As we headed into week two it was crunch time for all the teams. While Citizen7 were heading for a valiant yet inevitable last place and elimination, it was a fairly open field for the rest of the teams. Only one of the seven other teams would be going home at this point, but there were several big names in the bottom half of the table with the erratic results. Throughout this second week there were a spate of ongoing rosters changes and trials which only added to the uncertainty of performances and results. Winghaven in for Jkw, MikeyA in for TwoEasy and Ube in for Kryw just to name a few.

With these stand-ins it was perhaps not to be a master class of top level Overwatch, but there was plenty of entertainment to be found as the prolonged series of group stage fixtures attempted to sort the wheat from the chaff of the turbulent North American scene.

Day 4

Week 2 kicked off with a bang as the two undefeated teams faced off; Immortals and Renegades looking to break each other's streaks. King’s Row started with a surprising amount of DPS heroes in the mix, perhaps due to free agent Kyb playing instead of manOFsnow. Both teams put up successful attacks, but some solid all round play from Immortals made them the first team to take a map off of Renegades. Immortals kept their unbeaten winning streak thanks to a great overtime come back from their offence and a great defence. Renegades more experimental hero compositions did not pay off.

Winghaven kept the roster merry-go-round going as he stepped in for Jkw when compLexity took on Team Liquid. It didn't appear to be working out as a close Hollywood went in Liquid’s favour in the second attack phase. Once again compLexity looked disjointed in their attacks, but torkTJO switching back onto Sombra gave them the edge they needed to tie it up on King’s Row. Nepal was to decide it and better ult-combos throughout allowed Team Liquid to get another good result to follow up their victory over FaZe Clan on Day 3.

The exhilarating pace of this first day back took a brief breather as Kungarna romped to predictable victory over Citizen7 in straight maps. While Citizen7 demonstrated glimpses of quality with a few nice ult combos they could not maintain it across the series.

MikeyA then made his first appearance since starting his trial for FaZe, while Ube continued to stand in for Kryw for Luminosity in the next game of the day. Clutch plays from FaZe on the second and third stage helped them take the lead on Route 66. FaZe continued their reliance on individual plays into Nepal, bringing rounds back from the brink, but it was not enough. As the series was tied up it moved onto Watchpoint: Gibraltar where several miscoordinated pushes from FaZe gifted the final map to Luminosity.

After another intense game Citizen7 were to wrap up Day 4 by taking on Team Liquid, who were fresh off the back of their win over FaZe. On King's Row Citizen7 struggled to close out their advantages in Liquid’s second attack phase giving them an insurmountable task for their own second attack. Once again Citizen7 show promise but cannot turn it into results as Liquid take the win in the final game of Day 4.

Results:

Day 5

The day got rolling with Renegades looking to bounce back from their first loss, but some uncharacteristically poor positioning from Mangachu gifted Liquid the opening map. Renegades hit straight back on Route 66 with a dominant display. It all came down to Nepal and a full five rounds packed with messy fights and mistakes from both teams. It was Rapha who clinched it in the end, eating Mangachu’s Graviton Surge and delivering another great win for Liquid in Week 2.

As Immortals looked to continue their unbeaten run they would falter against Kungarna. They looked lost trying to break Kungarna’s defence on King’s Row and could only find their way to giving up an easy opening map. Things didn’t improve on Nepal and Kungarna clinched the victory with a swift 3-0.

We moved into the first of compLexity’s two fixtures and things got off to a rough start against Luminosity, struggling on their attacks and losing Temple of Anubis. Then on King’s Row for one of the first times since trying out Winghaven everything seemed to click and compLexity looked more like themselves. Pushing it to a third map of Nepal, that required five back and forth rounds before compLexity came out on top.

FaZe took on Citizen7 in a must win game to help keep their qualification dreams alive and win they did. Despite Sypeh going off throughout the course of the series, FaZe had more quality across their team with all three FaZe tanks finding frags map after map. This loss was to be the final nail in the coffin for Citizen7 who now faced elimination, but FaZe would had held on to their tournament life by the skin of their teeth for now.

