This article is part of our Overwatch Recap series.
On the second day of its $100,000 Overwatch Invitational, Intel Extreme Masters Gyeonggi saw the four remaining teams do battle to determine who would advance to the grand finals. Despite having the higher seed entering the tournament, Afreeca Freecs Blue got blown out by fellow South Korean team Lunatic-Hai, while Europe's Rogue also found similar struggles against South Korea's LuxuryWatch Red.
Semifinal No. 1: Lunatic-Hai vs. Afreeca Freecs Blue
It was difficult to say which squad had the advantage coming into their semifinal matchup, but Lunatic-Hai kicked the series off with a very strong showing on Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Holding Afreeca to just 1 point and 64.47m on defense, Lunatic-Hai showed its prowess with the tank meta. Utilizing an unorthodox aggressive composition featuring Ryu "ryujehong" Je Hong's Widowmaker and Yang "tobi" Jin Mo's Mercy on offense, Lunatic-Hai dominated Afreeca to quickly jump ahead to a 1-0 series lead.
Afreeca's tendency to live or die on the performance of DPS player Jeong "ArHaN" Weon Hyeop was abused by Lunatic-Hai in game 1, but ArHan would get his revenge in game 2 on Ilios. Starting out with a bang, ArHan's Tracer darted around the control point, constantly putting pressure on Lunatic-Hai's supports as Afreeca took the first round 100-99. Lunatic-Hai took the second round by 100-28 on the back of Kim "EscA" In-jae's D.Va, but Afreeca would storm back and dominate Ruins. ArHaN's Genji cut Lunatic-Hai to ribbons en route to a 100-0 round as Afreeca tied the series at 1-1.
Unfortunately for Afreeca, however, it would never build on that momentum. LH's rock-solid defense of point B on Hanamura suffocated Afreeca, as it would go on to lose game 3. In anticlimactic fashion, both teams failed to capture point A on Hollywood, leading to a tiebreaker on Nepal. On Shrine, ArHaN's Genji got shut down by ryujehong's D.Va, giving Lunatic-Hai the game 4 win and 3-1 series victory.
Semifinal No. 2: LuxuryWatch Red vs. Rogue
In the second semifinal of the night, Western fan favorite Rogue showed flashes of a world-class team, but weren't able to bring much of a fight against LuxuryWatch Red (LWR). Game 1 began in a head-scratching manner for Rogue, who stuck Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson on solo healing duties on defense. Unsurprisingly, Rogue's glass cannon composition didn't work against LuxuryWatch's dive comp, as DPS ace Hwang "nanohana" Yeon Oh led LWR to a full capture with 40 seconds to spare. Rogue's attacking half, by contrast, looked shaky, as the squad was easily shut down and fell into a 1-0 deficit.
Rogue looked better on Lijiang Tower to start game 2. Through well-coordinated pushes and some heroics from Terence "SoOn" Tarlier's Reaper, Rogue took the first round with relative ease. Not to be outdone, LWR had a great showing on the next round, although Rogue's struggles on Garden seemed to go beyond what LWR was throwing at them. Through poor positioning and decision-making, Rogue dropped round 2, but would recover on Command Center. Utilizing the once-legendary "Beyblade" combination of a Nano Boosted Death Blossom, aKm was clutch when Rogue needed a playmaker, tying the series score up at one all.
Things were looking up for Rogue, but a disastrous performance on Volskaya Industries halted any momentum it had gained. After cruising through point A, Rogue had a near impossible time capturing point B, unable to find kills to clear the point. After getting forced into overtime on attack, Rogue was cut down by Park "Saebyeolbe" Jong Yeol and his Genji, giving up the map with over four minutes remaining. After a quick Nano Boost onto Genji in overtime, LWR was able to capture point A and win game 3 to pull ahead of Rogue in the series.
Rogue looked defeated heading into Game 4, and that showed on the battleground as LWR would make quick work of the mostly French squad. Saebyeolbe's Tracer, in particular, seemed to dance circles around the opposition as he managed to make critical swift plays for LWR in the final round. With the win, LWR will look to repeat its performance against a well-established team tomorrow, when it clashes with Lunatic-Hai in the Grand Finals.
