Volamel
2019-02-26 02:44:19
OGN’s Overwatch APEX tournament was the destination for competitive Overwatch in the east and X6-Gaming knew this. The event had a dense population of talent that bred some of the best practice in the world. X6 took their shot at glory during Overwatch APEX Season 2’s offline qualifier. Placing within the top six at this event would qualify them for the event that would feed amateur teams into the main event, APEX Challengers.
X6-Gaming advanced through their group and the playoffs without much contention from the crowd. With their tickets booked and momentum in their sails, X6-Gaming set their sight on an upcoming Chinese event.
Nexus Cup, one of China’s premier third-party Overwatch tournaments, was holding a South Korean qualifier that housed some of the best teams at the time. It had KongDoo Uncia, wNv.KR, LW Red, Mighty AOD, Meta Athena, and most importantly, Lunatic-Hai was competing.
To contextualize where exactly this fits within Overwatch’s competitive timeline, this was the Lunatic-Hai that just took Rogue’s mixed roster to the brink during APAC 2016. The same players who dominated during the 2016 Overwatch World Cup, but failed to perform during APEX Season 1. Lunatic-Hai was nothing but potential.
And X6-Gaming beat them.
This victory put X6-Gaming on the map as dark horses and caught the attention of the community. We were finally starting to see the depth of talent South Korea had to offer.
Their success continued as they placed second at Nexus Cup 2017 - Spring, only losing to wNv.KR, a South Korean team that was highly touted and coached by Park "Crusty" Da-hee.
This led to X6-Gaming’s tear through APEX Challengers Season 3. Going 9-2 in matches and 28-10 in maps, it was clear that X6 was at the top of their class. At the time, they could pilot different styles of play that always allowed them to adapt on the fly. If the map called for a defensive Reinhardt paired with a Zarya and some form of hitscan DPS, they could play it. If you needed a traditional Dive composition, they could play it.
Not only was X6-Gaming flexible, but they were good.
The team flexed this versatility as they walked into APEX Challengers Season 3 Super Week. As the first seed coming from APEX Challengers, all eyes were glued to X6-Gaming to see how they would fair. Expectations were high and I feel like, at the time, I’d consider them shoe-ins, but it depends on what team shows up on the day.
X6 barrel stuffed the competition, beating a strong Mighty AOD and Afreeca Freecs Red to secure a spot in APEX Season 3.
Their freshmen season in OGN’s Overwatch APEX saw them in Group B alongside Afreeca Freecs, RunAway, and KongDoo Uncia. All of which were veteran teams that were not going to hand over losses. However, X6-Gaming were no slouches. They managed a very respectable showing for their rookie season, placing second in their group with wins over KongDoo Uncia and RunAway.
That said, the second round of group play was much more difficult.
Placed in Group A, X6 faced off against a strong Afreeca Freecs Blue team, who had previously beat them 3-0, the Season 1 champions, Team EnVyUs, and a floundering Meta Athena. This is where most people remember first hearing about X6-Gaming.
They remember the attack Junkrat.
“NoSmite’s on Junkrat!” A confused sense of excitement seasoned with caution made up the call as APEX commentator Christopher "PapaSmithy" Smith said as X6-Gaming approached the payload. “Oh, what the heck!?” Max "Atlus" Anderson, his co-commentator replied. “Okay, nevermind, we’re going for the attack Junkrat!”
To explain; their first match in the second phase of group play was against Team EnVyUs. This was the only Western team to both win a season of APEX and continue to find success. Many people predicted EnVyUs to win the match without much effort seeing how successful their new addition of star DPS player Hwang "EFFECT" Hyeon had been.
Unfortunately for Western fans, X6 had other plans in mind.
The series battled back and forth up until the fourth map, Dorado. X6-Gaming needed to pull out the win to draw the series to map five -- and they had one pocket strategy that just might do the trick; attacking with Junkrat.
They moved their main tank to Junkrat, put their flex tank on Reinhardt, and had their DPS players play Soldier 76 and Tracer, and proceeded to shell the hell out of the high ground of Dorado. And due to EnVyUs not having a Lucio, it made it very difficult for the team to rotate without using a good portion of their D.Va Defense Matrix.
