In an announcement today, Blizzard and the Overwatch League gave us all the details on the upcoming Epic Contenders Showdown event that is coming very soon.
The event will run a little bit differently than previously held Overwatch Contenders live tournaments, but will still bring all of the expected action from some of the greatest Contenders League teams the world over.
Blizzard will invite out selected top teams from regions all over the world and has divided them up into two separate tournaments. The Contenders Showdown has two major purposes for Blizzard Entertainment. The first is to fill the void in between Overwatch League Stage 2 and the start of Stage 3. The mid-season break is the longest span of time with no Overwatch League action.
The second (and arguably more important reason for the tournament) is to promote the best players on Contenders teams on a larger platform. This is especially relevant with all of the recent surprise failures and roster moves in the Overwatch League. We fully expect there to be a whole lot of roster news to come out of this mid-season break.
For now, we’ve got the official rundown of the Contenders Showdown.
Pacific Showdown
The Pacific Division of the Contenders Showdown will take place in Shanghai, China, near the end of May and will feature the best teams from the Australia, China, Korea and Pacific regions.
Dates & Times
May 24 - 25, 2019.
Friday, May 24th: Upper bracket round 1 and round 2
Saturday, May 25th: Lower bracket round 1, and round 2, and upper bracket round 3
Sunday, May 26th: Lower bracket finals, Grand Finals
Broadcast Times: Each match day will start at 1:00 PM Chinese Standard Time (CST)
Teams
#1 Australia
#1 & #2 China
#1 & #2 Korea
#1 Pacific
Atlantic Showdown
In the Atlantic Division the best teams from Europe, North America and South America. It will take place in Krefeld, Germany, and will run just after the Pacific Division wraps up their tournament.
The invited teams from North America have a bit of work to do, as that region is split into East and West. The 2nd Place team from NA East will play the 2nd Place team from NA West to determine which will be the 3rd North American team invited to Germany.
Dates & Times
May 31 - June 2
Friday, May 31st: Upper bracket round 1 and round 2
Saturday, June 1st: Lower bracket round 1, round 2, and upper bracket round 3
Sunday, June 2nd: Lower bracket finals, Grand Finals
Broadcast Times: Matches on Friday and Saturday will start at 4:00 PM Central European Time (CEST). Matches on the Sunday will begin at 5:30 PM CEST.
Teams
#1 & #2 Europe
#1, #2 & #3 North America
#1 South America
WHERE TO WATCH
If you're not going to be boots on the ground in China or Germany, you'll be able to catch all of the Overwatch Contenders Showdown series live on Twitch.
Watch live video from OverwatchContenders on www.twitch.tv
The standard Overwatch League format of First-to-3 will be the main tournament format, until the Grand Finals matches which will both be Best-of-4 series.
All news on the Overwatch League can be found on Twin Galaxies, and be sure to look out for our coverage of the Contenders Showdown tournaments closer to the date.
