Some of the world’s best Overwatch players have been fighting it out for national pride in the group stages of the Overwatch World Cup, which will culminate at BlizzCon at the end of this week.
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The countries to emerge victorious from the group stages are Russia, France, Spain, Finland, South Korea, the USA, China and Sweden. As the top eight Overwatch regions in the world, they now progress to the elimination stage at BlizzCon, with the quarter- and semi-final matches kicking off this Thursday at noon Pacific Time (7pm in the UK).
With the world’s top players transplanted from their pro teams and in with their countrymen, there was always the potential for the odd upset. In Group A, Spain pipped heavy favourites Sweden to the top spot of their group, with Sergei ‘Winghaven’ Torras of REUNITED and Jonathan ‘harryhook’ Tejedor Rua, of EnVyUs, leading the charge.
If there was a ‘Group of Death’ in the World Cup, it was probably Group B, with Russia, Germany and the USA all fielding strong teams. In the end, it was Germany who capitulated, with Russia topping the group as George ‘ShaDowBurn’ Guschcha emerged the victor in an epic Genji duel against the USA’s Brandon ‘Seagull’ Larned.
Group C was far less competitive, with South Korea dominating second-placed Finland thanks to Gong ‘Miro’ Jin Hyuk’s Winston. Group D was another three-way contest, with China, France and Thailand all in with a chance until the end of the day. A tiebreaker match was declared, with the three teams competing in a round-robin on Nepal. China and France wound up going through in first and second place respectively.