Overwatch Contenders Pits a Prodigy Versus a King

Overwatch Contender’s Pacific Showdown has kicked off, with the top Contenders teams from South Korea, China, Australia, and Asia-Pacific facing each other in an incredible tournament reminiscent of the early APEX days. The first day of the tournament, however, fielded one of the most interesting clashes: Order’s Sam "Quatz" Dennis and O2 Blast’s Sang-hoon "Kaiser" Ryu.

The two Main Tanks have very different stories. Quatz is one of the younger players in Overwatch Contenders, only being sixteen years old. Kaiser, on the other hand, has a long and impressive history with Overwatch League, being on competitive teams for the team-based hero shooter since 2016. In a way, the Main Tanks also represent the regions from which they play in as well, with South Korea definitely more proven in esports than the more recently recognized region of Australia.

Despite Order coming into the match with a little bit of trash talk, saying that they would easily defeat their opponent, the tide of the game quickly flipped in favor of O2 Blast. Only able to hold the first point of Lijang Tower Garden for a short period of time, the young team wasn’t able to stand up to Kaiser and crew. It became clear that while both players are very talented, that this was not just a tale of two tanks, but rather the players that made up their courts.

While Quatz’s supports were often picked off early during in a fight, O2’s ensemble was on point. On any of the maps, DPS player Dong-hyun “Proper” Kim was a standout. Not only were they able to apply clutch bubbles as Zarya on Kaiser to keep him alive during team fights but he also maintained an impressive amount of charge. One of the highlights of the match came from a one-two punch from Proper and Kaiser on Garden. Proper is able to catch several members of Order with a strategically placed Graviton Surge, allowing Kaise to be able to swing his hammer and knock two of his opponents off the bridge and into the drink.

While it appeared a bit more of a one-sided match than many spectators (and Order fans) had hoped, it was still a great series to watch and to see how an empowered Main Tank can really make a difference in the current Overwatch meta. If you weren’t convinced by watching Vancouver Titans or the San Francisco Shock, hopefully, one can learn from O2 Blast as well

The Pacific Showdown continues with even more Overwatch action and can be viewed below.