The French will need a strong showing against reigning champions Lunatic-Hai to secure top eight berth.
Before their match against KondDoo Panthera today, May 12, Rogue had won the last five tournaments they attended. They were on a 35-game win-streak and the definitive best team in the western scene. Not even Mighty AOD, a product of the South Korean challenger scene, could halt their advancement.
It took four games for KongDoo Panthera to finally put an end to Rogue’s undisputed dominance, and a big reason for that comes from the franchise’s recent shuffle. In order to consolidate power in the back line, KongDoo brought on Ji-Hyuk “birdring” Kim to play alongside Dong-Jun “Rascal” Kim, retiring Roadhog specialist Kyo-Min “EVERMORE” Koo from the competitive stage. Reinvigorated, Panthera’s DPS duo stole the show.
RELATED: KongDoo announces changes to both their Overwatch rosters
Panthera started slow on Oasis’ first point, but picked up pace to turn around Rogue’s initial lead. Solid payload control then doubled Panthera’s lead in the series, with “Void”’s triple kill D.Va helping them push through the difficult S-turn in the final meters.
Rogue got on the board on Hanamura and brought foreign fans hopes for a reverse kill—which would’ve been KongDoo Panthera’s second in a row—but Panthera’s payload excellence once again showed on Route 66, as the Koreans won the map in overtime.
“We should have won 3-0, but we threw the game ourselves,” said Rogue DPS Dylan “aKm” Bignet on Twitter after the match, whilst also expressing optimism for their next match. Rogue have almost two weeks to prepare against reigning champions Lunatic-Hai, who are currently 1-0 in the group and going against Mighty AOD next week.
In the group next door, Season 1 runner-ups Afreeca Blue got their second win and are on their way to a third top eight finish. Like KongDoo Panthera, AF Blue showed much improve performance following roster changes in the off-season, reaping the benefits of new support duo Ho-Jin “IDK” Park and Jun-Seo “Lucid” Yoo. Tank player Dong-Gyu “Mano” Kim also shined in the series and colored the kill feed often on Winston for today's win against X-6 Gaming.
AF Blue will aim for the perfect 3-0 against KongDoo Uncia in June.
