of these sweepers or something like that, like, they're going to get that.
Uh-oh, Ace.
Chiff, away.
Gonna re-up here again, chased down by Santi, yeah, really good pick up there from Spain.
No one from Thailand was able to kind of recommit onto that doorway fight, so Spain take a better position than they should get point.
Yeah, they're quite comfortable here right now. They haven't been wary of this moira, being able to smoke quite deep though.
There's the amplification matrix. I'm going to cure the poor Spain here. It's going to force the impalent back off here.
Yeah, I really like the early window usage and a scarce kind of domine, but how on a second hit?
If simple could do it, I can do it better.
MCG with a coalescence takes out Sonsi.
How easy is your life there as they're not pushing forward with this healing or two?
You should be a quick and clean affair for the rest of this flight.
39% you're not scoffing at that if you're Spain, but not the result that you really wanted after the first cap.
Yeah, I mean it's a lot of percentage for Spain, but at the end of the day Thailand did play that.
About as perfectly as we could disengage from the amplification matrix, re-engage with the cold, get value from it, don't get picked too much.
But there are enough percentage of their own now.
How can you set up high vision for a successful victory so far?
Has to play a little bit further back as well. This Santi Gravi is going to want to nail high vision and get a great kill.
Nice little hedge on start-up, we've grabbed some search, actually a solo grab onto Kyren, but enough for the kill.
If his CG gets into the backline though, it ends up killing Bones.
A good reposition from High Mission.
He's gonna be good for another napgala in his sights.
Slips away on the Lucio and still in control of Team Thailand.
He's gonna try and get back in onto the point.
But the longer this area stays alive, the more value she creates.
A 73% lead here for Team Thailand, but Spain are gonna hold this door.
Let's see what the team Thailand can do in this one 73%
It kind of will be last fight territory here
They gotta go out of the search to get a sound barrier but Spain with plenty of tools themselves
This one's over to Genji here
Who really tried to get on top of its sodial in this one
Do you know Gain's skill challenge?
By Xerdeon
Grab some swag!
OH NO!
I don't want a dodge!
I don't want a dodge!
The dodges, the grabbers, the grabbers!
And Gala saves Beats!
What an unbelievable dodge!
I'll just hold the grabbers and the sound barrier.
I need to replay that one.
Yes sir, 2-0 for Spain.
And they saved their own Beats as well.
I'm boom.
I can't do it.
That's a heartbreaker.
Spain in complete control now. They still have three open heads.
They're up two wall here.
Yeah.
On New York City.
Feeling quite comfortable.
And look, you can sit back here.
You don't have to play in the choke here.
You can't fully uppercase your matrix.
Look at that!
Whoa!
Where are you going?
Where are you going?
Wait a second, they've got the Colossus.
Sound barrier, death box.
The Bones, they're pushing forward of Opali again
with a nice boom.
Bones pushed away.
a reposition on to the point for the Reaper.
Santee's still in the front line with the bubble just there to get her out alive.
Same capture.
What a point, Piper.
Gage made you way too late though.
Xodu ends up getting the trade kill on.
Colusia is actually enough.
Gala chasing down the mooring gets another one.
Now Kairi needs to control this fight.
But there's no target spin to actually shoot out right now.
Everybody a little bit too quick to get away.
There is going to be another kill for Gala.
That's two there.
Next one on to Ace as Xodu shuts down the Zarya.
Spain are just disengaging so well from Team Thailand, absorbing all this, backing off, and when Team Thailand have used all their abilities, that's when Spain, they really flip these teamfights on its head.
The aggression is just not working out from Team Thailand. We talked about the Moira, maybe not getting the value of being...
Oh, the ground is so good as well! Up with the high ground is straight from the back line!
Bones!
It's gonna dish out so much damage on the Reaper!
Exodiel, sir! Disrupted shot too!
Look at Exodiel smiling the cam!
Love to see it!
He's back!
He's back!
He's playing mate! You can take this one! 3-0!
83% here and now you can start cutting off King Talon.
Gonna be too surprised to see nobody overclocked, but...
So let's go into back off now.
This will actually go into a low high vision to get back into some nice side angles.
as one bubble already used now as they tried to touch the point.
There it is, he cheesed it again.
Playing ends up getting pulled eights with one,
but now straight onto the Reaper.
He's had one more slash to get a refrag, but doesn't get it.
Bones ends up shutting down another perfectly timed bubble
for Santi, ends up saving the day for the Reaper.
Now they have to just deal with the soldier,
but it should be fairly easy.
Santi locking the point down on the Zarya.
Harley dead, high vision gone, 3-0 for Spain.
Venus you like. Venus you like that time from Spain so we saw pretty
hopefully contested Busan but this was a Spain we expected to see
going into our matchup like there's no questions about New York City
Spain firmly picking down Team Thailand now up to 2-0 in the series
yeah. Ice 302 that's a big confidence builder after that
Busan just a little closer. Complete opposite for Team Thailand
I'm still thinking about the fire dude, yeah.
Oh, surely isn't the Hylite back into the blue?
Go pop, please.
Or replay, all the sort.
Exert it with a big smile on his face, though, so we don't care.
Of course, I'm getting a contract for the music.
Yeah, I'm in the police.
Like, I feel like Exerted is one of these problems.
It's still good.
It's still so good.
Yeah, that's what I mean.
So, Glad to see Exerted back here, firing on all cylinders,
racking up the Hylite course.
We know what it's capable of.
Yeah, this is the point here. Not by the fighter, but really nice stuff so far.
We'll see if Thailand can get themselves and muster up the courage for this next one.
I mean, what do you do if you're piloting here?
Like, we picked Moira.
And we really went for...
Oh, here it is!
Dash is away from the ground.
Bully needs to be in the A to...
That unbelievable fight.
I mean that, two of the best holes in the game,
between the ground,
being dollars straight into the Ajax,
like that is a real heartbreaker, Johnny.
When you crush says no to the dance,
up there, up there, heartbreaker moment.
Spain, two out, current.
In Sweden, we would say, sold the butter, lost the money.
You sold the butter, and lost the money.
They're walking home after that or something.
Did the button melt?
No, he stole the butter.
You have a lot of the money.
I don't know.
He lost money in a puts away.
I don't know.
Dropped down the sink?
No.
Look, I don't know.
I don't know what people selling butter.
I don't know how to do stuff.
I don't know what to spend their money on.
Okay.
There's a good phrase.
I'll use that one.
Card collectors?
I don't know buying packs.
I don't know.
What do you do?
I told Danny about that.
It's not that deep bro. It's a Swedish saying from like a hundred years ago, like I don't know.
Find someone that makes better, ask them what it means.
Alright, where are we going if you're Team Tana?
I don't know where we're going, they just picked me on City.
Yeah, that's true, we did predict that they wouldn't pick a Flash point, but...
I expect we're going to see a ban again from Team Tana, focusing the backline of the Kanae.
Oh, we're getting another one!
away with all from a different POV as well. What are we watching it again? No, it's beautiful.
No. Beautiful stuff. Thank you, and we'll rebuild.
If you found something, Tyler, look away. Look away now. I mean, if we got to like Esperanza,
come on, that's a Winston map. Yeah? Again? Yeah, I really don't. Esperanza.
We just saw what Kyle was able to do on the honor. Give the honor, give the Winston an honor.
they need the nano the nano nano sorry it's all right Swedish yeah it feels like
Winston needing to operate in this current like phase but what needs the nano
24-7 because he's a little extra help now we're talking a little bit of boost
your ideas man and ideas give Winston nano when he leaves major perk major
all you need is the armor, the finer perk, get that movement to be going, low and down, get him out of it
yeah we'll see, we'll see where Thailand want to take us, and it is a Paraiso, okay
so, a little bit more dive friendly maybe, or maybe they come out again with something a little bit off the wall
well they need to find something, because they got a reverse wheel
and look I'll even say you know Matt brought up this point earlier in the
day it's just like you gotta win maps if you want to advance to the group you
gotta win maps the wise words you gotta win the wise words Matt Morello
no but he is spitting though it's like no I'm sorry Johnny how did they not
What would they ban realistically?
Like that would stop us from getting to the point?
I was kind of saying it.
If you don't ban the Bastion, suddenly the enemy, you're playing Winston and the enemy team
is flying around with the Bastion and you're like, okay, the technology is just too far
advanced.
Yeah, but we have, yeah, Winston, the scientist, the technology around him is
far too advanced to keep up.
We need to advance the technology of Winston's jetpack.
What would you give him?
Would you give him the jetpack from Jetpack Cat?
So he could like permanently fly?
Yeah, like I don't understand the difference in technology.
Like if jetpack cat can fly around.
It's a smaller creature.
But why is Winston's like a short burst of like a leap?
Like boom, boom.
Like give him more duration.
Like boom.
I hate to break it to you.
The cat is a smaller creature.
Like a smaller mass.
Yeah, we've got the power.
He says, we've got force pack.
I don't think that... do you measure jet pack?
I don't know. What unit of measurement do you use for jet packs?
How many cats it can lift up?
What do you do with, like, airplanes?
Mach. M-A-C-H, like, Mach speed.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
When you're on the plane, like a commercial plane, it's like...
Mars, now I kill it.
Also we're talking about a fictional like unit of measurement. How many torbs a second?
Okay, look it is overwatch but the jet packs are not fictional. Someone out there in the
audience know how jet packs are measured in strength. We need to talk to you.
Alright Ace with the Torb that is the difference I wanted to see. Here we go, D.Va vs D.Va
Now, Exodiel, okay, this is a pick that wasn't like really available to him as he immediately gets destroyed, I'm sorry, Exodiel, but Emre, very obviously a kind of a recent carry, Exodiel in his debut games was not playing this pick, so I'm excited to see him, and more he can kind of bring to the table.
And he's down against the mighty ace on the Torb Dog.
Torb's good on this map, always has been.
Okay, elaborate.
turret on an off angle like on the staircase they walk in they have to
shoot the turret or you could just do this the turret is dead the turret is dead
the turret is dead unfortunately he'll get another one he will get another one
about five seconds. Cool I will be back, cool I will be back. Tyran, must all the armor on the mic right now as it is engaged
be pretty careful now if I was Tyran your D.Va has to know how what
so ever this should be Spain being able to march forward here. You're thinking so
look at the turret is back unfortunately the top is dead and it is dead as well
Okay, the Torb experiment is not really what it's out here between Thailand and neither has this diva
This is something switching again. Obviously switch the diva straight over to the Zarya good heads up life. Um, the tank player from team spade. Yeah as the cats
Lazily drifts away. There we go. All right gone. Yeah, I feel like something is kind of answered the call
So far she's done a tremendous job flexing over to the appropriate heroes and we saw even on you know
map like Busan for example like being on top of things like how you want to navigate this in Thailand
because we you know even though they're playing Moira and you know some awkward picks it is a
challenge to adapt in the moment here on stage and I feel like Sanchez is on a tremendous job so far
helping Spain setting them up for success and already up to a hot start here on Paraiso as well
yeah look at this beautifully blue white map here too a lot easier to get to this high ground
and no just getting shot.
Good headshot from Kostomap 2, MSCG taken down.
There's the turret again.
Curious how long Ace is going to stick on this pick.
Zodiac jumped on.
Karna is doing a good job here.
Navigating with your bangles, taking the high ground as well.
