Andrej “babybay” Francisty hides just out of view while the rest of Kungarna baits compLexity Gaming into position in the second floor corridor inside the Dorado ziggurat. Babybaby, on pink-haired tank hero Zarya, peeks out from the side and unleashes graviton surge just as Michael “mykL” Padilla launches his D.Va self destruct bomb from the first floor, right into the mess of compLexity players upstairs. And that’s the majority of compLexity just melted by the massive bomb combo.
With four compLexity players down, Kungarna is able to cruise right to the finish.
As one of the only two unsigned teams heading into Next Generation Esports’ Overwatch Winter Premiere, Kungarna took many opponents by surprise. Some questioned whether they’d be able to get out of the first phase of group stages. But it’s going to be hard to overlook Kungarna after their incredible run in the round of six. The team fell only to Team Liquid on day one and Immortals on day two, going undefeated on day three.
Heading into the finals, which begin Jan. 27 at PAX South in San Antonio, Texas, Kungarna doesn’t have to worry about Team Liquid. Along with Renegades, Team Liquid will not move on to the LAN finals for the Overwatch Winter Premiere. Instead, Kungarna will take on Immortals, compLexity Gaming, and Luminosity Gaming next week.
Renegades’ early departure from the Overwatch Winter Premiere will likely shock fans, given the win streak the newly acquired team started the tournament with. But on day four of the round of eight, everything changed: They started losing and never stopped. Through the round of six, Renegades put up a fight, taking one round each match, but weren’t able to take a full series. With the whole team moving to Detroit to live and play together, Renegades is surely hoping to regain their initial success.
The single elimination finals bracket begins Jan. 27 and will continue into Jan. 28. The tournament will be broadcast live on both the PAX Arena and NGE Overwatch Twitch channels.
