Leg One of the #OverwatchbyATK League is now done and dusted. With one game from each division getting casted every week there was a lot of local Overwatch to watch and the games were great to watch. Both divisions had some interesting matchups and brought out some interesting storylines. As a whole, results went as expected but there were a couple of the teams in each division that ended up in positions that were not expected from the start.

Elite Division

The most anticipated game of the elite division this Leg was ATK Overwatch taking on ADG Snorlax (formerly Snorlax Gaming) in week one. These two teams were expected to be the top two in the elite division. However, ATK showed just how strong they were, once again taking a dominant 3-0 over Snorlax in quite a one-sided series. ATK would continue their dominant performance throughout the leg not dropping a single map over their seven games. 

The two biggest surprises of the division came in the same week with both Evo Esports and Omnius Gaming Kintsugi defeating XvG 2CP and ADG Snorlax 3-2 respectively. Evo’s 3-2 was a bigger surprise of the two considering 2CP were far bigger favourites as well as the fact that Evo pulled off a reverse sweep in the series. Unfortunately for Evo, they were unable to convert their performance against 2CP into their matches with Kintsugi and Snorlax and that lead to them finishing outside the top four. 

2CP would recover from their tough reverse sweep loss against Evo, beating both Snorlax and Kintsugi 3-0 and 3-1 respectively placing themselves in the second position just one point above Kintsugi in third. This led to the biggest surprise of the elite division where Snorlax would finish in fourth as opposed to their predicted second-place finish.

Unfortunately, ADG Eclipse had to forfeit their spot in the elite division and this meant that there would be only one other spot left that would result in automatic demotion to challenger division. The two teams that looked the most likely to struggle to stay away from automatic demotion would be Rage Quit Odyssey and Ladon Overwatch. Their meeting in week three would be the determining factor. Odyssey was able to get a 3-1 victory putting themselves in a playoff match to stay in the elite division.

Elite Division Standings

1. ATK Overwatch
2. XvG 2CP
3. Omnius Gaming Kintsugi
4. ADG Snorlax 
5. Evo Esports
6. Rage Quit Odyssey (Playoff match)
7. Ladon Overwatch (Demoted to challenger division)
8. ADG Eclipse (Disbanded)

Challenger Division

Challenger division for me was always going to be very interesting because with it we got to see how the rest of the teams shaped up against each other. 

Week one would bring the continued friendly rivalry between Overtime (formerly Rage Quit Neon Retrobution) and iEnvy Calypso. This match once again showed how close both teams are and this time it would go down to map five with Calypso coming out the victors granting themselves a 2-1 series lead over Overtime. Both teams would go on to finish mid-table leaving them outside of promotion and thus meaning there will be a continuation of this rivalry going into leg two.

The team that would surprise all was Overclocked Esports (formerly 2XS Esports). Going into the leg they were expected to be the team just below Calypso and Overtime but that would not turn out to be the case. Overclocked would take dominating 3-1 and 3-0 over Calypso and Overtime respectively. This ended up placing them in the third position which for this division would mean that they would play in the playoff to move up into elite division. 

The two clear favourites at the start of the leg were Team Mist and Vanguard, and they did deliver on this. Team Mist especially showed their dominance with a 3-0 victory over Vanguard and thus proving that the challenger division is not where they belong. Both of these teams gained automatic promotion to the elite division and will be competing in leg two to show that they deserve a spot in the top eight.

Challenger Division Standings

1. Team Mist (Promoted to elite)
2. Vanguard (Promoted to elite division)
3. Overclocked Esports (Playoff match)
4. iEnvy Calypso
5. Overtime
6. Team Valiance
7. The Overwatch Cubs
8. KitsuneZA

Playoff Match for Elite Division

Rage Quit Odyssey and Overclocked Esports placings in their respective divisions meant that they would face each other in a playoff match to determine who would be in which division. Odyssey came in as clear favourites considering both their being in the elite division as well as their having beaten both Team Mist and Vanguard, something Overclocked did not manage to do. The first control point of Lijiang Tower went completely against script with Overclocked looking quite dominant, but unfortunately for Overclocked, their dominance would end there. Odyssey proceeded to take control of the series from there and never relinquished it leading to a 3-0 victory in their favour. This thus means that both teams would stay in the same divisions going into leg two. 

Divisions for Leg Two

Elite Division

ADG Snorlax

ATK Overwatch

Evo Esports

Omnius Gaming Kintsugi

Rage Quit Odyssey

Team Mist

Vanguard

XvG 2CP

Challenger Division

iEnvy Calypso

KitsuneZA

Ladon Overwatch

Overclocked Esports

Overtime

Risen

Team Valiance

The Overwatch 

Looking Forward to Leg Two

Going into leg two, the main storyline to look out for is how Team Mist and Vanguard will match up to teams in the elite division and whether or not they can prove they deserve to be top-eight teams. Both teams have the potential to do so however it is going to be quite a tough ask.

With the rest of the teams in elite division, I expect more or less the same. ATK looks to be the clear favourites at the top with XvG 2CP, Omnius Gaming Kintsugi, and ADG Snorlax fighting for their positions in the top four. Evo Esports and Rage Quit Odyssey will once again duke it out to see who can gain that fifth spot or potentially upset one of the top four. They will have to be careful not to take Team Mist and Vanguard too lightly or otherwise risk demotion to the challenger division.

As for the challenger division, Ladon Overwatch is on paper the strongest team, however, Overclocked will look to challenge them for that top spot. Once again we look to the matchup of Overtime and iEnvy Calypso to see who will come out on top. The Overwatch Cubs and Team Valiance is also a match to look out for, considering they had a close 3-2 series in leg one, with Valiance taking the victory. KitsuneZA still has much to improve on and will try to break into the mid-table. With the disbanding of ADG Eclipse, a new team, Risen, has taken their place in challenger division. As of yet not much is known of this team however they are one to look out for to see if they can topple some of the teams in the challenger division.