Bring some pressure onto Spain.
Gotta be careful about all this damage coming though.
It used to mech here now.
No self-destruct.
No self-destruct.
That was 10% away as well.
This is Spain just walking on forward now.
There's just no shot.
Ace has to get at it.
Yeah, and just not really anticipating
I like your fang, I like the positioning, but I'm unaware, I should find a pick out of nowhere.
And the Torf! Wait, Ace is going for the flank Torf, he's got them all in corner in a couple of seconds.
He's going to get chased down by Santi, he's not careful.
He's going to take this high ground position now.
Capitum's Orge also coming up, Ali ends up getting away, luckily.
And now Ace repositioning at that tariff.
Santi a little bit distracted by a lot of incoming fire, a lot of spam being sent away.
He's having a big send away.
Whoa! What's that thing? That's a micro-mode!
It's gonna get dominated.
Okay, didn't expect that one in this series.
He's gonna be on speed.
Molten core on the point, Aces is actually gonna get grabbed on this high ground.
The shield isn't gonna be able to help.
Saved it for too much longer though.
He's only a sliver of HP left,
but still ends up assisting in a kill.
There should be a team talent here.
Can I close these things out?
Although Spain doing a tremendous job again absorbing the pressure and then turning things on its head.
Again Spain they just outlived Team Thailand's resources and flipped these fights around.
Doing such a great job healing back as a team and now getting the payload across the finish line truly.
Yeah that was an amazing use of bubbles there by Santi to keep him in it.
And that's going to be quite beautiful work and over extension from Team Thailand not being able to end shoot the kill on Santi instantly.
I love using ults here early. Getting this high ground is just so damn important on this third point.
Phones opens up a double and now they can play super far forward around this jump pad.
Yeah, I agree with you. I love what's been, how they're playing the game right now.
This looks like a team that is kind of firing on all cylinders. They got the theory, the game theory.
They're back at their heads and they're executing well on it so far.
So you're still lurking on this high ground right now.
You know, Santi's close to a grab too.
Wait, dangle here, just like...
I think I have to pull one into the side of Kyla.
Tough to get charged though, should bubble someone out.
Nice shot from high vision, shots down to Lucio.
Now looking for Santi, perfectly tracking her head there.
And the annihilation should be really all that they need now.
Grab on top, search through her now, though.
That's a big bubble there from Santi.
Throwing in the grab and what...
I assume she thought it was a winnable fight.
Yeah, I mean even if you're swapping over to the Mauga here, it's still like Graviton
Surge, right?
Like, it's not a matter of like, I'm swapping here, it's like Graviton Surge, it's one
of the best ultimates in the game, so...
Bit of a wasted ultimate there, still 3 minutes in hand, can't mourn it too long,
but that was a big ultimate wasted for Spain.
I still got the rush.
Catten out also now with this dead eye. Sky noob.
Smaller box on the uh, smaller hybrid zone.
It's end up getting dragged back down however.
And now I vision looking for something more.
Ace going really low. Actually, Pete here like, please heal.
I thought he was picking Ace like, please heal the Reaper.
I'm fighting PS2 over, please.
He's only actually forced away.
He's in the hole but still getting pushed back somehow.
Yeah, figured out the Kitsuna up there.
I actually don't take that from Spain, you got the big kid soon to rush out, Pali here.
What's Pali, I think it was about...
Oh!
The Jett lost him, shut down though, ends up still getting a kill.
Gala very close to that Sambaria too, is Santi now, trying to get the rush and the stop onto Pali.
He ends up getting flashbang, slowed down a little bit, higher vision.
Resturing Santi in this frontline, but he still managed to get a couple of picks.
Stain again at the end of these the tail end of these fights just finding a couple of pigs and now
Marching forward with double support ultimate available here. They can see not in Sanbury. It's so powerful
It gives you an opportunity to close out this map
It's now under so much pressure ends up working to rush anyway
It's teleport away is gonna be out to play on it
So is Santi look at this damage here onto to Kyren
But it doesn't really matter because my vision is already on the double kill the sprees good enough for a quick trade though
Amazing work from Boats to open that one back up. That did not look like a fights page in a one
No, that was bones finishing off the health force of team Thailand
They'll get a common spawn wave though and we'll get back here in team in time though
But gala still has to suffer this could be the difference maker beats gala
You've got a you've got to get in there the unilations only gonna last so long on this point
There's the stop no chance for Kyren to stay alive too much focus fire
The beat, the cage ain't happening, it's just so tough to live against that in what a couple of meters push moments, like really tough work.
The annihilation, it can only do so much when everybody else is getting focused around you and you have to permanently touch that point.
Yeah I'm really impressed with how Team Spain are playing right now. I feel like the push call is really good, right?
Like we're pushing the momentum when we got the tempo, when the health force are low from Team Thailand, then we're gonna hope to squeeze, we're gonna finish them off.
But also when we're on the back foot, we're able to absorb a lot of pressure,
we're able to mitigate all the abilities that Team Colorado are throwing at us,
and then try to regain control and tempo in some of these fights.
He's been doing a tremendous job right now.
And look, there are always things you can improve on.
We're seeing a couple of players getting picked here and there.
Yeah.
It's the first day of the tournament.
You don't have to be perfect off the bat here.
And so even though Spain are in control so far this series,
they still got things to improve upon.
Isn't that good?
Look at that, something 21 and 1.
That's what I mean by like, peeing back, you're not dying repeatedly.
Yeah.
And the only death was the...
...trying out the grab, switching to the magazine.
That was the only death for...
...for Santi.
Okay, team Spain on the defense.
No torp shenanigans.
A little bit sad, but okay.
Why do you really like this...
Team Spain team has to look ahead as well, like the prospect of how far this team can go, we talked about them, always being at forwards, in the Overwatch World Cup, always lurking around, being among those teams that qualify for BlizzCon.
I think they're looking really good so far with this backline, like SOTYL putting out there, something playing the right heroes in their long run.
Oh, hi vision making up his mind.
Okay, it's going to be the Ember, I think.
Switch quickly there to the Threa for a brief moment, but I think the Ember is a little
bit more impactful.
Cats?
Okay, well he's gone.
We can all the cat for now.
Maybe we don't.
Go straight back in again.
Oh, he's looking at this.
The pressure on Gyro now is just so immense.
You can't stick around too long.
This is the thing.
As soon as that Sigma ends up kind of retreating, repositioning, Kyren's days are going
to be numbered.
the reposition trying to get this low ground control is they managed to force
this grasp out of the Sigma. Xanty now under so much pressure. Good execution
from Team Thailand taking down the tank. Yeah, there was real patience play that
time and they're going to be rewarded with this first point. The big difference
in that fight for me was actually that they started engaging that first time
around but then thought better of it they took a step back, re-gathered
their abilities and then re-engaged onto the point. They were patient in that
one and that meant if you get a proper engage going and thus end up with a
first point counter here
I think he's already all right. Obviously we're expecting exceptional things from
the hitscan despite him not playing and like tier 1 obviously like you
mentioned before his initial kind of inaugural season OWCS was so good I
I just did it again, he died again on screen.
That's, I dunno, I dunno.
It's been the long day, though, I, I, I can't lie.
Alright, there's the catnap, Ali!
Oh, 20 HP!
Good back up there from MSCG, keeping the cat alive.
Dragging Santi out of position, he is going to go straight back in, the baby Diva takes down Santi.
Oh, who is against the remake kill on the other baby Diva.
Now Santi just going to try and die on the payload.
Good decent stagger, though.
I will say, gonna get that second wave of Respawn, as Gala's gonna come back with a Catnip as well.
Things going the way of Thailand, just the small details, that time as Pali goes for an aggressive play and gets out of it as well.
You're gonna keep making plays here, look for an Override Protocol here from High Vision,
try to not allow us to gain to get any kind of space whatsoever, this could be an early point cap.
There it is, alright, Override Protocol, trying to get the air shot, so Cat's coming, the Cat's coming for Yassanti,
With Gala taking down Hive, this man is going for a big trade though, but Ace with Deathblossom doesn't quite get eaten, so he's not quite quick enough to get there to eat the rest of the shots.
A nice little spree there for Ace. A killing spree that is, not the op.
Deathblossom ends up netting him a couple of five minutes in the time back for Team Thailand.
Five minutes is crazy. That's so much time to have on this third point.
Now, you used a lot of ultimates there, so expect Spain to get back into this one.
They should be able to stabilize on this point, but
it's an opportunity now where Stain, even though
they're in a tough zone so far on this beat,
then you can't get too ahead of yourself here.
Just be patient with your face, still.
Get any saggers though, so they're going to have to fight for every
inch of this next point.
Alright, Zodiac, what's that pistol now?
A couple of nades thrown in, but has got the ultimate.
Most importantly,
my vision, the main focus here, looks like Sanchi's gonna be able to pull off as well,
and nice Suju, but it's just not enough to save my vision at all.
Next shot he's gonna get eaten.
Chain skill onto the Kirigo material.
Picked out the sky, but Santi should be able to do the rest.
Pushing the team forward again, trying to punish how far Thailand's trying to push this fight into that jump had room.
This is the point now, where even though you have 4 minutes on the timer,
you don't want to bring too much time after all, you've got to have some extra spare one going into a potential overtime here.
He's gonna go to play in front of Polly.
And strike back for aggressive one again, nice little Suzu, can now be able to teleport away, okay.
Unfortunate, not be able to execute a kill, but they still managed to pick off bones.
On the shield.
Santa's in the mix, but the self-destruct is going to be a nice little back up, and it's just too many people around too.
They're still getting picked off anyway.
Loose mid-time now, team Spain on their last legs, at least on this engagement.
That's what I talked about, getting ahead of yourself a little bit too much there.
Even though you have the south destruct, no opportunity to deploy it there.
And now, Thailand. They're coming up on a kit sooner or sheer.
There, there are a couple of places away from getting this third and final checkpoint on the map here.
Exotic in trouble.
Not much trouble though, it's a backing in off.
Khyra is still in the hot pursuit straight to the spawn.
Okay, big trouble. Okay, it was a big trouble. My bad.
Heads are getting chased all the way to the spawn doors.
Still moving his payload as far as Spain's future starts.
Here comes the rush from Canale.
Deathboss on top though, she's trying to deny that space, but Ace ends up running out of the ultimate.
Now Asu just look for Vanilla kills on the Reaper.
Canale next to four, the self-destruct kills Gana too.
It's an absolute massacre for Team Spain.
These are just not coming together here for Spain.
As Bones walks over to the tracer, I see five to go for a last minute touch.
They have a sanctuary in hand, it just needs to get the touch to stabilize.
Tracer on the point bones gets it poppin. However that sanctuary now they have to bid heed here Thailand are gonna back off plus their votes to spare
That was the opportunity though
You have to know that sanctuary was coming
And if you get a finish the map there that would have been great instead
It's a great pick from Spain here now able to stay but like we are no product for the volunteer as well
Realistically something shouldn't be too much trouble here. It's just so you don't look at the place
Oh! It's trying to grab the airshot there.
Ah, the... Oh, for the red!
It's getting one more, maybe? No, not quite. Over the...
Little veranda. Ends up...
Connecting with the ground. A bit of damage, but that's about it.
But most importantly, Johnny did force them all the way back.
High vision and a tremendous amount of pressure.
