The Toronto Ultra continued their surge through the playoffs at the Overwatch event in the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, sweeping their way Saturday into the semifinals.
Playing Group B winner Twisted Minds — who earned a first-round bye into Saturday’s quarterfinals — the Ultra won on Ilios (2-1), Shambali Monastery (1-0), Midtown (2-1) and Suravasa (3-2). Korea’s Choi “MER1T” Tae-min was named match MVP.
The $1.05 million tournament began with 16 teams divided into four groups for a round robin of best-of-five matches. The top three teams in each group earned spots in the single-elimination playoffs.
The winning team will receive $400,000 and 1,000 Esports World Cup Club Championship points. The runner-up will get $160,000 and 600 EWC Club Championship points.
Group C winner ZETA DIVISION, playing in its first match of the tournament, beat Spacestation Gaming 4-2 to advance to the semis and a date with the Ultra. In a very back-and-forth match from the start, ZETA won 2-1 on Ilios before Spacestation answered with a 3-1 win on Circuit Royal. ZETA again took a lead with a 3-1 win on Suravasa but again Spacestation responded, this time taking Runasapi with 89.59 meters to ZETA’s 55.58 meters.
ZETA took a third lead with a 3-1 win on Hollywood, and this time they closed out the match in the following map, winning 2-1 on Lijiang Tower. Korean Lim “Flora” Young-woo nabbed match MVP honors.
In the other half of the bracket, Crazy Raccoon breezed past ENCE with a 4-0 sweep. The Group A winner took Ilios 2-0, Circuit Royal 2-1, Midtown 2-1 and finally Runasapi by more than 60 meters (111.94 – 47.61). Lee “LIP” Jae-won of Korea took home match MVP.
Team Falcons, who tied with Twisted Minds atop Group B but lost the tiebreaker, downed Group D winner Virtus.pro 4-1. Falcons nearly pulled off a sweep by taking the first three maps (2-0 on Ilios, 3-2 on Shambali Monastery and 3-1 on Suravasa), but Virtus stayed alive with a 3-2 win on Midtown. Falcons squashed any hope of a reverse sweep, however, when they closed out the match on Runasapi (104.13 meters to 40.84 meters for Virtus).
Sunday’s semifinals:
–Crazy Raccoon vs. Team Falcons
— ZETA DIVISION vs. Toronto Ultra
(Winners will play in grand final on Sunday)
Overwatch — Esports World Cup prize pool (with monetary winnings and Esports World Cup Club Championship points)
1. $400,000, 1,000
2. $160,000, 600
3-4. $80,000, 275
5-8. $40,000, 60 — ENCE, Virtus.pro, Spacestation Gaming, Twisted Minds
9-12. $20,000, 0 — Fnatic, M80, LGD.OA, Gaimin Gladiators
13-16. $10,000, 0 — ROC Esports, Mkers, Bleed Esports, NTMR
–Field Level Media