With team South Korea victorious at BlizzCon OGN returns with the second portion of the group stage of APEX. In it 12 of Korea’s best Overwatch teams battle 4 top foreign teams for a prize pool of over $175,000.

Today’s first match-up was Afreeca Freecs Blue fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive versus Rhinos Gaming Titan. Following that we saw Kongdoo UNCIA in similar position to Blue, against new look NRG trying to secure early playoff spot.

For those interested only in my picks for “Map, players and teams to watch” scroll down to the bottom. In those I’ll be listing the players and teams I found the most intriguing, the map I enjoyed watching most and the reasons for my picks.

Match-up 1: Rhinos Gaming Titan vs Afreeca Freecs Blue

Coming into this RGT were the huge underdog, based on recent results and quality of play. While they were ready for everything Rogue threw at them tactically the Rhinos didn’t have the individual ability to execute properly on their ideas.

Afreeca, also coming into this after a convincing loss to Rogue as well, looked much better in recent performances. They came into OGN’s tournament, after a top8 finish in APAC Premier, losing 3:1 to Rogue — the eventual champions.

For the first map, randomly selected by randomizer from the capture point pool, was Lijang Tower. On Control Center both teams started with 2–2–2 compositions, including Ana, Lucio and Zarya. Afreeca rounded up their picks with the more standard Winston, Reaper, Genji, while RGT chose Reinhardt, Tracer and Claris’s Pharah. Despite continuously trading kills in their favour Blue took a while to secure the point itself. On the back of well placed Graviton Surge by Bro RGT briefly took over the point, but they couldn’t hold for long as they used all of their ultimates to claim control. The stage continued with strong hold by Afreeca and after another brief takeover by RGT Afreeca took it 100–51.

For the second stage, Garden, the only change in the compositions was Claris switching Pharah for Reaper. Blue showcased their superior mechanics again, easily taking initial control of the point. The game continued in similar manner to the first stage — even when the Rhinos took control they sacrificed too much resources for it which meant easy retake for the Freecs. In even more convincing 100–33 Recry and co. took the 1–0 lead into the series.

As second map, RGT picked Hollywood. Afreeca started on the defense on Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, McCree and Arhan’s signature pick — Genji. RGT opened with Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt and McCree of their own, complimented by Mei. Blue displayed their clear superiority again, managing to hold on the first point, even in a 6v3 ultimates disadvantage.

On the Defense the Rhinos continued using the same composition, while Blue moved Recry on Hanzo and Arhan on Reaper. They took control of the point without much trouble and after a prolonged fight on it, Afreeca increased their lead in the series to a 2–0.

The third map, Volskaya Industries, showed both teams switch-up things more right from the get-go. Afreeca changed their composition to 3–2–1, something that multiple Korean teams have shown to favour. The picks were Ana, Lucio, Winston, Zarya, Recry’s Roadhog and Arhan on Genji. RGT opened on a 3–2–1 of their own, but the similarities ended with Ana, Lucio and Winston, as the Rhinos rounded up with Reaper, Genji and Widowmaker.

After not finding much success Bro traded the sniper for Zarya and Genji was swapped for Tracer. That helped them secure the first point in a clutch ‘beyblade’ combo, having only 40 seconds on the clock.

For the second point Blue traded Winston, Roadhog and Genji for Reinhardt, McCree and Mei, while RGT’s only change was Reaper for McCree. Having more than 4 minutes in the bank, the Rhinos stalled their assault until they had 6 ultimates. Despite being engaged on at a huge ultimate disadvantage Freecs managed to hold and the rest of the map was them holding without much problems.

For the defense the Rhinos showed interesting composition again, picking Ana, Mercy, Reinhardt, Roadhog, McCree and Soldier 76. Afreeca went back to the same 3–2–1 they attempted defense on the first point. RGT’s gambit didn’t pay off and after a quick take of the first point Blue started pushing towards the second with 7 minutes on the clock.

RGT responded by going back to a more standard composition of Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei and Reaper. Having ultimate advantage, as a result of the switches, Arhan decimated the opponents using nanoboosted Dragonblade, securing control of the point for his team. After a minute long fight they took the point, the map and the series for a convincing 3–0.

For MVPs of the series OGN voted Afreeca Freecs Blue’s carries — Recry and Arhan.

Match-up 2: Kongdoo UNCIA vs NRG

Both teams come into this, having wins only over the consensus worst team in the tournament (MVP Space). However with NRG switching Gods and Pookz for numlocked and CLOCKWORK, most would favour the Korean side going into the match-up. Another factor, favouring UNCIA, is that none of their players traveled to BlizzCon. Instead they stayed in Korea and practiced for two weeks, trying to figure out their synergy issues.

