For the third year running, South Korea has won the Overwatch World Cup. Strong favorites entering the tournament, South Korea took the gold in a swift victory over China, who upset Finland and Canada to make it to the finals.
The Korean team trounced Australia in the quarterfinals before beating the United Kingdom in the semifinals, despite the United Kingdom’s herculean comeback attempts forcing two draws before narrowly losing the match, deciding game four.
“Overwatch,” Blizzard Entertainment’s 2016 futuristic team-shooter, draws its influences from multiplayer online battle area (MOBA) games and traditional first-person shooters, with teams of six choosing from a cast of heroes, with each hero having their own role, analogous to positions in traditional sports.
These roles include tanks, whose job is to control space and protect their team; supports, who heal their teammates and provide critical utility, such as boosting the movement speed of the allies; and damage dealers (DPS), fast and mobile hard-hitters who eliminate opposing players. The eight-team field competed this past weekend at Blizzcon, Blizzard’s annual convention in Anaheim, Calif.
The Overwatch World Cup was a major part of the growing role of esports at the convention, which also hosted championships for other Blizzard games like “World of Warcraft,” “Heroes of the Storm,” “Hearthstone” and “Starcraft II.”
This is the first World Cup to be held after the establishment of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional esports league modeled after American sports, with city-based teams and big-money owners. The star-studded South Korean team consisted entirely of OWL players, and every performance by them was excellent.
The frontline was steadfast, consisting of main-tank Koo “Fate” Pan-seung of the Los Angeles Valiant and the London Spitfire’s flex-tank Kim “Fury” Jun-ho. Additionally, the Korean DPS duo of Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok and Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun, members of the Philadelphia Fusion and the Seoul Dynasty, respectively, tore through the opposing teams with surgical precision.
Support player Bang “JJoNak” Sung-hyeon of the New York Excelsior was named the World Cup MVP, an accolade he was also awarded after the inaugural season of the OWL.
Known for his raw mechanical skill and extemporary play with heroes like Zenyatta and Ana, JJoNak pushes the limits of his support role. He regularly deals amounts of damage comparable to a DPS player, while maintaining healing numbers on par with the other top supports in the league.
The strategies of his teams, South Korea during the World Cup and the New York Excelsior in the regular season, often revolve around protecting and boosting JJoNak, doing everything they can to exploit having one of the best players in the world in their already impressive arsenal.
Against this all-star South Korean team, it is no surprise that the Chinese team folded. The Chinese players were mostly made up of players from Overwatch Contenders, roughly analogous to a minor league, although making it to the finals is still an impressive feat. The monetary prize for the World Cup was negligible; players instead competed for the fame and glory of representing their nation.
Unsigned players or those from Contenders hope to attract the attention of OWL teams, including the six expansion teams introduced after the success of the original 12. The second OWL season is scheduled to start next February, with the London Spitfire defending their title. Until then, the members of Team South Korea will bask in the warm glow of having once again proven themselves the best in the world.