Overview of OGN’s APEX group stage, day 10: NRG’s tournament life on the line and …double sniper..?
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Video Games, Overwatch

Overview of OGN’s APEX group stage, day 10: NRG’s tournament life on the line and …double sniper..?

With team South Korea victorious at BlizzCon, OGN returns with the second portion of the group stage of APEX. In it 12 of Korea’s best Overwatch teams battle 4 top foreign teams for a prize pool of over $175,000.

In today’s first match we had the return of Flash Lux, their previous match was on the first day of the group stage and they beat RGT 3–2. Unfortunately for them today they were playing versus what many would call the best team in the world — Rogue.

For the second match-up we had the new-look NRG vs BK Stars — the best team in the group so far, both fighting for their tournament life.

For those interested only in my picks for “Map, players and teams to watch” scroll down to the bottom. In those I’ll be listing the players and teams I found the most intriguing, the map I enjoyed watching most and the reasons for my picks.

Match-up 1: Flash Lux vs Rogue

As Rogue is considered one of the best teams in the world and Flash Lux — squad of high-school friends, this was certainly a mismatch. To understand that we need to only look at both teams’ recent history: while the Europeans were winning APAC and beating the other two teams in the group without dropping a map, FL beat RGT in a scrappy 3–2 and went back to the classrooms in Busan. Even with the youngsters having more than 5 weeks practice most doubted they would have it in them to take down TviQ’s crew.

The match began on Shrine, Nepal. After even initial 1–1 trade Rogue took over the point by fragging 3 more from the Korean youngsters without losing a single player. For the rest of the map Rogue would dominate, showcasing superior individual levels and end it in convincing 100–0.

On Village Rogue opened their signature pick pick for the stage — Bastion. Flash Lux attempted to counter that with D.va, but it didn’t amount to much, as the Europeans continued dominating based on individual performances to another 100–0, taking 1–0 lead in the series. This time Flash Lux looked even more flustered as the synergy and teamplay we saw against RGT were missing completely.

For the next map FL picked King’s Row and opened on Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya , Mei and McCree. Rogue started on the defense, picking similar composition, only difference being aKm on Reaper, rather than McCree. The similarities in performances once again ended with the compositions. Even when the Europeans made careless mistakes they would make up for those with individual plays . Having only 20 seconds on the clock and considerable ultimate advantage FL took over the point, but they couldn’t get the payload much further as TviQ’s crew let them advance only 52 meters past point 1.

Switching sides, FL picked the same composition Rogue used on the defense, while the Europeans switched up things with Ana, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Junkrat, Hanzo and Widowmaker. After easily taking over the first point and nanoboosting Hanzo the Europeans finally got stopped and switched to ‘real’ composition — Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, McCree and Pharah. The hold by Flash Lux continued for a bit longer, until the nanoboost came onto Reinforce’s Reinhardt. Despite E1kiNo’s best efforts TviQ and co. easily increased their lead to 2–0.

As the third map, the Korean youngsters chose Temple of Anubis. They started on the offense with Ana, Lucio, Winston, Zarya, Widowmaker and Genji. Rogue defended with what seems to be their go-to composition for Temple of Anubis — Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, McCree and TviQ’s Junkrat. As the Widowmaker didn’t do much, E1kiNo switched to McCree. That was seemingly just as ineffective and it looked like we are going to see full hold at point A for the Europeans. However Pumple had something to say about it and landed another huge Graviton Surge. As his team followed up this time, unlike the previous maps, they wiped Rogue and took over the point. Point B continued with strong hold by Rogue and FL failed to get on the point until the last seconds of the match, even when they had 6 to 1 ultimate advantage.

On the offense Rogue showed us the Widowmaker once again, combined with Ana, Lucio, Winston, Zarya and Genji. After it didn’t work initially aKm switched it for Reaper to mirror Flash Lux’s composition. Once that happened the Europeans took quickly over point A and headed towards B, having 5 ultimates. It was more than enough for them to take the point on the first attack having just under 5 minutes remaining in the bank. With that they ended the group stage in APEX 9–0, not losing a single map.

Match-up 2: BK Stars vs NRG esports

Both teams here were fighting for their tournament life, but if BK won they’d get out of groups first. That was the case as per tournament rules the first tiebreaker is map score differential, head-to-head being the second one. Despite having more experience in international tournaments NRG came into this as underdog, after the poor performance versus Kongdoo Uncia on Wednesday. BK on the other hand not only beat Kongdoo Uncia, but also looked better than NRG’s did before the changes, in the match against MVP. In addition to recent form being in their favour the Koreans also had the candidate for best player on the sever — Bunny.

The first map was Village, Nepal. Both teams started with Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, but BK’s choises for DPS were Genji and Reaper against NRG’s McCree, Junkrat combination. Despite Bunny and co. not contesting the high ground they got control of the point. Outside of two brief takeovers by NRG, the rest of the stage was convincingly in BK’s favour, taking it 100–54.

For Sanctum both squads continued running same core 4, but while NRG kept same heroes as last time, BK’s choice Hanzo and Roadhog. This time NRG were the ones to take initial control, but before long BK claimed it for themselves off of DoHyeon’s arrows picking off the Junkrat. Unlike the last stage, teams traded control multiple times, but ultimately Bunny was too much for the Americans to handle and BK jumped took Sanctum and Nepal for 1–0 lead in the series.

