Avoiding the potential tiebreakers on the final day of group stage, we got to the quarterfinal draw without troubles. But letting the teams pick their opponents brought some surprises.
Not only was today the last day of the group stage, with the timing of the Sombra patch, the two series were our first look at potential changes to the meta.
Right off the bat between Lunatic Hai and Mighty Storm we saw Soldier: 76 have strong performances on both sides, with heroes such as Pharah, D.Va, and Mercy seeing play thanks to their own buffs.
Overall the first series was rather one-sided in favour of Lunatic Hai, showing that they're ready for whatever the new patch will bring. So ready in fact, that Esca was willing to take Sombra for her first competitive showing. It did not go well, as he was unfortunate enough to run into Sip's Ana multiple times losing the 1v1.
There was a lot on the line in the RunAway vs KongDoo Panthera match, but in the end it looked as though RunAway were not even close to having the same success that they had against REUNITED. KongDoo took the series 3-0 and ensured that REUNITED and LuxuryWatch Blue advance.
There are a few things that came out of the live draw that were very interesting. One is that the teams were not only able to chose which team they wanted to verse in the quarter finals, but also which side of the bracket they wanted to be on as well.
Another interesting revelation that came to light throughout the draw was the reluctance from the International teams to pick Afreeca Freecs Blue. In the choice between going up against the Freecs or EnVyUs, both REUNITED and Rogue showed preference towards the North American team.
REUNITED ended up drawing the short straw and they will be taking on Afreeca Freecs Blue first up on November 18, starting at 03:00 AM PDT/06:00 AM EDT/12:00 CEST/19:00 KST.
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