The second division of Korean Overwatch, APEX Challengers, is set to begin its third season tomorrow. Twelve teams will compete over the next two months in a round robin for the opportunity to break into the hyper-competitive premiere Korean league of APEX.

Two of the twelve, MVP Space and Rhinos Gaming Titan, were relegated from APEX last season after finishing last in their group and then failing to beat the Super Week teams. Another two, LW Red and Mighty AOD, made it into a promotion spot after successful runs in Challengers S1 and S2 but also could not beat the Super Week competition and fell back into Challengers. Many of the teams have made changes to their rosters in the offseason, including LW Red who have rebuilt their roster for the climb.

Notable teams who made it to Challengers through the offline qualifiers are the new teams from South Korean organisations ROX and The Meta: ROX Orcas and Meta Bellum.

The round robin uses a similar points-based system to the APEX group stage. A win in Challengers S3 will net teams three points for a 3-0, two points for a 3-1, and one point for a 3-2. Losses, as usual, get teams zero points.

Challengers previously ran twice as quickly as its older brother APEX, but the format has been tweaked so that both end roughly at the beginning of April. The top six teams in Challengers will automatically qualify for the next season, but the top four teams have a chance to fight the lowest teams in APEX for promotion into APEX Season 3.

Teams:

  • LW Red
  • Rhinos Gaming Wings
  • Mighty AOD
  • Watch Out
  • MVP Space
  • Rhinos Gaming Titan
  • Meta Bellum
  • ROX Orcas
  • IX
  • MiraGe Gaming
  • X6-Gaming
  • Luminous Solar

Challengers Season 3 begins in under 24 hours with MVP Space vs. LW Red; Watch Out vs. RG Titan; and RG Wings vs. Mighty AOD.

The matches are exclusively broadcast in Korean, but may well feature the next rising stars of Overwatch. Catch the games on the OGN PLUS YouTube channel.