123 stays perfect on the season while EnVyUs continues their reign of terror in week three of Overwatch Contenders

Sep 2, 2017

With the third week of Overwatch Contenders upon us, it was do or die time for many of the teams sitting at the bottom of the standings. As teams continued to shuffle their rosters to find the right fit to make a run for the postseason, things started to shape up in the standings.

Week 1 Recap (Day 1) (Day 2)

Week 2 Recap (Day 1) (Day 2)

Europe

123 (3-0) vs eUnited (0-3)

Lijiang Tower – 123

Eichenwalde – 123

Volskaya Industries – eUnited

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – 123

eUnited has started to shape up; 123 are sitting at an 8-0 record. Individually the talent is in place for eUnited, but do they have what it takes to dethrone a team that is proving to be a tougher challenge than expected heading into this season? It was only a matter of time until 123 met an opponent that put up a fight, given their previous two opponents are at the very bottom of the standings, who have a combined total of one map victory on the season.

All eyes were on eUnited’s Harrison “Kruise” Pond and Isaac “Boombox” Charles to take the mantle and find a way to deal with 123’s Simon “snillo” Ekström, a player who has proved to be a nuisance to most that cross his path. Boombox’s offensive pressure has been missed in weeks prior, but a strong start from the Zenyatta player helped give his team a chance to find victory early on in the set.

An intensely close first match showed we were in for a treat as the playmakers for both teams started to make their presence known. For eUnited most of their fight success was reliant upon Boombox playing a major role in the fights through attrition. Along with this, Hendrink-William “vallutaja” Kinks began to make waves on the Tracer, matching up well against snillo.

eUnited had a fairly solid claim to winning both Lijiang Tower and Eichenwalde, but late game mistakes had them stepping off the objective for a second too long, kindly placing two victories into the hands of 123. We’re no stranger to this sort of play as teams get overzealous for team wiping opportunities but don’t keep up the coordination to stick to the objective. It hurt eUnited dearly.

Thankfully for eUnited they can run any sort of Sombra composition for assault maps, giving them the edge and allowing Boombox to play heroes such as Soldier: 76 while Thomas “Morte” Kerbusch runs as the solo support. It worked heavily in their favor on defense, carrying them to a win that would keep them in the series.

While eUnited managed to put a win on the board, they didn’t seem to have enough in the tank to keep the momentum going through Watchpoint: Gibraltar, where 123 held them just shy of grabbing the first objective. This was a big win on the board for 123, holding a strong claim to first place in the standings. They’ve now beaten the bottom three teams in the standings, proof that things will only get tougher from here on out.

Cloud9 (2-1) vs Bazooka Puppiez (0-3)

Nepal – Cloud9

King’s Row – Cloud9

Hanamura – Cloud9

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Bazooka Puppiez

Bazooka Puppiez have struggled since week one, but like many others have made some adjustments to try to get into the playoff race. This week they brought in Herman “Nesh” Kobrin, formerly of Hammers Esports, to replace Artem “Kensi” Budiak. As for Cloud9, they made the go ahead decision to bring on Michael “MikeyA” Adams in place of Jay “sinatraa” Won.

After having such an impact on their week two victory, I wasn’t convinced whatsoever about the Cloud9 change. Sinatraa’s role as a playmaker was something the original team was missing out on, and while Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson stepped up his game in week two, I was doubtful his efforts along with MikeyA would make up for heavy blow.

The story of this series was evident from the first minute of gameplay, though, as Nesh’s presence for Bazooka Puppiez had opened up a world of opportunities for this team. Are they all of a sudden a team fit for the playoffs? Doubtful. But having a Tracer that can be a true threat is crucial in the current state of the meta.

With that in mind, it was still MikeyA outshining him at every turn. As he started to get into a groove on King’s Row, it was showing that he was capable of filling in sinatraa’s shoes. Not as the individual playmaker that sinatraa was, but proving he can be an all-around valuable asset to this team.

Even when the set was lost and things continued to take a turn for the worse, Nesh’s Widowmaker on offense of Watchpoint: Gibraltar breathed new life into Bazooka Puppiez. This allowed them to secure map completion with 3:35 in the timebank, only to then fullhold Cloud9 before the first checkpoint.

