Esports News: In a tournament filled with the largest names in Overwatch, it was X6-Gaming that shockingly took first place at this year’s Nexus Cup 2017.
Key to note for this event was that Moira, the newest hero added to the roster, was enabled for the entirety of the tournament. She rarely saw play due to her high skill cap and limited practise time, although she has been performing above average across the board. This was also one of the first major events since both the nerf to Mercy, one of the most prominent heroes in the game, as well as the buff to Ana, who can now take down Pharah in three shots, reducing the latter’s effectiveness slightly. This has ultimately led to a metagame primarily based on Genji, who has returned to the fore. To counter Genji, teams seem to now be picking Zenyatta over Lucio in a majority of cases as his instant area-of-effect healing ultimate is guaranteed to go off, while Lucio’s channel time for his defensive ultimate leaves him vulnerable.
X6 win to set up Lunatic Hai clash
X6 initially qualified from Group B in first place due to the tiebreaker of a head-to-head 2-1 victory over second-placed Seven. X6 then met their fallen foes again in the winners’ round, taking victories on Junkertown – the newest map to the map pool – 3-2, as well as a 2-1 King of the Hill victory on Nepal. The first true test for X6 came in the second round of the winners’ bracket, where they squared off against one of the biggest names in Overwatch, Lunatic Hai.
X6 opened on Junkertown, an escort map where each team attempt to push the payload through three capture points. X6 were able to push through the first two points, opening up the map with Widowmaker, a sniper seen on only a few maps (Junkertown being one of them). When swapping over to the defensive side, X6 employed a tanking duo of Orisa and Roadhog, a combo rising in popularity – particularly in Korea. At the last possible moment, Lunatic Hai’s Nenne missed his Tracer ultimate and was killed instantly, leading to the X6 hold, and the win.
The second map was Lijiang Tower, which was a mirror game in which each team ran the same composition. X6 controlled the first King of the Hill point early on, claiming the victory with limited resistance (LH gathered 48 points). The second round once again featured mirrored compositions for five of the heroes, with Lunatic Hai this time opting to run the newest hero, Moira. X6 got to 99 points before Lunatic Hai got anything going; they eventually managed to chalk up 52 points. The comeback never came to fruition, as X6 won 2-0, moving into the finals against KongDoo Panthera.
KongDoo Panthera await in winners’ final
The winners’ bracket finals were fairlystraightforwardd, with X6 winning another Junkertown match off the back of Widowmaker coupled with the Orisa and Roadhog combo; full capping and holding their opponent to only two for the 3-2 win. Nepal (King of the Hill) was dominated by X6, even after KongDoo Panthera pulled out a completely different composition on the second point, with Pharah-Mercy joining Roadhog and Moira – two heroes rarely seen on KoTH. X6 won 2-0, giving them a one-map advantage heading into the grand finals, where they would once again face KongDoo Panthera.
Grand final an epic affair
The grand finals started as every other series had, with X6 running the exact same composition on Junkertown and winning in 3-2 fashion. This gave X6 a 2-0 lead due to their automatic one-map lead from their victory in the winners’ bracket, although KongDoo Panthera were able to claw their way back in and show resilience. The next map was Numbani where, after KongDoo Panthera fully captured the payload, X6 struggled to find a winning composition. Towards the end of the match, X6 attempted to use Doomfist – a character rarely seen in competitive play due to his easily telegraphed abilities. KongDoo held the final point, leading to the 3-2 win and a 2-1 X6 series lead.
The third map was Hanamura, where each team captured both points, leading to overtime, where X6 had half the time that KP had, due to how quickly KongDoo captured the two points in regulation. X6 failed to capture the first point, while KongDoo were successful, leading to the 3-2 KongDoo win and a tied series. Each team then traded map wins: KongDoo claimed Route 66 3-1, while X6 bounced back with a 2-1 Nepal win, leading to the deciding map of Eichenwalde.
This was the most one-sided map of the series, as X6 successfully pushed the payload to the end, running the composition they had run on essentially every map except Junkertown, before having an overwhelming defensive effort on the first point. X6 pulled out the Pharah-Mercy combo, rarely seen on defense for the first point, and KongDoo appeared to have no answer as they attempted to run a triple DPS composition but to no effect. X6 dominated Eichenwalde to the tune of a 3-0 win, giving them the series at 4-3, and the title.
The key for X6 was playing the same compositions over and over, relying on the play of DPS players Architect and GodsB to open up the map. X6 had the least innovation of any team at the tournament, yet they stuck to their guns and continually came out on top, showing promise for the coming year.
