After weeks of the group stages, the round of eight begins in Seoul, South Korea for Overwatch APEX Season 4. CONBOX shattered to pieces at the hands of Kongdoo Panthera, while RunAway delivered a thrilling reverse sweep to quell X6's rise to power.
CONBOX vs. Kongdoo Pantera
Map 1: Ilios (Control)
Map 2: Numbani (Assault/Escort)
Map 3: Volsakya Industries (Assault
CONBOX came from a very easy group given that LW Blue dropped out of the tournament. It was a surprise at first that CONBOX would give Kongdoo Panthera a hard time on the first map, Ilios. But of course, that's why Choi "Asher" Joon-seong and Park "Architect" Min-ho are known as fantastic DPS players. Ilios still went to Kongdoo Panthera but it appeared like we could see a closer series than initially expected.
We did not.
Numbani wasa one-sided affair. That's not to say this couldn't have been cleaner; KDP almost fully defended point A on the map but Kim "birdring" Ji-hyuk decided to try out the newly-tuned Junkrat since APEX is now on the live patch. It was a good chance to try him out, but Numbani isn't the best map for Junkrat to begin with, and picking him into Doomfist isn't fully optimal either.
Giving up point A at the last moment, CONBOX quickly snowballed the payload until the end but with only 10 seconds left. It wasn't enough to halt KDP in its tracks as it obliterated CONBOX's time and crushed it further in the timebank stage. Volskaya Industries was simply the cherry on top. A full hold on point A and a demolition-like offense, Kongdoo took the 3-0 and send CONBOX to the losers bracket.
RunAway vs. X6
Map 1: Lijiang Tower (Control)
Map 2: Numbani (Assault/Escort)
Map 3: Temple of Anubis (Assault)
Map 4: Dorado (Escort)
Map 5: Hollywood (Assault/Escort)
This series started with a veteran team (RunAway) down 0-2 after Lijiang Tower and Numbani quickly went in favor to X6. X6's Kim "TimeBoy" Won-Tae's Tracer and Kim "GodsB" Kyeon-Bo's Soldier 76 in particular suppressed any and all attempts RunAway had on both offense and defense on Numbani. It was clear that RA's success in the group stages couldn't only be chalked up to having an easy group.
RunAway regrouped after the break between games two and three and both Lee "Stitch" Chung-hee and Kim "Haksal" Hyo-jong refused to let two other DPS show them up when it really mattered. Stitch's Tracer was on fire all night, picking off Min "GILY" Joon-Ho's Lucio which allowed RunAway to win teamfights even with ultimate disadvantages.
Not only that, but Haksal's Genji was the very definition of precision and effectiveness. There almost wasn't a single Dragonblade that went off this entire match where Haksal didn't kill multiple members of the X6 lineup. Temple of Anubis was the beginning of RA's resurgence, and each consecutive map showcased the loss of spirit from the X6 lineup.
RunAway held X6 to only two points on offense for Dorado, and Hwang "TiZi" Jang-hyeon played a fantastic Winston for RA, while Stitch carried his team to victory with a minute left on the clock to outpush X6's payload distance.
The final map, Hollywood was intense for both RA and X6. Both captured point A on the first push. The highlight for most of the match was Stitchbut Haksal's Dragonblade brought fans roaring each time he unsheathed his sword and dashed into the backlines. With a successful reverse sweep, RunAway advance and send X6 to the loser's bracket.