Overwatch World Cup Katowice Group Stages, Day 2: Top 2 Teams for Groups E and F determined

Seong Mo "Daram" Jeong, Kyung Yun "Yullie" Park

Aug 5, 2017

Day 2 of the Overwatch World Cup’s Katowice Group Stages ended with Russia’s 4-0 victory over Turkey. All teams who are moving on to the Playoffs have been determined after today’s matches. South Korea, the all-time favorite, advanced to the Playoffs with a clean 4-0 sweep against Poland, and the Netherlands also made it to the Playoffs by winning against Austria. South Korea and the Netherlands will be competing for first place in Group E.

In Group F, Canada and Russia made clean sweeps against Singapore and Turkey and moved on to the Playoffs. On Day 3 of the Katowice Qualifier, the four teams that made it to the Playoffs will be playing against each other to determine who will be playing against who in the Playoffs.

South Korea won against Poland 4-0 in the first matchup of the day. With Mano and Zunba, the tanks, fighting in the front line, South Korean showed powerful attacks against Poland with Soldier: 76 and Pharah. South Korea also showed some unusual picks like Junkrat and Mei, proving that the dive comp is not always the answer. Poland fought fiercely and captured Objective A from South Korea for the first time, but could not push any further.

In the second matchup, the Netherlands won against Austria 4-0. Austria failed to take Numbani, and also failed to take Lijiang Tower even though the Netherlands made a few mistakes with their ultimates. The Netherlands took easy victories in Horizon Lunar Colony and Route 66 also, ending the matchup with a clean 4-0 sweep.

▲ The Netherlands also made it to the Playoffs.

Group F also showed some clean sweeps. Canada won against Singapore 4-0 and advanced to the Playoffs, with Surefour, Mangachu, and Agilities playing as the team’s DPSs. Canada defended Point A in Hollywood, and quickly took Point A using Pharah and Genji. In Lijiang Tower, Canada did not allow Singapore to take the Control Point even once. The next two games in Horizon Lunar Colony and Route 66 also went smooth for Canada.

The last matchup of the day was also quite one-sided. ShaDowBurn, who is arguably the best Genji in the world, showed some amazing skills with Genji in Numbani, as expected. Russia had a little bit of hard time against Turkey’s Pharmercy in Ilios, and ShaDowBurn showed another amazing gameplay by eliminating both Pharah and Mercy as Genji.

Russia also won Game 3 by defending Point B and successfully taking Point B in Horizon Lunar Colony. Turkey could not stop ShaDowBurn’s Genji and Mistakes’ Tracer, and Russia smoothly captured Point B. In the last map, Route 66, Turkey fiercely fought against Russia and pushed the payload up to the second Checkpoint. However, it was not enough to stop Russia and Russia made it to the Playoffs with a 4-0 victory.

South Korea and the Netherlands from Group E and Canada and Russia from Group F will be playing against each other on August 6th to determine first places in each group. After the group stages are over, one team from each group will be playing against each other in the Playoffs.