Following the end of an exciting Group Stage that took place throughout summer, featuring the top thirty-two teams in the world. We finally have our 2017 Overwatch World Cup finalists.
The eight final teams will clash in back to back matches in November at BlizzCon where one team will finally lift the Cup, claiming the top spot in the world this year as the 2017 Overwatch World Cup Champions.
Going into the group stage, many had predictions set, and in classic esports fashion, many crumbled as upsets came to light in almost every stage along the way.
Shanghai
The First bout in Shanghai, was a pretty easy one to call out, as China and France ripped through their opponents to qualify for the final stage.
Sydney
However, not long later in Sydney we’d witness the first of upsets, as an electrified home team cheered on by an equally electrified crowd would take down Japan and qualify for the final stages alongside Sweden.
Katowice
The third hop took us to Katowice. The clear favourites here were last year’s finalists of South Korea and Russia. South Korea reasserted their dominance, as they qualified without dropping a single map, although once more the home team gave them a good run for their money, although ending the series against last year’s champions 4-0, every map was tooth and nail close. For Russia, unfortunately ShaDowBurn, massive solo plays proved to not be enough to carry his team to victory, as Canada’s equally flashy duo of Mangachu and Agilities cut through their line up, bringing a best of four to a fifth match tie breaker, to top their group and avoid South Korea in the playoffs to the drop Netherlands on their way to qualifying for the finals.
Santa Monica
The final bout in Santa Monica was slightly expected, but nonetheless critics highly favored the Chinese Taipei squad composed entirely of Flash Wolves. However, a pumped up United Kingdom team would prove that they’re not just pushovers as they dropped the Chinese Taipei team in their tracks, not even dropping a map to them as they qualified for November’s finals alongside the United States home team.
With this, our finalists are:
France
China
Sweden
Australia
Canada
South Korea
United States
United Kingdom
In just 2 months time, these teams will fight tooth and nail to set their claim on the coveted Overwatch World Cup and etch their names in history.
So expect the best of the best, and when it comes to it, tune in and watch as the action unfolds live at BlizzCon 2017!
