The Pacific Showdown is about to go down – Overwatch Contenders

Next to the official OWL, there is another popular Overwatch League – the Contenders. Where the OWL itself is made up entirely of pro players, the Contenders competitions are made up of semi-pros and aspiring pros that are hoping to be drafted into one of the big teams by showing off their skill.

Despite not being the ‘official’ pro league, Contenders has a huge fan following and esports fans love watching the epic battles between the teams in the Contenders League. The highlights of the seasons is the finale – in the case of the Contenders, there are actually multiple such finales. Specifically, the Atlantic and Pacific Showdown that have the winning teams from specific regions competing against each other.

As part of the Pacific Showdown, teams from Korea, China, Australia and the rest of the Pacific region are facing off. The six teams participating are Element Mystic and O2 Blast from Korea, LiGan esports & Huya and The One Winner from China, ORDER from Australia and Talon esports from the PAC region.

Facing off in a double-elimination bracket, these teams are competing for their share of a $125.000 prize pool… and for an invitation to the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is the only opportunity for teams from the Atlantic and Pacific regions to square off in an official match, and it will see only the best of the best competing for the title and an even bigger prize pool… as well as a chance to be noticed by one of the many OWL teams that are always looking for new talent to add to their own ranks.

Now, the Pacific Showdown is the first of the two big showdowns leading up the Gauntlet, with the Atlantic Showdown happening a week from tomorrow and lasting until the 2nd of June. The Pacific Showdown is starting tomorrow and will last until May 26th.

The event will take place in Shanghai, a tried and tested location for Overwatch events – even the Overwatch World Cup has been hosted here before! A total of 10 matches will be live-streamed on Twitch across the three days of competition.

While it’s really anyone’s game, there are some clear favourites – South Korea is traditionally the strongest nation in the world when it comes to Overwatch, to the point where many teams both in Contenders and in the OWL have Korean players on their roster despite not being Korea-based teams, so it’s no wonder that the Chinese, Australian and PAC teams are keen to show that they have what it takes to beat the Koreans!

Fun fact: Only the Australian team and Chinese team The One Winner don’t have at least three Korean players on their roster! Whether you root for Korea or one of the other nations though, you should definitely watch the Pacific Showdown matches as they feature some of the best pro-hopeful players in the entire world – action and excitement are practically guaranteed!es