Every kind of nade, missile, rocket thrown at it, still manages to survive.
Champion of any value, though.
Don't let... I'm gonna push forward here.
Both of us? Oh!
Straight on the reaper.
OOOH! The Wraith form, horse bomb gets dropped, Eden up, okay, perfect stuff. Ace ends up going down.
You'll be chillin' now.
Cat up again, Santi's gonna get dragged in.
OH! Sends it the bomb though!
No way that's the getty kills, okay, not quite.
That was cheeky as Santi there to try and return to Sender it.
Straight over the rooftop, Pali again.
Very, very aggressive on the cat already.
He's earlier, pulls out the fist, trying to create a little bit of distance between himself and the front line of Team Thailand.
Time's a ticking, though.
Time's a ticking indeed, and Bones gets a pick up the parlor here. Yeah, question is not working out for Team Thailand.
Supports it down.
Oh no!
Oh, no!
Oh, the staggered two. Kairan is going to get pre-mech, but, yeah, this time back not looking so pretty now.
That one minute and three seconds, Johnny, looking so good for Spain.
They had five minutes going into it.
Yeah, and we're down to the one and they have their opportunities as well.
They're not finishing. They finish an OT journey. I don't think they can finish with time.
And MSCG going down here is a disaster.
Spain has recuperated so much time in this one and they got double support up in advance as well.
The best opportunities for Thailand to finish the map are past them.
They're now going to have to go for some amazing place where they might be high visioning with the overriding protocol.
They still have a keeps him on in-house, don't they? Why is that Breslae we're actually? Don't they care for him?
They've got too many, oh surely. This is the numbers game at this point.
Phones ends up going down, but they've got the Sanctuaries. They push on forward and Karrion ends up getting isolated in the front line.
Look at that! Every single one of those shots going to even up Eastby by their Sanctuary.
Insane value! Ace trying to make a hero play with the Death Wossomber. A quick teleport away as
There's Santi Popstown that's self-destruct and it's just all on top of all on top of all on top of all
Spain trying to end this series in a quick 3-0. The shortest TP you've ever seen as Ace gets eliminated.
Catnap for Pali, shut down as Team Thailand. They're not going to get revenge on Team Spain.
A 3-0 for Spain in their opening match.
match. What a first match from Spain. Coolcom collected exactly what we wanted to see out
of this team, coming in with a lot of individual skill with a play style we cannot recognize,
and they really executed on it. Not too many mistakes either. Really well played match
to Spain. Super well played.
Repeat of 2023. Not out of it though.
Finances still have a couple of games to play, but netting two games will obviously get you
ahead in the group, so Spain off to a very good start. Plus getting a 3-0 if the map
diff comes into play, then hey, look at us. We've already got a little plus three.
I mean, number one seed is also quite important.
If you're qualified for BlizzCon, and you can get the number one seed, dodge some of those other teams like South Korea and the likes of that, map differential really important in this one, and if you get the number one seed in your group that would be everything.
Big chillin'. Big chillin'. Like what we saw from team time. A little bit of variance here, a little bit of Winston game, a little bit of everything.
They tried.
They tried.
hero picks. They think it's something different out of there. It didn't work this time, but
I also feel like you were in the position where maybe you feel like you got us, you got us
just out of the Moira show. Maybe the tour wasn't necessary, we couldn't look past that.
But it's definitely an aggression, maybe a little bit of Winston. I looked at Winston,
I thought it was well played, it's just, I constantly just not, you know, like...
Go right now, he needs a couple of buffs for sure, for sure. Tank plays out there
They're rejoicing when Winston gets another 500 HP and he can survive jumping in.
I am going to keep farming.
How much HP would it really take?
I'm biased, so I'm not going to go there.
I'm biased.
500 and give me an extra 250 armor.
Caster, hit me up with 50 more armor.
50 more armor.
50 more.
Maybe that's enough.
Spain though with a 3-0 in their opener versus team at Thailand.
still, Vicky probably still smiling in the back right there.
Look, we aren't out of this just yet.
We've still got games to play.
There's still a chance for Thailand to make it to BlizzCon.
But only the first, you know, number one, number two,
in the group will end up going there.
So, you know, you're almost down to your last lifeline.
Yeah.
Hey, I mean, they might have a chance
to make it to BlizzCon still here between Thailand,
but we also did just see the other matches within group.
just before this between Germany and Canada.
So it definitely is a tall mountain to climb
that is for a certain Spain.
I think that we knew that they were at the overdog
heading into this matchup.
Johnny, there was that conversation
about the back line and for Thailand.
We knew that they didn't really love
to necessarily play the jet pack cat.
And we did see that coming out
and how they were choosing a new junk city
from app number two, looking to ban out the jet pack cat.
And unfortunately, the lack of flexibility
just didn't really do them any favors.
Yeah, I mean it's also tough like you're coming into a tournament where maybe you don't want to play the jetpack cat as much
But it's just sort of powerful healer right now
And you know Polly went for a couple of plays there on Paraiso and got a couple of good
Pace made but at the end of the day, I think it was just skill gap like Spain
It was a really fantastic team and I think in the World Cup setting like
We know some of these players are great
You can talk about you know the back line from Spain and all that but at the end of the day
You want to see them perform and I think we saw them perform actually like they played up to their game
They didn't fall under the pressure and so that was a really impressive win for Spain
Yeah, and I think Jack that's so important because they needed to make a statement when we are taking a look at Canada and
Germany being in this group and having the map differential there as well like is definitely
Yeah, definitely. I mean going all the way to map fire the map diff could come in big time
But either Canada or Germany, and I think with Spain's victory here, especially with the backman
I'm gonna pick up them again. I'm saying little canal little gala like know these guys
You know that like there is without a doubt
And I think maybe if some people out there have questions about how exodio could do obviously not being in there
In the game for a little bit there. He still looks as good as his debut in
They could win the group like for sure like what would you saw like I
I like it. Come on. I like it. They could. Yeah. Do you feel in that drawing? I think it's I think this group in particular is really interesting because I do think that
it's close. You know maybe at this point, Thailand, you know, favorite with the three other teams like any given day, like you can beat out the other. I think especially in a World Cup format, because you have less practice time with your teammates
you know compared to like your regular OWCS or facing teams and because you have less experience with each other like there was more opposite potential I feel like in a World Cup format
so I feel like in Group C like this like yeah you can look at Germany, Canada like yeah they're really powerful teams for Spain but they just delivered right there I think that the potential could take out either of those teams.
Yeah, I think that to this group C is definitely a fun one to keep our eyes on with how tight
the competition can potentially be, that is for sure, but we do still have some more Overwatch
action coming up. It is going to be Sweden vs Japan after a short break.
The 2026 Overwatch World Cup is brought to you by DHL.
Oh
Thank you for watching!
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I'm here joined by a tree from Team USA after getting his win against Team China first of all big congratulations
It was a bit close tree
I do have to say but you did get the win. How do you feel right now?
Pretty good. I mean I did say like I think I predated us to lose one map this year
I think that's the one you know we get a little bored at some point
I think maybe maybe I should have swapped Sierra sooner, but happens, you know talking about Sierra
That was actually gonna be my second question. I mean I've credit me from wrong
But I think we haven't seen a lot of Sierra being played in pro play
And you did decide to come up with a Sierra on Atlas, I believe.
What was he thought of us as behind that?
To be honest, Sierra is just OP in the mago.
That's pretty much it.
I think there was a time in Korea when she first came out, where people were playing her,
but then all the bad teams were playing her into the good teams with the good teams that were better.
So they weren't going to win anyways, but none of the good teams tried her.
I actually think she's one of the best DPS you can pick in the mago matchup.
Do you mind sort of elaborating what makes her so good against mago?
She's pretty much just a long range reaper.
Like her damage is the highest in the game and like her ult is insane into like K and Kirill and stuff like that.
And then also I just think, because I think that alone is good, but I think when you added like the cat, the cat mage that people started playing,
she's actually pretty good in the cat too, because the cat has to be scared of like the right click, because the cat would just get one shot, you know?
But honestly, she's good, but I don't know how good she is, considering we lost that map, but I don't know, she's not bad for sure.
Could we expect more Sierra from you throughout the World Cup?
Yeah, potentially.
Yeah, I'm done.
Yeah.
Alright, well that's it for the interview.
Thank you so much and good luck tomorrow. Thank you
What's up everybody Danny Lim here joined by quartz from Team Saudi Arabia after getting a clean 3-0 victory
Quartz I gotta say like I say this every time
I think you are the best hitscan that we have in Overwatch pro-over scene. Do you believe that as well?
I mean, I can't say that about myself, but thank you for saying that. Yes? Yeah? Yeah? Thank you for saying that.
And also, we were kind of talking. You said you've been learning Korean. We are in Busan.
What was the word that you learned in Busan in Korea?
I mean, I didn't learn it from here. Maju taught me, but I think it's...
It's okay. Thank you as well.
I'm going to teach you a fourth word.
I love you. I love you. Can you look at the camera and say, I love you?
I love you.
There you go.
All right, Quartz. I mean, this match, I mean, you guys got a great win.
I'm sorry.
So, Quartz, you guys are the reigning champions. You're a great player.
How confident are you that you guys could actually win again for this year's Overwatch World Cup?
I think our chances are higher this year since the last time we won we weren't as experienced as we are today
Now we've got some more experience especially on lands and big events as well, so and to be honest in Korea have like
gained the big improvements since the last time we played them
So I think they would be our biggest driving maybe team USA as well, but I think this is like fighting Korea, so
I'm confident that we can win, hopefully
You guys are looking very great and yeah big congratulations again on getting the win
I am super excited to see more from Team Saudi Arabia.
Bobby V, thank you so much for the interview. Thank you.
Oh my god, JPC? I love JPC. Wait, this is a part that's surely now.
Oh my god, that's so cute! Can I keep it? Oh, I actually need that.
Oh no!
I saw it on Twitter, I saw it on Twitter, oh my god.
Wait, it's the combo.
Really?
I can keep it?
It's like super cute, like it's Jeff, I can't, it's my favorite character in Overwatch.
I actually need that.
Yeah.
That's so cute.
What is your link?
I mean, that's a symbol.
Yeah, symbol.
You have a little odd plushie like that we do, flame odd, special thing from
We've got one last match up today for the Overwatch World Cup group stage here in Busan
and it's going to be Sweden vs Japan.
A little bit of a change in dress code here, Johnny.
We're matching, agreeing for once, maybe even talking a little bit more about this
team, Sweden.
Don't know about you. What is this man? But uh, okay? Yeah, you want to say your piece before we get into it?
Not really to be honest. I've had enough. Okay. Hold your breath then. We're getting into Sweden straight away
Johnny this team. I don't know about you ever since we've seen you know, the jetpack hat that I'm coming in a lot
Kepster
Like you that guy on the capacity be able to snipe out those passions those jetpack hats
He is for me the key here for team Sweden, and I mean this whole roster is pretty good
All right, I just I just want to go through my emotions a little bit. Okay
Last year was very disappointing
Okay, I went three and four in the qualifiers lost to Germany
I believe which you know this year wrapping a pretty good team
but I feel like this is the bounce back here and
And we got Admiral to the Breakthrough Program, our favorite Estonian, we got the Swedish Jersey as well.
Trying to play the cap here now, this just has to be the world cup comeback here for Team Sweden now.
