The final few group stage matches for OGN Overwatch APEX Season 4 didn't change the standings much, but the games were important for teams hoping to try new things out or retain records and momentum.
Flash Lux lost yet another set at APEX to Kongdoo Panthera, and ROX Orcas was unable to take a set off of LuxuryWatch Red.
Kongdoo Panthera vs. Flash Lux
Map 1: Lijiang Tower (Assault)
Map 2: Hollywood (Assault/Escort)
Map 3: Hanamura (Assault)
Map 4: Route 66 (Escort)
In six months of professional APEX play, Flash Lux finally make it out with at least a single map victory on Lijiang Tower. Having gone months without a single win, Kim "Fleta" Byung-Sun finally carried Flash Lux to victory with remarkable Pharah and Doomfist play. To be fair to Kongdoo Panthera, the team played without Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun on the main lineup this time, and he's the main shotcaller. It explains why Kongdoo's offense was a little shaky at first, but after Lijiang Tower, Kongdoo began to look like a proper team again.
Hollywood was a dominant victory for Kongdoo. The squad held Flash Lux to only one point. Even then, Flash Lux almost didn't even get past the first step; Fleta's Pharah carried his teammates past the first point and into the streets phase. Kongdoo had no such struggles on offense and burst through the Flash Lux defense.
The score evened out at 1-1, Kongdoo stole any momentum Flash Lux had from Lijiang Tower and returned it two-fold by taking points A and B on Hanamura with six minutes remaining, on top of full holding them to the first point. After that, Route 66 was simply a repeat of Hollywood, with a great offense and a stellar defense.
LW Red vs. ROX Orcas
Map 1: Lijiang Tower (Control)
Map 2: Eichenwalde (Assault/Escort)
Map 3: Volskaya Industries (Assault)
Map 4 (Tiebreaker): Nepal (Control)
Map 5: Dorado (Escort)
Despite not winning any sets this season, ROX Orcas remains one of the more promising teams that, due to the absence of foreign invitees, auto-qualified into APEX Season 4. While LW Red were definitively a better team overall, ROX had a decent understanding of its own strengths as it attempted to win maps. Lijiang Tower went to a full three rounds, and Eichenwald, though more one-sided, still wasn't as rough as some of ROX's other matches this season.
The surprise map here was Volskaya Industries, where ROX and LW Red came to a tie in the timebank stage, forcing a tie-breaker on Nepal. There, Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo pulled out a victory for ROX Orcas by zipping around on Tracer. A potential red flag weakness for LW Red could be in dealing with enemy Tracers assaulting its backline, so that's something it'll have to work on for the round of eight stage of APEX.
Either way, Dorado became a repeat of Eichenwalde with ROX being held to only one point and LW Red being able to surpass the push with a minute left on the clock.