A battle for the title. Best of sevens across the board for Europe and North America, who stepped up to the plate when it matters most? Misfits, Gigantti, EnVyUs, and FaZe Clan put everything on the line this Sunday as they looked to secure the ultimate victory in Season One of Overwatch Contenders.

Europe

 #1 Misfits vs #2 Team Gigantti 

Oasis – Gigantti

Eichenwalde – Misfits

Temple of Anubis – Gigantti

Route 66 – Gigantti

Eichenwalde – Misfits

Temple of Anubis – Misfits

Ilios – Gigantti

It was a 4-0 for Misfits in week two, but Gigantti has improved more than most while Misfits struggled on the stage against Cloud9, nearly dropping the set in the semifinals this past Saturday. Despite their 27-2 overall record during the regular season, Misfits had everything to lose matching up with Gigantti.

Gigantti’s Jiri “LiNkzr” Masalin opened up Oasis in a dominant fashion, controlling Kevyn “TviQ” Lindström and Andreas “Logix” Berghmans at every turn. The Genji gameplay couldn’t be touched by Misfits, who seemed to have no answer for the ninja.

Looking to be in complete control of the series from the start, Gigantti gave way for Misfits on Eichenwalde, as they capitalized on the poor positioning from them at times to push their aggression even further. Gigantti’s offense powered through the first objective, but Misfits managed to make a stand before the second objective thanks to superior positioning and TviQ’s Soldier: 76 keeping LiNkzr in check.

Despite a rough Eichenwalde map, after a moment to rethink their strategy, it was Gigantti bouncing back on Temple of Anubis. A Widowmaker pick out of the gates open up a window of opportunity for a quick capture and push to Point B. Thing would pan out for them, eventually capturing both objectives before stopping Misfits in their tracks on defense off of the back of LiNkzr’s Genji.

Although it wouldn’t be match point if Gigantti were to win Route 66, it would put them up considerably and possibly too large of a deficit for Misfits given how Gigantti had been playing. A defensive Sombra from Gigantti’s Jonas “Shaz” Suovaara set the pace for the squad who thrived from one EMP to the next.

Misfits had an opening as overtime ticked down to secure the first objective, but Gigantti stormed back to the payload with an EMP and Sound Barrier to clear the way and put themselves in a prime position for victory. An easy couple of team fights helped push the payload the distance and put them up 3-1 in the series.

Misfits had the choice of map selection in which they opted for Eichenwalde, a map they convincingly took away from Gigantti earlier in the day. Shaz and Benjamin “BigG00se” Isohanni were eliminated early on the defensive side, giving way for Misfits to set a similar pace to their previous Eichenwalde win.

Poor ultimate management and placement overall plagued Misfits in the latter half of this match. Even with several minutes to complete the map the players weren’t quite on the same page as one another, allowing Gigantti to make an easy hold just shy of the third checkpoint.

LiNkzr’s Soldier: 76, Tuomo “Davin” Leppänen’s Tracer, and Joonas “Zappis” Alakurtti’s Zarya seemed to be the recipe for success on offense. At least, it was until TviQ’s Junkrat had something to say about that. An impressive stand to keep their championship hopes alive was at the hands of the rat who contained the Tracer and Genji carries for Gigantti, ultimately turned it all around.

Misfits’ win on Eichenwalde seemed to give them the spark they so desperately needed, fueling the engine for an incredible stand on Point B of Temple of Anubis. Holding Gigantti short of any progress on the second objective, Misfits found themselves in a perfect position to force a game seven.
 

For a while it looked like Gigantti might have been able to make the impossible hold of 33%, but one single team fight sealed the deal for Misfits. This ultimately forced the series to final game on Ilios, a best of three to see who would be crowned as the Season One champions.

TviQ’s Pharah got some air time on Ilios, but the Genji and McCree from LiNkzr kept him at bay, not allowing for the superstar to shine. One play after another sealed the deal for Gigantti, pulling out the upset as the underdogs. An incredible journey for Gigantti came to a close as they hoisted the trophy for first place in the air, showing they’re the best in the European region.

North America

 #1 Team EnVyUs vs #2 FaZe Clan 

Ilios – EnVyUs

Hollywood – EnVyUs

Temple of Anubis – EnVyUs

Route 66 – EnVyUs

Dominant victories from both EnVyUs and FaZe Clan this past Saturday pit these two teams against each other once again. EnVyUs found a comforting 3-1 win in week two against FaZe, who since then has been searching for a way around North America’s best. Both George “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha and Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok had to step up to find an answer for Timo “Taimou” Kettunen and the newly added Brandon “Seagull” Larned.
 

Seagull’s usage seems to be fairly select for EnVyUs who wanted to utilize him for his Pharah capabilities, which were unstoppable in their match Saturday against FNRGFE. With that in mind, even ShaDowBurn’s Pharah wasn’t enough this time around to stop the onslaught of rockets. In an attempt to change the pace of the map, he made the move to Genji on Well, but didn’t account for Kim “EFFECT” Hyeon’s Tracer who seemingly trumped anything tossed his way.

As with Saturday’s games, EnVyUs substituted Pongphop “Mickie” Rattanasangchod back in for Seagull after the control point map. A surprise to most, Mickie went for the defensive Torbjorn to catch them off guard on Hollywood, but Carpe responded with a Hanzo to shut them down in the opening push.

Taimou’s Widowmaker was the highlight of this match with ultimates being used specifically just to deal with him. With so much attention thrown his way, it opened up a window for EFFECT and the rest of the squad to clean it up and make a magnificent stand in the second phase of the map.

It looked all too easy for EnVyUs to continue their reign of terror upon the North American region, forcing FaZe to go back to the drawing board. No matter what FaZe attempted to toss their way, EnVyUs always had an answer with multiple tools at their disposal in every role.

EnVyUs maintained control through Temple of Anubis, despite FaZe capturing the second objective in overtime. An offensive Sombra from EnVyUs looked potent as they assaulted Point B, but it wasn’t until a slight composition change to Reaper that they successfully captured it.

EnVyUs found themselves with one minute to work with to secure 33% of Point A to go up 3-0 in the series. FaZe had the advantage throughout the entire push until the final moments of overtime when EFFECT powered through the defense to solidify a victory and put them at match point for the North American crown.

FaZe went into Route 66 with all cards on the table, knowing very well it could be the final map of the tournament. A must-win situation for them, they decided to stick to what had worked for them all season long with ShaDowBurn back on the Genji.

Despite Seagull returning to the lineup, EFFECT’s Tracer lit up the kill feed for EnVyUs but the efforts of FaZe in overtime were enough to overcome his dominance and buy themselves more time to complete the map.

After a change of sides, the ultimate defense for FaZe still wasn’t enough to hold EnVyUs back. Time and time again they looked to have pushed the series to a game five, but an incredible overtime swing with the Taimou Roadhog helped push the map to the second push for both teams.

During the second attempt, it was EnVyUs going for the home run with an offensive Bastion. The immense amount of pressure from Taimou couldn’t be contained as Carpe tried his best for a flank but came up empty-handed. After grabbing two checkpoints it was enough to find a complete shutout in the grand finals, giving EnVyUs the North American championship.

FaZe certainly kept things close throughout the set but from one match to another EnVyUs found their way back into it and pulled through with a 4-0 win. Witnessing the return of Seagull was wonderful and shows the flexibility this team will have for the Overwatch League.

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