With the ESL Atlantic Showdown coming to a close with Rouge emerging champions, all eyes of the Overwatch e-sports scene now shifts to the Overwatch Open. The $300,000 prize pool tournament co-organised by ELEAGUE and FACEIT have went through four weeks of qualifiers and have now narrow down 32 teams, 16 teams for both NA and EU regions. The 16 teams are divided to four groups, with the 4 teams that gained automatic qualifiers by winning the finals in the qualifiers received top seed for each group, while the rest of the 12 teams were determined by points gained for placing well throughout the qualifiers- with emphasis on participating the qualifiers as much as possible.
However, the groupings had some issues due to many teams ended up with the same amount of points. Based on Over.gg, the rules of Overwatch Open states that in case of a tie to determine which teams get into the regional playoffs, the following will be the tie breaker:
If two or more teams have the same amount of points, their placement will be determined by:
- Amount of qualifiers participated in
- Amount of higher placements
- Results among teams
If teams cannot be placed by this, teams will play in a group stage to determine qualification.
Unfortunately tie-breakers matches had to be done for certain teams as they are tied in points that to determine their seeding.
Not only that, a surprise exit of Northern Gaming as the organisation pulls out due to the team disbanding (and cannot find replacements in time) causing the grouping to shuffle a bit in the last minute, but no replacement for Northern Gaming’s slot was called up. So,we only have 31 teams competing in the regional playoffs.
Groupings are as below:
EUROPE
Group A: Misfits, Bikini Beach e-Sports, melty e-Sports Club, ANOX
Group B: Rogue, The Gatekeepers, TORNADO ROX (previously Prets), FaZe Clan (previously Immortals, a mix of WEUNITED and ohno)
Group C: REUNITED, b.fly, Bringos, Ninjas In Pajamas
Group D: Luminosity Gaming, No Name Yet (previously Team Aera), OWKings, Team Dignitas (previously Creation e-Sports)
NORTH AMERICA
Group A: Team EnVyUs, Selfless Gaming, Splyce
Group B: Cloud9, I’m Your Huckleberry, Sea Algae, Sodipop
Group C: Fnatic, MONO, Colorado Clutch, Team Liquid
Group D: compLexity Gaming, Gecko, Method, NRG e-Sports
(Northern Gaming was supposedly in Group D. With them withdrawing, I’m Your Huckleberry, MONO and Gecko shifted form Group A,B and C to B, C and D respectively.)
Group matches will be played throughout the week, from 24th August to the 28th. The two teams that advances from each group will face each other in the live finals for each region in Atlanta. Each region will follow a double elimination format to determine the winner,and the winner then face off in the Grand Finals. The EU champion VS NA champion match will be broadcasted on American TV, with the winner bagging home $100,000.