For the second match tonight we had fan favorites Lunatic-Hai, debuting with their new players Whoru (pron. Who.R.U.) and Zunba versus Afreeca Freecs Red. While Red wasn’t in last season of APEX many still continued to consider them as the better of the two Afreeca teams, even after Blue reached the finals.

The match started on Night Market, Lijiang Tower. Miro and co. opened on Lucio, Zenyatta, Winston, Zarya, Tracer, Genji versus Red’s Lucio, Ana, Zarya, D.Va, Tracer, Genji. Lunatic-Hai secured the CP easily and ended the section in quick 100–0.

For Garden the fan favorites continued using same set-ups, whereas Afreeca changed Zarya for Winston. That helped LagerMan and co. secure the initial control this time. They maintained it for up to 57%, but after that both teams took turns at the point, which lead to Zunba trading his signature Zarya for D.va at 96–65 and Lunatic-Hai taking Garden and 1–0 lead into the series after two brief overtimes.

Looking to equalize the map score, Afreeca selected King’s Row as the second map. They attacked on Lucio, Ana, Zarya, D.Va, Tracer, Genji and secured A in just over a minute against LH’s more standard Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, Zarya, D.Va, Genji. Despite getting wiped once they pushed the cart in similar pace, getting past the second point, having 4:42 in the bank thanks to TyDolla’s Genji destroying Miro and co. Looking for a way to stop Red, Leetaejun picked Pharah and Zunba took over the pink mech. That didn’t do much, but Whoru swapping over to Tracer managed to stop the push couple of meters before it reached the delivery point. After repelling Afreeca he changed to Soldier 76 and held strong until a prolonged overtime fight in which TyDolla and co. came out on top and delivered the payload.

After switching sides Afreeca kept same composition, whereas Lunatic-Hai attacked on Lucio, Ana, Winston, D.Va, Pharah, Genji. As the set-up didn’t do much for the fan favorites, they changed Pharah and Winston for Roadhog and Reinhardt. As the Australian enforcer didn’t work out either Leetaejun switched again, this time to Tracer and it finally yielded success as they secured A and the cart came out of the garage, with 3:25 left on the clock. The push to the second point continued at a similarly slow pace, as they got past it having only 1:37 in the bank. However that turned out to be just about enough for them to deliver the payload, as they did so with 3.8 seconds in the time bank.

Afreeca opened in time bank on Lucio, Ana, Zarya, D.Va, Tracer, Genji, as Lunatic-Hai defended the point on Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, D.Va, Roadhog, Soldier 76.

After switching sides Afreeca maintained same composition once again. The fan favorites attacked on Lucio, Ana, Winston, D.Va, Tracer, Genji, having 3 more seconds in the bank. After a short overtime they managed to secure A and increase their lead in the series to 2–0.

For the third map, Red selected Volskaya Industries. They continued running the same set-up as Lunatic-Hai started on the defense with Lucio, Ana, Winston, D.Va, Roadhog, Genji. As Miro and co. lost point A in a minute of the doors opening, Leetaejun changed to Soldier 76 and later on to Tracer. Miro also traded Reinhardt for Winston eventually as LagerMan did the same, but LH defended successfully.

For the defense Afreeca finally switched up things, as TyDolla ditched the Genji for Sombra, whereas Lunatic-Hai returned to the dive composition of Ana, Zenyatta, Winston, D.Va, Tracer, Genji. The hacker didn’t work out for Red and Miro’s men secured even faster A time, having 7:10 in the bank for the assault on B. TyDolla changed back to the ninja for the defense of the second point and it helped them defend the initial pushes which prompted Lunatic-Hai to change to Lucio, Ana, Reinhardt, Zarya, Roadhog, McCree. As the cowboy didn’t do much Whoru traded it for Soldier 76 and later on Genji, and that finally did the job combined with tripple kill from Ruyjehong, securing Lunatic-Hai point B and 3–0 debut at APEX’s second season.

Players of the day: TyDolla — despite his team losing 0–3 showed incredible performances throughout all the maps and was the only reason why the series was so close. It is important to note that, at least according to liquidpedia, he is a substitute for the team. If that is the case it is even more impressive how well he performed today. At time he played perhaps more aggressive than he should have to get extra kills, but that was not the reason why the squad lost control or the maps as a whole. Will be interesting to see if he can keep up the same performances versus Misfits and LuxuryWatch Blue, should he remain on the starting roster.

Honorable mentions: Hoon, Ruyjehong.

Map of the day: Lunatic-Hai vs Afreeca Freecs Red, King’s Row — the maps today definitely weren’t some of the best Overwatch action that can be seen, but King’s Row was incredibly exciting. Afreeca Freecs Red showcased exactly what can (what seems to be like) their favorite composition in this meta do, but we also got to see Lunatic-Hai clutch it out both on the offense and the defense, leading into an overtime time bank win.