And so that being said, you know, we're really professional here on the overseas sports team.
We got neutral observers all over the place, we'll keep it realistic.
Are you talking to me? What are you talking about?
I'm just I'm just saying even though I'm sitting here with the team Sweden Jersey, you know, I'm not unbiased cast
Unbiased unbiased cast for play for the team
same nationality unbiased casting
Keep me grounded here. I'm gonna get ahead of my money. I keep you grounded buddy. This roster is sick. Okay. You've got big cap
Don't talk about one token Kevstar. Look
You do have to I think one of the better players in a bush. She's supposed to be this person
more time here. Okay, okay. One of the greatest players of all time. Okay. Honestly, a true legend in the game. And team Sweden, I'm not going to mention you. I don't know if they ego too much, but they've had some legendary players on their team throughout the history of Overwatch, a little Johnny action. Yeah.
Yeah, it is it. No, like think about the other tank players apart from yourself Ellie vote as well
And he felt lost the legendary Swedish time to dominate
Yeah, Washington Justice Legend dominated contenders before they have their time in the air watch league. I mean, yeah, I won't disagree
I think Sweden they're gonna perform better this year for sure. They might win the entire thing
Okay, wait a second
It's just group stage guys. It's just group stage guys. We're gonna head over ourselves
But let's talk a little bit about this team Japan because Jack a lot of these players are returning most of them were on barrel back in
2023 they're still on barrel now in
2026. Oh, yeah, it was actually a mixture. Yeah, it's a mix this time. Yeah. Yeah, it was all of our last. Yes
Not like
But this time in the roster you also have Finn coming in for GK an absolute beast
So that's just a shock, X player, and has been doing phenomenally in the MEA.
KSG has also been a standout for Japan too, and I've been singing the praises of this region
for a hot minute now.
Every single international barrel go to, and Japan as a whole, they do better things.
And I think Team Japan, this might be their year where they really do break through.
And I think overall, if this region does well, sorry, if this team does well, like
as big for the region as they can make it to BlizzCon.
We see how passionate the fans were in Tokyo in the beginning of the start of the year.
So yeah, I'm expecting and hoping for big things from players like this guy on the screen right here on the right, Niko.
I want to see him pop off at the casting. He is going to be the bright spot for the team in this tournament.
Yeah, I think this is a really interesting team overall because we've seen so many impressive things from Varel this year.
You know, cutting it close against some of the best Korean teams.
They've been showing up at a few major events now with some impressive results.
But that being said like no top dragon on this team. You might be missing cloud and sleigh obviously
And so I think it comes down a lot to this the main support here like epic and why though
How are they going to integrate here alongside Finn in the back line and can they get the most out of this roster?
So I still think they have something to prove here even though they got three players coming out of arrow
I mean it sounds like the storyline for both Sweden and Japan is that something?
They both have something to prove in today's matchup looking to make a statement in their first game here for the group stage
But let's get into our predictions
Is it not obvious?
Maybe we may have spoiled it a little bit, guys
But for me, I bought a one-way express train ticket on the Kester train to Liskon
What did I tell you?
I'm forgetting now
Oh my gosh!
You just practiced it like three minutes ago before this started
Go on, try it
Hey, yeah?
Try it
Hold on. I need to hear that one. Yeah, yeah, there we go. Let's go guys
Let's get straight into games Sweden versus Japan
Let's go Tony
It's happening too big thing. That's not the right screen. We just saw that one, but they sweet Japan
I promise I love you rockin your jersey still fits as well. I was surprised. I haven't worn it in years
But it still fits still fits
I like it, I like it
Oh look, we're back in the green light
So bad
Old versus new here, this is 2018 one, yeah
Obviously the year you played
I couldn't remember, honestly
It's so long, well to be honest with you, Johnny is long
It's like 8 years ago or something like that, it's kind of crazy
Yeah, I'm old, Nepal, first pick here
For Sweden, Bastion, Bam
Gonna rockin out the gate with
Obviously you do have the legendary Kevster
Kevster and Obias here, Johnny of course, but you're expecting Sweden to do well.
I think both teams like Ash said looking for a little bit of redemption with
Sweden I mentioned before how many kind of legendary players they've had and they crushed
young wine qualifiers too. Kevster, Skyle, a back in the roster and wanting to maybe even repeat
the same success as they had in 2016-2017. If you want to go real far back, they're
They're like third in both the initial years of the average World Cup.
Yeah, look, we had some spectacular teams back then, and so that's, I think, why last year was a pretty big disappointment now.
But this is a new generation of players here, you know, Sauron Willis has done spectacular work on Team Pets,
and now a couple of those players as well, trying their way back and facing Masters.
And so, you've got a whole group of players here who are competing at the highest level of Overwatch,
Now look at the perform. This team Japan though, maybe feeling like a bit of an underdog in this one with something to prove, but we've seen them at so many major tournaments before.
Finally get to cast a little bit of a demon.
Sorry I'm locked. Look at his backline difference too. This Ana being played on this map. Obviously with Jericho being banned it's very free here for both Finn and Skyline.
in Skyline. Niko first blood already drawn, Kevster takes it down, KFC with a quick response
though. Yeah, Kevster off the hot sword already.
Oh, it does. And now another two-puncher as well, kind of three-fucking in the back
one here, but it's going to be a team to pound though, with the cap, but Kevster got
a third one already. And not the one from Kevster, okay, give
it to these BMB right now. KSG, trying to fight on his own little island here,
Kevster's already managed to score three kills, maybe even a kill onto Niko, too.
Oh my god.
Okay, Kevin.
This is the first opening game of Team Sweet and Johnny.
Like, come on.
Hi.
There's no point speaking.
No words.
This is looking gameplay.
Oh, what a sleep too.
Oh, the stagger.
Goodbye.
That is the real problem that Team Japan have in front of it.
God.
How can they deal with Kepster?
I mean, Kepster is cast Carri Potential.
I'm just taking over the lobby.
Rolling them down.
He's already got pulse.
You gotta find a way to like mitigate this tracer blade because it's just
it's just a sort of thorn in your side and even more than that is taking out the
the tracer dual, getting on top of the Ana in the backline as well. It's causing so much trouble.
You need to find a way to shut down and mitigate the Kevster.
Kevster is already in, taking the 1v1 versus the worst but you've got to be careful that Kevster's got a pulse drop.
He's not too far behind though. Swing at least though for Kevster.
That's taking a blight to the face too after hitting that recall so that's the back on.
This is going to be available in the fight for just a moment.
Now that we've talked to KSG, you're trying to chase down worse in the front line.
There's a little shield there to block a little bit of damage, but VIN takes down KERM.
He's also going to KERR RIP SKYLE ANU, because unfortunately here, it's a little bit more
tough here for KSG to force them off of this point.
Already 60 plus percent, gained, for sweet.
Yeah, great job, I came to Japan that one time.
Forcing Kester back, finding the pick as well, and so, they actually take the
point back here without expending on all of those crucial ultimates, so we're not
Nonoboost to push forward with the demon, but you still have a few ultimates in hand here.
Everything's on a bit of a run.
Slimming brain from HG's gonna be so nasty.
There be kind of groups up in this show, but they know, obviously, that, uh, he's gonna have it.
He's gonna go straight in. There it is! Oh ho!
Soro instantly deleted!
Skyro is gonna face the wrath of the team too.
Did you end up getting the flip? Wow, HG, maybe a pixel away from getting the contest.
Now it's going to be some percentage points, but the big loss for Sweden there
has to utilize both the overwrite protocol and the non-boost
and don't get anything for it whatsoever
to crucial ultimates loss for Team Sweden there.
They're gonna try and force them again, cause look how split Sweden are right now.
Carefully trying to be a solo operator.
Trying to find solo picks.
They'll find the same success at least not just yet.
Now just trying to escort the rest of the team through that mega health pack room.
They managed to all regroup up as a unit.
Okay, she's doing a lot of work here in this front line, already into the backline array.
Look at this dash through! A good sleep from Skyle, puts him to rest for a brief moment, but Niko outputs this up with a spree!
It's a tremendous draw by Japan there actually, because Sweden, they tried to go for a bit of a push with the demon, with the tracer,
but Team Japan just engaged and then had the front line collapse on top of that dive group from Team Sweden.
And so actually by themselves enough time by themselves enough space to flip it onto Sweden here 80% in counting now
They have a knowledge of any guy that you go early
They're gonna try and go first just send KSG in there
You keep him spot. Great mark the Tracer really good catch now that honey for someone in nano actually
Who wants an eco instead doesn't it the execution if she actually QQ that goes down first eventually Admiral
brought to task as case she is teammate unable to create space in the backlight is Kevster
Benz is like a catnap, Willis ending Finn's short existence too.
Does that look like a perfect fight there, but KSG couldn't lock anybody down?
Yeah, it felt like it was after a great start you're forced to recall from Kev early,
and then you just need to get a couple of picks as Team Sweden go for a contest,
but instead, Team Sweden flip things around now.
And now they have the ultimate, the limit break in hand for Willis.
If you can catch a couple of people with the damage application, that would be huge.
See if Sweden could do one-patter here. They're also trying to hold this door.
Willis.
Limit break.
KSG spotted. Just the one-feet one.
Well, a little less honorable now as Finn's also healing KSG up.
Can't get too close though, this limits break.
Decent amount of range.
Nanoboost deployed now.
As KSG tries to get in his backline, the limit break doesn't appear to him as well.
An instant anti-nade two to make sure Skyle stays alive and KSG brought down.
Niko, unable to do anything either, but JaFran try and hold on at 99%
Zoro dead sure but it is Sweden. Let's take round one. Yeah very patient play
there they had to wait for the none of Bruce to bail from style there but you
saw how much space that Willis gave up in that one. Just playing it cool there
playing it relaxed and even though you fought it a lot at space you trust
Tevster to hold down the flank perhaps and then you collapse on the KSG
once he went for it the demon died team Sweden they're also get started
chapter for you then to just a demonic performance so far yeah but Japan
they're cutting in close yeah I mean let's speak about how they didn't 2021
they were in group D which was named the group of death that was the Saudi
Arabia USA group they didn't obviously make it out Saudi taking the title in
in 2023. But I really do believe this is the strongest team Japan have had in the Overwatch
World Cup.
What an unlucky draw that is. Not that, previous World Cup and now Sweden, USA, China.
Yeah, it's not.
This is a really difficult group.
Another tough group here, we're sitting at a convention in the USA, obviously they'll
be playing at some point. KSG. Ended up being very aggressive again, two very different
ideas of how to play the team on in this comp. KSG way more aggressive than
Willyson. Sweden more passive. Taking it easy for me.
Yeah and I mean KSG has been getting punished for it so far.
If that's been Willys with the patient plate, letting Tepster do his thing on the flank that has been working out for team Sweden so far.
And I mean we gotta be careful about Admiral dropping Tepster into the backline here as well.
Looks like he's coming.
Oh that's shot though from the pit.
Okay, of course we are not here
Oh the tracer!
Okay!
No mashing, we're just gonna fling the tracers in
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!
Wait, wait, you're QQQ
Okay, well my doubt is also dead
That is just an unfortunate set of circumstances
Alright
It's one thing dropping the tracer from like above you in a corner
And there's another, just flying in with the tracer
And of course the sky
Tracer gets deleted
Yeah, not really a big secret at that point
Alright, okay, reset
So again, Japan taking no more time to set up as KSG's made the swap.
