ANOX had looked good in their first match of the tournament against favourites Rogue. They couldn't find a shred of that form against Luminosity Gaming though and bowed out of the Overwatch Open in straight maps, losing 3-1 on both Nepal and Route 66.

ANOX looked strong on Control against Rogue and with Nepal as the first map it seemed likely that they would be set up for a strong beginning. Eissfeldt was one of the players who had come out to shine in the heavily Reaper-centric meta though and was a player to watch. One of the two teams would be facing a premature end to their ELEAGUE journey.

Nepal

It was actually Luminosity who came flying out of the gates though. They took instant control of Temple, Eissfeldt and Manneten’s homeground, and took themselves up to 99% before ANOX were able to reply. Once in control of the height though, the Russian team began to mount a comeback. With Rubikon and Sharyk providing key support from Zen and Zarya they got the round to double OT but couldn’t hold back the Blossom from Eissfeldt. LG took the point and the first round.

Cypher moved from Reaper to Genji for Sanctum but their team kept getting destroyed by a well-supported Eissfeldt. They couldn’t get a grip on the slippery Reaper and with the help of speed boosts, black holes, and Winston pressure LG melted ANOX and went up 2-0.

ANOX had to turn the map around to avoid going down instantly in their elimination match. They won the first clash and held onto the point for a long time as kensi zipped around the map with the space given to him. They locked out the round at 100% to 0%, bringing it to 2-1 and showing the importance of the first capture.

ANOX and LG went back to Temple and Anak bought room and damage for his team to secure the first cap. They won two fights to get to 52% but didn’t have enough ultimates to stop LG forever. Once in control of the height and space Tseini went wild, again facilitated by Manneten. They built themselves a little cushion and then slammed the map home with a Blossom repush, winning 3-1.

Route 66

ANOX on defense chose to run a triple dps strategy - on the same wavelength as FaZe, seen earlier in the day running that. kensi and sharyk’s McCree and Winston worked well to neutralise the dps players from LG but they lacked good teamfight ability due to their squishy health and lack of frontline. The composition simply wasn’t built for good defensive play and had no synergistic ultimates; they fell flat like a wet house of cards. LG completed the map with relative ease and had the potential to defend the map and knock ANOX out.

ANOX put Rubikon on Ana to try and build a game-changing Nanoboost but the LG dive composition kept picking her off to ruin the plan. Eissfeldt and Tseini on Tracer and Genji were solid in their dps pairing and were never punished for their deep plays.

It took ANOX a long time to take the first point and they had only 3 minutes to complete the map. They dug deep to finally bust every ultimate and wipe LG in overtime, but they timed their repush from spawn perfectly to block the cart before the second checkpoint.

Luminosity outclassed ANOX and there was no answer forthcoming from the Russian side. Their inconsistent play saw them out in last place of Group B.

LG would go on to rematch Misfits in an attempt to progress into playoffs.