Overwatch is famous online multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was successfully released in May 2016 and got good responses from players all over the world.
Since release, a lot of LAN and world tournaments are going on. One of most popular is Overwatch APEX Season 3: it is South Korean championship organized by OnGameNet, where in fact not only best teams of South Korea, but also squads from China and North America are competing with each other to find out, who is best from them. In this review we are going to look, how the group stage was going on and my Overwatch betting predictions for the top crews, that are going to reach playoffs.
Competition Structure
First goes the Group Stage #1 which has taken place on the 28th April and ended up on the 6th June. During this time period guys were playing on Round Robin format. This means match pool system where all battles are the best of five with 3 points is given to the winner and no points for the loser. Best two crews of the each group are promoted to the next level. The last placed teams of each division are downgraded to the promotion tournament.
The second step is held in GSL format and will go on from 9th to 27th June, the same thing as in stage #1 with match pool system where all games are best of five, but best two teams of each section are promoted to play in semifinals. The semifinals and final are also known as the Main event.
The main event would start in a couple of days after the last group games are being finished. The main event is a single elimination bracket, where squads competing in match pool – best of seven. Two teams that were knocked out in semifinals, will play for the 3rd place. The big final will be played on 15th July.
Prizes
The APEX Season 3 tournament is sponsored by HOT6 and this year the total prize pool is 200,000,000KRW or 177,055$. Last year it was 200,370$, which is a little bit bigger than this year, but still worth to fight for. The winner will claim their reward of 88,523$, which is a good amount of money, for such a competition. The second squad will not be left behind and will receive 35,049$. The losers of semifinals will have to settle for 18,000$. Other crews will share the rest, depending on how many points they will get and on which place they will finish this challenge.
Results of the #1 stage
This has finished several days ago and sixteen teams were thrown onto battlefield, challenging each other to get a ticket for the next level. Games were hard, even for predominantly North America crew EnVyUS. They had little troubles securing their second 3-0 sweep in a row against BK Stars. Others were fighting not without blood as well.
Eight teams were qualified for the group stage 2. South Korean squads were dominating and seven from them were qualified (1st places – Lunatic-Hai, LW Blue, AF.Blue / 2nd places: KongDoo Panthera, CONBOX Spirit, X6-Gaming and Meta Athena). EnVyUS from North America secured their 1st place as well, reaching next phase for the third time in a row.
Overwatch APEX Season 3 Betting Predictions
At fourth spot I have LW Blue, they are playing really good this season, progressing from year to year. They will definitely go through the 2nd stage and reach semifinals.
On third place I have Lunatic-Hai, they were competing in a strong group, with the very solid teams and secured their first place with nine points. This crew can grab their bronze medal for sure or maybe even better.
Team EnVyUS is located on the second place, they are one of the most well performing squad in the league. These guys will reach the finals for sure. They will fight for the last drop of their blood, but still will be only the second.
The one and only the best squad this season would be the undefeatable team in group stage #1 AF.Blue. Afreeca freecs are playing insane this season, getting one win by another. Just dominating and going only forward leaving everyone behind. I think EnVyUs wouldn`t be a difficult opponents for them this time.
I hope you enjoyed this preview and betting tips of the tournament. Make sure to tune in on Twitch or in person to watch the spectacle. I will see you in my future articles, but bye for now! Good luck!