Esports News: In a stunning upset, GC Busan were crowned champions of Overwatch APEX Season 4 to conclude the two-month 16-team season in South Korea.
Coming out of the initial group stage, GC Busan had little hype surrounding them, exiting Group C in second place behind the undefeated LW Red. Teams such as Lunatic-Hai, KongDoo Panthera (who would later be acquired and renamed Cloud9 KongDoo), and LW Red were expected to be the top contenders heading into both the second group stage, as well as the playoffs.
GC Busan Stun Lunatic-Hai and Cloud9
Despite expectations being low, GC Busan started to show their abilities in the second group stage, defeating Lunatic-Hai in an absolutely shocking 3-0 victory. That win eliminated LH and allowed GC Busan to qualify out of Group B. The reward was a matchup up against Cloud9 KongDoo, who were yet to drop a series.
With all of the pressure on Cloud9, GC Busan dominated in another one-sided affair, this time in an equally stunning 4-0 win. While both teams utilised various compositions, the key to the success of GC Busan was Tracer player Profit, who continually displayed brilliance all throughout his side’s group stage and playoff run.
Consistently disrupting the backline and removing the enemy supports – for example, his excellent Pulse Bomb that instantly killed both Cloud9 supports while on Horizon Lunar Colony, allowing his team to snowball into a victory – Profit’s impact cannot be understated.
GC Busan and RunAway Stage a Tight Final
With all of the momentum behind them, GC Busan squared off in the finals against RunAway in an incredibly close best-of-seven series. The opening map was Nepal, a best-of-three “king of the hill” map, in which the first to two points received one map point. Here, GC Busan utilised a Pharah-Mercy composition to defeat RunAway. One key note for this competition was that the D.Va and Mercy reworks were not used, so these heroes still had the same kit as they did months ago. Thusly, Mercy is a fringe pick only seen when paired with Pharah, opposed to her status of almost 100% usage since her changes, thus only GC Busan utilising it in this case.
The second map was the hybrid level Hollywood, where RunAway continued to have Haksal run Genji, even with the hero almost completely falling out of favour. On the other side, Hooreg pulled out a Sombra pick, which worked for a while until he was shut down on the final stretch of the map.
RunAway Take the Lead
With RunAway claiming Hollywood, their momentum appeared to carry over onto the third map of Hanamura, where they would continue to play focused around Haksal on Genji. While RunAway stuck generally to the same heroes, GC Busan continually switched up Hooreg’s hero choice, as on Hanamura he played both Soldier: 76 and McCree. The key misplay for GC Busan came after they captured the first point. While attempting to snowball off a kill on Haksal, Profit missed his Pulse Bomb on Bumper’s Ana, allowing for RunAway to recover and hold the point. RunAway held the second point, giving them the 2-1 overall lead.
The fourth map of Watchpoint: Gibraltar saw GC Busan and RunAway run mirrored compositions, with GC Busan also playing Genji (Profit played Genji while Hooreg took the Tracer). GC Busan nearly stalled after the second point, but when RunAway overcommitted to defending the second of three points, GC Busan were able to snowball their advantage into a victory, as RunAway used too many ultimate abilities without stabilising.
GC Busan Not to Be Denied
After GC Busan claimed Temple of Anubis, RunAway countered by winning Dorado, putting the finals at 3-3, with the last map being Eichenwalde. Each team once again ran a mirrored composition (the same six heroes as on Watchpoint: Gibraltar), with GC Busan beginning on offense. GC Busan successfully captured the first point and moved the payload all the way to the end, primarily due to the combination of Profit and Hooreg diving the backline. While RunAway also captured the first point, they were unable to get past the second checkpoint, giving GC Busan the incredible 4-3 win and the title.
Profit was the MVP of the finals – and semifinals – as a result of his brilliance with both Genji and Tracer. It is difficult to judge whether or not GC Busan can keep this high-tiered play going, as changes to the game will highly affect the heroes selected in the future, and thus teams that utilise the newly strong heroes should have the edge.