I mean, 50% of counting them.
No, the boss has 60% of the lullaboo.
But it's such a slow round.
Yeah, as yeah, there's been one fight pretty much.
Guys are under a lot of pressure.
Look at this, why are they swooping in?
Ask who is the best DPS right now.
A lot of players will say Jetpack Cat,
if you all understand.
Every coming up in 10%.
And can you stall out here, maybe?
You lose a member, but you want to stall up this point, build an honor, if you can.
Yeah, Willis, again, just playing a little bit more passive to your pan, really.
Something to prove for the rest of the world.
Just making sure they can get in there.
Now, Willis, on to Niko saves his life, even after he got stuck.
Why not close, end up going down to a 4v5 on the points?
Danaboose, not something you want to try, but will especially enhance Niko.
No, you can't come up with anything though, realistically.
Now, a nano on Willis.
Just a double tap.
That's disgusting!
That is gross!
From Willis!
Oh, that's a bite over!
And that just might be the map as well!
85% for Sweden!
Yeah, they should feel free that they can push forward now.
With Kevster, with Sora as well, with the overwrite protocol.
Kuki with the touch here, could go for something here, a double blink, but it matters little if you could get a couple of picks from Team Slivener.
Why not hit in our skybox?
Oh!
Willis shuts it down again!
Any touches?
Eventually, Kuki gets there, Pulse Bomb goes out, but Kevster, instant shutdown!
And now KSG trying to get there unsuccessful with his endeavour as Admiral
Shots him out with a jetpack cap at Sweden on the map
Yeah, Sweden looking out there in firm control so far
It felt like a little bit of times like you mentioned Team Japan
They're trying to go for those plays, but
It's quite difficult to play that aggressive when you have someone like Kevster shutting down the tracer angle as well
Well, just like realistically, if you're playing like that,
wait like KSG is doing, they're going for those dives onto the on-out to the backline, right?
You almost need like a tracer to play alongside you,
but because you're facing texture, it takes so long to like be in the great position,
no force of recoil from the enemy tracer,
the setup is just so long for team Japan,
it kind of haunts them that KSG is playing so aggressive at times.
Yeah, really different ideas how they want to run the comps, but also I think it's a great
understanding of Team Sweden, that they're like if we just play patient, if we're not
forcing her, we can let Kevster do his thing on the first one.
Yeah, because eventually Kevster is going to get a pick, you know.
Right, because if you go aggressive, if maybe you're thinking like we're mechanically
developing, we're just not going to go aggressive, we're going to force things,
You're actually leaving yourself exposed to the potential of Kevster's recall being forced,
then team Japan, they get space for free as Team Sweden are forced to withdraw, right?
They're playing a little bit more patient here, a little bit more cautiously,
and I think that allows Kevster and Sword to kind of like do their thing,
acid damage people here, like not pushing too far.
All right, how am I going to take this? They ended up adding Kiriko, that last map.
Kat Bastian probably, for Team Sweden, wouldn't be something that they're too unfamiliar with, especially in this day and age.
Well, I think, you know, Team Sweden are like a very versatile roster. You know, you think about
Will the Seripul now being a defeated demon as well, but can play the Beaver at a pretty high level.
Hazard, we've seen a lot of in the past, of course. So, I think this is a Team Sweden roster that is very versatile.
I mean, you've got the texture of the team as well, really flexible.
I think it comes down to like if you're team Japani like what do you feel comfortable playing and we've seen a couple of looks from them
They've been playing you know important main support you look with epic playing the main support at times
But sometimes it's also been a double flex support look with the players we just saw in the
Yeah, we're wide on there. Yeah, I love the double flex
I like double flex in this manner because jetpack is just kind of absurdly strong still
I think with KSG for known for Diva of course in theory
theory. The one fits in that kind of hero pool very well. I mean, what do you think about
it there? I think with how Willis was playing, I think that's, I wouldn't say it's the correct
way of playing, but for at least how Sweden kind of want to operate, not being the practice
team, being more reactive can be a little bit easier with the demon because at the
end of the day, if you're really going for it, like we saw KSG go like dashing in
and you are just exposing yourself almost kind of overexposed almost like a Winston
in a way where like you've used your leap to engage and then you're overexposing yourself,
your shield, it's something like 650 HP so it's not like a Reinhardt shield or anything
like that or even like a risk deployable or something like a sick shield.
So yeah, Sweden kind of almost breeding them in that regard and just punishing them.
Yeah, like people are pretty interesting here because you kind of absorb this pressure
like we saw Willis play with the shield and like you're not an easy tank to
to take down, but you can also engage quite heavily into the backline, get on top of the
onus, combining with the tracer, but you also have quite a bit of poke damage as well.
Like that gun can't be underestimated, the damage output, and like it's pretty shit,
it's good on low.
Yeah, I mean you get the major perk only we saw with the non-abuse, like that damage
is silly.
How much is that?
I think it's 160 damage with the major perk and the non-abuse, yeah.
Which is literally just web-boop-boop.
the game trainer and just hit the two little shots.
Yeah.
Shambhali Monastery.
That is both of the headshots, that is.
I think.
Yeah.
I mean, still.
It's not a 160 base, that is.
OK, yeah, 160 base.
Here's one tapping a tracer.
Boom, boom, boom, dead.
DPS?
What DPS?
Don't need that.
I thought I'd be lucky anymore.
That's fucking bigger.
This still opens up.
Finn to play.
Oh, no, just saying.
Hang on a second.
I like the Shambhali Monastery pig.
I mean, it's the barrel pig.
Right.
I also like it for Sweden in a way, if you want to play a little bit more reactive and slow how they've been playing.
I don't mind Shambhali and monastery for that, but yeah, it is kind of the barrel of special.
It's just immediately the first map I think of when I think about barrel.
Even dating back to the 2025 World Finals, I feel like this is a map where they made their stand thing.
Baptiste comes back then, but now, obviously, Jetpack Cat, which is getting banned out here from Sweden.
Um, this is fine though if you are in Japan, like I mentioned, even before Death Back Cat was released,
Japan and therefore Barrel, like, they were really good Shamboli Monastery team, playing double-flex support.
And so I don't think they should be too upset even though they're catching up.
Ah, the hog?
I mean...
What's in this one?
There's- there are no thoughts.
Okay.
Not the van.
What's with the further van?
They knew the Death Back Cat van was coming out, and they're fine with it.
Yeah, Japan exactly, yeah, to fur in that van, okay, interesting.
Okay, we saw this a lot in OWCS from like Space Station, like to Fur in that stuff.
I didn't really expect to see that here, I'm gonna be honest.
Well, the thing is like, for so many of these teams, they're thinking five maps, right?
The thing in the full series, like, what are the best circumstances to be playing for ourselves across all five maps?
5 maps and you don't want to live under the fear of the enemy team being able to ban out
the cat at any given time right and so this might be a scenario where Japan are thinking
okay if we can almost like allow them to jetpack cat ban early we don't have to protect
them for the cat anymore then the remaining maps in the series and that allows you
to ban tanks, ban damage a bit more freely for the rest of the series while still
guarantee that the club doesn't play. Yeah it's almost like her. We don't
actually mind you banning the cat because we have a different kind of
comp style or comp strat on this map. Who is the map again? Who wouldn't mind, hey, I'm just
putting this out there. A little lulari action, a little lulari action. You know, maybe a little too slow.
Here it goes back in the mix as well of course without that being banned.
Alright, so KSG wants to play 2. Always got my eye on KSG. I think with how well he kind
of performs on the diva. Again, I really do think Dmon kind of fits into that role.
You're not, obviously, there's no real high ground mobility there, but still with how
reactive the push ball, how well you play around it, I think, kind of fits with KSG's
down a whole lot more.
This interesting, but we've just seen a few teams just like
hard commit to the demo.
And some others like, you know, whether it was Spain or
Thailand, previous series, just like, no, we're not going
to play it at all, actually.
And then you see these two teams just like, yeah, we're
going to pick it on a couple of months there, we're going
to pick it on the Paul.
Yeah, we're going to pick it on everything.
They're doing that.
Sky was surely doing that.
You can just see you can get a full charge right click.
Do you really want a min-max?
Damage boost, skyl.
Hit the right click, through the gap.
That's not happening that much.
I mean, that has to be less likely than I would have been.
Spoke almost, spoke a little bit too soon.
No!
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
No, he's laughing!
He's typing!
He's typing, he's typing!
No!
What was that show?
Yeah, what? Get out. Get out.
Time out.
Bro, he's typing.
Bro, he's typing.
Alright, okay, that is gonna be the first point being...
not the first old, sorry, being cracked up for this.
Dude, go on, stop talking here.
Yeah, actually.
Come on, now.
We're all gonna replay, we're gonna replay some point. Don't worry about it, don't worry about it.
Alright, we're just trying to hold down this angle now.
KSG, BW, just have to do a DPS.
Please stay alive.
A little bit longer, please.
Alright, now Keshia's a really awkward spot.
Honey, use the dash in a long range suit you do to try and get him hard at dodge.
This is going to allow Sweden here to round this corner now.
And this is going to allow Keshia as well to work the side angles.
Willis, take on all the damage here.
Don't be careful of farming the frontline with these take aim shots.
They can do a lot of damage if they're very slow on the re-approach here. Team Sweden, taking their sweet time.
And Trin is going to be the first one, with a Kitsune-Rosh as well, so he can drop that defensively if need be.
Kitsune-Rosh, as you can see, Kipsu, both on aggressive Kitsune-Rosh.
Yeah, this is really low as well. Little Suzu early on for Fin to keep alive and push the rest of the team forward.
Kipsu was waiting for kind of this push in from Willis to try and get a good flag off. That just never happened.
It's so decisive and you get a clean wipe from Team Sweden there, but you use that ultimate aggressively now.
They're hunting for Kevser.
Where is Bro?
Where is Bro?
He is nowhere near.
You can resume looking ahead.
But this is now because Skyle has the Kevser in his advantage here, and I was going to engage on their own, considering I got hacked.
Knowing that there won't be a response here from Finn this time around.
time around. Oh, early pick up the wider as well. Yeah, really nice wrap round. No speed
boost here in course for Team Japan. So very hard to get wide up out of sticky situations.
Suzu for Vim keeps him alive and how very vulnerable a good connection from Zoro should be it's
here for Sweden. As KSJ gets a D-Lex, it's out and there you go. All right, pops his
head. But still, that was a fantastic contest from Team Japan. It's like, okay, like
That was a clean fight win from Sweden, you got an early pick.
But, you stalled the court so well that you guaranteed yourself a proper fight here now, with a Sanktor in hand.
It's going to be a difficult fight here.
So we're going to double the pull up, man.
Yeah, just a rush lay down.
Realistically, you're saving the speed for a little bit later.
Just try and win this fight.
Niko on an off-fangle now, but, right, they can actually...
BOOM!
a limit break for KXG is absolutely beautiful and there's the sound by a
fumble, perfect in time, Kev's done straight into it though, jumps into the
sanctuary, hits the spree but shut down by Finn. KXG with a beautiful limit break
and even with the beat coming out Johnny you're still taking out damage.