The series began on Sanctum, Nepal. Both teams opened with same pick composition of Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, Roadhog and Hanzo. On the back of Dnce charging up his ultimate while Seagull was still at 50% Kongdoo took early control of the point. After that they managed to push back the Americans into the spawn area and executed convincing hold at the narthex in a quick 100–0.

For Village both teams continued using similar compositions of Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya and Reaper. The only difference was UNCIA putting Birdring on Genji, while Seagull chose Mei. Off of a quick Dragonblade by Birdring, Kongdoo managed to take initial control briefly. That didn’t last long though as NRG claimed control for themselves on the back of favourable trading. They managed to hold until just under 50% when the Koreans reclaimed it with nanoboosted Genji. In series of close trades Kongdoo continued holding until they took the map in a short overtime.

Looking to equalize NRG picked Hollywood as the second map. They started their attack with Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Reaper and Hanzo.Kongdoo went back to the 3 tanks and 2 supports composition, but this time playing around Birdring’s Mei. After quick picks on Bubbly and Panker the Americans seized control of the point and quickly secured two ticks. As the support and tank returned though, the Koreans managed to push NRG back. After that Kongdoo held without much trouble, partially thanks to a clutch Earthshatter by Panker. Having only 30 seconds left on the clock and 6 ultimates ready NRG attempted final assault on the point, but it was not successful and their time ran out without anything to show up for it.

OGN showing off with a fancy map pick graphic.

On the defense NRG chose standard ‘beyblade’ composition — Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei and Reaper. Kongdoo picked for the attack another 3 tanks, 2 supports composition, this time playing around Dnce’s McCree. However they changed McCree and Lucio for Pharah and Mercy quickly, after they noticed NRG lacks long range hitscan damage.Despite getting pushed back on the first attempt they managed to build up 5 ultimates to NRG’s 3 for the second push. That didn’t yield success either and with CLOCKWORK on McCree Dnce went back to the McCree himself. Capitalizing on NRG nanoboosting Lucio by mistake the Koreans finally got on the point and secured one tick. In a prolonged overtime they managed to stay on the point and take it to increase their lead in the series to 2–0.

For map 3 the American squad picked Volskaya Industries. They started on the attack with Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei and Reaper. For the defense the Koreans opened once again with their 3–2–1 of Ana, Lucio, Reinhardt, Zarya, Roadhog and Genji. This time NRG looked extremely disorganized and failed to do much. They managed to get on the point continuously, but failed to take even one tick as Birdring and Dnce were constantly picking them around the edges of the fight.

Switching sides, NRG finally switched up things a bit and picked Ana, Zenyatta, Reinhardt, McCree, Tracer and Genji. That didn’t prove effective as Kongdoo got on the point quickly and secured it in a bit over a minute, ending the game-day with second convincing 3–0.

For MVP of the series OGN picked UNCIA’s impact carry — Dnce

Players to watch:

Recry — he continued with showcasing amazing movement and aim today. However in addition to that he displayed much better positioning. It is hard to think put too much into it though, considering that RGT lacked the mechanical strength and coordination to challenge team like Afreeca Blue. What impressed me even further than his performance versus Rogue though, was the versatility he displayed in terms of effective hero pool. With him displaying such strong play today I’m definitely excited to see him tested against Flash Lux in Freecs’s last match of the group stage.

Dnce in the MVP interview, looking good outside the server as well.

Dnce — showcased excellent play today and tremendous growth since his last performance. Previously he had shown us flashes of brilliance and some clutch, impact play, but today he was true beast. Mechanically not as solid as Birdring, but much more consistent since his previous play. Additionally showed much more versatility, picking and playing well on multiple new heroes. Of course we’ll have to see if he manages to keep up the form versus stronger teams, as NRG weren’t too good themselves, having practiced only 1 day with the new roster. One concern that I still have for Dnce is that his positioning was very aggressive and more coordinated team could perhaps punish him.

Honorable mentions: Birdring, Arhan, Panker.

Teams to watch:

Kongdoo UNCIA — the team looked much better than they did the last time we saw them, both in terms of individual play and team synergy. Dnce, Panker and Lucid looked considerably better and Birdring fell much more as a part of a system than a single carry dragging his team over the finish line. Will be interesting to see if Dnce can maintain the effective hero pool and constant impact play versus better teams. Same goes for Panker and Lucid — they looked solid today, but how will they deal when better synergized teams and more skilled carries go for them. Whatever the case is will be interesting to see them face better teams come playoffs.

With NRG looking troubled after the roster change they are now one foot in the playoffs, considering their final match is against the team that has looked the best in the group — BK Stars.

Kongdoo being happy about their 3–0 win.

Map to watch: sadly I don’t think any of the matches today are worth catching up with, as they didn’t provide too much information. That is especially so the case if you have limited time.

In case you haven’t watched day 7 of the group stage I’d advice taking a look at my recommended map from it — Lunatic-Hai vs EnVyUS on Dorado.