The second map, picked by NRG, was Hollywood. They started on the defense picking Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei and McCree. BK continued using 3–2–1 composition , but put DoHyeon on Genji instead of Hanzo.That secured them the first point easily and they started pushing the payload, with more than 5:20 on the clock. At the gate NRG finally managed to stop the push and finally looked better as they were pushing back the Korean opposition. The 5:20 however was too much for them to be able to defend at the second point and BK got to it after a brief overtime. Continuing with the good performances the Americans ran down the payload timer not letting Bunny and co. get past 65 meters after the second point.

On the defense Bunny went back to the Reaper with DoHyeon on Mei for 2–2–2. On NRG’s side we finally got to see Seagull’s Genji, backed by Ana,a Lucio, Winston, Zarya, and Tracer. After some initial trouble NRG took over the first point on the back of 4 men Graviton Surge and started pushing the cart, having just under 4 minutes in the time bank. Despite NRG’s best efforts, BK’s teamplay and Bernar’s Zarya proved too much again. After a brief overtime they took the map, letting the payload get to only 93 meters past the first point.

Twinkl high fiving his teammates after winning map 2.

As third map NRG picked Temple of Anubis. They found initial success defending with Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Winston, McCree and Genji. BK attacked using Ana, Lucio, Winston, Genji, Widowmaker and Tracer. After that didn’t work out they gave up on a lot of ultimate charge to switch around the heroes. Alarm switched from Ana to Reinhardt, Twilight traded Tracer for Ana and Bunny gave up the sniper in favour of Roadhog. Despite the lack ultimates, they instantly found more success with that and were already on the second point, having more than 5:30 in the time bank. After well timed ‘big bang’ (Graviton Surge + Time Bomb) combo they got control over the point . In a prolonged series of fights they were repelled, but not before they got two ticks off the point. They followed up that with what looked like ultimate building push, but as NRG used Sound Barrier they seized on the opportunity and took point B, having 2:42 in the bank.

For the defense, the Korean side used 3–2–1 of Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Winston, Roadhog, McCree right from the start. Seeing the 3 tanks NRG picked Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, McCree and Seagull on Reaper. Finally having more success they took quickly over point A, on the back of nanoboosted Seagull and stormed into the temple having 4 to 3 ultimates advantage and 6 minutes in the time bank. Despite BK switching to 2–2–2 with Reaper and Mei, it looked like NRG will take over the point as the American captain traded himself for two enemy heroes. Bunny had other plans though, as he came in to shut down the attempt by dropping 4 of NRG by himself. Following that, Clockwork switched to Pharah, but the DoHyeon quickly countered with McCree. After that didn’t work either they switched again, moving Clockwork on Reaper and Seagull to Mei. With that they finally got on point B and after a prolonged fight, secured it 39 seconds in the bank.

As the game added 21 to both teams’ bank they found themselves attacking with 1 minute in the bank to BK’s 3:03. Looking at only a minute to defend for BK put Bunny on Bastion, backed by Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya and Roadhog. After seeing the bastion NRG switched to Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, D.va, Genji and Tracer, but had less than 40 seconds to get on the point. Despite great efforts by Seagull the time wasn’t enough and BK held at A.

Looking at 3 minute hold or tournament elimination NRG picked a more standard Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Winston, McCree and Genji. Despite them defending successfully at first and Seagull doing everything within his abilities BK took the point, to secure for themselves first seed in the playoffs draw.

For MVP of the match OGN voted BK’s tank duo — Bernar and Alarm.

Bernar and Alarm, who might or might have not stolen Bunny’s spot in the MVP interview.

Map, players and teams to watch:

Players to watch:

Bunny — today we finally had him show more versatility. That said we need to keep in mind it was against NRG, right after roster switch and without much practice. Will be interesting to see how he can hold up against better teams. If he can keep up similar performances in the playoffs he will definitely join the ranks of the elite DPS players in Overwatch.

Bernar — he continues to show great Zarya play and has some of the best Graviton Surges in APEX. In addition to that he’s showcasing remarkable aim everytime the observer switches to him. However unlike his teammate Bunny, we are still not sure exactly how versatile he is.

Team Rogue … all of them— with all of Rogue having great individual performances in the stomp against Flash Lux I gave up on trying to figure out which player had most impcat, at least for today. Definitely one of the deepest rosters in terms of individual skill among the players as well as for my money the best DPS duo right now.

Honorable mentions: Seagull, Pumple.

Teams to watch:

Rogue — this might be getting tiresome for some of the more casual readers but this team is simply that good. So far on LAN the only teams that have managed to defeat them are Misfits and Lunatic-Hai. And Rogue not only look better than both of them currently, but also dealt with Miro’s men in the APAC grand finals. While a loss to LH isn’t out of the possibility for many people’s money this is the best team in APEX going into the playoffs.

Honorable mentions: BK Stars.

Map to watch: Rogue vs Flash Lux: King’s Row — I recommend to this for people who aren’t sure how much difference individual skill can make in game like Overwatch that is so reliant on teamwork. Other than that the map was fun to watch, but doesn’t provide us with too much information for either team as Rogue did something similar to AF Blue as well.