VS Gaming Overwatch Premier Division Leg 4 results

Only the finals remain as the fourth and final leg of the 2018 VS Gaming Overwatch league comes to an end. The playoffs have been played and the teams who made it have a small moment to breathe, rethink, and prepare themselves for the Comic Con VS Gaming Championships.

The fight at the top for Comic Con

Premier Division saw the usual suspects taking the top spots as White Rabbit Gaming Boostios (WRG) and Energy Esports E.D.E.N. (eN) shared another fight for the top of the log. It would be in round six where the two teams would face each other on equal footing. Neither team had lost a game nor a map during the leg, and it was set up to be a fierce battle of the rivals. In the end eN came out on top, winning the game without losing a single map.

With a game still in hand, eN’s undisputed dreams could still be challenged by their leg three rivals of unIDendtified (unID). The team was once again looking strong, their only loss was to WRG, and the remainder of their games saw them never losing a map. They were all set to deliver the upset of the leg. However, eN weren’t phased by their challengers. They mercilessly made their way through each map, leaving no space for unID. eN Finish the leg with a 100% win ratio, leaving no doubt that they will be the team to beat in the VS Gaming Championships at Comic Con Africa.

Middle of the table

Goliath Gaming (GG) had a less fortuitous leg, starting out strong against Prodigy REZ, but finding themselves on the back foot when they played against a reinvigorated Berzerk 2CP. It was a game that resulted in a 3-0 loss for GG and proved to everyone that 2CP was a prem team not to be underestimated. Their win against GG helped them secure fourth place, with GG taking an uneasy fifth.

The battle for the sixth spot, and thus the battle to secure a spot at Comic-con, came down to three teams, however with Perseus REZ having roster issues forfeiting their final two games it was up to Sentinel’s 8bit Oddity and Prodigy to battle it out. Both teams had won against Perseus earlier in the leg and were sitting on equal scores with one win each. Their match was  hard fought – Prodigy gave 8bit Oddity nothing. Despite this, 8bit Oddity gave it everything they had and won the match 3-1. This secured sixth place and the spot in the finals was theirs. Prodigy and Perseus headed to the playoffs where they would face the top of first division.

Playoffs

The playoffs involved the top two teams from first division taking on the bottom two teams from prem in a fight to secure a final spot. After a long leg of hard won matches Inexorable Project and DDC Dominion came out on top, with barely a hair between them. Both teams won six out of the seven matches they played, and it came down to the wire with Phoenix Rising (PXR) looking for the top spot themselves. In their final match against DDC, PXR’s playoff ambitions were derailed as DDC were able to win the final two maps, stopping PXR in their tracks.

The playoffs proved  only to fuel DDC’s momentum as they powered through the Perseus team 3-0. In the other match, the ex-REZ team of Project faced their old sister team Prodigy. The match was a more closely contested match but in the end Project proved to be the stronger team and only the seeding match remained.

Project faced DDC in the final playoff match, a match that would determine their seeding in the finals and neither team held anything back. Project opened with some hard hits, winning the first two maps, but this did little to discourage DDC as they looked poised to achieve the coveted reverse sweep. Using Project’s momentum against them, DDC won maps three and four in a closely contested competition. It all came to an end on the final map, where DDC appeared to have nothing left to give and Project emerged the victors.

What to expect at Comic Con Africa

The LAN final is now almost upon us and unfortunately for Overwatch that doesn’t mean a low latency battle for the prize, but rather an opportunity to face your opponent in person. Overwatch has yet to incorporate a LAN capability, which means the teams will still be facing each other on European servers. The fights, however, will be just as intense.

The playing field is vastly different from last years finals and eN will be looking to emerge victorious once again. Their team is looking strong and not to be underestimated. However, GG (previously Damage Control) will be looking to improve on their performance last year and take the top spot themselves. WRG, last year known as Pew Pew, Boostios have come a long way and will definitely be challenging that top spot. While DDC Dominion, the only other returning team, will be looking to prove that they should not be overlooked.

The newcomers of 8bit Oddity, Project, 2CP and unIDentified will definitely be in for some tough competition, however all the teams have the experience to carry them through the finals and challenge the top spot. In the end it’s hard to say what will happen in the LAN style environment of the VSGC, but one can definitely say that the favourites to win it come down to the inevitable fight between eN and WRG.