For years being hailed as the “Mecca of esports”, recently Korea has been largely overtaken by Overwatch in terms of casual play. As a result we are seeing the first Korean Overwatch tournament, featuring 4 top tier foreign teams (Rogue, NRG, EnVyUS, Reunited).

For the opening day however, we had an all-korean affair. The match-ups on the first day are Flash Lux vs Rhinos Gaming Titan and BK Stars” vs Kongdoo UNCIA. It was also announced that the first foreign team playing will be Reunited vs Runaway on Monday.

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 some comments on the picks.

Match-up 1: Flash Lux vs Rhino Gaming Titan

Despite going through the qualifier, without dropping a single match, Flash Lux came into this match-up as the underdogs. They were well known for strategical versatility, but there were still many questions if the youngest team in the tournament will be able to perform on stage. Even more so when they are up against one of the more prominent Korean Overwatch team in the face of Rhino Gaming Titans.

The opening map, selected by a randomizer as per tournament rules, was Nepal with Village as the opening stage. RGT opened up with Lucio, Reaper, Ana, Zarya, Tracer and Winston while the younglings had Reinhardt instead of Winston. After two early picks onto the opponents, FL took control of the point in a 5v4, on the back of good play by E1kiNo on Tracer — their star player. In series of skirmishes they managed to hold the point until they lost big teamfight with many ultimates going off, giving up control at 77%.

Despite continuously trading evenly the Rhinos managed to hold the point until they reached 77% themselves. On the back of great Graviton Surge — Death Blossom combo by Pumple and Hamtol they reclaimed control and managed to defend, taking a lead in the series.

The second stage, Shrine, saw the teams opening with same compositions, except this time it was Flash Lux with the Winston. Despite initial control of the point and regaining it multiple times RGT lost again, this time absolutely terrorized by E1kiNo’s Tracer. Closing down the map in 2:0 the younglings took 1:0 lead in the series.

Being the loser on the first map the Rhinos had a pick of the next map and they chose ‘Numbani’. Flash Lux set up defensive composition with Winston, Roadhog, Zarya and Mei supported by Lucio and Ana. Despite holding the initial push and switching Mei with McCree they quickly got picked apart by RGT’s poke composition focused around Claris’s Pharah and Munchkin’s McCree.

They started pushing the cart with more than 5 minutes on the clock. Despite a full wipe they continued pushing and continuously picking apart FL and again having close to 5 minutes in the bank after taking over the 2nd point. Claris continued rolling with his Pharah,despite FL switching around heroes, to end RGT’s run with 2:50 left on the clock.

On the defending side the Rhinos opened with same composition, while Flash Lux looked to attack with Genji, backed by 3 tanks, Lucio and Ana. And despite taking the first and second points even faster than RGT they finished the run with barely over 1 minute in the time bank.

For the 2nd attack the younglings returned with same composition and took the first point in overtime. Their cart push however got stopped soon, only at 46m.

In their 2nd attack RGT kept same poke composition, focused around Pharah and McCree. FL this time had change, defending with Winston, Reinhardt, Mei, McCree, Ana and Lucio. RGT’s time bank proved useful though, surpassing FL’s distance with 30 seconds left on the clock and evening the series score to 1–1.

FL’s pick for third map, after the loss, was ‘Temple of Anubis’. This time both teams started with balanced 2–2–2 compositions. After RGT holding the initial push with Mei boost, E1kiNo switched to Widowmaker and quickly managed to single-handedly open up the first point for FL. Following that we saw them quickly take a tick off the second point with more than 4:30 left on the clock. Less than two minutes later FL took the point with another great Graviton Surge — Death Blossom combo by Pumple and Hamtol.

Ek1No single-handedly stopping RGT push where they had 6 ultimates ready

On the defence Flash Lux opened again with another 3 tanks, 2 supports composition, this time focused around Hamtol’s McCree though. RGT however quickly opened up the site with Claris’s Pharah. They followed with fast push on the 2nd point, having several ultimates and 7 minutes on the clock. RGT however got wiped several times in series of clutch plays. Most notable of those was E1kiNo’s Death Blossom drop, delaying RGT when they had 6 ultimates ready. After finally getting control of the point in overtime RGT managed to take finish their run, with nothing in the time bank.

In the following round however, FL quickly took control of the first point and took the map as they had 2:30 time bank lead to RGT’s 0.

Having the opportunity to pick for 2nd time for the night RGT chose Dorado, showing a preference towards payload maps again. FL favoured again the 3 tank composition, this time rounded up by E1kiNo on Mei. RGT on the other hand, defended with McCree, Reaper, Zarya, Reinhardt, Zenyata and Ana. They showed us why they picked the map as they stopped the younglings’ run before they secured even the second point.

