Today, the inaugural OGN APEX Overwatch league kicked off, marking Korea’s official entry into the new esport. As we saw, OGN pulled out all the production cards with beautiful overlays, premiere casters, and epic music. The day was packed with action, and in case you missed it, we have you covered with our recap.
Flash Lux vs. Rhinos Gaming Titan
The first ever official match of Korean Overwatch was to be played between the favorites in Rhinos Gaming Titan (RGT) and the youthful team of Flash Lux (FL). Flash Lux is a team made up of almost entirely high schoolers, and were the underdogs coming into this match.
But immediately, they struck first blood and dominated RGT on Nepal for an easy 2-0, dispelling any thoughts we may have had about them being a weak team. But the series was not destined to be so one sided.
On the second map of Numani, Rhinos Gaming Titans came into form, and showed off Claris, who already looks like an all-star. His Pharah was supported by the Mercy of Bamboo, dealing huge poke damage and enabling the other DPS player of RGT, Munchkin, to clean up fights on McCree. They swept through the map, taking the victory in overtime to tie the series at 1-1.
Due to this tournament not having map bans for the third map, it went to the rarely played Temple of Anubis. On this map, the Flash Lux DPS player E1kino really got to shine. His Widowmaker pocket pick shut down Munchkin’s McCree and opened the map for FL to capture. On Rhinos Gaming’s turn to attack, they blitzed point A in under a minute with a dive heavy team composition, but were stalled for over seven minutes on point B. Pumple was an absolute hero for Flash Lux here, hitting clutch Graviton Surges left and right.
Rhinos Gaming Titans had no time left to attack a second time, but Flash Lux still had 2:41 to take point A to win the map. They would do so by methodically looking for opening kills, and Hamtol’s Reaper opened the map for Flash Lux to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Map four was on Dorado, and was a story of the courtyard. Both teams nearly held the other from completing the first section of the map. For Flash Lux, their offense was stopped after a nearly two minute brawl in overtime, just shy of the second point. Rhinos just barely edged out the victory off the back of Munchkin’s McCree, who stayed safe in the backline pumping out damage.
The first ever series of Korean Overwatch went the distance, and tied up at 2-2, we went to the final map five of King’s Row. Flash Lux was once again saved by E1kino on this map, as his Tracer carried their offense, pulling out a triple kill to allow them to push through the streets.
The Rhinos, however, were not quite out, and their Pharah/Mercy combination of Claris and Bamboo was determined to keep them in the match. Claris displayed his ability to flank properly, and used this Rocket Barrage to clean out point A. Not long after, Bamboo went undetected early in the streets phase to bring RGT back to life with the Mercy Resurrection.
But E1kino decided he had enough. He swapped onto McCree and repeatedly shut down the Pharah/Mercy duo of RGT. With that threat gone, the rest of Flash Lux could focus on shredding their foes, and managed to hold RGT in the streets to close the series, meaning Flash Lux came out victorious 3-2.
BK Stars vs. Kongdoo Uncia
The second match of the night took place between Kongdoo’s A team in Uncia and the quirky team of BK Stars. As the format goes, the first map was to be a control point, and this time it was Illios. The initial meeting on Lighthouse was all about Uncia’s Pharah/Mercy combination for Dnce and Bubbly. Their Rocket Barrages and Resurrections helped secure the first point for Uncia.
But for the next two points of Ruins and Well, it was a different story. BK showed their stars in Bernar and Bunny. Their Zarya and Tracer respectively teamed up to shred Uncia, frequently finding multikills without the use of ultimates. But when they did fire off their ultimates, the Big Bang combination of Graviton Surge into Pulse Bomb always found multiple players. Off their backs, BK Stars took map one, and the series lead 1-0.
Map two went onto King’s Row and everything went poorly for BK Stars. They got split up and picked apart by Uncia on point A. In the streets and foundry, it was Dnce on McCree who received several Nano Boosts to easily shred BK, meaning Uncia finished the map with almost two minutes to spare.
When BK got their turn to attack, they seemed to start strong, using Dohyeon’s Hanzo combined with Graviton Surge to wipe out Uncia on both point A and in the street phase. But when the payload got inside the foundry, BK failed to account for flank attacks from Birdring’s Reaper and they failed to complete the map, tying the series 1-1.
For the second time of the night, map three was Temple of Anubis, and the BK Stars stuck to their bread and butter of Bunny’s Tracer combined with Bernar’s Graviton Surge to take both point A and B. However, Uncia stalled so successfully that BK had to capture point B in overtime, and they had no time left over.
When it came time for Uncia to attack, they came out swinging, crushing through point A as if BK wasn’t defending. They had seven minutes to attack point B, and had control for a couple of minutes. But BK Starts kept throwing players on the point and ended up holding off the capture for six minutes.
The map was tied 2-2, but Uncia had another minute to attack again to try and take the series lead. The second attack was about Panker’s Winston, who took the Nano Boost and provided his team with a quadra kill to lead his team to a 2-1 lead.
Map four took place on Dorado and was all about the Zarya play. On BK’s attack it was Bernar setting up Dohyeon’s McCree for multikills to build momentum, and then Uncia’s Fatal, who hit counter Graviton Surges to stall that momentum. BK did manage to fight on through however, and finished the map with 1:30 left.
When it came time for BK Stars to defend, it was once again Bernar on Zarya who was making plays for his team. He received several Nano Boosts in the courtyard phase and had his own Graviton to follow up. Uncia did manage to barely complete the courtyard phase, but was so behind on ultimates that they were stopped in the streets phase. The series was now tied 2-2.
Both matches of the evening went to a full five maps, and for this series, the deciding map was to be Numbani. BK Stars had the momentum with them from their win on Dorado, and they crushed through the entirety of the map right until the end. Just meters from victory, Fatal landed a clutch Graviton Surge to set up Birdring’s Reaper to tear BK apart. But they returned, and with ult advantage, they finished the map with 1:52 remaining.
Uncia seemed lost on their attack, and tried three times to assault point A from the low ground, failing each time. Their last attack was a desperate measure that they barely managed to win in order to continue the map. In the streets, they gained some momentum as Dnce won the Tracer duel against Bunny, which allowed him to clean up the fight. But Bernar and Bunny teamed up on the final point to land another devastating Big Bang combo to close the map, and win the series for BK Stars 3-2.
Who do you think will win in next week’s matches? Comment below or tweet your answer to us @GAMURScom. Follow the author @tuffsj.
GGs,
Elbion
Image Credit: OnGameNet
