Cloud9's new roster impresses while EnVision pulls out another massive upset in Overwatch Contenders

Aug 27, 2017

We started week two of the Overwatch Contenders with a few questions in mind: can Rogue bounce back? Can 123 continue their dominance? Even with some blowout matches from Europe, teams kept it close in the North American region for a thrilling start to week two.

Europe

eUnited (0-2) vs Cloud9 (1-1)

Lijiang Tower – Cloud9

Numbani – Cloud9

Volskaya Industries – Cloud9 & eUnited (Draw)

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – eUnited

Talk about a changeup. If you thought GamersOrigin made some major changes following their Season Zero performance, take a look at the changes for Cloud9 after one week: Jay “sinatraa” Won, Alberto “neptuNo” González, and Indy “SPACE” Halpern. And if that wasn’t enough, they’ve added Mads “fischer” Jehg, silkthread, and Jared “zombs” Gitlin to the bench. This was a drastic change following a devastating 0-4 loss to Misfits. On the other hand, eUnited also had an extremely poor performance in week one, losing 1-3 to Team Gigantti.

There was really no telling as to how either team would perform. However, all of the Cloud9 doubts were quelled when sinatraa began playing Tracer, a component this team desperately missed in previous games. This gave room for Nevix to get work done on the Genji and Doomfist.

Oh, and did I mention sinatraa was playing from a hotel room?

Even with Andrei “uNFixed” Leonov on the D.va and Hendrik-William “vallutaja” Kinks’ Tracer, they couldn’t find a way to get a grip on sinatraa one fight after another. Whether sinatraa opened up the fight with a Pulse Bomb in the back line, or pull Isaac “Boombox” Charles’ Zenyatta out of the fight, it was clear eUnited needed to head back to the drawing board.

Numbani showcased a new kind of fun for the professional scene as Cloud9 opted to put support player Luís “Greyy” Perestrelo on Doomfist with neptuNo as a solo support on Lúcio for their first offensive push. It worked, but the success was short lived. However, it did show how aggressive you can afford to get with your composition to find a quick team fight victory. It was terrific to see Cloud9's flexibility from support player to DPS, where sinatraa made a last minute change to Zarya, helping his team seal the third checkpoint.

To shed some light on eUnited, it took them some time to find a way to play around the DPS of Cloud9, but the answer seemed to come from the support of the tank players along with Boombox racking up the kills. Normunds “sharyk” Faterins made it tough for sinatraa to play aggressively when he was helping out Boombox in the backline, but as soon as that synergy went away, so did their hopes of winning team fights.

eUnited looked for a changeup on Volskaya Industries by testing the waters with uNFixed playing Soldier: 76 and Harrison “Kruise” Pond on Reaper. Although it was enough to get the job done on offense, Nevix came through as the hero of the match for Cloud9 as his Doomfist found an opening pick in the final fight, helping them secure a tie.

It was stated on the broadcast that Cloud9 went with Nevix last minute over Fischer and I think that was a smart decision. Despite this series being sinatraa’s show, Nevix was a playmaker on Genji and Doomfist when it mattered.

Cloud9 will have the chance to rest easy in week three against a struggling Bazooka Puppiez team while eUnited face off against one of Europe’s best in 123. eUnited are all over the place in terms of consistency with their performances as a team and individually. Even with their big performance turnaround on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, each map was a hit or miss for this team which will be a real issue as they attempt to get into the playoff race.

Misfits (2-0) vs Team Gigantti (1-1)

Nepal – Misfits

King’s Row – Misfits

Volskaya Industries – Misfits

Dorado – Misfits

Call it match of the week for Europe with both Misfits and Team Gigantti taking big victories in week one. Heading into this match I still wasn’t sure about Misfits given they played a struggling Cloud9 team last week, so it was certain they would have their hands full.

Jiri “LiNKzr” Masalin and Joonas “zappis” Alakurtti linked up on King’s Row for Gigantti’s offense by breaking out the Hanzo and Zarya combination, helping their team get off to a strong start. It didn’t take long for Andreas “Logix” Berghmans on the Tracer to answer back, as every so often he would run rampant and unchecked by all of Gigantti. The closeness of this match cannot be overstated as the trades in small skirmishes and team fights seemed fairly even throughout.

Doomfist finally made his entry into this series on King’s Row where Kevyn “TviQ” Lindström continued to best LiNKzr at nearly every turn. His overall coordination with Logix worked wonders for his team as they picked Gigantti off one by one. This worked so well that it even forced LiNKzr off of Doomfist and over to Widowmaker to provide some long-ranged threat.

Gigantti continued to trudge onward through Volskaya Industries thanks to LiNKzr’s Doomfist and Tuomo “Davin” Leppänen’s Soldier: 76. Perhaps Misfits is just that strong, but consistency seemed to be an issue for Gigantti. Even with having a roster as strong as they do, the individuals from Misfits outclassed them at every turn. TviQ is a world-class player with an extraordinary amount of experience alone. Add Logix and Tim “Manneten” Bylund into the mix and teams are left wondering what happened.

