As the catch cry goes:
ヽʕ •ᴥ•ʔﾉ Raise your koalas!ヽʕ •ᴥ•ʔﾉ
The various football codes might be in finals mode right now, but a team of Australian esports heroes were also hard at work.
Billed as one of the toughest groups in this year’s four Overwatch World Cup qualifying stages, it lived up to expectation. And when the digital dust cleared, the Aussie crew had clawed its way to the World Cup finals in November.
You could even say, we koalified. (HT to @jesskearnzy for the pun)
Overwatch, a team shooter with a global city-based professional league attached, holds an annual world cup to see which nation reigns supreme – or, typically, who can come second-best to South Korea.
Our qualifying stage took place with six teams facing off in Bangkok, and while Spain and hosts Thailand didn’t put up much resistance, Australia faced a tough weekend against Denmark, Sweden and China in the battle for two finals spots.
From day one the Aussies were winning the style wars, with a deeply unified team – led by Australian Overwatch League star Custa – delivering some sassy kangaroo onesie pics on social media.
The sexiest team will be back tomorrow vs Team China ?? in the meantime enjoy these beautiful lads.. ? pic.twitter.com/xIvHp2WJhZ
— Australia 2018 WC ?? (@AUSOWWC) September 15, 2018
The draw gave us a nice ‘warm up’ day one. Clashes against Spain and Thailand were dealt with clinically, dropping just one map out of eight in the process – valuable should a count back be required (spoiler alert: it was).
On day two, our second match against Sweden seemed it would be the featured battle, but Denmark had ideas of its own. Clearly drawing on the power of their half-Australian next-generation royal family, they took the victory and the qualification advantage.
From there it was all on the line against Sweden, and the problems earlier in the day faded away as the Aussies crushed Sweden 4-0.
On day three, two critical matches would decide it all: Denmark vs Sweden, and Australia vs China.
Australians wanted Sweden to defeat Denmark and set the scene for a three-way tie for second-place – a tie would lead to a map wins count back, which would tip the scales in our favour. So Aussie fans abandoned Princess Mary and cheered on the home of Skype and Spotify.
Sweden had nothing to play for but Scandi pride, and with the pressure off they battled to a heartstopping game five before delivering the win that sent Aussies racing to IKEA for lingonberry jam and Daim cake.
Swedish treats in hand, Australia faced off against China with a clear mission. We didn’t have to win. We just needed to win one map out of four to book our ticket to the Top 8 Finals at Blizzcon.
At half-time our squad was down 0-2 and the fear was setting in. Would we fall at the final hurdle? But after the break the team came out and pulled off a miracle defensive hold to deliver that critical point and send us to the finals.
But even that wasn’t enough, with Australia taking the fourth map too, sending the series to a tiebreaker. The winner would take top spot in the group for a better seeding at the finals.
In the end, China shut us down in style, but Aussie fans were celebrating. For the second year in a row we were on our way to the big show.
Commentators lauded the Aussie crew and how well prepared they were for the competition. We showed the world, and Overwatch League management, that Australia and its fans are seriously here to play.
Right now Overwatch League teams are scouting for new recruits for the 2019 season, with eight new teams in search of talent. Our two OWL pros – Custa playing for LA Valiant, Gunba a coach at the same team – led our crew brilliantly, helping to showcase the strengths of a line up who would all love to join them at that highest tier.
Here’s hoping members of the Aussie team will find contract offers coming in for next season after such a great showing this weekend.