Despite getting eliminated in the group stage of the first season of APEX Conbox (formerly T6, now Spirit) looked like one of the teams that will be a threat in the future. That was the case until they lost Zunba, who is one of the best Zarya players in Korea. Fortunately for them they got Twilight aboard, who was one of the better Ana players in Korea, but that was unlikely to fully make up for the loss.

Their opponent, favorite even among the studio crowd, were Cloud 9. While the match-up is the easiest in the group it was an important for them to win as clearly as they could, as a three way tie between them, Kongdoo Uncia and Afreeca Blue is quite possible.

The first map – as per tournament rules a single CP map, selected by a randomizer – was Lighthouse, Ilios. The Korean squad opened on the standard for the current metagame Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, D.Va, Roadhog, Soldier 76 whereas the fan favorite deviated slightly with Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, Zarya, Roadhog and Surefour’s McCree.

C9 took initial control and maintained it for 39%, but on the back of great Earthshatter Gamsu and co. claimed the CP for themselves. As a response to that the McCree was swapped for D.Va. While that didn’t accomplish much initially they reclaimed the point after a brief overtime. They held the control until one more overtime, when Conbox took the point and Lighthouse on the back of Earthshatter block by Gamsu.

For Well Liz changed Soldier 76 for Reaper, but the rest of Conbox’s set-up remained the same. Looking to switch up things C9 shuffled the Zarya on Gods and put Surefour and Mendo respectively on Tracer and Genji.

That secured them the point initially, but after a good Whole Hog by SleepyBear their progress was stopped at 45%. That made C9 ditch the tracer for Pharah. That didn’t find success either and after a brief overtime Conbox took 1–0 lead into the series.

Looking to equalize the North American squad selected Hollywood as the second map. They started the attack with Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, Surefour ‘s Zarya, Roadhog and Mendo’s Tracer, whereas the only change for the Koreans was Liz returning to Soldier 76.

After some initial trouble C9 took point A and started pushing the cart, having 3:36 on the clock, as Mendo switched to Soldier 76. The push of the cart was slow, but sure and after several fights the payload was going past the second point with 2:31 left in C9’s time bank. As the cart continued advancing at similar pace Liz changed to Reaper, but it didn’t yield much success either and the North Americans ended their offensive run, having 41 seconds left in the time bank.

After switching sides Adam picked up Symmetra, but otherwise both teams maintained the same set-ups. As the Koreans’ pushes failed Liz changed to Reaper, but that was to no avail and C9 held on A, equalizing the map score to 1–1.

The third map, selected by Conbox, was Hanamura. Defending again, C9 kept the same composition, as Liz returned to Soldier 76 again and Oparochi picked Zenyatta for the attack. The first several pushes failed Oparochi returned to Lucio and Liz and MyungHoon respectively switched to Mei and Reaper, but that didn’t help much, as they barely even got on the CP itself, before the time ended.

On the attack Adam returned to Lucio and Mendo picked up Tracer, otherwise keeping the same set-up. Gamsu and co. continued playing the two supports and three tanks around Liz’s Soldier 76. Within a minute the North American squad took over A and a 2–1 lead in the series.

Not having won an escort map in APEX before, Conbox selected Route 66 as the fourth map. They started the attack on a dive composition of Lucio, Zenyatta, Winston, D.Va, Tracer, Genji against C9’s Mercy, Ana, Reinhardt, Zarya, Roadhog, Soldier 76. In two quick pushes Gamsu and co. got the cart past the first point and Adam and Mendo swapped from Mercy and Soldier to Lucio and Tracer. That however didn’t do much, as the Koreans got past the second point, having 3:14 in the time bank. Surefour switching to D.Va and Mendo returning to the Soldier 76 finally slowed down the Koreans but after a long overtime Conbox delivered the payload.

For their defense Conbox returned to the standard for the current meta Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, D.Va, Roadhog, Soldier 76 against C9’s Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, Zarya, Tracer, Genji. The mobile DPS yielded qick success for the North American squad, as they were getting past the first point, with 4:09 left on the clock. After Gods traded the Genji for Roadhog they got similarly fast past the third, having 3:51 left to get the cart to its destination. After a prolonged fight for the final meter C9 delivered, having 1:38 in the time bank.

Getting 1 minute from the rule set for second attack, Gamsu and co. returned to the same dive set-up, but C9’s 2–3–1 defense held strong and the cart advanced only 78.5m.

For C9’s second time on the offense, they picked Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, Zarya, Tracer, Genji again. Despite a valiant effort from the Korean side the North Americans reached the distance and took the match 3–1.