In their attack, the Rhinos secured a win with a 2–2–2 by surpassing FL’s distance in a close overtime.

With the final map having to be hybrid, as per tournament rules, Flash Lux picked King’s Row. On this map E1kiNo again proved himself to be undoubtedly the star of the team. Despite initially getting dropped quickly on Widowmaker, he returned with several good picks, opening up the first point for FL. Following that he switched to Tracer, continuously terrorizing the Rhino Gaming Titans and almost single handedly getting his team the second point. FL’s final score on attack was 2 points and 54m.

On the defence side however, the younger team showed us why they picked this map by letting RGT take only 1 point on the map and not even giving them the courtesy of overtime, taking the series 3–2.

For MVP of the match OGN voted Flash Lux’s star player, coming all the way from Busan to compete, E1kiNo.

Match-up 2: BK Stars vs Kongdoo UNCIA

BK came into the match with less impressive run through the qualifier and roster change of admittedly, their by far worse player. As a result most considered them the underdog vs Kongdoo UNCIA. The roster change for BK Stars was their owner-player and famous (for being bad) Korean streamer, stepping down.

The first map, selected by the randomiser, was ‘Ilios’. BK started ‘Lighthouse’ with Lucio, Ana, Zarya, Tracer, Winston and Genji. Kongdoo similarly used 2–2–2 composition but instead of Winston and Genji used Renhardt and Reaper.

After trading several kills UNCIA took early control in a 5v3 advantage. After losing a big team fight they quickly came back in control taking the stage 100–59.

On ‘Ruins’ both teams started with Lucio, Zarya, Tracer but while Kongdoo rounded up their composition with Mercy, Winston and Pharah BK used Ana, Reinhardt and McCree. Dohyeon’s McCree quickly proved supremely effective as he quickly took out 3 from Kongdoo, resulting in his team taking control of the point.

After multiple messy skirmishes and teamfights BK secured the stage 100 to 99, on the back of clutch Zarya ultimate from Bernar and Bunny’s Tracer constantly harassing UNCIA.

Going into the final stag, the ‘Well’, both teams opened with same compositions as last time. BK again traded better, securing control in 4v2. The game continued similarly messy to the previous stage, but this time, despite the messy fights BK maintained the control and punished Kongdoo’s positional mistakes even more. With another great performance by Bunny they ended up finishing 100–0 and taking 1–0 lead into the series.

As the losers of the first map, Kongdoo picked King’s row. They started on the attacking side, looking for picks with Zarya, Roadhog, Reinhardt, Ana , Hanzo and Widowmaker.BK’s composition similarly featured 3 tanks and Ana, but rounded it up with Lucio and Bunny’s Reaper. After not finding any picks with Widowmaker and Hanzo they quickly switched to McCree and Lucio.

What looked like, similarly to the first map, messy action quickly ended up with Kongdoo securing 2nd point with 5:30 still left on the clock. The game continued at similar pace with them finishing the run with just under 2 minutes in the time bank.

Switching the attack and defence positions both teams continued using similar compositions, with the exception of Dohyeon switching to Hanzo. This time Kongdoo showed much better positioning, not letting the enemy engage on them with big ultimates. Eventually BK picked up the first point with less than 2 minutes less on the clock but ultimately they were slowed down too much and ended their run with only 2 points, not managing to reach the end.

For the third map BK picked ‘Temple of Anubis’. Both teams once again showed to favour 3–2–1 compositions, playing around Bunny’s tracer and Birding’s Mei. Despite good initial dive by BK and Bunny pushing out Birding Kongdoo managed to hold the first point at first.

BK Stars punishing Kongdoo‘s’ signature clump move #justKongdooThings

After switching to 2–2–2 BK managed to take the first point. Additionally Kongdoo’s poor positioning from the first map seemed to have returned, as they were again leaving multiple opportunities for BK to engage on them.

Despite that and the 5 minutes BK had after securing the first point it took them well into overtime for a good Zarya engage to create the opening for them to take control.

Switching sides, both teams kept same compositions, 3–2–1 for Kongdoo and 2–2–2 for BK. Kongdoo quickly got on the point and despite them clumping up, once again, BK got wiped. Despite winning multiple fights and continuously trading advantageously Kongdoo proved unable to take control over the point for more than 5 minutes. Finally, on the back of good performance by Panker’s Reinhardt, they were able to take the point with 1:18 in the time bank.

