A short but very interesting calibration tournament to determine the divisional placements within the ATK Overwatch tournament has now passed. For the most part, the results went as expected, however, there were some surprises. With sixteen teams entering, a step up from the eleven that joined the Raving Mad Gamerz (RMG) Summer League, there are enough teams for two equal divisions for the next leg, namely the Elite and the Challenger division. Let us discuss how the groups progressed and where that leaves us!

Round Robin

Achieving first place in each group meant straight qualification to the Elite Division and no need to play in the play-offs. These teams are ATK Overwatch, Snorlax Gaming, Omnius Gaming Kintsugi, and ADG Eclipse (formerly Ironic Overdogs). All four teams ended the group stage having won all three sets and not dropping a map. ATK is the only team finishing with a 9-0 map record that most would have predicted before any matches were played. Snorlax Gaming being a relatively unknown entity meant no one knew how well they would do so their 3-0 over XvG 2CP came as quite a shock. Kintsugi’s 3-0 over Evo Esports was another surprise with the maps not being as close as everyone expected, something which Evo was to rectify the week after in RMG. The biggest surprise of the first place finishers is ADG Eclipse who finished first in a group where many predicted Rage Quit Odyssey to be the top dog however due to both massive improvement from Eclipse and a regression from Odyssey, Eclipse dominated the group. 

The rest of the positions in the groups came as no surprise. The last-place finishers of each group are automatically placed in the challenger. These teams being: KlappeVanVergelyking, Rage Quit Neon Retrobution, The Overwatch Cubs, and 2XS Esports. 

The second and third-place finishers were then placed into a double elimination playoff bracket to determine where they would end in Leg 1.

Playoff Bracket

The initial round of the playoffs saw only one surprise. Once again the struggling Odyssey fell to an opponent in Ladon Overwatch, that they would have been favoured against at the beginning of the calibration tournament. Both the lower bracket first round and upper bracket second round went as expected. 2CP taking a 3-0 over TSG Team Mist and Evo winning 3-1 over Ladon meant that both teams would qualify for the Elite Division without needing to play an extra game. Valiance and IVG Calypso falling to Vanguard and Odyssey 3-0 respectively meant that they would be heading down to the Challenger Division.

Then came the final deciders’ matches, Ladon versus Vanguard and Team Mist versus Odyssey. The Ladon, Vanguard game was predicted to be a close one with no real clear winner and that is how it played out, with the series going to all five maps and Ladon coming out as the eventual 3-2 winners. Then regarding The Team Mist versus Odyssey match, many were expecting Team Mist to come out and top, and after the first two maps, that is how it seemed with Mist taking a 2-0 lead before the break. Odyssey resurged back showing a new level taking the next three maps in succession looking better as the maps went on, surprising many and bringing the only reverse-sweep of the tournament. This thus means that Ladon and Odyssey would qualify for the Elite Division, while Team Mist and Vanguard go to the Challenger Division.

Division Wrap Up

The Divisions look as such:

Elite Division

ADG Eclipse

ATK Overwatch

Evo Esports

Ladon Overwatch

Omnius Gaming Kintsugi

Rage Quit Odyssey

Snorlax Gaming

XvG 2CP

Challenger Division 

2XS Esports

IVG Calypso

KlappeVanVergelyking

Rage Quit Neon Retrobution

Team Valiance

The Overwatch Cubs

TSG Team Mist

Vanguard

Team Mist not making the Elite Division is probably the only surprise, looking at the strength of each roster and previous performances in other competitions. Going into the tournament you would have very likely replaced Ladon with Team Mist in the Elite Division, something that when you look at the round-robin, Team Mist was successful over Ladon with a 3-0 so that is something to keep an eye on going forward.

What to Look Forward to: 

Elite Division

Snorlax Gaming and ATK look to be the two strongest teams in this division and their match is probably the most anticipated of all the games. The rematch of Evo and Kintsugi is another one that everyone should look out for. Odyssey, Ladon, and ADG Eclipse are all teams to keep an eye to see how they match up the rest of the teams with all three having improved since the last time they played against them. 

Challenger Division

A lot of these teams were out of their depth in the round-robin stage, so now that they get the chance to play against teams that should be of relatively equal skill it will be interesting to see how these teams perform. The clear favourites of this division are Team Mist and Vanguard who were both one map away from reaching the Elite Division. As such the match between those two teams will be the most anticipated. Another match to look forward to which has already been seen before in both ATK and RMG, is Calypso against Neon Retrobution, with both teams having taken a series 3-1, it will be very interesting to see how their next match goes. There is also a potential that we see more teams join this division with signups still open for the rest of the week.

Last Thoughts

Overall the matches were really exciting to watch and seeing those few surprises is always great to see. I can highly recommend that going forward you all should watch the games that will be casted over at ATK_Zone and keep an eye on the ATK Arena twitter for when the matches will be casted!