The final eight fought it out to see who would take home the $50,000 grand prize and the title of Overwatch Contenders EU Grand Champions.
The dust has now settled for the European sideof Overwatch Contenders, where two big upsets at the start of the day set up a very unexpected Playoffs. Missed part of the action? Don't worry, we've got you covered in our recap below:
Most of the Quarterfinals were played off stream, but all very quickly set the tone of which team was ready for the Playoffs:
- eUnited vs Movistar Riders - eUnited wins, 3-0
- Laser Kittenz vs Team Singularity - Laser Kittenz wins, 3-0
- 123 vs Rest in Pyjamas - 123 wins, 3-0
- Bazooka Puppiez vs Misfits - Bazooka Puppiez wins, 3-0
In a very surprising upset, Bazooka Puppiez took out Misfits in a decisive 3-0, eliminating the favorites in the quarterfinals. Rest in Pyjamas, Team Singularity and eUnited all seemed to go quietly into that good night, with all quarterfinal matches ending in a 3-0 score to their respective victors.
The wins set the stage for Bazooka Puppiez to take on 123 and eUnited to fight Laser Kittenz in the semifinals.
Bazooka Puppiez vs 123 - 123 wins, 1-3
A large part of the Bazooka Puppiez's upset against Misfits was Ube coming alive on Genji. When he went missing on Oasis, another team member needed to make up for the missing DPS. Kensi seemed to be up for the challenge during Watchpoint: Gibraltar, but in the end, they just couldn't hold against 123. On later maps: Temple of Anubis and Hollywood, BP looked to play more freelance, resulting in separated team fights and mismanaged Suppoirt ultimate usages, while 123 simply gelled better. A dominated 3-1 performance sent 123 to their meet up with destiny in the Grand Finals.
eUnited vs Laser Kittenz - eUnited wins, 3 - 1
This matchup also had its fair share of healing-ultimate mishaps, but in the end eUnited was able to correct their mistakes and capitalize on LK's misteps to pull out the win. Though LK struck first with a win on Oasis, it wasn't enough to overcome eUnited on Watchpoint: Gibraltar or Temple of Anubis, where eUnited was simply able to consistently overpower LK to force out wins. The nail in the coffin came on Eichenwalde, which ended when LK's Mowzassa jump-packed too high in the air to get away from Kruise's Dragon Blade during Overtime, giving eUnited the go-ahead point to the Grand Finals against 123.
eUnited vs 123 - eUnited wins, 3-1
123's Mistakes constantly had sneaky positioning whenever he had his Pulse Bomb, allowing for some nice backline plays that helped give them the edge on Oasis. When push came to shove on Route 66, however, it was eUnited's Kruse that constantly crashed the party, picking up major Dragon Blade kills to compensate for any damage Mistakes or fellow DPS Snillo were able to dish out. With the momentum in their favor, eUnited was able to overpower 123 on Temple of Anubis, denying 123 the second point cap in the first round while grabbing both for themselves. Hollywood went in a similar fashion, with 123 barely being able to take the map into Overtime and then not being able to bounce back from eUnited's extra round push. Despite a valiant effort, eUnited was able to best the underdog 123 on Lijang Tower, coming out on top and earning the title of Champions of Overwatch Contenders EU.
And with that, eUnited takes $50,000 and become the first champions of Overwatch Contenders while 123 grabs second place. All eight teams seen today qualified for Overwatch Contenders Season 1, which will staret the week of August 14th and have a prize pool of $100,000. All matches will be streamed live as well.
Tomorrow starts the NA version of Overwatch Contenders, where not all of the top 8 will be securing a spot in Overwatch Season 1; with Rogue and EnVyUs taking the top two spots in the North American bracket, only the top six tomorrow will have a spot in the first season saved for them. The first streamed matches start at 20:00 CEST / 2:00 PM EST. You can watch live on Overwatch Contenders' Twitch.
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