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The next stage of the Overwatch Contenders season has been decided, which, unfortunately, means four teams are to be kicked out of the league.
Dignity, Avant, PIXL, and, unsurprisingly, the Bin Chickens all failed to make the cut and as such may fall out of the Contenders league entirely and back into the trials league, having to work their way up again.
Teams do change rapidly in Contenders, as with any esport, which means players are often moved around based on their skill or synergy with others. So it’s likely not the last we will see of many of these players.
The unfortunate side for the individuals is this means they’ll have fewer chances to show off their skills in the hopes of being picked up for any higher level teams.
The remaining sides will face off in playoffs matches, where both groups A and B will intermix to decide who makes it into the semi-finals. These games are decided by seeds, and while the match-ups haven’t been officially announced yet, the casters at the end of Tuesday’s games laid out how they’ll probably look.
Masterminds will face off against Order (the team formerly known as Blank Blue). Order have a better record during this season and though Masterminds made it into the finals during the last Contenders season, the team has changed dramatically since then. It’s likely we’ll see Order take this match and move onto the next stage.
Kanga and Legacy should also pair up for their playoff matches, which could be tough to call. Kanga have a slightly higher seed than Legacy, having one game on their opponents, but Legacy seemed to win their matches more decisively.
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Then Dark Sided will face off against Tainted Minds, where the former are the second-highest seed, having come out on top of the stiff competition in group B. Their success may depend on whether Punk (Leyton Gilchrist) will be on the roster, after being picked for the Australian team for the upcoming World Cup.
Last up, they said it would be the Sydney Drop Bears versus Serenity, which just makes me feel bad for the latter. They have played well, but only just scraped into the playoffs, which makes this match-up sound cruel.
Hopefully, something changes for them between now and the official postings and they don’t have to come up against the toughest team in their first round – but if they do, it’ll be their last one as well.
The good news is there’s a week break between now and the playoffs and if the Overwatch League Finals taught us anything, it’s that this can make all the difference. The unpredictability that we ended up seeing in league matches could be a sign of things to come in the Contenders playoffs but it’s still hard to picture anyone really being able to take down the undefeated Drop Bears in two weeks’ time.
After the playoffs and the semi-finals, the finals will be held during the Melbourne esports Open on Saturday, September 1 at Rod Laver Arena. If you’re planning on attending one of the rare opportunities to watch Overwatch in Australia, you’ll want to tune in and start taking in these playoff games.
As with most sports, there’s a lot more excitement and fun to be had when getting behind a team and learning their history, and now that we are through to playoffs, games should be less one-sided.
Nothing is decided yet and in Overwatch, anything can happen. These matches have the potential to be a Drop Bears bloodbath, but with a team so far out in front, there’s the chance for an even greater outcome.
Everybody loves an underdog, and when almost every team is kind of an underdog, an upset or two is on the cards.