Last night, before the beginning of BlizzCon 2019 and subsequently the 2019 Overwatch World Cup, the online portion of the tournament was held, pitting a whole range of nations against one another for a spot in the World Cup playoffs. The online system was set over four brackets where the winner of each would progress toward the group stages held throughout day one of BlizzCon 2019.
Bracket A saw tough competition as Denmark, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan fought for victory. After a series of tough matches taking place between the Oceania teams leading to Australia taking the victory, they fell short against Denmark in the end, who took the bracket and will be playing in Group B with Canada and China.
As for Bracket B, the 7 Lions showed dominance as they knocked Iceland and Norway out of the competition, with Ireland and Spain falling earlier on in the Bracket. With victory under their belt, the United Kingdom will be advancing into Group A, with South Korea, USA and France.
The competition in Bracket C received a lot of hype as Japan and Italy slugged it out to a fifth map in efforts to move into the bracket final. However, in the end, the Swedish roster reigned supreme taking the bracket and knocking Colombia, Philippines and India out of contention, landing Sweden a spot in Group A with South Korea, USA, France and the UK.
Bracket D saw 3-0 matchups across the board, seeing Russia and Germany blow all the other opponents out of the water. The bracket final between the two showed a dominant display by Russia, knocking Germany, Latvia, Mexico, Hong Kong and Paraguay out of the competition for another year, landing Russia a place in Group B with Canada, China and Denmark.
The final position in Group B and the remaining spot in the World Cup group stages saw competition in Bracket E, where Singapore, South Africa, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Finland and the Netherlands battled it out. Finland and the Netherlands showed they were the dominant rosters over the course of the bracket, with the Netherlands proving they were the cream of the crop, landing them the final spot in Group B with, Canada, China, Denmark and Russia.
The group stages will be the next level of competition and will begin at 7pm GMT (12pm PST) today, pitting the groups against each other for the six spots in Saturday's finals. The format will only see three teams progress from each group, so four teams in total will be heading home later today. You can catch the action on the many Overwatch Twitch channels.
Which team are you supporting in the 2019 Overwatch World Cup?