Yeah great limit break but also fantastic patience from Whiteout with
the sanctuary there. Botham says a lot of time to get it out at the right
time and Team Sweden that time didn't get value from their double support of
the combo and now 22 seconds remain here. Willis swaps over to the hazard. Finn's
coming up on this Kitsunosh as well. Japan has all the tools here to go for a
first point for Lo. Can she get a good pulse? Finn very close to a rush too. In
theory Japan have all they need to win this fight. Five seconds to go
touch is gonna be guaranteed here with Kevstar on the point already. Niko
No wonder a lot of pressure needs to win this 1v1, at least force Kevser to recall.
Finn already in the front line, but Kyle and Kevser get a pick anyway!
Finn 30 HP, shut down!
I said Japan have what they got to win the fight!
But Sweden, they ended up just winning in...
with no ult!
Just a quick, clean, decisive double pick, and that's it.
I was wondering if the defensive setup was missing there from the team Japan.
We allowed Sweden so much space in that one.
When they had the Katsunosh in hand, they could have played more aggressive,
they could have settled for the size of pushing onto two or three members of Team Sweden,
but instead, they let Kevster do his thing and he punishes Team Japan for it.
Alright now, we... Okay, who's somebody else?
Still got Paul's... Still got Ruk.
It's given Aberon enough time though to build up the Sam bar.
My favorite Estonian sweep.
80% now, but after all, now Finn's putting himself in a dangerous spot in the front line against Willis.
Skyl already down, Bolas connects to Zoro, good stuff so far.
Still though, with the amount of time he managed to delay on that first point,
they're still in good standing for the minute of 40 for Sweden's attack.
Yeah, I mean at this point, based on how the first point was looking,
if you're team Sweden, you'll take anything at this point.
It's a solid team fight win for team Japan, you don't deploy the consumers that time around,
so it's still a tool you have available for yourself.
That it's gonna be on Sweden here to try and look for entities here.
Gonna go for a bit of a wrap around,
they're coming up on double support over the past 12.
I really like the wrap, kind of pull KHD's attention
and force KHD kind of back into this choke point.
Zoro rips the ult, KHD's helped by just getting melted.
Good wall positioning from Willis as well.
End up putting KHD in a hot spot.
Suze is gonna save his life,
Leverbreak ends up coming out,
and W2 in the front line,
Quick, the Apple responds with the soundbar. K.H.S.U.S.U. swinging away.
Willis has been the call here, the target for Team Japan, but they can't bring him down.
Light up, lights down with the sanctuary as well.
That's a massive kill.
On to the Mizuki by Willis.
That was the difference maker for Team Japan and goes down early in that fight.
That should have been Team Japan weeping the rewards from their patient play, but instead, Sweden shuts them down.
Can't go for a last touch here.
What would it be now?
Oh, it just pooped!
He got pooped in the wall!
See, we'll just get on the cleaning time though, the sanctuary ends up getting deployed.
Niko with the bonus coming up in just a moment.
Sample gets focused down by Q-Key.
We'll just have to go for another touch.
But is it actually enough to change the device?
The placement still gets the kill on to Y-Dot.
Niko now with a good periphery on the bike and sending some...
Take game shots for Skyle from downtown.
Clips him with a kunai.
KSH is going to get DMG.
No help left.
This Team Sweden clutch up yet again! That is 0.2 unlocked!
I mean it was a fantastic disengage from Team Sweden. Admiral goes down but still, you're able to just disperse and then re-engage on top of Team Japan.
But you gotta feel that both the first point and the second point, Japan, they had the ultimates available to them to finish off this attack from Team Sweden. They just couldn't get it done.
Now the tables have kind of turned here on Team Japan. They are without the ultimates now.
As Willis is just forcing KSG's position, completely against the game plan that we've seen Team Japan kind of employ.
How aggressive they want to be with KSG.
Well, alright, why not? Kills Kepster.
Now I was about to settle into this defensive on the third point.
Getting close to the Vistula's team rush as well.
I'm still looking for a couple of picks here.
You don't want to get close down too low. You don't want to get taught here by the Hacer.
They've got to batten down the hatches now, especially with this outright protocol from Zoro.
Although realistically the effect is from this range pretty minimal.
White got some a lot of trouble though. Finn pops the rush.
QQ ends up hitting the recall.
What a disengaged.
And that will be a disengage from Sweden. Very good at this push and pull.
But can she still in the hot pursuit?
Winners deploy to the water. Separate the tracer from the rest of the team.
Stinger ball is everything Frodo winners there to bring him to task.
Ten seconds to go with a touch required for Sweden.
And this time Skylbrough could simmer us early.
Samurai available for Apple as well.
They're gonna go into the touch, Kev's gonna get there and hit the recall as well.
Now the Sanctuary deployed.
It's gonna be so tough to win this fight. The limit break is just so damn good.
KSG! A clean cut there on Tizarra in the front line. Just chops it in half.
As the X-Wilson's got a couple of kills, but hasn't got too much left to fight with the Elgarbat.
Torn it down to the final moment. He even gets another one on top of that. I mean,
Wilson's really putting in the work for Team Sweden.
Although Jutran, they do end up finally getting that payload stop just before that third point
in that final corner.
Yeah, it has to feel good the way that ended still though.
You were able to disengage from within his own Kitsuna rush all down the fort onto the payload, but...
Sweden equally.
It'll be satisfied with two points there where it felt like Japan could have closed out that first half of the map quite early.
Yeah, that kind of fumble from Japan on that defense when they had two ults.
You can't be going down when you've got the rush and the ult spawn like that in the neutral
It's just not
Again like especially that's time for you on the second point. Yeah, I'm thinking like Sweden
They're throwing ultimates quite liberally
One after the other like they're almost I want to say the waste of the nuts
But they're using ultimates aggressively knowing that it's unlikely to get full value like they're not gonna get a team
Why?
of ones like Kitsune Rush, but they're purchasing space, they're purchasing momentum in some of these fights
and the panel trading in the Ultimate game quite well and are left with that Sanctuary as the final cherry on top
which theoretically should be the one Ultimate to kind of certify the team fight win
after this Ultimate trade back and forth, but because Wybel dies early there
you're just not able to deploy the Sanctuary in a good way for the rest of your team
And teams are going to punish before that.
They go back on the old faith.
They're coming from Kevster on the team, and there's no Tracer. She on deployed.
All the kind of front to back damage Kevster being able to take.
That's a corrective off angles, like good Tracer, like kind of plank mode.
If there's still anybody that wants to kind of approach the staircase, it's going to get shut down pretty easily.
Or they serve right-hand side. Smaller staircase, not the left-hand side.
Oh, good shot. Alright, here we go.
Yeah, they're still guilty of nothing. On this G-on, so it comes down to...
...2P2. Alright, I guess on value it's worth on this tracer.
Oh, they're trying to stagger KSG, I think. Yeah, they can. They should get the D-suit.
Oh, they go up the bolliglock as well.
Uh-oh! Alright, not the longest stagger at all time.
That was a kind kill, Willis there.
I'm gonna see some more seconds.
Yeah, a little longer to build up the alt there.
Why don't you get it?
Wow.
Alright.
I mean, I guess trying to punish Willis would play like the amount of span damage
you're gonna take from the orbs, or even just trying to do this as well.
You're using the flanking set, trying to hit Apple.
I mean, Will will see though.
A bit of a trade is going down. Willis is dropping low here actually, so this might be easier.
And what's the point? I'll find another pick up to Wyldon.
And this is what I'm worried about. You can poke on the Wu Yang, but you're going to open yourself up.
For both Sorel and Kevster.
That's a little break as well.
A little break of a high ground. Kevster fell.
ASG low. That's the back off now is Willis almost putting him in his place.
They're going to be able to get top off though.
hiding around the corner also very very risky kind of position man and even if I
hover the rush I don't know about that even if the DMK winners should really be in the end
they're surely Zorid just gonna kill no he can't shut some down I don't like that rush you should
just hit them no and it felt like Willis was almost dying on the payload anyway yeah as you
deploy the Kitsuna rush I feel like since Kitsuna rushes so far this map I've been left begging
hoping for a little bit more value now Sweden can be engaged with two support ultimates of their
a minute 45 on the time of the good Japan you just get a couple of opportunities here you want more Sweden had earlier
You want to win them when they go when we've got none
Scars and just kind of play say oh
You can have snort out a great time of the freezer either maybe offer a switch doesn't really go off your five percent
You might as well switch at this point why don't they get onto Kev's to show but well
It's gonna be a surround them up like a cheap alternative. Well, she
and they can try to catch G again.
They're gonna stack up his catch G again, or at least try to.
That's gonna get better. Look at this! This should be mapped Johnny!
More like close to or at least OT.
G and G, you're gonna get booped away. Body box!
Maybe too early to call it man. I still got a minute to go.
I mean, Sweden's got five of them in this game.
They're not too far away.
If you're a betting man, the percentages are in Sweden's favor, to say the least, looking at this alphabetical meaning.
I mean, what do you got?
Tidal Blaster Tracer.
No, Paul, do you know like guaranteed kill?
They're not guaranteed at all, you know, SUSU is available for Skyle as well, so this will be a really tough going for Japan.
They need a bit of a miracle here, they need so much bigger paper, and there they go.
Are they gonna try? QQ's got that Tidal Blast Skyle, SUSU, oh, it's just so damn clean.
clean and there's the beat and here comes the two-hive
the multi-twist as well. Oh, Willis, limit break.
And Team Japan pushed to their very limit.
As Kiki tries to maybe get back to the point,
Fiddler with the kill-off, he gets the DPS now down by his Willis in the front
line. He is the big DPS at this point.
Scarlet kill-off to Fiddler, here comes 0-T, and the break
is a swing and a miss too.
Japan is still having a good scene rush here but such an awful balance down
across his first guy's gonna get it drop his first yeah and PSG's just too damn
low oh here's the light dude good luck fighting into this one now wide up
peeps his head over the top the flash is just too good and Tora's gonna end
this one a triple for the cast he's sweet and bringing it home on the
second map that was a really impressive first point defense there
The amount of picks they found there really stood out to me that map.
I mean it started with the Soro Hanso shot and I felt like it just kept going for the rest of the map.
Especially that defense, Kuki, couldn't find anything going really on the trace whatsoever against Soro here.
So this has been a team Sweden really firing on all of them there so far.
Yeah, it really feels like it.
Oh, let's have a look. Oh, I didn't even see it.
hands-on moment.
That is a...
There is a hunt for a little moment to do.
I think it's...
It's a little disappointing between Japan.
Because you feel like they hang about,
they get great players,
and it's just a few individual mistakes,
blew up the map,
and took them back so much.
You know, we could have easily seen an opportunity there where,
you know, Japan,
they fall down to be them,
at the first point,
and then they look in, you know,
If Kessler doesn't get that big buff and they have those two ults, they can actually connect with them.
Why are you doing that?
Fin with a couple of Kitsune rushes that maybe didn't yield the most value.
As you look at this team, Japan, Russia, and you know, you respect some of the players under achievements on barrel.
But so far the execution just hasn't been here.
Now you've worked well for them.
Yeah, hasn't been here.
Alright well unfortunately Japan's won no points on board either didn't end up
capping this first one of course and no points for that control map. Alright Swing
match point. I mean do you want to look at the bright side of the effect
out thing being gone? Maybe a cap again. Yeah. And you can ban other heroes as well.
