France slays China and advances to next round

The third of the matches in the Overwatch World Cup playoffs featured a matchup between the mix team of China and ex-Rogue legends France. Though China came out strong on Nepal, France came back strong and took a convincing 3-1.

Map 1: Nepal

aKm's legendary Soldier made its return, shredding through China's line. leave's Tracer just didn't have the effect it needed to. SoOn's Junkrat popped off, significantly outclassing his Chinese counterpart Eileen, and earning France an easy 100-0.

aKm rolled out on a Pharah, supported by uNKOE's Mercy. France took an easy first point capture. China made a retake on the back of strong Genji play from Eileen. France then forced a point flip, but lost it back again to a quick Lucio pick from Leave. aKm's Pharah showed up again, but it's not enough, as China takes smart fights and continues their control to a point take.

Eileen brought his junkrat out again, to great success, making a significant impact and pressuring France into allowing a Chinese point take. China maintained their strong DPS play, with significant support in the form of zhufanjun's Zenyatta damage. France forced a retake after an extended fight, after allowing China build up to 99-0. With their significant ultimate bank built up, France maintained control of the point for a time, but China, having built up an ultimate bank of their own, took the point back convincingly and take the map for a series advantage of 1-0.

Result: 2-1 China

Map 2: Numbani

Eileen's Genji decimated SoOn right out of spawn, delaying France's attack immediately. Picks from China continued to keep France at bay, until finally they were overwhelmed off of France's strong zoning play. In the payload stage, aKm's soldier continued to pressure China into conceding the second point, with a significant time bank of just under 4 minutes left. A strong fight from China forced France off the point, and China continued their defense with intelligent support and tank play. After going down to under two minutes left, France took a strong fight, with help from aKm's McCree switch and KnOxXx's Orisa switch, finishing the map with 53 seconds to go.

China started their attack with zhufanjun on Ana and YuanFang2 on Mercy, but were delayed after leave went down early. China tried to move forward aggressively, but were foiled after YaoYao went down. After another failed fight, China were faced with France's six ultimates. China attempted to make a play off of Eileen's Nano Blade, but a clutch transcendence from winz quickly countered the katana. Despite this, strong teamplay from China allowed a point take. France took some time to spawn camp China, burning some of China's precious time bank. France played a delay game in the middle of the streets phase, but it was ultimately ineffectual, despite strong McCree play after aKm switches off his soldier. leave went off again, and China took the second point with just under three minutes. China continued their aggression, pushing nearly to the end and forcing France to take a fight. France utilized their spawn advantage to stall the capture and force China back. A clutch D.Va bomb from NiCO took out YuanFang2's Mercy, and France took the opportunity to wipe China again. With under 30 seconds left, china makes their final push, clearing out France, but with the payload drifted back, it was an uphill battle. China captured the point in overtime, thanking their lucky stars that France did not have more than a minute left.

For their second attack, China went again with an Ana-Mercy support duo, seeming to be banking on Eileen's Genji blade again. Despite building up a blade, Eileen was not able to use it, and with under 20 seconds left, China was not able to coagulate a push, and walk away with zero percent. France chose to use a Zenyatta-Mercy on their attack, with aKm on Soldier and SoOn on Tracer. An early pick on Winston looked like it would be the point for France, but it was SoOn's sneaky back cap that took the point under China's Nose, giving France the map.

Result: 4-3 France

Map 3: Hanamura

France utilized an Orisa and McCree on Defense, up against Eileen's Junkrat and leave's Widowmaker. KnOxXx's Orisa served its purpose early, keeping Widowmaker ineffective and allowing aKm's McCree play to be fully effective. After an acceptable French defense, Time got a devastating D.Va bomb and China took point 1, with about 5 minutes to take point 2. With Eileen's headline Genji play and leave's consistent Tracer play, China effectively wiped France, but France again used their spawn advantage to stall the point and force China back. China repeatedly attempted to clear out France, but their strong spawn management and consistent defensive DPS play allowed them to deny China any percentage on the second point.

France rolled out with aKm on McCree, but he was trapped and blown sky-high by Eileen on Junkrat. He immediately switched to Pharah, and helped his team quickly take point 1, leaving them 6 minutes and 30 seconds to take one tick on point 2. With a switch from aKm to soldier, China was forced to use all of their ultimates to defend against France's relentless aggression. With both Mercy and Zenyatta ultimates available, France applied pressure to China through key picks, and take the point and the map with help from a critical aKm Tactical Visor.

Result: 2-1 France

Map 4: Junkertown

Frances utilizes a Junkrat/Widowmaker defense, but were overwhelmed early on by China's unconventional single support comp, with zhufanjun playing Bastion instead of his usual support. After a quick take of point 1, China continued the battle boat strategy through point 2, rolling over France despite aKm switching back to his soldier. France continues to fall down at the might of the support player on Bastion, taking the final point with just under 4 minutes left.

China set up on defense, with zhufanjun refusing to play support, instead playing a Torbjorn. However, his Omnic counterpart SoOn on Bastion quickly shredded trough YaoYao's Orisa, and allowed aKm to run free on his Widowmaker. With zhufanjun finally conceding to switch to Zenyatta, Eileen switched to Bastion and, aided by YaoYao's Reinhardt, battened down the hatches and stopped France in their tracks. France continued to throw themselves into China's meat grinder, and eventually managed to capture point 2, leaving themselves just 1 minute and 30 seconds to take point 3. Tenacious play from France, especially NiCO's Genji, allowed France to finish the map in overtime.

With just a minute to attack, France took the risk of playing with aKm on the Bastion, this time with KnOxXx on Reinhardt. With additional barrier support from NiCO on Orisa, they take point 1, and brute force their way through point 2, dominating China's bastion/reinhardt by having more barriers available. They manage to take point 2 in a heroic push, With incredible ultimate management and immaculate team play, France pushed all three points in one of the most incredible pushes in recent competitive Overwatch history.

China began their attack with nearly five minutes left, and manage to clear rogue, who set up as close as possible to China's spawn in order to take a second fight. Bastion and Orisa again showed up on both sides, but it was leave on Tracer that provided massive damage, and carried China to a point one capture, with three minutes left in their time bank. France managed to stop China in the middle of point 2, forcing China to switched to a Junkrat/Winston comp with Time playing D.Va. leave again took charge, and danced in and around team France, laying down a hail of damage and allowing China to capture point 2 and penetrate into point 3. With overtime looming, France forces a decisive fight and deny China their push, taking the map and the series.

Result: 6-5 France