O2 Blast and Element Mystic Meet (Again) in the Pacific ShowDown Grand Finals

Facing off for the third time in recent history, O2 Blast and Element Mystic met each other in the grand finals of the Overwatch Contenders Pacific Showdown. With Element Mystic taking a decisive win against O2 in the Overwatch Contenders Korea Grand Finals, O2 came into the Showdown with revenge on their mind.

The teams first met in the Pacific Showdown in the Winner’s Finals. No amount of grit could keep O2 Blast from falling to Element Mystic during that battle, and the reigning Contenders Korea Champions swept O2 3-0. It was as if O2 called “Double or Nothing,” as the two teams fatefully met again in the event’s Grand Finals.

The match started strong on Lijiang Tower with O2’s Main Tank, Sang-hoon "Kaiser" Ryu, carrying the team with some amazing Reinhardt play. Element Mystic seemed to be searching for footing on the match’s first map, Night Market, but looked much stronger as they rolled into Garden. Dong-ha "Doha" Kim and Jaehyeon "AlphA" Sin began to synergize as the match rolled on, but it wasn’t enough to keep O2 from taking the first map.

As the match continued, Element Mystic only grew stronger. With O2 Blast seemingly unwilling to switch up their composition, it was basically just rinse-and-repeat. The main cause of O2’s undoing came from Doha, whose Sombra grabbed clutch hacks and always seemed to have an EMP ready to use. By hacking Kaiser or his Zarya, Dong-hyun "Proper" Kim, Element Mystic was able to negate much of O2’s defenses, leaving them open to attack.

It was not until Nepal, the fifth map of the series, that O2 was able to start showing some form of resistance against Element Mystic. It was on this map that Proper finally appeared to be firing on all cylinders. Not only were they able to carry the weight when Kaiser was picked off, but also their survivability and tracking seemed much more on point. A win on Nepal gave O2 a little more hope as the game teetered perilously on match point.

Fans of O2 may not want to watch the final map of the series, as it doesn’t end well. Despite being able to keep Element Mystic from completing Blizzard World, the second-place team seemed fated to fall short once again. An unbreakable defense on the first point kept O2 from even getting the cart out. In one heart-breaking play, Doha dropped an EMP on all six members of O2, driving Proper to attempt to right-click himself back to spawn; the frustration and sadness were palpable.

With Element Mystic establishing themselves as the most dominant team not only in South Korea but in the Pacific, one can imagine that eyes will be on their GOATs-breaking strategies. Does this mean we will see more Sombra and Doomfist making their way into Overwatch League? Perhaps. We'll just have to wait until Stage Three of the Overwatch League returns on June 6th.