This time on the attack Kongdoo switched to 2–2–2 while BK went back to 3 tanks and 2 supports playing around Bunny’s reaper. In overtime with great play by boosted Dnce on Pharah Uncia secured the point, taking the lead in the series 2–1.

BK, having the pick again chose Dorado. Here they returned to 2–2–2 with McCree, Tracer, Zarya, Reinhardt, Lucio, Ana and pressed pedal to the metal as they quickly ran trough Kongdoo’s 3–2–1 focused on Birding’s Mei. They maintained similar pace to the 2nd point and despite getting wiped twice in the final area they managed to finish their run with 1:39.

After switching sides both teams continued using similar composition, outside of Panker looking for a quick Widowmaker pick at the start, before returning to Reinhardt. At this point the game once again returned to being a constant mess of trading kills but BK managed to use up all of Kongdoo’s time before Birding and crew finally managed to reach the first point. On the second point however BK managed to hold steady and evened out the series to a 2–2.

The final map, picked by Kongdoo, was ‘Numbani’. Once again, both teams continued running the same compositions with BK on the attack and Kongdoo defending. After a quick advantageous trades on the back of Bunny’s play DK were pushing the cart with 5 minutes left. Throughout multiple skirmishes Kongdoo found themselves to stop the cart and BK 5 ultimates to Kongdoo’s one on the final alley of the run with 4:30 still on the clock. Just before Bunny and his team finished they got wiped, however that only delayed them a bit as they returned with another strong push, finishing ‘Numbani’ for 1:50.

Confident in their recent performance, BK kept same composition on the defence as well. Similarly to when they were on the attack, they kept trading favourably .With several miracle picks by Birding however Kongdoo managed to grab the point in overtime. Following the momentum, as BK had their ultimates reset, they pushed trough the second point as well but BK managed to run down their clock, taking the series 3–2.

For MVP of the match OGN voted BK Stars’s carry Bunny.

My picks for “Game, players and teams to watch”:

Players to watch:

E1kiNo in the MVP interview with OGN, explaining how ‘he got lucky to get the kills’

E1kiNo — showed great performances on multiple heroes, carried hard, when needed made plays yet always seemed to stay within the system of the team and never over reached. Additionally showed creatinve engagements and definitely caught me and RGT several times. By far the most impressive player in the tournament for me so far.

Pumple — had good showing as well and multiple superb and sneaky engages on Zarya utterly setting up E1kino and to devastate RGT. What impressed me even more is that whenever he died to set up some ultimates it was always well worth it for the team. Showed some good play on the other heroes as well but definitely not as versitile and as impressive on those, as he was on Zarya.

Twinkl — while it’s generally hard to make a note of a support player, I was imressed by Twink’s performance. He was seemengly always at the right place at the right time, doing his job without making much noise about it. Will be interesting to see him if he manages to keep up this on other maps and versus the foreign opponents.

Birding — despite the loss showed very good play and versitility. Impressive on multiple heroes, similarly to E1kiNo. One area I found him somewhat lacking in is playmaking but even then had some very good moves. The real problem for me ranking him above someone like Bunny is that there seemed to be a bit of a disconnect between him and his team. That might just be a result of his team being sloppier or lacking communication on his part, either way this is one guy I’m going to keep my eyes on, despite the loss today.

Bunny — similarly to E1kiNo had very impressive tracer, however I didn’t find his performance as good as FL’s star on the rest. Definitely someone to keep an eye on and I’ll be interested to see him having similarly astonishing performances on the other heroes. Additionally impressive was that his team seemed to heavily rely on his Tracer hard-carrying. I have questions though, whether it’s because his playstyle demands it or just the strategy they chose to show today. Will be fun to see if he can fit a system, not built around him and still have as much impact, similarly to E1kiNo.

Teams to watch:

Flash Lux! Extremely entertaining to watch, especially on capture points. Seemed to communicate play around eachother very well which is even more impressive, when we consider the oldest guy on the roster is 20 and the othres are high-schoolers. On the flipside though, they had multiple ‘kwa-kwa’ moments when they forced the situation too much. Additionally they didn’t seem as sharp on the payloads. Will be interesting to see if it’s because of RGT’s strength there or if it’s something they’ll need to work on.

Nevertheless, by far the most impressive team we saw to day and unlike with the others their mistakes seem quite obvious and easy to fix.

Game to watch: FL vs RGT — Temple of Anubis. If you have the time I’d recommend the fifth map as well (King’s Row), but this one was the most interesting one for me. Definitely had some mistages by RGT in there, but still very impressive hold by FL on the second point. I’d definitely dub their “hold” of the first point as one of those derp moments but the hold definitely made up for it.