Overview of OGN’s Apex group stage, day 4: EnVy them!
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Video Games, Overwatch

For years hailed as the “Mecca of esports”, recently Korea has been largely overtaken by Overwatch in terms of casual play. As a result we are now seeing the first Korean Overwatch tournament, featuring 4 top tier foreign teams (Rogue, NRG, EnVyUS, Reunited) alongside 12 of Korea’s best.

For today’s match-up we had the debut of the fan-favourites EnVyUS vs Mighty Storm from group C. Following that we had, for the second time this week, the team featuring the top 3 players in the competitive ladder — Kongdoo Panthera playing against LuxuryWatch Blue, who made their first appearance in the tournament.

For those interested only in my picks for “Game, 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: Mighty Storm vs EnVyUS

With nV being one of the best teams in the world and in the eyes of most favourite to win the tournament, the match-up versus Mighty Storm is truly ‘David versus Goliath’ affair. Especially so when we recall MS’s poor performance versus the not so impressive Conbox T6.

Since Illios is unavailable due to bug with disconnecting, Nepal was automatically selected for first map, as the remaining control point map. Both teams opened on Village with 2–2–2, but with different heroes. MS chose Winston, Zarya, Reaper Tracer, Lucio and Zenyatta, while nV picked with Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei, Reaper, Lucio and Ana. Initially the foreigners seized control briefly, but the Korean opposition quickly came back claiming it for themselves. They held it for 75% until Taimou exploded on them with nanoboosted Death Blossom. That was followed with strong hold, backed by another multi-kill for nV’s star player and resulted in them taking the stage.

On Shrine we saw Mighty open with same composition. This time nV picked with 3–2–1 around Timou’s McCree and he performed up to expectations as they quickly seized control. The rest of the match-up continued in similar fashion with Timou not dying even once and nV dominated their way to 1–0 lead in the series.

Looking to equalize, Mighty Storm picked King’s Row for second map. On the attack, nV opened with 2–2–2 composition built around Talespin’s Pharah, complimenting it with Mercy, Ana, Reinhardt, Roadhog and Mei. That proved extremely effective as the boys in blue took the first point on their first push quickly.

Stats for King’s Row, based on games played in OGN’s Apex

Just before the international team took the second point MS finally managed to stop their momentum and wipe them. After 2 more wipes nV switched up their composition to Reinhardt, Zarya, Ana, Lucio, Mei and Taimou’s Reaper. That quickly dismantled the Koreans and nV found themselves right infront of the delivery point. Despite getting wiped again they returned with another multi-kill for Reaper and finished their run with just under a minute in the time bank.

While MS continued using same composition they showed previously, nV opened on defense with another interesting one: Roadhog, Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei, Soldier 76 and Ana. Unlike MS nV showed heavy resistance on the first point and ended Mighty’s attack without letting them get to the payload portion of the map.

For the third map, assault as per tournament rules, Mighty Storm chose Volskaya Industries. As the defendants they opened up with Reinhardt, Zarya, Reaper, Mei, Lucio, Ana and cheesy attempt to stop nV’s initial push. That didn’t work however and they quickly retreated back to defending on the point. That was also ended quickly by nV’s composition of Widowmaker, Genji, Tracer, Lucio, Ana and Winston. On the second point MS showed more success as they held the fan-favourites’ initial push. That didn’t dissuade nV from keeping the same composition as they continued poking and skirmishing. Eventually with they opened up the point with Dragonblade and ended their run with 3:22 in the time bank.

After switching sides nV opened with a more standard 3–2–1 — Zarya, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Ana, Lucio and Talespin’s Reaper. Similarly to King’s Row nV held strong on the first point, continuously picking off and out-skirmishing their Korean opponents. In a short overtime Mighty Storm finally took their first point of the match with nanoboosted Jack on Tracer. The second one however, continued in similar fashion to the first as nV’s defense showed itself impenetrable.

That resulted in a clear 3–0 win for EnVyUS’s debut in Korea!

Match-up 2: LuxuryWatch Blue vs Kongdoo

With the amount of raw skill they got, despite the convincing loss on Wednesday, Kongdoo Panthera’s still came into this as the favourites based on their 3–0 sweep over LuxuryWatch Blue in the “Dadawa Battle” finals. Additional contribution to that opinion was Rascal, Evermore and Butcherr holding top 3 spots on the competitive ladder. Furthermore, despite appearing in the aforementioned finals LW hadn’t shown too much quality play previously.

Starting on Nepal, Sanctum Panthera showed their preference towards 3–2–1 composition again with: Reaper, Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, Zarya and Evermore’s Roadhog. LW on the other hand opened with Winston, Zarya, Lucio, Zenyatta, Tracer and McCree. Both teams showed poor coordination right from get-got and after some sloppy and chaotic fighting LW took control for up to nearly 60%. However, on the back of multiple misplays by them, Kongdoo managed to claim the point for themselves. Following more messy play by both sides, LW managed to take the stage, with Janus in Primal Rage mode, pushing 2 from Kongdoo into the abyss.

On Shrine both teams continued with same compositions, similarly sloppy fights and continuously trading multi-kills and control. In the end Panthera took it on the back of great play by Rascal’s and Evermore landing multiple impact hooks.

For Village Kongdoo continued with exactly the same composition while LW switched to to 2–2–2 ‘beyblade’ composition, around Saebyeolbe’s Reaper. With this on their hands LuxuryWatch finaly showed good teamplay as they convincingly shut down Kongdoo. Taking the deciding stage 100–0 they also took 1–0 lead in the series.

