This article is part of our Overwatch series.
The first group in the 2018 World Cup continues to shape up through Saturday, with the top teams beginning to pull away from the pack. As South Korea continued to dominate, Finland and Russia battled for second, while Japan tried to turn its fortunes around in the face of a critical injury. Without further ado, let's dive right into Stadium Paradise in Incheon and look at how everything went down.
Korea on Top, Japan Hanging On
For what it's worth, most if not every person who follows the OWWC saw this coming, yet the extent of South Korea's dominance still inspired awe. After dispatching Hong Kong with ease, South Korea turned its attention to a hamstrung Japan, crippled by the loss of main tank Kazuki "SamuraiD" Nouno to injury. While Japan didn't look too hot with SamuraiD against the likes of Russia, Japan stood no chance against the all-star lineup of team South Korea, led by DPS Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok, who took the fight right to Japan's top performer this tournament, hitscan DPS Yuma "Dep" Hisamoto, and carried South Korea to a perfect win. With few games left, South Korea just has Russia left to take down before punching its ticket to BlizzCon.
With Japan's loss to Russia earlier in the Group Stage, Japan needs outside help to qualify for the playoffs. Without SamuraiD, things look pretty grim, but that's not to say Japan is without hope. Against Chinese Taipei, Japan looked just fine, taking dominant wins on the back of highlight reel play after higlight reel play from Dep. While Japan's hopes might look grim for now, you better believe this team will look to finish strong when it takes on Finland and Hong Kong in the final day of action.
Finland Finds a Crucial Win
In the marquee matchup of the day, Finland managed to survive the Russian onslaught to get a leg up in the group and get one step closer to BlizzCon. Make no mistake about it, this match was close. Russia's George "ShaDowBurn" Gushcha put on another masterful performance on a plethora of heroes, but ultimately couldn't stop "Finland's gift to Esports," DPS Jiri "LiNkzr" Masalin. LiNkzr was phenomenal on every hero he played, taking the series over late in the proceedings as Widowmaker, covering for fellow DPS Timo "Taimou" Kettunen, who had an admittedly poor showing. Finland showed resilience after taking a tough loss against South Korea, completing a comeback win to cement its hold over second place in the group. The 2-1 win creates some awkward scenarios for Finland in terms of map wins but, with Chinese Taipei and Japan left, Finland should easily qualify for the Playoffs at this rate.
Game of the Day: Finland vs Russia. This match had all kinds of playoff implications on the line and featured a duel of top OWL talent.
MVP: Dep. His performances kept Japan afloat without its starting main tank while providing fragging power against a powerful South Korea lineup. With six more OWL teams coming into the league, it's possible we'll be seeing his name more in the future.
monkaS of the Day: I know I should've had one of these for Day 1, but this is my clown rodeo. Anyways, when Chinese Taipei (projected 5th) and Hong Kong (projected 6th) collided, the Simpsons meme of monkeys fighting while surrounded by people comes to mind. You know the one. Unfortunately for Hong Kong, though, it got 4-0 crushed by the second worst team in the group. That's gotta sting.
The action will conclude on Sunday on Day 3 as Finland and South Korea look to close out successful Group Stage campaigns. Finland kicks things off against Japan at 8 p.m. PDT, while South Korea looks to pick up one final win in front of its home crowd against Russia at 1:15 a.m. PDT.
