The Overwatch League may have captivated esports fans around the world for the first half of 2018, but the action doesn’t stop now, with the World Cup set to kick off this afternoon (Australian time).
Six of the world’s top 24 countries will battle it out over three days in Incheon, South Korea and, once the dust has settled, the top two ranked teams will have punched themselves a ticket to the knockout phase at BlizzCon 2018’s esports extravaganza.
It’s the first of four group events, with September group events in the USA, Thailand and France determining the other six quarterfinal qualifiers.
This year the tournament runs a little differently. With 32 teams duking it out in 2017, the talent pool was arguably a little thin and, unfortunately, we saw a lot of 4-0 drubbings.
With the number of participants trimmed to 24 this time – as well as the number of pools being reduced from eight to four – we should see a lot more gripping matches between top teams early on.
Let’s have a look at how Group A will shape up.
| Country | SR | Rank* |
| South Korea | 4479 | 2/Host |
| Chinese Taipei/Taiwan | 4018 | 21 |
| Finland | 4257 | 8 |
| Hong Kong | 4052 | 18 |
| Japan | 4156 | 13 |
| Russia | 4219 | 11 |
* – As the four group stage host countries automatically qualified, the official rankings only include the non-hosts and run from 1-20. These rankings include the host countries.
All dates and times AEST
Day 1 – Friday August 17 |
|
|---|---|
| Teams | Time |
| Russia vs Hong Kong | 1:00 PM |
| South Korea vs Taiwan | 2:45 PM |
| Hong Kong vs Finland | 4:30 PM |
| Russia vs Japan | 5:15 PM |
| Finland vs South Korea | 7:00 PM |
Day 2 – Saturday August 18 |
|
| Teams | Time |
| Hong Kong vs South Korea | 1:00 PM |
| Japan vs Tawian | 2:45 PM |
| Russia vs Finland | 4:30 PM |
| Taiwan vs Hong Kong | 5:15 PM |
| South Korea vs Japan | 7:00 PM |
Day 3 – Sunday, August 19 |
|
| Teams | Time |
| Finland vs Japan | 1:00 PM |
| Russia vs Taiwan | 2:45 PM |
| Japan vs Hong Kong | 4:30 PM |
| Russia vs South Korea | 5:15 PM |
| Taiwan vs Finland | 7:00 PM |
I wasn’t kidding when I said the new format would result in more high-quality matches early – the penultimate match of day three is a rematch of the first ever world cup grand final!
With a passionate home crowd behind them, watching South Korea go head-to-head with Russia is must watch television (or, twitch, rather).
As for the other two days, Hong Kong versus Taiwan on the second day may look like a cellar dweller showdown but, given a lot of players in that match play for the same club, there will be a lot riding on the outcome. It’s hard to go past Finland versus South Korea as the first day’s best match.
It looks to be a pretty clear answer in this group. South Korea, the back-to-back reigning champions with a star-studded roster, are unbackable favourites for first place. Honestly, their second-string line-up could still easily take this group out – especially when you consider not one of the Overwatch League champion London Spitfire players made the cut.
It’s hard to see this slightly-modified New York Excelsior team dropping too many maps, although many players will feel they have a point to prove after a bitterly disappointing semifinal exit to the Philadelphia Fusion.
If you were wondering whether whatever country the Fusion’s players are from – thinking they have a chance to dethrone the Koreans – you’ll be dismayed to know their MVP Carpe (Jae-hyeok Lee) is also lining up for Korea.
It looks like a dogfight between Finland and Russia for the second BlizzCon ticket. Russia certainly have the pedigree after their runner-up effort in 2016, but I’m giving the edge to Finland here despite their shocking performance in Sydney last year.
It’s highly likely the final six they field will be an all-Overwatch League team, and the fact their two supports in BigGoose (Benjamin Isohanni) and Shaz (Jonas Suovaara) played together with the LA Gladiators all season should not be overlooked – continuity is everything at this level.
With more than their fair share of Contenders players and unlisted free agents, nobody is expecting much out of Taiwan or Hong Kong this time around.
To be blunt, Hong Kong have never been a factor at the international level, while reports of disrupted preparation were not the news fans would have wanted to hear after their dismal showing in a friendly against Australia.
With half the team that carried Taiwan to a surprise Round of 16 showing last year defecting to PUBG since then – and the other half simply not selected – chances of them repeating their 2017 heroics also appear slim.
We might not see any great surprises in terms of who goes through to BlizzCon, but I’m confident Group A’s standings won’t reflect the pre-tournament rankings at all.
This is a bold call, but I’m predicting Japan to cause one of the upsets of the tournament and finish third after knocking off Russia. It’s true Russia boast two Overwatch League players in Boston’s Mistakes (Stanislav Danilov) and Philadelphia’s ShaDowBurn (George Gushcha) to Japan’s zero but, once again, I think continuity will prove crucial.
Japan’s roster – including the coach – is all made up of players from Contenders team CYCLOPS – who topped the standings in the second Pacific season. They’ve been playing, learning and adapting to meta changes together for some time – don’t be surprised if it culminates in a famous upset.
The other upset I think you’ll see will be bottom-seeded Taiwan rubbing salt in Hong Kong’s wounds with a win in their Day 2 clash.
Hong Kong’s performance against Australia was just so bad, and the added drama of a reportedly conflicted training schedule makes it just too hard to give them the nod over a Taiwanese team that, on paper, actually matches up quite well.
1st – South Korea (5-0)
2nd – Finland (4-1)
3rd – Japan (3-2)
4th – Russia (2-3)
5th – Taiwan (1-4)
6th – Hong Kong (0-5)
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