Still, a seemingly close set throughout was showing Cloud9 was the better of the two teams. Heading into this match I was expecting an utterly dominant 4-0 from Cloud9, but Bazooka Puppiez stood their ground and showed promise. They will move into next week with multiple winnable games ahead of them including Singularity, eUnited, and Gigantti. Look for this team to bounce back and make a hard push for the playoffs if they can continue with this level of play.

Current Standings

North America

FNRGFE (1-2) vs Rogue (1-2)

Oasis – FNRGFE

Numbani – Rogue

Volskaya Industries – FNRGFE

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Rogue
Tiebreaker: Ilios – FNRGFE

Rogue bounced back after a slow start to the season, but FNRGFE would prove to be another test heading into week three. Right from the beginning it was all FNRGFE across the board, outclassing them at every turn. Christopher “Bani” Benell’s Sombra looked to be in good form as well to help establish early control of the series.

One of the things that presented Rogue as such as threat in the past was their consistent level of play in every fight, every match. Glimpses of this Rogue happened every so often throughout this entire series. Every so often it would be a fight dominated by Terrence “SoOn” Tarlier; at other times Rogue struggled to get a grip on any part of the game. Although they pulled through with a much needed victory on Numbani, they were hard-pressed to pull through.

FNRGFE returned to good form on Volskaya Industries with Bani, Matt “Clockwork” Dias, and Casey “Buds” McIlwaine trading devastating blows to Rogue at every turn. Establishing a large lead early on was the key to success for them, pulling over three minutes into the timebank for an easy capture to secure another map.

It wasn’t until the final moments of Watchpoint: Gibraltar when Rogue pulled themselves together. Individually some big plays were made by Dylan “aKm” Bignet and SoOn when it counted, but as a team they would need to get into good form one more time if they wanted to take the set in a game five.

Ilios showcased a mirror matchup for Buds and aKm, originally on the Widowmaker and then taking to the skies in a Pharah versus Parah duel. It wasn’t until Bani came through with a four player resurrect in the second round that FNRGFE secured the set.

This now moves FNRGFE up to 1-2 in the standings, breathing some life into their hopes for finishing in the top four. Unfortunately for them they’re still yet to face EnVyUs and EnVision, two of the three teams currently tied for first place.

Team EnVyUs (3-0) vs Kungarna (2-1)

Lijiang Tower – EnVyUs

Eichenwalde – EnVyUs

Hanamura – EnVyUs

Watchpoint: Gibraltar –

The battle for the crown. Even with Kungarna’s emblem portraying themselves as the kings, they were yet to face their toughest opponent they have ever matched up with in team history. Although it’s certain both teams will make the top four, this match means a lot for grabbing the better seed come playoffs.

EnVyUs wasted no time proving they are not to be trifled with, slaughtering Kungarna from one fight to the next. Timo “Taimou” Kettunen brought out the Junkrat once again, as he had previously shown this pick on Eichenwalde’s defense, and Kungarna had no answer for this – or anything else for that matter.

Don’t get me wrong. Kungarna is one of the top teams in North America. EnVyUs is just leagues above anyone else that it’s no contest. Only FaZe Clan showed that EnVyUs isn’t completely immortal after taking one win off the best in the west last week.

As both teams went to Eichenwalde, it was none other than Taimou breaking down the gates with Junkrat to get the magic flowing. A full hold on defense was met with virtually no resistance from Kungarna, with Kim “EFFECT” Heyon clearing the path for the rest of the team to stroll in leisurely for yet another win.

It’s clear EnVyUs had other priorities later in the evening as they made sure there were few dull moments throughout. To shed some light on Kungarna, Michael “mykL” Padilla and Andrej “babybay” Francisty had their moments, but being completely overshadowed by the DPS of EnVyUs doesn’t allow you to be the playmakers you’re used to being.

Though, if there happened to be a map that Kungarna had a strong chance on, it would be on an assault map such as Hanamura. As things shaped up for Kungarna, most of their stance was reliant upon getting a grip on EFFECT who continuously harassed their backline support, forcing mykL to specifically seek him out.

Icing on the cake for the viewer experience was Taimou’s Widowmaker play as they pushed the distance with the payload on Watchpoint: Gibraltar. A tough test for Kungarna was necessary for them to understand how far they, amongst all other teams in the region, need to go to find an even match in the playoffs against this team. We saw potential from both FaZe and Kungarna, but there is a lot of ground that is yet to be covered.