Yeah they're not gonna defer. Right right they got the cats out so they
You can ban tanks, you can ban damage freely, well, guaranteeing, I mean at this point, like if you want to go to something right where you can play like Cloud Bastion, you can pick that for the Bastion in a case like this, right?
Yeah, you can just ban a Tracer, get kept to like, unsuppressable.
Well, that's not even like, okay.
Cassidy?
Yeah, ban Cassidy.
I don't ban, but I don't mind, actually, yeah, I actually don't mind banning Tracer, depending on what we do.
Unless you go to a map with Tracer, it's not what you feel like.
It's like we just don't want to go down to Kev's Tracer.
I mean, look what you did. Open in, what? 30 seconds on the first map. Kev just gets 4 kills.
Oh, okay, cool. It's one of those games now.
Yeah. We'll see though. I mean, there are a few maps in the pool here where we saw already on Paraiso.
So like, few of these teams even wanted to play the Cat on Prey, so it's going to be pretty good.
I mean the Cat is so good on the smack. Really, really good.
So if Wydeok kind of wants to flex into that, it actually would be good for the backline of the team's fans to think about it.
Because you can just have Fin also on the honor.
I think that's maybe where Japan want to put their eggs, like put them all in their support basket,
basket and look you can get wide up to succeed and help Niko succeed as well, have Finn on the honor
and maybe that's what I should know. Right like if you if you wanted to fair back line like that
you now are able to ban the tracer if you want to which is going to give some more room for Finn
to do work on the honor so because Japan deferred that ban on Tromboli Monastery you
did not bought yourself maybe a bit of a better opportunity here for the remaining maps but
But again, it's hard not to say that Shemboly Monastery was a bit of a must win map for
the Pan Steel though.
It feels like it.
You down all two in a series, it's possible, but really difficult here, so we got quite
a hold to take themselves out of it.
It's a tough group there.
Oh, and there it is.
Hold it.
How do you feel?
Indeed.
People liking this rework.
Yeah.
It's way more open on the second point and also on first, just way easier to attack.
opening up a couple of extra avenues and also the statue on the point at least
providing a little bit of cover who was needed for the map.
For the map previously no one's picking it if it's in the pool but now I'm
I don't know, some of the people in my rankings feel the burning of the leaves.
They play Torb or they play like static heroes is what this is what that tells you.
All right well now they're justified now they can go there if they'd like to.
Um, it has to be said here, we also have to take a look at the Vans to Lucio coming out
here from Japan, so okay.
They want to slow it down here, I think it will be the Cat and the Arnav, a bit of a
minor.
Yeah, I mean, give Sweden less of an opportunity to play with Pace and get on top of that
backline.
I think it has to be mentioned here that this is a bit of a must win match in this
group for either team.
If you are hopeful of advancing to BlizzCon, making top two here, the other two teams in
the group are China and the United States.
Two very strong teams here.
And so realistically I think this is a match between Sweden and Japan just for the opportunity
to get yourselves out of the group with an upset against either of those two teams.
And so Japan here, down 0-2 in this series against Sweden, realistically, I mean they're
fighting for their hopes of advancing through the group stage.
on a scale of like one to go zero to a group of death,
like what you're writing, what do you think?
I mean, imagine if it was the China A team
would leave and shy.
Oh, with the United States.
And then you got Kevster playing like this for Team Sweden.
At least now, like honestly, I think China is better
than people give them credit for.
You know, the fact remains that those players
have looked really impressive on an international stage.
Even though they lose out in the first couple of rounds, every major, those 2nd and 3rd seed China teams, I think they're really strong players.
I wouldn't want to sleep on them. I'd argue that they're even like favorites against either of these two teams.
But still, them leaving Shai and Gushui and not being there for Team China, I still think that's something that Team Sweden and Japan are there.
They're appreciative of, because that makes their opportunities to advance to the group even better.
better yeah yeah I mean it does hurt the big time
if a barrel team Japan sorry gonna come up with something better here why don't
feel like I mentioned I'm gonna be on the cat and I like this map take I like
these bigs
Willis has had the better of KSG though.
Needless to do.
Yeah, we'll have to see about the damage players on this one though.
Okay, they're actually just going to throw in Willis this time around.
Gressiv got a push here from Japan, they're going to deploy the turret.
He's got a little bit of fuel left, but now he's got a pop-up on that shield.
Kev's to deploy with the tracer.
Wydos already dead.
Tsunamniko has to fend for himself on the back ship.
Are they just going to retreat underneath the point?
Oh, Kevser is not going to go. Let this go on Conn.
Oh, absolutely not.
There's only A2 HP, but we're going to get healed up.
Here comes the flank to wrap around the enclosure.
Finn and Niko, right purple now.
Zoro takes that one.
He already just got back!
Oh, Kevst!
Okay. Yeah, he's showing up to local.
Who's really shocked to be honest with you?
Honestly.
You're just gonna play a decent game now.
Three members from Team Japan here,
provide your time to sleep after the point as well.
Willis gets out of there as well.
I mean that was the chance, the opportunity for Team Japan.
Being killed off enough, though,
has actually got a nanoboost.
That's gonna be on-scarish, surely.
Ooh!
Oh, the stick!
None of them have actually tried keeping my life down.
They should try and make something of this.
Willis, de-mecht in the frontline.
Surely now, Team Japan have legs to stand on,
But KFC in the back again, a 180 sleep though for Finn, shuts him down, but Admiral dives straight in with a catnap.
And that will be, looks like Seema's Sweden securing this point.
Did Admiral get a 3k on the cat there?
It's just crashing out.
Bragging out on the cat.
He's ours now.
Get him in the citizenship.
Get him on board.
Get him in.
Get him in.
I want to be team Sweden advancing here. Have a non-a-boost in camp here.
Look for an opportunity on T'Niko, but Zyrn sends off.
Yeah, attack off well.
Uh-oh.
Oh!
Skylifted to safety!
Zorro shuts down QT as follows. Tried to go in a regressive follow-up on T'Niko, sent in those missiles.
Guy noon.
Oh there's no chance of why not Nico though takes them out of the sky but here comes after all a good player advantage now for team Sweden
Just finish G. They got to play very safe at this moment in time. We're just gonna chase them down
She's kind of caught in the front right here as well squid up on the risk of stand should be able to get back though
Oh, and it was Sontek. Oh, of course, of course, it's Sontek, Kevster. He's ready for the backpines on the course, but oh, that sticks so damn nice!
He tried to get lifted up and away, but yeah, Kevster, he's put himself on the board again.
Pure spectacle from Team Sweden right now is that the man that was building a Swedish lab to play overwatch has decided to lock in for Team Sweden.
You can see Japan still trying to go for playster KSG with another limit break, but just
throughout this entire series just hasn't healed with any value whatsoever.
Fendo still has the non-ghost in hand here, you'd go for a bit of a play.
Good, they've still got time. Niko nodges to sleep up on the high ground, still Japan
trying to fend off this aggression from Sweden with a pilot grenade.
Just send, why not, a Niko kind of reeling.
Not a lot of time to push payload though, TeamSweed.
There they go again.
They're gonna boost, they're gonna swing in again.
But that's, it looks like they managed to get safety.
Oh, what a sleet from Skyo too.
Why don't win the catnap?
Juki shuts down Amra with a Polk spot.
Niko still on the high ground and luckily,
that needs you to pick up the kill onto Skyo.
Should be Team Japan holding on for the time being
with both supports down for Team Sweden.
And even though I hope on the lack of value, still gotta give Japan credit the way they're playing.
They're always making plays. They're swinging around the corner with the Bastion.
Trying to be the proactive team in this one.
And the last couple of team fights, that's been working their ways.
What is this absurdity with the Tracer?
If Tracer didn't have enough of mobility herself, now we've got the catch airlifting them around.
I mean, it is just absurd.
Kevster getting paid attention right now eventually. It is good harassment, yeah.
Stops Kevster really just kind of getting into the backline free of charge.
Nano boost for Skyle, for Kevster. Even kills QTG. You're messing with the best. You're going to die like the rest, my son.
Willis now with the nano boost. He's going to try and go over the flank on the high ground.
Dash is forward, but the fight's already done.
Nano not even deep enough to will his hunting Zorro at this one under wraps already.
Oh, I'm finished. We all trouble here as well.
He's dead. He's surely dead here. He's gonna come back.
No!
Brave is...
Oh ho ho!
It's getting slipped on the edge of the map!
He gets up getting the kill as well.
Nothing to do, you have to chase the cat.
Surely, Apple dies here.
No chance for him to get away.
There it is.
Okay.
Oh!
What?
Wait, wait, wait!
Wait, wait, wait!
What?
What?
Wait a second!
Wait a second!
Hold on!
A little over, you get a baby dog.
The audio.
The demons were playing in his head.
Many back.
Quite the memories.
Didn't you realise that whatever it was called?
All good, no problem.
50 seconds to go.
Sky noon.
Sky noon for Zoro.
A lot of health already taken away from KESG.
Here it is, straight out of the top.
Wide dot.
Dashing under, but already Skull Bill off there trying to tag him down
but they can't quite get to it.
KESG dangerously low though.
Even after that limit break.
Shutting down Wide Dose, he goes into the catnap on Zoro.
It's just such a good, like almost defensive hold from Team Sweden, they've managed to flip the map on them, as Finns found himself in a rough spot.
Team Sweden with 20 seconds to go now as Apro picks up a couple. Willis with the limit break, not required is Apro, what's that, three?
On the cat.
It's been making some great face on the cat so far in Team Sweden.
They keep chugging along here on Paraiso on towards the third point.
It's it's been a real battle though, even on Chambordi Monastery as well. Oh, yeah
Fighting tooth and nail
Trying to get these checkpoints going and find themselves in that opportunity once more here now teams we didn't
Minute 20 of the timer like you only got a couple of defense here. Keep making place keep advancing this payload
I don't need to be one. I think
Smashing now I mean Zora is already down catch that does have a post on of course gets the stick quick melee to that post
from the demon killing me was the melee from kev ends up getting the kill
case she under a lot of pressure to doesn't want to get teammates are actually
an animal is going to be deployed by Vince keep trying to keep alive but
we're starting action by this month because they will sleep easily welcome
up his cash he tried to get another kill he's got one sure that quick desu as
well as also received in nano in that fight I think you gotta take that
if you're style I mean style has been hitting the abilities to buy a
grenade to speak art trying to get as much value as possible so you go
down to the demon there but still have to be kept pretty happy with that trade and now we are indoors
here difficult to get scanning value but it might still be the play here for King freedom yeah it's
still very possible if there was like what a super low arts it's a silver blade. Oh straight back
in to the mission barrage coming in from Niko I mean how to try something he got stuck like
Do you have pulse or the...
You pick, you pick the kill cam.
Five seconds to go now for teams using the Sivols in their back pockets trying to use Japan not too far behind on their own though.
Peiichi's going to have this limit break in a couple of moments as Willis Shryza uses his Sky Noon.
Kevcys takes down Kuki and Niko trying to run for his life but oh he ends up getting cagged now too.
Stunned, hit the ground and straight back to spawn.
