Two major upsets took place Tuesday at OGN Overwatch APEX in Seoul, South Korea. While the NC Foxes triumphed in a brutal Best of 5 set against LW Red, Lunatic-Hai -- the perennial favorites and defending champions of APEX -- failed to take a single map from the rising stars of GC Busan.
Map 1: Lijiang Tower (Control)
Map 2: Hollywood (Assault/Escort)
Map 3: Horizon Lunar Colony (Assault)
Map 4: Dorado (Escort)
Map 5: King's Row (Assault/Escort)
The series started off even for both NC Foxes and LW Red, with Lijiang Tower the first battleground. The Foxes were in good position to take the map, but the point flipped to LW Red when it was running the Pharamercy combo -- that gave it total control for the rest of the map.
Fortunately, NC Foxes tied up the series on the second map, Hollywood, with an excellent defense in the streets phase. This gave LW Red a rough time for its money. For a back-to-back map victory, the Foxes executed a full hold defense on the third map -- Point A of Horizon Lunar Colony -- and in turn captured it with a little over two minutes to spare. It was the definition of "well played."
LW Red bit back on Dorado for a win similar to its loss on Hollywood. Held to only one point, NC Foxes were stopped in its tracks, but that victory was short-lived with Foxes' Song "SASIN" Sang-hyeon playing a fantastic Genji on King's Row. A boon for the Foxes was the fact that SASIN was always subbed out after the first map was played, which meant little information of him as a player was known. This time, he stuck around and shined throughout the series.
With a 3-2 victory under NC Foxes' belt, the team will advance while LW Red will fall into the losers bracket.
Map 1: Oasis (Control)
Map 2: King's Row(Assault/Escort)
Map 3: Volskaya Industries (Assault)
Oasis was the beginning of the end for Lunatic-Hai with a crushing offense from GC Busan players Lee "Hooreg" Dong-eun and Park "Profit" Joon-yeong giving LH no time to breathe. Hooreg and Profit played a multitude of heroes ranging from Zarya to Doomfist to McCree, and more. GC Busan came well prepared and its choices were made to counter anything LH attempted to throw on the table.
The second map, King's Row, was a terrifyingly close match that made its way to the timebank stage, but both teams should've only had enough time to contest the first point. Instead, GC Busan made a break for the gate being stopped barely in front of Point C. With five points under GC Busan, it looked almost impossible for Lunatic-Hai to match that offense until it made it past Point B. Lunatic-Hai was once again shut down by GC Busan however, with Profit making sure that Zunba didn't throw out a well timed Graviton Surge, for a 2-0 lead in the series.
For what seemed like the right move, Lee "LEETAEJUN" Tae-jun was swapped out so that Kim "EscA" In-jae could attempt a rescue operation for Lunatic-Hai. It almost seemed like it too with such a commanding capture of both points in Volskaya Industries, but GC Busan matched blow for blow. In fact, both teams captured both points on the first run of the map, as well as the timebank stage.
In the second attempt at the timebank stage, Lunatic-Hai fell to the mighty defense that GC Busan put out on Point A. With the LH players visibly upset, it was no surprise to see how difficult -- and near impossible -- a comeback would have been.
Lunatic-Hai fall to the losers bracket but aren't out of the running yet. Meanwhile, GC Busan are pushing forward strong and resolute.
What this means for Lunatic-Hai
With such a colossal upset, it's important to keep things in perspective for a team that has consistently dominated APEX.
A common trend for a powerhouse like Lunatic-Hai is it may lose a game very early on in the tournament with a major meta shift. But it can adapt. It always has. Adapting to the meta and coming up with new strategies is the bread and butter for any successful team and this may be the first time that has failed LH this season.
The answer isn't so cut and dry as it didn't play well against GC Busan, but this match could be the harbinger of things to come. Lunatic-Hai's strengths have always been in how good its supports and tank/flex line is. Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong and Yang "tobi" Jin-mo have always been one of the best support duos a team could ever be so fortunate to have, and Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk and Kim "zunba" Joon-hyuk are two incredible tank players. Miro is one of the best if not the best Winston players in the world and zunba is famous for his Zarya and flexibility.
Despite that, Lunatic-Hai's DPS-line is not up to par.
LEETAEJUN is wildly inconsistent this season. Lee "Whoru" Seung-joon is one of the shining stars of Lunatic-Hai but some matches and metas just haven't brought out the best of his abilities. EscA is well-known as a positive force and leader for Lunatic-Hai, and Mun "Gido" Gi-do is neither amazing nor terrible.
The holes in Lunatic-Hai's weaker DPS line have always been covered by its stellar support and tank line -- this is in addition to Lunatic-Hai's ability to come up with winning strategies and finely analyze its opponents.
But that's finally caught up to the defending champs as so many of the new teams as well as the old ones have incredible DPS duos. Even in its match against GC Busan, it didn't matter how good LH's strategies looked on paper -- Profit and Hooreg found a way to smash and neutralize players on Lunatic-Hai based on pure skill alone.
If Lunatic-Hai fall out of the APEX running, it would be an excellent time to rethink the current DPS lineup and how to proceed. It's not a simple solution and these games are proof of that. EscA being out of the starting lineup for a potentially better DPS player forces Miro to be the shotcaller; and he simply isn't as good as EscA when it comes to that. On top of that, there's so much DPS swapping this tournament that it's hard to say that any proper synergy was built up between the new players and the old. Maybe LH will bring it back and win the tournament, but given the state of things, its chances are slimming match to match.