Needless to say, Team EnVyUs was caught by surprise and didn’t put up much of a fight. X6-Gaming finished Dorado, a map notorious for its difficulty, with 2:40 left in the timebank. They then would ride this to a map victory, as well as a match victory over the Western hopefuls, 3-2. Riding high on their victory, X6 would approach their next match with newfound confidence.
However, they were playing Afreeca Freecs Blue, the team that handed them a convincing victory in the first group stage. And once again, the Afreeca Freecs handed them a swift 3-0 loss. This then would force the rematch between X6-Gaming and Team EnVyus from earlier in the month.
X6-Gaming would fall to Afreeca Freecs Blue, 0-3, spelling the closure of their first APEX Season. However, this would secure them a slot in the following season.
Before the start of APEX Season 4, X6 would compete in the Nexus Cup 2017 - Summer tournament and were quickly outmatched by teams that had beaten during the run through APEX Season 3, namely RunAway and KongDoo Uncia.
Following a disappointing finish during the Nexus Cup Summer tournament, the team expanded to its first new player since the team's inception. X6-Gaming added Sombra specialist, Lee "BQB" Sang-bum. With a new player in-tow, they were prepared for anything APEX Season 4 threw at them.
Being placed in Group D alongside LW Blue, who would later forfeit their slot, CONBOX, and Meta Bellum, X6-Gaming was projected to have a strong showing. Their only real competition came at the hands of CONBOX, but even then it wasn’t enough to take a single map of off X6. The team would go undefeated through the first stage of groups with a 3-0 match record and a 9-0 map record.
However, the second stage of group play was anything but mimicked. Unable to find a single match victory in Group B alongside the likes of GC Busan, RunAway, and Lunatic-Hai, X6-Gaming would fail just short of the semifinals once again. With another disappointing finish, the team continued to retool their roster.
Park "RoKy" Joo-seong, from Showmanship7 and, Park "Architect" Min-ho, from CONBOX, joined the team just in time for the Nexus Cup 2017 - Annual Finals. This event could begin a small hot streak for the team.
X6-Gaming was slotted into Group B for the Nexus Cup Annual Finals. They paired off against teams like Seven, Team CC and LaoYinBin. After suffering a close loss to Team CC, X6-Gaming roared back and finished first in the group and advanced to the playoffs.
This is where everything would always fall apart before. Thoughts of missing APEX playoffs and early tournament eliminations haunted them, but this time it was different. You could chalk it up to the new talented players or a change in the metagame, but something clicked for X6.
They stormed over Seven, Lunatic-Hai, and defeated KongDoo Panthera twice to acquire their first tournament title. With their first taste of gold, created a blood rush of confidence that they carried into their next event.
2018 brought the Overwatch League era, and within it came Overwatch Contenders. An amateur division focused around growth that would showcase the talent which would eventually feed into the league itself. X6-Gaming maintained their slot from APEX Season 4 and drew into Group A along with Element Mystic, Meta Bellum, KongDo Panthera, BlossoM and Meta Athena.
X6 would perform fairly well, going 4-1 in matches and 14-6 in maps. What’s important to note is that their only loss came at the hands of Element Mystic during their season opener. This was a team that was touted early on to be tournament favorites.
Placing second in their group allocated them a favorable playoff seed where they drew Foxes as their quarterfinal opponent, whom they quickly dispatched. Another keynote here is the only team that beat them, Element Mystic, suffered a massive upset against 02 Ardeont. With Element Mystic out of the picture, things looked golden for the X6-Gaming roster.
Their strength during this period of time primarily came from their Sombra player, BQB. He was among some of South Korea’s best and it showed especially in X6-Gaming’s next match against RunAway, whom they beat 3-1. This put X6-Gaming into the grand finals against the team that upset Element Mystic, 02 Ardeont.
X6-Gaming came into the final as favorites for good reason. Their flexibility persisted was evergreen and they understood the metagame well. They dominated 02 Ardeont, 4-0, and finally captured a major title. While there are glaring asterisks involved, this had to have been a major confidence boost to the team as a whole. They finally could put a domestic trophy on the shelf.
Unfortunately, X6-Gaming would not defend their title come Overwatch Contenders Season 2.
Going 2-3 in matches spelled a weak playoff seed for X6-Gaming, and when you look at their group, it explains a lot. Having to play against a rebuilt KongDoo Panthera, a surging RunAway, and Meta Bellum just goes to show how difficult their run was in Contenders Season 2.
