Overwatch World Cup game ends in the most ridiculous C9
South Korea is known to be incredibly dominant at Overwatch, but a simply ridiculous play has ended the Overwatch World Cup.
30th Jun 2023 17:10
Blizzard Entertainment
Overwatch World Cup game ends in the most ridiculous C9
South Korea is known to be incredibly dominant at Overwatch, but a simply ridiculous play has ended the Overwatch World Cup.
30th Jun 2023 17:10
Blizzard Entertainment
Well, that hasn't happened often. During the Overwatch World Cup qualifier, the South Korean national team got one of the most ridiculous map victories in recent memory. It comes against the Philippines and has blown the mind of casters and the audience alike.
Currently, the Overwatch World Cup is taking place for the first time after the pandemic-induced draught, which had put a stop to the competition after the last iteration in 2019.Β
Still in the qualifying stages for the eventual final knockout stages at BlizzCon, the South Korean national team took on the Philipines. South Korea is considered the strongest nation in the world and is currently fielding 58% of all players in the Blizzard Entertainment-organised franchise league OWL.
A C9 of epic proportions
Fans of Overwatch esports know about the endearing concept of a C9 - named after the esports team Cloud9. The tactical faux pas describes the act of walking off the objective and losing either a point or a map in the process, despite either being even or being in a winning position in a fight.
It's no surprise that South Korea would be the heavy favourites and would have an easy time with most other countries during the qualifying stage. However, the extent of their domination was still staggering.
During their defensive side on the Escort map Circuit Royal, South Korea allowed the Philippines only to push the payload a measly 7cm, holding them trapped in their spawn for the duration of the half. With the Philippines now forced to perform the fullest hold, their defence round took a hilarious turn.
Don't blink or you'll miss it
With the win condition now practically being to just touch the contested payload for a millisecond, the spawn doors opens and South Korea's Choi "Hanbin" Han-been sees an opening.
With the entire Philippine team going for a cute play above the spawn doors, trying to hold from above, none of their members are defending the payload as Hanbin lunges for victory. In just a second, the round is over as the caster's minds verbally explode into a repeated, "WHAT?!"
The Philippine assistant coach and Reddit user BoomdeyadaOW explained the situation from his team's side in a thread regarding this ridiculous moment. He wrote:
"I cooked up an illegal manoeuvre (but not illegal because Lifeweaver) strat to try and cheese a fight win out of SK, which is why you see the LW, Lucio, Rein, and Genji at the start but they were all close holding so we couldn't run it. They wanted to make up for it by doing the funny on defense, but no one realized we only had 7cm LOL.β
Regardless, he said his team still enjoyed the experience. The South Korean team comprises of members who have, at some point, all won an Overwatch League Grand Finals. Head Coach of the Dallas Fuel Yun "RUSH" Hee-won had assembled a roster of his now scattered victorious season 5 championship roster around superstars Kwon "Fielder" Joon and Han "ChiYo" Hyeon-seok, as well as Atlanta Reign's Lee "LIP" Jae-won.
Currently undefeated in their group with a score of 3-0, the South Koreans are close to clinching Main Event qualification for the final stages of the competition, which will again be held at BlizzCon in the Anaheim Convention Center later this year.
You can catch all the action on the Overwatch Contenders YouTube channel. South Korea is scheduled to play their next match on July 1, 2023, at 10 am BST against Indonesia.
About The Author
Sascha Heinisch
Sascha "Yiska" Heinisch is a Senior Esports Journalist at GGRecon. He's been creating content in esports for over 10 years, starting with Warcraft 3.
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