Last Sunday, the Overwatch World Cup Qualifier in Bangkok took place and the results from the event show us a clearer picture of what to expect at the Main Event at BlizzCon come November.
Bangkok Qualifier comes to a close
The Bangkok Qualifier tournament began on 14 September and ran for three days, reaching its conclusion yesterday on Sunday. As with the previous two events, six National Teams took part in the tournament and two of them have been seeded to the Main Event at BlizzCon, set to take place in Anaheim in early November.
The competing countries included Thailand, Australia, China, Denmark, Spain and Sweden and their respective teams engaged in a Round Robin tournament, where each team played against all of the other five. With 15 matches come and gone, the results are in and China and Australia will be part of the Main Event for the third year in a row.
On a dramatic final day at the #OWWC2018 Bangkok Group Stage, China and .@AUSWC2018 booked their tickets to #BlizzCon, and @Overwatch_Thai snagged a win for the local fans.https://t.co/kiaUFb5Vss pic.twitter.com/mvgMvrR0iN
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 17, 2018
Australia moves forward with 3-2 score
Australia dominated in the first day of the tournament, going up against Spain in a match that would 3-1 in Australia’s favor and also scoring a perfect 4 – 0 against their host – Thailand. However, their second day would see them lose against the Danish team in a 3 – 1, in which the Australians were only able to secure the Escort map. Despite that setback, Australia made up for it in their match against Sweden, where they won all four maps yet again. On the last day of the event, Australia would face China in a heated match that resulted in a draw and an extra map needed to be played to break the tie. The map in question was Lijiang Tower and the Chinese enjoyed great success winning 2 – 0.
China dominates with perfect 5-0
Speaking of the Chinese team, they were completely unstoppable throughout the event. Over the course of three days, they did not drop a single matchup and finished first with a score of 5 – 0. Their initial match was against Sweden, in which they won 3 – 1, only losing on the Hybrid map 4 – 5. The second day of the tournament, they went up versus Thailand and secured a respectable 3 – 2, winning the Oasis map 2 – 0 to break the tie. After that, it was their turn to play against Denmark where they went into overtime again and the Oasis map was once more chosen to settle the score. The Chinese had an easy time against Spain on the fourth day, winning all four maps. Their final match was against the Australians and we already cover that above.
Despite the fact that they did not qualify, the Denmark team deserves some commendation for their efforts, being only four points behind the Australians in the standings. Were it not for the loss to the Swedish team, the Danes might have very well have given the Australians a run for their money.
Overwatch World Cup 2018 Paris Qualifier Up Next
With three of four qualifier series come to a close, the Paris Qualifier is the only one remaining. It will start Friday this week – 21 September – and will end the Sunday after. This tournament will only feature European countries, namely:
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Poland
- United Kingdom
Much like the other three Qualifiers, the Paris Qualifier will be played in the Round Robin format and the two best performing teams will advance to BlizzCon.