Placing fourth in their group gave them a playoff seed, but they would have to face the first seed coming in from the opposing group and it would be against a very familiar team; Element Mystic. The game would go the distance, but the defending champions, X6-Gaming, just did not live up to the changing landscape and the tank-centric metagame the playoffs fell into.
Ironically, this would be the last major event for X6-Gaming.
On October 3rd, Eclipse Media announce they purchased X6-Gaming's spot in Contenders Season 3 Korea and would play under the name, GEEKSTAR.ECLIPSE and the South Korean team, Seven, would hold the moniker of X6-Gaming and compete through Open Division under the name.
Unfortunately, the team would place only manage a third-place finish and narrowly miss a Contenders Trials berth and have, as of writing this, been dormant since the event.
It’s sad to see such a consistent staple of the South Korean Overwatch scene go dark so suddenly. When I reflect back on the team, I remember just how flexible the roster was. Yes, you had a main tank who was most known for beating a fan favorite team with a pocket Junkrat, but you also had a DPS player who could play almost anyone from the cast of Offense heroes, as well as some flex tanks. You had a criminally underrated tank duo, who put up some ridiculous statistics.
They even innovated how to play Defense on Numbani’s first point. They would regularly take their Ana and place her near the defender’s spawn. Due to the elongated sightlines, this was very safe and still allowed her to support and heal allies on the point. This then evolved into another sub-strategy where they would run Soldier 76, Torbjörn, and would have their Ana as the sole healer. The general idea of the composition was to leave the Soldier 76 on the high ground in a safe pocket, near a health pack, and once the attacking team would approach the point, he would pressure them from the high ground, setting up a cross-fire with Torbjörn’s turret.
Many of X6-Gaming’s traits would be passed down to many of their players, many of whom now play within the Overwatch League.
Kim "GodsB" Kyeong-bo, Park "Ria" Seong-Wook, Jeong "NoSmite" Da-un, and Yoon "BeBe" Hui-chang all joined the Hangzhou Spark for the 2019 Overwatch League season.
Head coach Lee "Mask" Muho, who seemingly was responsible for creating the team as well as scouting the additional players they added over the years also joined the Hangzhou Spark for the 2019 Overwatch League Season.
Kim "TimeBoy" Won-tae departed the team after X6-Gaming’s victory at the Nexus Cup - Annual finals. He is currently serving his compulsory military service.
Choi "ChoiHyoBin" Hyo-bin and Park "Architect" Min-ho joined the San Fransisco Shock between March and April respectively for the 2018 Overwatch League season.
One of the original members and support players for X6-Gaming, Min "GILY" Joon-ho, went inactive shortly after the team's middling finish during APEX Season 4.
Lee "BQB" Sang-bum has recently joined the Florida Mayhem to compete in Overwatch League Season 2.
Support player, Park "RoKy" Joo-seong, left the team after Overwatch Contenders Season 2 and joined team Seven as they competed through Contenders Trials. They placed below top three and did not make it into Overwatch Contenders Season 3. However, he’s joined the Toronto Defiant and is currently competing in the Overwatch League.
The Overwatch Open Division team that competed in the first season of 2019 failed to meet expectations and did not make Contenders Trials. The team included talents like Lim "Glister" Gil-seong, Kim "Creative” Young-wan, and the Chinese player, Zheng "Shy" Yangjie. Glister and Creative joined the Seoul Dynasty Academy team, Gen.G esports. Flex player, Yoon “FR3E” Tae-in, joined GC Busan WAVE. As for the rest of the roster, their fate is unknown, and most players are seemingly free agents looking for homes.
I lovingly blame X6-Gaming for forming my early axioms around flexibility, synergy, and consistency, all of which I still hold as truths to this day. They were a team that surpassed their plateau but still had so much more room to grow. Their early losses were signs of growth and they didn’t immediately move to change the roster when things didn’t go well. And there is something endearing about that. The team wasn’t flashy, but it felt like you couldn’t stump them. X6-Gaming were always prepared and could adapt on the fly with their massive hero pools.
So when looking back, don’t remember them as the rookie team who failed to meet their potential. Remember them as the perennial gatekeepers to the APEX playoffs. Remember them for their unwavering nerve and flexibility. And while their jerseys have changed, some to pink and blue and others to red and black, remember all of the players, and their memories, as X6-Gaming.