The APAC region of the Overwatch League has a unique angle to the Midseason Madness. With fewer teams within the APAC region with the NYXL returning to NA as well as the departure of the Chengdu Hunters, the Korean contender’s teams shave the opportunity to potentially participate in the Midseason Madness. Here is a look at the next three weeks of APAC knockouts.
The knockout stage is split up into two different groups. Each group is made up of the Overwatch League teams, off of their ranking, as well as the Korean contender’s teams. The contender’s teams had to qualify from the spring split of Korean contenders. How the teams were made is the 1st, 3rd, and 5th teams are in one group with the contender’s 2nd, 5th and 6th for Group A, while the rest are in Group B.
The Overwatch League teams that are ranked higher get a bye to the next round, while the lower-ranked teams of the Shanghai Dragons and the Seoul Dynasty will be playing right away in the first round. This is going to be a three-week-long stage as it is double elimination.
This group will be consisting of: The Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, and the Seoul Dynasty. The Korean contender’s teams that will be competing, it is Team PokerFace, Team Dreamers, and Team Rhodes. The Charge and the Spark who are ranked higher will be getting a bye to the next round.
It looks like other than Poker Face who ranked 2nd in contenders Group A has the lower tier contender’s teams making this a battle of the Overwatch League teams to secure the one position that is up for grabs in this group. The Charge has to be labeled as the favorite as they are topping the leaderboard
Group 2 is all the other teams. It is the Infernal, the Dallas Fuel, and the Shanghai Dragons for the Overwatch League teams participating. On the contender’s team side, it is O2 Blast, PANTHERA, and SinPrisaGaming. The contender’s teams are much stronger on this side that is facing the Overwatch League teams. The biggest standout in the contender’s teams is O2 Blast who are the sister team of the San Francisco Shock.
Next Saturday will start off the knockout stage. The Dragons will be facing SPG while the Dynasty will be against Rhodes. It will be interesting to see how the two bottom teams will do against top contender talent.
The APAC knockouts gives contenders players a great opportunity. It will not only give the teams and players more visibility on a global stage, but the opportunity to get to the Midseason Madness over the Overwatch League teams. This could be the moment that a player really breaks into the scene or catch the eye of a struggling Overwatch League team who needs a pick-up.
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