Cloud9 keeps their playoff hopes alive while Rogue stays close with EnVyUs in Overwatch Contenders

Sep 24, 2017

The final Saturday of Overwatch Contenders had some surprises in store. With Cloud9 and Rogue desperately grasping for the final playoff spot for their respective regions, who knew who would show up to play spoiler.

Europe

GamersOrigin (3-3) vs eUnited (2-4 )

Lijiang Tower – GamersOrigin

King’s Row – GamersOrigin

Hanamura – GamersOrigin & eUnited (tie)

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – eUnited

GamersOrigin still had two matches to play heading into the final week of Overwatch Contenders. Sitting at a 2-3 record, they still had an opportunity to claim the final spot in the playoffs over Cloud9, but they would need to battle past eUnited and 123 to get there. With Cloud9’s 0-4 loss to 123, this comes as a massive advantage for GamersOrigin who hold a one map lead over them in the overall standings, a stat that will determine who qualifies if both teams finish with the same series record.

eUnited brought Hendrik-William “vallutaja” Kinks back to the starting lineup this week following his absence in week five, who came out of the gates looking to spoil GamersOrigin’s season with the Tracer. As for GamersOrigin, Lucas “Leaf” Loison has been a force to be reckoned with on the Doomfist all season long, but he opted to change it up on Lijiang Tower with both Pharah and Junkrat gaining some playtime. A slow start for GamersOrigin was turned around with Gael “Poko” Gouzerch’s Zarya finding one Graviton Surge after another to connect with Jeremy “Hqrdest” Danton’s McCree to ensure victory.

Junkrat’s increasing popularity continued to show in this series as both teams sported him on offense and defense of King’s Row to show his flexibility. While it was quite clear GamersOrigin were in control of the match as a whole, eUnited had a few tricks up their sleeve the opposition didn’t see coming.

Leaf went back to Doomfist for their offensive push on Volskaya Industries, paving the way to a quick capture. With Damien “Hyp” Souville’s fantastic Zenyatta play, they were able to secure both objectives only to eventually tie the map as eUnited managed to pull through with a stellar defense. However, tying the map would be enough to give GamersOrigin the series and another map point in the standings.

GamersOrigin continued to impress as the series went on, rolling through Watchpoint: Gibraltar’s second checkpoint with over five minutes to spare. A switch to Sombra for eUnited gave them the power to put a halt to their progress while Harrison “Kruise” Pond’s Genji carved the path to victory. This was certainly the type of gameplay eUnited fans had hoped for, but unfortunately it comes too late into the season to make a major impact.

GamersOrigin’s three map points could be enough to boost them into a playoff spot. They will still need to take care of business against 123 tomorrow and hope that Singularity can squeeze out a map or two against Cloud9 later in the day.

Cloud9 (4-3) vs Team Singularity (2-5)

Nepal – Singularity

Eichenwalde – Singularity

Volskaya Industries – Cloud9

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Cloud9

Tiebreaker: Ilios – Cloud9

As a game that didn’t mean much for Singularity’s playoffs hopes, there still is a significant difference in prize pool earnings for a 5th/6th place finish to a 7th/8th place finish. Not to mention they could play spoiler to Cloud9’s postseason hopes. With Cloud9 losing all four maps in Friday’s series, they went into this match knowing well that they needed to win if they wanted to stand a chance.

Singularity has progressively looked better with their total roster revamp earlier in the season. Knowing this from Cloud9’s perspective, keeping both Mario “PoPiFresh” Gonzalez and Mads “fischer” Jehg in check would prove to be difficult.

Even with some serious misplays from Singularity, they still managed to oust Cloud9 and prove themselves to be a step ahead of the competition. Knowing Cloud9 would need a total rework to get themselves back into the series, all eyes were on Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson and Michael “MikeyA” Adams to turn it around.

Uncoordinated dive play from Cloud9 hurt them dearly as this series progressed, as limited communication from the front line to the back line cursed them at every turn. Singularity’s ability to catch Tiago “mowzassa” Rodrigues out of position fed them kills from one fight to another.