Coming off the back of their hard fought win, compLexity took on Immortals. It was a disastrous start for harbleu & Co. as they were swiftly beaten 3-1, with some outstanding play from nomy who is really starting to make a name for himself. On King’s Row compLexity were improved, but nomy continued to deliver superb plays to seal the victory for Immortals. The result would leave compLexity in a difficult spot going into the final day.

Results:

Day 6

The entertaining games continued to flow on the final day with Renegades taking on Kungarna. It was a close contest throughout. Renegades claiming King’s Row, while Kungarna took Watchpoint: Gibraltar thanks to an incredible second attack push finishing the entire map with only a minute to work with. Kungarna continued their impressive overtime performances to take the series on Route 66 with both teams securing qualification to the next round.

Next up, Team Liquid took on Luminosity and it was SPREE who dominated the early game, pumping out incredible damage and exploiting a poor performance from his opponents. A revival from Liquid helped them claw back Gibraltar, forcing a deciding map of King’s Row. The revival was short lived though, as Luminosity rolled over them. Again both teams had secured qualification.

Midway through the final day and we witnessed a FaZe Clan plagued by individual mistakes in their must-win game. It seemed like the FaZe players were taking it in turns to give away early picks, making it all too easy for Immortals to pull them apart. While FaZe were better on Temple of Anubis, they were still nowhere near good enough. FaZe would have to hope Citizen7 could beat compLexity in the next game if they were to escape elimination.

Unfortunately for FaZe it was the same old story for Citizen7 - they put up a good fight but were outmatched by compLexity. It did not help their chances that harbleu was hitting everything as Zarya, producing three Gravitons in three fights on their King’s Row defence. His reign of terror continued on Nepal helping compLexity come back from two rounds down to take the second map.

FaZe were back in for the final game against Kungarna. A crucial fxiture for FaZe that started with a bizarre 0-0 draw on Temple of Anubis. Kungarna had more success attacking on Hollywood thanks to mykL’s Self Destructs, but FaZe were once again unable to capture a single point. FaZe were on the verge of being eliminated when it came time to play Nepal but their strong record on control maps would stand them in good stead and they stormed to a 3-0 win powered by crowd pleasing ult-combos. It would all come down to Gibraltar. Weird hero picks from FaZe gave Kungarna an early advantage, but in the end it didn't matter as FaZe were unable to complete the third stage and were knocked out then and there.

Results:

Summary:

After two weeks of erratic action with maps being traded all over the place it is Citizen7 and, more surprisingly, FaZe Clan who have been eliminated from the tournament. The final standings for the Winter Premiere Group Play Phase 1 were:

  1. Immortals (6 - 1) (12-4)
  2. Kungarna (5-2) (12-6)
  3. Team Liquid (4-3) (10-8)
  4. Detroit Renegades (4-3) (10-6)
  5. Luminosity Gaming (4-3) (10-9)
  6. compLexity (3-4) (8-10)
  7. FaZe Clan (2-5) (6-11)
  8. Citizen7 (0-7) (0-14)

The remaining six teams move on to another round robin that will run from the 17th - 19th January. Whilst Immortals may have risen to the top of this first Group Play Phase, all the teams in the top six have taken maps off each other - the next stage of the tournament is far from predictable.

With EnVyUs and Cloud9 away in South Korea it has been hard to separate the rest of the North American teams, although it has been exciting to watch them try. Two of these teams will be eliminated again in the next phase and the remaining four will duke it out for their share of the $100,000 prize pool.

Right now Immortals and Kungarna look to be the favourites, but Liquid and Luminosity Gaming have also been performing better than they had previously shown. Not to forget Renegades, who went on a four game unbeaten streak in Week 1. Whilst compLexity struggled the most out of all these teams (especially since bringing in Winghaven), we can't forgot the show they put on at MLG Vegas. No team can be counted out at this point, so grab your popcorn and watch the madness unfold live tonight.