Team Sweden on their final push, they hit break, end up hitting two, straight through the shield but KSH isn't getting slept
You just want to buy time here through the pan, you have the better spawn point and right now doing a great trouble
Just keeping alive for time being
I don't have to stay alive here, he's got the catapult online as well, 42 HP but still kicking
Pin also with the nano, better spawns, better ultimates, you've got to be set
I mean KSH can now just swing in the frontline, surely here
It's just gonna be Willis left on an island. No one else can really touch. You don't want to get in front of KSG right now
Now it's gonna be the hold
Japan complete round one
They giving C-Tweeden two points very close to the end very close to the finish
This map will end isn't in this next round
Now wish you sweeten up to wall so far in this series it feels like they have momentum, but
Japan doing a good job of just reining the time back. With these proactive
engagements making things difficult for teams without always keeping them on the
back foot and on these payload maps that's going to give them an opportunity
here to at least steal a map back as you can see KSG 16 and 3 there. Good
considering how we've seen them struggle pretty much early on in this
series leading the server in damage to 9.2k from KFG.
Alright, we'll see how Sweden fares on that.
See if there's any changes in the DPS lineup too.
Doesn't it like it? Oh no, a little bit, okay.
Zorro on the M-Ray.
But it does feel like cheating if you can just kind of grapple Kevster and just place him where you want.
On the defense, it feels like you have more opportunity for that.
You know that the attackers are going to push into you and so you can hover in a space like this, like we're seeing right now.
Then just let him go.
But at the same time, other things now you're on the defense, that could be quite more difficult.
what Japan did on their defense about being proactive about going for those
places really what if you really vital that they're good scouting you know
where the attackers are you can find it perfectly it's been another big fight
grappling the demon actually hit
yeah that's right around there maintaining the old angle the time being
Again, it's about the scouting here. You want to see with the panards you can go from the place and a little bit of biotic grenade there. Perfect.
Oh, Niko's getting kind of dislodged here. Yeah, wow.
That was why I don't kind of like, obviously, using that grapple to put him in a spot where he can succeed, but he just gets bashed in his little head on that giant bit of wall.
Kench is already taking care of Finn, so this is going to be a fought attack on the huge man side.
Just like that, a pack was a little bit forward from Team Japan perhaps.
Especially knowing because Kevster has the off angle back, they're probably seeing the
Bastion coming through somewhat, but give Sweden's backline to tell that there's a
Bastion swinging your way quite aggressively.
It is really a game of information here for Sweden on the defense.
You want to have these side angles still, you want to be wary of the Team Japan
on planning.
It was still the first G2.
But again, kind of gains this space on this line now.
See, just trying to force the willies off the position, so Niko can go over the swing.
Abril, a little bit too slimy there on the cat, ends up kind of escaping Niko's ire.
The A2, I mean Niko's just not finding success here. They forced the position though, it seems to me.
They're kind of puddled in this low-ground area now.
This kept the hunts for Finn. Oh, it's both as well. Oh, it's just too clean too damn clean
And QQ actually repeat the same success there. It's gonna be back in the fight in just a moment. The stick's good for one
They can't he get more they've already lost their tank of course. Yeah Zorro
Makes mean work QQ
I think the limit break from Willis is already done enough there to force your pan into that corridor
But when you go down a member like that
You have to go make a play 4 vs 5 situation in Team Japan
Unfortunately making life easy for Team Sudaner
We have a bit of a cat duel
Why not going to be helped out
Minut 30 here Jaws
Already dwindling this time bank down
No tics either
Nano for Scar, they got Catnap
There's 4 ults on the side of Team Japan
Alright, open this one up
There we go.
So, Bashnau.
So, Ney, there it comes.
Sorry, Insane Manor tries to get a cat-cap as well.
He's got a mean gun though.
Ney's trying to chase White on the way.
But he's put in a position of very awkward on that.
It's KSG finishes him off.
And that is a good insertion of the backline there.
KSG managing to split the team
and take it down Zoro and Skyle.
Still a couple of members alive in for Sweden.
It's good to go for a MasterChef from here.
Try to contest Kevster.
force. Here's Willis. Surely it's getting forced out. Yeah, look at that. Hey, it's
given a really nice positioning. This is going to be a chance taking this point.
So you get that point captured and you get the payload moving for Japan.
But still though, it's going to be quite the challenge to keep the momentum going here
on this one. You have the Bastion advantage. Not going to be quite as contested here,
Considering that Soror is over onto this Ember, he might be swapping after this over, I'd put a bolt to go on it.
But you can already see what benefit this is already granting Team Japan here, having this Bastion floating around this guy.
For a spot for QT, taking the duel versus Kevster, unfaithful though, Admiral, right behind him here is the post for Kevster and Fingert's got that!
And a double melee kill for Kevster, perfectly dueling up there with Admiral.
Maybe just post-cash. I mean post-cash, he probably not the best use of the ult there, but whatever.
Trying to get the DMG, maybe get a little bit of stagger.
He's gonna have another one in a minute anyway, so good.
They really won the fight, he could get sniked out of the skies too.
Why does, why does it so low?
I mean, this is just work hard.
Port Chepster getting busy here on the tracer.
Yeah, really hard. Still a tough map despite the changes to actually assault on the second
time.
And I have to bash him, swing around here. Try to create some space for the rest of the
team to walk up. Finn has some nano that he wants to deploy, but if you're under
the pressure from Kevster already.
Kepster forced recall, Kewkie playing on the side ground.
Oh, Spock's swinging a mish, connects to the wall, leaves a mark,
but Zoro focused down by Kewkie. Okay, now Kepster,
Kep is finning the 1v1. He feels like he's in a permanent 1v1 versus Kepster.
He hits another shot, nades the ground, forced the recall,
and he's speaking, Kepster's still in the opposite way.
He's got to sleep the door, he isn't going to get him though.
Kepster gets the kill again. Oh my word.
Team Japan just can't stop this man. They're going to terrorize him in his dreams at this point.
I mean this is just disgusting, well I'm from the Tracer Club.
Team Japan are doing fantastic. Despite Kevster just constantly being in their backline.
Sorrow there. Maybe I've done about an individual mistake.
They were dropping the override protocol, but it's picked early now.
Over 3 to 4, Team Japan.
Yeah, Limit Break actually ended up connecting two from Willis,
but they aren't able to get a kill onto Niko despite the damage.
30 seconds. Oh, he's in a 1v1 again! Someone help the boy Finn!
Please help Finn! Surely this time around he's going to be
out to get him. Is this good for the camp? Finn is tanking
Kepster's time? He's tanking the damage, he's tanking the
time. Maybe this is good. No, it's not. No, it's not good at all.
Yeah, Finn's dead. Finn's dead to Kepster again. I mean, it's just a perfect 1v1.
10 seconds here. This is serious, Jaws. They've got to get up there.
Vins now I'm gonna go to Kirigo try and teleport back someone's gonna have to go for the touch
Someone's gonna get that KSG gets pooped away, and that is it
Sweden a 3-0 versus Japan
Not giving out MVP Johnny, but
I think it's a feeling
feeling who is getting a
Player of the mountain that one my goodness
Kevston, that sign's going right there, the West Best is Kevston.
A disgusting performance.
Yeah, it was.
Beautiful.
Pure beautiful.
Look, I hope you apologize to him.
Just give him some, sorry.
Yeah, yeah.
Nothing personal, dude.
Yeah, thin, thin, thin though.
Yeah.
Okay, yeah.
I'm sorry, buddy.
I'm sorry, buddy.
Good game.
I'm sorry.
Good game.
Good game.
That's, that's tough.
It gets to a point where you're like, sorry Finn, but we can't just keep running out of
the yard at all times.
We got our eyes for work, you know.
Sorry man.
Sorry.
It started off like the very first fight of the fall.
You just like test your 4K and you're like the racist.
Yeah exactly.
Playing the same region right now obviously as well, so you'll go right with that.
at the end of the day, like, I think Finn,
you're right in saying almost kind of tanking the damage,
tanking the Kepster, and buying Japan,
or hopefully buying them enough time
for them to win the frontline duel.
It's just, yeah, Team Sweden have that under wraps as well.
Yeah.
3-0 to end.
They won.
Yeah.
I mean, look, it's the group of death.
Like, it is.
Still, like, we're gonna get away with a 3-0 now,
You know, can I gas themselves up, looking ahead for the remaining two matches, you know, playing USA next athlete?
But still, I think, Team Japan, like, they got the right things going, they're playing aggressively, making plays.
We saw how much time they do in the middle of the timer between Sweden at times, and so, it's, we know they're lacking a couple of members from Barrel,
but I still think that it was a good series from Japan, trying to make a stand.
It was a really great series here.
Sweden we talked about Kevster heading into this matchup and he did not disappoint whatsoever
And it's just crazy to see just how good Kevster is as a player like his flexibility in the tips DPS
That he's able to play you think back to the fact that he is typically the hits game player
We is on furnace pro and to be this insane on flex DPS man. What can you do?
I mean come the guys like come
He's like, yeah, he's got a flexed GPS vacation.
Yeah, he's like, I just get to play Tracer all the time.
It's like, okay, great.
I don't know any other kind of hero,
maybe the Genji that you'd like to play
in a tournament like this.
The guy was built in a lab to play Overwatch,
and, yeah, that kind of.
It was gross.
Was that the best performance they want?
No bias?
No, no bias.
No bias.
I'm not wearing a team's Unimuzi,
so I think no bias.
That was the best performance of day one.
I got you done, I got you done.
Look, I mean it just feels like it just ticks over the series at some point.
I mean he opened the first map up, killing four people, and then going alright, drop them.
It definitely set the tone there.
I think that it was also difficult for Team Japan to really find their footing in that
series as well, but let's take a look at the standings here.
It has been a long day for the first day of the group stage here for OWWC in Busan,
And overall, I feel like on day one, we usually have a pretty good idea of how we're expecting
these matches to turn out tonight.
Yeah, look, there are definitely some favorites in some of these groups.
You're looking at Group B, you know, King of the Mosario Radio, to a hot start here.
Great Britain though, 3-0 themselves against Leicestero, that's, you want to get up
to a clean start.
And I really like when I emphasize that in the work of environment, like I said,
less practice time compared to your usual regular teams.
And so you want to get up to a hot start, so I'm looking at Spain, you know, really
impressed with their performance earlier on here today and so there are definitely a
couple of teams that stand out on face match. I want to get your thoughts
back on Group D because we didn't get a chance to see them today we'll be getting
preview for the first time tomorrow. Korea obviously. Come on, no one's
waiting. Yeah I mean it really is. I think Denmark are gonna be up there too.
I know France and I know Crocs is gonna probably pull out something a little
I'm just excited for Team France's energy when they're out there, that's going to be a hype.
Seriously, this real mass bro is going to be standing and yelling across the hall for sure.
That group is going to be tough too. I think Columbia might be a small chance here that they can kind of punch up a little bit,
but Denmark are no slouches either. Historically, they've been a very good team too.
Yeah, France, I mean, they've been making top fours in the World's World Cups, you know, definitely the early years here as well,
But it feels like they always have a good team to bring it to the World Cup here as well.
And I probably have the most favorites for second phase here at the World Cup.
On top of that, if you have the energy that Crocs is bringing to the table,
that can just do so much for a squad to invigorate them.
But it has been quite the day, guys, for OWWC.
Thank you so much for everyone at home for joining us.
There is going to be so much more action tomorrow for day two.
But for now, we're going to say good night.
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