Stats for Numbani, based on games played in OGN’s Apex

For the second map Kongdoo chose Numbani and continued with similar 3–2–1, putting Rascal on Mei. LW opened the defense with 2–2–2 of McCree, Reaper, Zarya, Reinhardt, Lucio and Ana. Making use of the longer range Blue held the point strong for a while, continuously stopping Kongdoo’s lower room pushes onto the first point. Eventually the 3 tanks managed to claim control and started pushing the cart with 4 minutes left on the clock. As answer Saebyeolbe switched to Tracer. That wasn’t as effective and Kongdoo almost finished the Run with more than 3 minutes on the clock. In the clutch however, the Saebyeolde came up, almost single-handedly wiping Panthera two times. To answer that Kongdoo moved Rascal on Pharah and R2der on Mercy. With nanoboosted rockets they finally managed to finish, but with only 22 seconds in the time bank.

Coming to the defense, we finally saw Kongdoo switch-up things and move to 2–2–2. They took out Evermore’s Roadhog and put him on Zarya to give Wakawaka a go at Reaper. LW blue however quickly took the first point on the back of surprising Mei boost. Following that their push was quite fast, until they reached the final curve of the payload marh. In what looked to be the successful push for LW, Noname misplayed massively, cutting off nanoboosted Deathblossom by Saebyeolbe from their opposition. As result Kongdoo held and equalized the series to 1–1.

For the third map LuxuryWatch Blue picked Volakaya Industries. As the map is favourable to Roadhog, Kongdoo took the opportunity to go back to their 3–2–1 with Evermore on Roadhog. Blue attacked with standard composition of Winston, Zarya, Reaper, Tracer, Lucio and Ana. As their initial push got stumped quickly they put Janus back on Reinhardt. That proved more effective as it allowed Saebyeolde’s Tracer to pick off Kongdoo 1 by 1 and they took the first point. With 6 men attack from the air platforms they quickly claimed control over the second point as well. A prolonged fight on the point resulted in them taking it with 4:41 in the time bank.

Switching sides, Kongdoo continued with the 3–2–1, this time putting Rascal on Genji. On the back of some great picks by him they managed to take the first point on their initial push. In similar manner he opened the second point and that resulted in his team finishing with 4:48 on the clock.

That was followed by one more successful run by both teams but while LW ended it with 1:25 in the time bank Kongdoo finished with 3:31 off of Evermore’s Roadhog finally coming up big for them on the attack.

Going to the defense once again, Rascal switched to tracer, while LW Blue kept same composition. After LW taking the first point extremely quickly they switched to Bastion and made it work, taking the second point in brief overtime.

Again on the defense, LW Blue finally showed resistance at the first point, leaving Kongdoo with only minute and a half to take over the second. Ultimately that wasn’t enough for the attackers to claim the second point and LW Blue took the lead once again to a 2–1.

Saebyeolbe approving of Noname’s dirty Bastion!

For the fourth map, facing potential end of their playoff hopes, Kongdoo chose Watchpoint: Gibraltar. On the defense Panthera continued with Evermore’s Roadhog and Rascal’s Genji. Despite initial success, defending on the car wash, they got partially wiped, which resulted in LW quickly reaching the first point. Showing superior teamplay they quickly reached the second point as well, even though they got wiped there by a Whole Hog. At this point Kongdoo finally showed more success, managing to stop LW’s push at 2 points and 77 meters.

On the attack we saw them decide to go back to their 2–2–2 composition, Rascal on Mei and Wakawaka on Reaper. Aftar that being stopped, just before the 2nd point Rascal went back to Genji and that yielded results. Finally with some momentum Kongdoo were pushing towards the third point with 3 minutes on the clock. However LW quickly ended that, holding the high ground at the shuttle with Saybyeold’s McCree. The map and the series ended there with LW upsetting Kongdoo in 3–1.

As a result of that Kongdoo Panthera are out of the run for the Apex playoffs, even though they have one more match to play in the groups.

My picks for “Game, players and teams to watch”:

Players to watch:

Taimou & Talespin — while one can certainly wrote a whole article for each of those there’s not much to be said, based on today’s performances. Both showed stellar positioning, impeccable mechanics and enviable playmaking on multiple heroes. After all there is reason why they are the driving force, behind one of the best teams in the world.

Rascal — after today I’m even more impressed by his skills, despite losing in another 3–1. Showed us that Wednesday’s performance wasn’t a fluke and that he is the best player on the team despite them continuously dedicating to Evermore and his Roadhog. While LuxuryWatch aren’t very good team he still managed to wreak havoc in their lines on multiple heroes. In addition to doing a lot of damage he was rarely the reason why Kongdoo lost control and fights. Furthermore, with the exception of several hooks by Evermore, he was the one making impact plays and giving his team the chance to win. It’s still early but if the team doesn’t show signs of improvement by the time they face Runaway and continue dedicating resources to Evermore, I’d be looking for new home if I was Rascal.

Teams to watch:

EnVyUS — while stomping the weakest team in the group doesn’t necessary yield much credit for team like them they did it in quite the impressive manner. Showed dominance, variety and they didn’t look shaky or out of control even for a moment. Will be definitely interesting to see how easy they can go trough Conbox T6 before facing the real threat in the group — Lunatic-Hai. While T6 has skilled ladder players I’m not convinced they are skilled enough to take on nV, additionally the international mix has much better teamplay and bigger playbook.

Map to watch: EnVyUS vs Mighty Storm: Nepal. Oh boy! Was that a stomp, however nV looked so impeccable during it that I simply can’t go without recommending it. Additionally we saw two superstar level performances by Taimou, not even dying on Shrine. And since I feel like I somewhat cheated you by recommending such a short map I’ll also advice those who have time to look at LuxuryWatch Blue vs Kongdoo Panthera: Volskaya Industries. While the action definitely wasn’t as crisp as nV’s stomps it was quite the exciting map. Quite the back and forth, some good individual plays and even had successful Bastion action.