Overwatch Esports: Contenders Pacific Playoffs Recap

Contenders Pacific has come to a close, and with it, a new champion has been crowned. The entirety of the playoffs was packed full of action and many players proving their talent as professional Overwatch players. Here is a recap of what happened in the last few matches of the Contenders Pacific Playoffs.

Contenders Pacific Semi-Finals Match 1

Cyclone Coupling and Nova Esports faced off in the first semi-finals match of Contenders Pacific on January 17th, and after a very fierce and intense match, Nova Esports came out on top, beating their opponents 3-2 to proceed to the grand finals the next day. And while Nova Esports emerged victoriously, both teams performed remarkably in the matchup.

Cyclone Coupling DPS player, Jecky, put on a show as Pharah with help from his fellow teammates, flex support, GCGG, and flex tank, Eternal, by landing multiple kills on the second point of Horizon Lunar Colony. Jecky even managed to build up a second Rocket Barrage within a matter of seconds to help his team capture the point to force the game into another round. Whilst players on Nova Esports were continuously running onto the point, Jecky fended them off every time with a grand total of five kills overall in the space of around 34 seconds.

Nova Esports DPS, Won, was successful in setting up an entire team wipe as Zarya, charging his Graviton Surge as Zarya on Numbani as his team forced Cyclone Coupling back towards their spawn. Once pushed back far enough, Won launched the ultimate and caught four team members of Nova Esports in it, eliminating them all before taking out the remaining member that survived in order to push the cart forwards. Main tank, Nexus, had succeeded in taking out one of the members before the Graviton Surge, allowing his teammates more room to work with when the ultimate was set off.

Contenders Pacific Semi-Finals Match 2

The next match in the Contenders Pacific Semi-Finals was between PHOENiX and Hong Kong Attitude. While the previous match was very close, this one was the opposite, as Hong Kong Attitude took down PHOENiX with a 3-0 victory over them, securing their ticket to the grand finals against Nova Esports. It might’ve been a somewhat one-sided match, but both teams had standout performances.

PHOENiX main tank, Melon, and DPS player, V2NDETTA, banded together on Lijiang Tower to eliminate five members of Hong Kong Attitude to force them off of the point, allowing their teammates to recapture and take the first round of the game. It was an incredibly impressive display, especially since Hong Kong Attitude were doing everything they could to keep PHOENiX off of the point as they were at 99% capture progress, but unfortunately, PHOENiX was successful in knocking them out and bringing their progress up to 100% to win the first round.

Hong Kong Attitude had a stellar performance throughout the entire match, but DPS player, PERFACT, had a standout play on Hanamura during the final round. As his team unloaded onto the second point, PERFACT began to eliminate the players of PHOENiX one by one, taking out a total of four players as they continued to spawn and building up a second ultimate within less than fifty seconds. He used it to eliminate the only remaining player of PHOENiX on the point to allow his team to capture the percentage they needed to win not just the round, but the entire game.

Contenders Pacific Grand Finals

Contenders Pacific Season Three has reached its end, and the match between Hong Kong Attitude and Nova Esports was one that shouldn’t have been missed. Both teams fought valiantly to claim the crown, but Hong Kong Attitude won the title over Nova Esports, ending the game with a 4-1 victory.

And with how they played during the match, it’s no surprise that Hong Kong Attitude won the match. During the game on Horizon Lunar Colony, Nova Esports set up a defense on the high ground with a Bastion being protected by an Orisa shield. Hong Kong Attitude managed to sneak up behind the defense by keeping to the right-hand side, so they weren’t seen, and Hong Kong Attitude flex support, ManGoJai, landed a sleep dart onto the Bastion, successfully taking down the main key in the defense and forcing the rest of the team off of the high ground as they began to fall one by one.

But this isn’t to say that Nova Esports performed poorly. In fact, it was quite the opposite. While they only won a single game out of the five-map set, they made their presence known during that game on Dorado. DPS player, Blue, launched a perfectly timed Graviton Surge into Hong Kong Attitude that allowed his fellow teammates to begin to eliminate their enemies one by one, with main tank, NeXus, landing three of those eliminations, as well as flex support, OYO, landing two kills and DPS player, WON, taking the remaining kill.

Coming Up

Only three regions have matches left to play, but these are matches you certainly don’t want to miss.

• Saturday, January 19th 12 am EST – Contenders Korea Grand Finals – Element Mystic vs. RunAway
• Saturday, January 19th 4 pm EST – Contenders South America Grand Finals – Based Tryhards vs. LFTOWL
• Saturday, January 19th 7 pm EST – Contenders Australia Semi-Finals Match 1 – Sydney Drop Bears vs. HEIST Gaming Club
• Saturday, January 19th 9 pm EST – Contenders Australia Semi-Finals Match 2 – ORDER vs. Athletico Esports
• Saturday, January 19th 11 pm EST – Contenders Australia Grand Finals