Assault and Escort seemed to favor Cloud9 as they kept their playoff hopes alive with a couple close games to round out the series. It was Nevix’s Pharah and Soldier: 76 that helped close the deal on both Volskaya Industries and Watchpoint: Gibraltar as Singularity struggled to find a way to deal with the aerial threat.

After forcing a tiebreaker from an incredible full-hold from Cloud9 on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, they pulled through with a 2-0 tiebreaker win on Ilios to stay in the postseason race. This victory doesn’t necessarily guarantee them a spot, but it now forces GamersOrigin to win against 123 if they wish to claim the fourth and final seed for Europe.

Current Standings

North America

Team EnVyUs (7-0) vs Rogue (3-4)

Oasis – EnVyUs

Numbani – EnVyUs & Rogue (tie)

Volskaya Industries – EnVyUs

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Rogue

Rogue found themselves in a near-impossible situation going up against EnVyUs in their final bout of the season. Thankfully for them, they held a two map lead over FNRGFE going into this series. On the flipside, FNRGFE plays Renegades, the league’s worst team, on Sunday. While Rogue technically holds their fate on their own hands, winning against EnVyUs would be the toughest ask of them all.

Things got off to a rough start for Rogue who couldn’t contain the best DPS in the west. Timo “Taimou” Kettunen’s oddball picks on Numbani were none other than Junkrat and Widowmaker before Rogue’s Terrence “SoOn” Tarlier and Jean-Louis “KnOxXx” Boyer forced him over to Soldier: 76 and D.va, struggling to find a good fit for the opposition.

Any doubts for EnVyUs were swiftly swept under the rug after they had the chance to push the payload on Numbani. Even though they got off to a strong start, Rogue bounced back under the wing of SoOn as they pushed things to a second attempt in which Rogue failed to capture any progress. This resulted in a tie which ultimately gave both teams a point on the board.

EnVyUs’ momentum didn’t quite carry through to Watchpoint: Gibraltar, as they unexpectedly dropped the map, showing vulnerability. Although they keep a perfect 7-0 record, this is a little worrying for EnVyUs who will face off against Rogue or FNRGFE as the number one seed come October.

As for Rogue, their loss here doesn’t eliminate them entirely from the playoff race, but should FNRGFE beat Renegades, they will be out of the running. Rogue has shaped up quite nicely over the last few weeks, looking far better than they did to start the season by being one of the few teams to snag games off of EnVyUs. I hope we get to see more of this Rogue team in the coming months after they’ve had some time to reevaluate the team as a whole.

EnVision Esports (4-3) vs FaZe Clan (6-1)

Lijiang Tower – FaZe Clan

Eichenwalde – FaZe Clan

Hanamura – FaZe Clan & EnVision (tie)

Dorado – FaZe Clan

While it’s not guaranteed, it’s likely EnVision and FaZe would be a preview of a match that’s yet to come in the first round of the Contenders playoffs. With both sitting comfortably as the second and third seeds, we knew we’d get to witness the adjustments both teams would make heading into Los Angeles, California, for the LAN finals in October.

FaZe found an early advantage over EnVision with George “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha showing his flexibility to play off-tanks, giving the team a triple-tank threat with Lee “Carpe” Jae-Hyeok as the sole DPS on Tracer. This composition rolled through quite cleanly from map to map for FaZe who didn’t seem to find much of a struggle against Jason “Jaru” White who has proven himself to be one of the best Doomfist’s in the region.

As a collective unit FaZe looked to be on another level compared to EnVision, but perhaps EnVision was content with that. Knowing these two have a high chance to rematch on LAN in just a few weeks, it’s certainly possible EnVision didn’t want to show their hand. I’ve no doubt they put their best efforts forward, but they more than likely were looking to try some new strategies in their final regular season game.

Carpe pushed the pedal to the floor to round out the night, proving his Tracer to be unstoppable at every turn. Dorado was not kind to either team’s offense, struggling to get the payload moving in the early stages of the map. FaZe managed to pull through and round out their season on a strong note, finishing with a 6-1 record and securing the second seed for the North American region. Both teams find themselves with a trip to the Blizzard Arena for the playoffs in October.