These heroes rose to the challenge in the Heroes Uprising group stage last July 22. Held at Rekt e-Sports Café, sixteen teams arrived, battling one another for Overwatch supremacy. After an intense afternoon of team-based action, eight teams stood tall, advancing to the finals. These eight teams are Mineski, Blast Vikings, Bonus Round, Rekt e-Sports, Back2Gaming, Gadget PIlipinas, Blast Knights, and Sapnu Puas.
The group stage involved three brackets, separating the sixteen teams. Bracket A had the eight teams that qualified through the four online cups, held weeks preceding the group stage. Filling bracket B were the eight sponsored and invited teams. Bracket C was the loser’s bracket, where the teams defeated in the two previous brackets where put against each other in do-or-die matches. The slots to the finals came from the three groups, with four teams from bracket A, two teams from bracket B, and two teams who fell to bracket C.
The action of the day started with the teams from the online qualifiers. Mineski, the favorites to win the whole tournament, secured their slot into the finals first. Mineski took the series 2–0 against Blast Knights. In another matchup, the other team of the Blast banner, Blast Vikings, outclassed their matchup of Sapnu Puas and took the victory. In the last two matchups, Bonus Round defeated Choi Gaming while Rekt e-Sports beat Faldraven. The four teams victorious in their series all secured their place in the finals.
Moving on to the invited teams, there were two rounds of action. Bracket B only had two slots to the finals up for grabs. In the first round of games, Back2Gaming defeated Korya+Shrimp Basket, Critical Index outplayed Long Live Meme Team, Gadget Pilipinas beat FTC.Victorious Secret, and FTC took their series against Soju Team. The second round provided even more intense Overwatch gameplay. Back2Gaming secured their slot in the finals through beating Critical Index. Gadget Pilipinas also joined them, using superior strategy in their victory against FTC.
The story of bracket C was a story of redemption for two teams, Blast Knights and Sapnu Puas. They trounced the competition in the loser’s bracket, proving their strength and secured the last two slots to the finals. Among the eight teams through, six came from the qualifiers, while only two stemmed from invites.
The group stage of Heroes Uprising proved that a diving composition still reigns supreme among the Overwatch lineups. Most teams through to the finals showed a superior mastery of the 2–2–2 comp (two tanks, two dps, two supports), especially the two Blast teams. One team, Sapnu Puas, utilized the older dive comp of 1–3–2, running three dps to overpower the healing of the opponent at the cost of having less defensive stability due to only having one tank. The staple picks of the tournament: Winston, D.va, Tracer, Genji, Pharah, Lucio, Zenyatta, and Mercy. They are all standard picks for diving, and we should expect those same heroes at the forefront of the finals.
There were deviations due to comfort or mastery of the hero. Gadget Pilipinas’ Widowmaker play showed great skill in aim and had a very high impact though pick-offs. The two teams that won the Loser’s Bracket, Blast Knights and Sapnu Puas, had the most games. They ran a Sombra pick often as disruption to great effect. Sapnu Puas also utilized a builder, Torbjorn, in a successful point A hold. Zarya and Ana play also surfaced, to mixed results. There were also failures due to deviating from the meta. Failed strategies include Long Live Meme Team’s three tank comp, which provided the enemy with ultimates faster than usual. FTC also ran an older meta comp, and while their Mei and Reinhardt play were impressive, they had no answer to a Pharah-led dive comp response.
With a great group stage behind us, the attention now turns to the remaining teams. The eight teams through to the finals will do battle this Saturday, July 29. The venue, High Grounds Cafe, will provide a great Overwatch experience to both the players and spectators. Located at Scout Rallos beside Tomas Morato, it is an open event for the viewing public. With high levels of gameplay to watch, and various events for spectators, this is one tournament you wouldn’t want to miss.