The APAC Premier is the biggest Overwatch tournament in China, with a 1,650,000 Chinese Yuan (roughly 247,000 dollars) up for grabs. There were qualifiers that have concluded to narrow down the 6 best teams in China, which will face off a mix of teams from Korea and Japan, NA and EU, directly invited.
The 8 top Chinese teams are, by order of seeding: Skadi’s Gift, VICI Gaming, All Strike Gaming, iG.Fire, NGA Club and Snake eSports.
The teams invited to partake are two Korean teams: Afreeca Freecs Blue and Lunatic-hai, two Japanese teams: DeToNator and Usold Stuff Gaming Iridata, and one from NA and EU respectively: NRG eSports and Rogue.
Team EnVyUs was originally the NA representative, but due to visa issues, NRG will be representing NA.
The 12 teams will be divided in three groups of four, with the classic, GSL-style format that has been seen in the ESL Atlantic Showdown and the Overwatch Open. Double elimination, top two advances. But with only three groups, the two best third place finishers will also advance.
The groupings are as follows:
Group A
- VICI Gaming
- Snake eSports
- Unsold Stuff Gaming Iridata
- NRG eSports
Group B
- Skadi’s Gift
- iG.Fire
- Lunatic-hai
- Rogue
Group C
- All Strike Gaming
- NGA Club
- Afreeca Freecs Blue
- DeToNator
Once the 8 teams advance, it will be a single-elimination playoffs in a best of five, with the finals a best of seven.
The APAC Premier will be playing from 6-16 October, with Jason Kaplan and Mitch Leslie from ESL doing casting duties for English. So there’s a chance to watch the games live and with English commentary. We’ll update this article when the links are up.
Update: Here’s the link on Twitch.