Last week’s games ended up with forfeits in favor of Mineski and Miraculum. With both teams improving their records with one win each, Mineski and Miraculum inched closer to reaching the top 8, and a chance for the playoffs. Miraculum had an easy time again this week, with their opponents Scroll Down Gaming R having an incomplete roster. Miraculum took the default win. Mineski, on the other hand, had to contend with OWOL with 2 new players on their squad- Rjonne “Feint” Ortiz and Jeano “Shiro” Paguirin. Feint replaces Harry “lioncraft” Lee in Mineski’s roster as the Off-Tank while Shiro temporarily substitutes for Angelo “Meister” Martinez in the second DPS slot. For their series, Mineski started their match-up with a 1 game advantage, as OWOL arrived late for the stream.
Mineski vs. OWOL Game 2: Dorado The new meta pairing of Zenyatta and Mercy was in full effect and Mineski were quick to get onboard, running them through Jerahmeel “Jorun” Ibasco Gilbert “Gibo” Sales. OWOL started on the attack and had a great first push through the bridge chokepoint. Mineski’s defenses collapsed and OWOL took the first point. The push to the second point was no different, even with Mineski committing all their ultimates to try and defend. OWOL’s Zhien made quick work of the supports with his Genji through the 2 pushes, forcing swaps for Jorun to the Mercy while Gibo switched to the Ana for the third point. Mineski beat back OWOL for a while, but with a quick regroup followed by key Resurrections from Wongsyu’s Mercy OWOL brought the payload to the end of the map. With a full capture done by OWOL, Mineski stepped up for their attack. Running a Pharmercy with Marvin Anthony “whome” Roque on the Pharah and Gibo on the Mercy, they counteracted OWOL’s Junkrat and took the first point with ease. For the second point, Mineski was initially stopped by OWOL who committed their ultimates from the high ground. OWOL went at Mineski again, but this time John Carlo “SuperLocs” Panlilo was Nano Boosted by Jorun’s Ana and they were able to turn the fight around. OWOL did come back at Mineski, stopping 2 of Mineski’s pushes. This did not last as a commitment of a Nanoblade from Shiro’s Genji supported by whome’s Tactical Visor on the Soldier:76 allowed Mineski to take the second point. Now inside, Mineski struggled in the corridors, with the Tanks blocking key offensive ultimates from Mineski. With Mineski killed one after the other, the time bank ran out with no one on the payload and OWOL took the map, 3–2.
Game 3: Horizon Lunar Colony With OWOL on the board, they took the first defense on Horizon. Both teams mirrored death-ball compositions, with Reaper being a key pick for the initial defense and the attack. OWOL camped out on the point, forcing Mineski to try to get poke damage from the side. Mineski came in as a unit but were beaten back three times until whome unleashed a Death Blossom on the point, taking down half of OWOL. While Mineski still did get beaten back, OWOL’s fallen had to come back from spawn while Mineski inched closer to the point. Mineski took a superior position on the point as OWOL were now forced through the chokes, and Mineski took the first point with less than half a minute to spare. Moving to the second point, Mineski initial push was stopped by OWOL through the Zarya of Excil3’s tossing out the Graviton Surge. With a great play from UltimateFate and Hilmo, OWOL netted a team wipe with an Earthshatter onto Mineski. This team wipe set the tone for the rest of the defense, with OWOL countering each of Mineski’s pushes. The Overtime Timer rapidly decayed as Mineski was picked apart, and the first round ended with no progress on the second point. OWOL and Mineski switched sides, with OWOL going for a diving composition. This worked out as while most of the team went for the jump on the upper right platform, Imoutochan on the Soldier:76 got on the point uncontested. This forced Mineski to rush back to the point, and Jorun was picked off as a result. With Mineski’s Mercy down, they had no Resurrect available and OWOL killed them off to capture the first point. With 7 minutes on the clock, OWOL went up the stairs on the right to contest Mineski’s high ground position. This worked, and with a Dragonblade from Zhien’s Genji and a good leap from the Winston of UltimateFate onto Mineski, OWOL took the first tick of the second point. This was enough to win them the map, 2–1. The series was now in favor of OWOL, 2–1 as well.
