Yet again South Korea sit atop the world of Overwatch after they claimed their third straight World Cup.
The Koreans were heavy favourites entering the event, not only due to their previous dominance, but also their player presence at the top of the Overwatch League during its inaugural season.
South Korea began their run through the play-offs with a comfortable quarter-final win over an Australian side with a lone OWL participant in Support Custa. The largest takeaway from South Korea’s 3-0 sweep was their showing on Blizzard World, where they not only adapted well to Australia’s Torbjӧrn, but they also showed diversity within their DPS line with Carpe on the likes of Sombra, and Fleta being the one to field the Tracer.
UK test
Next up for South Korea was a bit of a surprise, with the United Kingdom having pulled off a stunning upset over the United States to advance to the semi-finals.
This ended up being the most difficult test for the South Korean side, as they were only able to defeat the UK by a score of 2-0, given back-to-back ties on both King’s Row and Volskaya Industries, with the UK holding off Korea at the last possible moment on each map.
Yet again South Korea flashed their versatility with Fleta picking up the newly-updated Pharah and Nepal.
China no match
In the Grand Finals, South Korea squared off against China, with more intrigue than even previously thought. China and South Korea were scrim partners, meaning many of their strategies were practised against one another, with China still having some tricks up their sleeve on King’s Row.
After South Korea swept Ilios, China then pulled out a unique dive-based defensive strategy with the likes of Sombra, Doomfist and Wrecking Ball. Yet South Korea were once again able to find a quick fix, swapping over to a triple tank, triple support composition and slowly chipping away until they finally broke through off the back of a perfectly-timed ultimate from JJoNak on his famed Zenyatta.
The third map was Temple of Anubis where South Korea had one of their most dominant offensive halves, snowballing and absolutely destroying China for an eventual 2-1 win.
The final map was Watchpoint: Gibraltar, with each team making it through to overtime. Despite China having more than twice the time of South Korea, the Koreans were still too much to handle as they took down yet another clean sweep, and the title.
And the MVP goes to…
The MVP award went predictably to JJoNak, the same player who received the MVP prize in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League.
A player who puts out absolutely astronomical DPS numbers on a Support hero in Zenyatta, the question for JJoNak was whether or not he could perform at the same level without having the same team-mates, who have learned to play around him.
He answered that quite clearly with his performance, outclassing the opposition in every possible aspect on his way to the MVP prize.
However, JJoNak was not the only player to perform well for the South Korean side, with Carpe also earning praise for both his mechanical abilities and hero diversity.
Overall, South Korea proved they have the ultimate combination of hero pools, mechanical skill and lightning-quick reactions in terms of switching up their composition.
So often they appeared to be struggling before a line-up change had an instant effect, with these players now all having their chance to once again show off their skills in the upcoming Season 2 of the Overwatch League.
