As the pendulum of history continues to swing, esports history churns forward. Overwatch esports is no exception to this law. With the conclusion of the APEX era settled like dust in the wind, Overwatch Contenders Korea has taken its place. OGN’s APEX was beloved by many, so scrutiny and criticism are understood, yet Contenders Korea has done well for its first season. With new teams feature old faces and old teams looking for a fresh take with new and untapped talents the inaugural season of Contenders Korea has almost reached its own conclusion. With the grand final set to debut May 12, it's time to return to the effervescent storylines of South Korean Overwatch. Our first team touches on a hot-button topic and narrative that has live on throughout the many years and different games in esports, the story of the “royal road.”

Walking in the footsteps of giants, O2 Ardeont has somehow found their way to the grand finals of Contenders Korea. They walk within the imprints of GC Busan. As royal roaders and as a team that snuck into the playoffs relatively under the radar. Where GC Busan had their shocking evolution in APEX Season 4, O2 slowly take each game in stride. Map by map, they’ve begun their growth as one of the most surprising stories in Overwatch esports to date.

This young team assembled from bits and bobs from South Korea’s amateur scene has done the unthinkable: upsetting Element Mystic, one of the best teams outside of the Overwatch League. To put this into perspective, Element Mystic finished the regular season with the top seed in Group A, a 5-0 match record, and a dominant 18-2 map record. O2 Ardeont finished the regular season with the lowest seed in Group B, a 2-3 match record, and a lackluster 10-10 map record. Even if you’ve never watched a day of Overwatch in your life, you could easily predict the outcome of this match.

With jaws laying on the floor and hearts broken, O2 Ardeont would reverse sweep Element Mystic, 3-2. Again, for context, this means that Element Mystic lost more maps in this match than they did in the entirety of the regular season. Not only that, but this would also be their first loss in Contenders Korea. With Element Mystic, the widely accepted best team, out during round one of the playoffs, this opened the door for anyone to ascend to the throne and claim the title for Contenders Korea. The giant killers continued forward, their thirst for upsets unquenched. The next name on O2 Ardeont’s list would be Meta Bellum.

The match would be closer in skill to what O2 Ardeont could bring on a consistent basis, and it showed. Meta Bellum was a decent comparison in terms of skill level but played across O2 in Group A. Where Meta Bellum finished 3-2 in matches and 11-9 in maps, which if we only look at the numbers, is comparable to O2  Ardeont. Both young teams competed against each other in the upper half of the round of four in a best of five where O2 Ardeont would emerge victorious with a commanding 3-1 scoreline.

With no team house and little support, this rags to riches story echo something special. That no matter the circumstances, no matter the obstacles you have to overcome, you do have it within you to rise to the occasion and chase your dreams. O2 Ardeont has penned a new chapter in the book of Overwatch. They’ve scratched their names down among some of the most prestigious names in esports history. O2 now look forward towards the finals. Their opponents are a team whom we’ve been introduced to, but always seem to sneak under the radar every event they attend.  

X6-Gaming burst onto the global Overwatch esports consciousness when they defeated Lunatic-Hai to qualify for Nexus Cup - Spring 2017 before they had even appeared in OGN’s APEX Overwatch League. They would bring home silver at this event losing 1-4 to wNv.KR. For their first showing to be this good, and outside of the most prestigious tournament at the time, it was clear that their future was to be bright and that prophecy has continued to this very day.

X6 is most known for their breakout match against Team Envyus in APEX Season 3. The fateful match would go the distance to game four, the map would be Dorado and X6 would attack first. Unbeknownst to Team Envyus, X6 had an ace up their sleeve. In an era where Junkrat was more of a niche hero that saw little to no playtime, X6 took their triple DPS strategy, which featured their main tank, NoSmite, on Junkrat and their D.Va player, ChoiHyoBin, role-swapping to Winston. This curveball would give X6-Gaming the edge and swing the match in their favor.

X6-Gaming has been long due for a victory and this would be an amazing send off for ChoiHyoBin as he departs for the Overwatch League and rejoins Architect on the San Francisco Shock. This also gives a great opportunity for others the X6 roster to show their worth to potential expansion teams for the Overwatch League and even teams looking for prospects for season two. Their veteran story will undoubtedly continue, regardless of the result of the finals. Their quiet disposition and clean gameplay mimics that of GC Busan in their prime.

In every sense of the word, this should be a David vs. Goliath storyline, but with O2’s recent streak of success, is that necessarily the case? They defeated the favorite to win the entire event in Element Mystic and a promising Meta Bellum squad that could have easily taken their place in the final. I would not be surprised to see this team succeed in future seasons of Contenders Korea, but X6-Gaming have too much going for them.

X6 have a wide arsenal of team compositions to work with, their DPS lineup of Glister, BQB, and GodsB cover all of the bases for any map O2 want to throw at them, and in a regional metagame where Sombra can make or break you, X6 have one of the best Sombra players left in the tournament in BQB. Not to mention O2 seems to falter when playing against dive and when star hitscan player Climax fails to flex his dominance on the server. This is also ignoring the fact that X6 also have one of the better tank and support lines in the league. BeBe and Ria have both been huge standouts to me, and even if Ria is underperforming, they can always switch to ChoiHyoBin who has been an incredible threat for this X6 lineup.

If O2 have anything going for them, it is the fact that they are considered the underdogs. Adding that to fuel your competitive fire makes you play loose and without nerves, because no one is talking about you or studying you. Sadly, in the grand final, you're the only opponent to study for, so I don’t expect X6 to become overconfident. I don’t see a map where they can take X6 to and flex an advantage. They could favor Widowmaker maps and force the duel between Climax and GodsB, and that might be their best bet when it comes to taking this match, but you're putting your own skilled sniper against another skilled sniper. Does O2 really want the grand final to become a knife fight in the back alleys of Junkertown? Yet, there always is the Control factor. If O2 can force close maps, and even tie, on Escort, Assault, and Hybrid, and can win Control, they have a chance and squeaking out a victory. Alas, having all of those caveats makes this hard to count on.

With that being said, I’d give a confident nod to X6-Gaming to become your Contenders Korea Season 1 champions in a fairly dominant fashion. I’m looking at a 4-1 or even a 4-2 for X6-Gaming. Either way, if my prediction does not come true, were are in for an incredible final.

Strap yourselves in and brace for impact, this is only the end of season one.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment and OGN.