Game 4: King’s Row Moving to the Hybrid map of King’s Row, Mineski took the defense first. Mineski beat back the initial push, but the succeeding push turned out to be a long back and forth between the 2 teams. Starting with a Charge kill onto Gibo’s Mercy, OWOL and Mineski traded ultimates and kills for 2 whole minutes, with neither team able to reform into a 6-man squad. Eventually, Hilmo on the Lucio was able to use the Sound Barrier for OWOL, and Zhien dove in with his Tracer to kill both of Mineski’s supports. OWOL then captured the point, activating the payload. OWOL started pushing the payload, but the Reaper of whome caused many problems due to the narrow nature of the streets of King’s Row. A great combo from whome, Shiro, and Feint with their 3 ultimates (Death Blossom, Dragonblade and Graviton Surge) even netted Mineski a full wipe onto OWOL. OWOL did comeback at Mineski, and a Tactical Visor from ImoutoChan got the payload moving once again. Mineski reset themselves beside the second point, but no one was able to take out Wongsyu on the Mercy. With Valkyrie up and Resurrect being cast at a significant target, OWOL took the second point. With the push still ongoing, Mineski were beaten back until the end of the third point but were able to rally. OWOL had a minute left to push, thus they marked and killed Shiro as he was casting the Dragonblade. One by one, Mineski fell, and OWOL took the full 3 points on the map with 26 seconds left in their time bank.
Mineski was now on the attack, and they went for the 3 DPS composition, trading Feint’s Zarya for a Pharah. It took a while for Mineski to find a good attack, but after a few pushes, both Shiro and Feint unleashed their ultimates. Shiro spotted the Rip-Tire from above and kill the Junkrat of Zhien, while Feint used the Rocket Barrage to deny the Rip-Tire and kill the Lucio. Mineski then went in onto OWOL, allowing them to create the space to capture the point. The payload then went on the move, and whome did work getting kills in the streets towards the second point. However, no one was able to kill Wongsyu who popped the Valkyrie for OWOL, and a chain of ultimates gave OWOL the win in the clash. With time running out, Mineski went for a final push but were denied of 2 immediately by a Self-Destruct from the D.Va of Excil3. The succeeding mop-up of the rest of Mineski gave OWOL the win, 3–2. OWOL needed 1 more map to secure the victory in the series.
Game 5: Oasis Control maps are a hotbed of action and Oasis is no different. Starting on the University variant, the teams differentiated their lineups once again. Mineski ran the 3 DPS composition while OWOL went for the death-ball. Mineski went on the attack from all sides, with whome’s Tracer and Shiro’s Genji flanking while Feint’s Soldier:76 provided covering fire. Winning the initial clash, Mineski kept hitting away at OWOL for their defense of the point. After 60% of progress for Mineski, Excil3 hit a huge Graviton Surge onto the defenders, and OWOL mopped the clumped up Mineski to take the point. Mineski attacked immediately, forcing OWOL off the point to capture it once again. This was not to last as they only pushed back OWOL who grabbed a better position off the point, and OWOL recaptured it. OWOL pushed Mineski to their spawn, getting key kills left and right before resetting back to the point for Mineski’s final push. Shiro popped the Dragonblade to get 2 kills onto OWOL, but this was not enough and OWOL took University, 100%-81%.
Switching to the City Center variant, Feint went back to the Pharah for Mineski, but this was well scouted by OWOL as Excil3 switched to the D.Va. Imoutochan’s marksmanship paid dividends for OWOL, and they won the initial fight and captured the point. With Mineski’s first push, Pulse Bombs were traded between whome and Zhien, to varying effects. Whome’s Pulse Bomb was eaten by Excil3’s Defense Matrix, while Zhien got a triple kill with his, stopping Mineski’s charge. The next push was no different for Mineski, as they were beaten back once again as the targets they dove were Resurrected and the DPS heroes of Mineski were completely shut down by Imoutochan’s McCree. Mineski had only 1 push left in them with 10% left to go for OWOL, and Shiro desperately used the Dragonblade even with Jorun still dead. This was to reach the point and force the clash. Imoutochan cast the Deadeye and picked off the Pharmercy, and the rest of OWOL slew Mineski’s members one by one. OWOL took the City Center 100%-0%, and the map 2–0.
OWOL wins the Series, 4–1! The results move both Mineski and Miraculum to standings of 3–3, and in arm’s reach of the top 8. Both teams will be on stream, with Miraculum being the first game on Sunday with a match against J3X.Eternity. Mineski will also be featured as the third game, going against No Use Talking.