The big issue I see with Gigantti currently is that LiNKzr is the main enabler for them to do anything. Whether that be initiate or win a team fight, the majority of the time it’s from what he has started for his team. While Davin has his moments, he hasn’t been able to pull through consistently as a clutch player, which means the rest of the team needs to step up in these situations.

We get the opportunity to witness whether or not Gigantti is the real deal next week as they face a surprising 2-0 GamersOrigin. I believe this match could be the deciding factor for whether or not Gigantti will make it into a top four playoff spot just given with how good Misfits, 123, GamersOrigin, and the reformed Cloud9 seem to be. Look for this match to be a thriller in week three.

Current Standings

North America

Team EnVyUs (2-0) vs FaZe Clan (1-1)

Oasis – EnVyUs

Eichenwalde – EnVyUs

Hanamura – FaZe Clan

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – EnVyUs

Team EnVyUs proved themselves as North America’s best with just one week of play, but FaZe Clan were looking to shut them down here in week two. FaZe Clan came into the Overwatch Contenders with a few roster adjustments, including the big addition of Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok who would prove to be a nuisance for EnVyUs throughout this set.

FaZe opened the match with a roar as Carpe had his way, dealing with Timo “Taimou” Kettunen’s early Widowmaker selection and keeping his distance from Kim “EFFECT” Hyeon’s Doomfist. This forced Taimou over to McCree which allowed him to deal with both Tracer and George “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha’s Pharah.

The early quivers from EnVyUs didn’t last long after Oasis as they felt confident enough to put Taimou on the Junkrat for the entirety of Eichenwalde’s defense. Even with ShaDowBurn on Pharah, EFFECT was able to do so much work with McCree that EnVyUs could afford to not run D.va into a Pharah and Tracer combination.

As the match progressed EnVyUs continued to find ways to separate themselves from FaZe in every aspect as a team. Sebastian “chipshajen” Widlund came alive with his Ana play, doing a fantastic job of giving his team the edge over Carpe in nearly every encounter.

This match didn’t go without its fair share of ShaDowBurn plays, though. The DPS duo helped FaZe pull through with an upset victory on Hanamura, despite EnVyUs nearly full-holding them on the original first point. This gave EnVyUs a scare on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, nearly pushing the series to the first fifth map of the Overwatch Contenders, but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough left in the tank to secure a second win.

In conclusion of this series, I believe EnVyUs have now cleanly beaten their toughest competition this season in Immortals and FaZe Clan. Sure, they’re yet to play FNRGFE, Rogue, and Kungarna, but none of those teams have the components to find three wins over this powerhouse of a team. As for FaZe, they’ll face Immortals and Renegades in week three, one of which is a must-win if they want a spot in the playoffs.

EnVision Esports (2-0) vs Immortals (0-2)

Lijiang Tower – Immortals

King’s Row – EnVision

Volskaya Industries – EnVision

Watchpoint: Gibraltar – EnVision

EnVision are fresh off of one of the greatest upsets in North American Overwatch history while Immortals are down in the dumps after losing 0-4 to EnVyUs in week one. Immortals are still widely considered one of the best in the region and were certainly put to the test.

In the wake of EnVision’s big win, they had an unfortunate loss of their main tank Christopher “ChrisTFer” Graham, who is currently pursuing opportunities. They have decided to bring in Sebastian “numlocked” Barton who certainly had some big shoes to fill.

Why is EnVision always being counted out before the games begin? It has to do with name recognition, experience, and the teams they’re playing against. Rogue, Immortals? Who would’ve thought they even stood a chance? It’s about time we took a hard look at what fueling this team. Caleb “McGravy” McGarvey spoke last week about their big victory and he impressed once again on his McCree and Tracer, matching up well with Immortals’ Christopher “GrimReality” Schaefer.

Lijiang Tower and King’s Row showed that EnVision can keep up with the big dogs. Jason “Jaru” White managed to keep up with Brady “Agilities” Girardi in the Doomfist versus Doomfist battle, allowing his team to nearly get a full-hold on King’s Row, but the prowess of GrimReality and company was too much to handle.

One Meteor Strike after another, this truly showed what the Doomfist and McCree duo is capable of in these matches. Both Immortals and EnVision have playmakers outside of their DPS players, but these compositions clearly revolved around them and their Zarya players synchronizing well together.

When Immortals were on their back foot it was Jaru and McGravy pushing them over to put two wins on the board and keep themselves in the series. Jaru kept this momentum rolling into Volskaya Industries for his team, as Immortals struggled to find a way to deal with him. In the end it was Riley “Fahzix” Taylor’s Sombra proving himself, coming out on top with an EMP in every single team fight.

When things started to go sour for Immortals it was none other than Agilities’ Genji and GrimReality’s Tracer picking up the slack, carrying the team through each and every fight on Watchpoint: Gibraltar’s offense. Although that wasn’t quite enough thanks to big overtime plays by Jaru, McGravey, and numlocked taking care of business as they pulled out yet another upset.

I think it’s about time everyone stopped looking at the faults of the teams EnVision plays and take a deep look as to what is enabling their own play. Jaru’s Doomfist was beyond impressive and when they didn’t feel it was the right choice they moved him over to Genji–yet another hero he flourished with. EnVision have another test in Renegades next week who will be coming in full force as they search for a win.