NOTE: This thread may contain discussion of OWCS and it’s now-defunct predecessor OWL. It is therefore advised that those who may be sensitive to such content, or to discussion about Overwatch as a whole, go try French opera instead.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Day 1 of the 2024 Overwatch Championship Series Major, LIVE FROM THE DREAMHACK FESTIVAL IN DALLAS, TEXAS! After 2 months of regional play, 8 teams from NA, EMEA, and APAC are about to begin their quest to be crowned the first champions of a new era of Overwatch Esports - but for 2 of those teams, it’ll be a very short quest, as 8 will become 6 by the end of today!
To kick off today’s action, it’s the Upper Quarterfinals. To start, fans tuning in on the main OW Esports Twitch channel or OW Esports official YouTube channel will see Team Falcons (APAC2) take on ENCE (EMEA2) in a quarterfinal match featuring 2 rosters loaded with names viewers may recognize from the days of OWCS’ predecessor, Overwatch League. While Team Falcons and ENCE battle, fans tuning in to the OW Esports 2 Twitch channel will get Overwatch League nostalgia, as Spacestation Gaming (EMEA1), featuring a roster comprised of the stars of the former London Spitfire, take on the team formerly known as Students of the Game…now and forevermore known as the San Francisco Shock’s reincarnation, NRG Shock (NA3).
After the dust settles on those 2 matchups, on the main OW Esports Twitch channel and OW Esports official YouTube channel, fans will see Crazy Raccoon (APAC1) face off against M80 (NA2) in a quarterfinal match featuring a ton of veteran Overwatch talent. Whilst those 2 teams battle, those wishing for a bit of Overwatch League nostalgia will want to head over to the OW Esports 2 Twitch channel, where the Toronto Defiant, hereafter referred to as the Defiant (NA1), will match up against Twisted Minds (EMEA3), in a quarterfinal match which will settle whether you should invest in a roster core comprised of former Overwatch League champions (like the Defiant did by forming a roster core consisting of members of the 2023 Overwatch League Champions Florida Mayhem) or a roster core comprised of Overwatch World Cup champions (like Twisted Minds did by forming a roster core consisting of the damage roster of 2023 Overwatch World Cup champions Saudi Arabia).
The winners of the 4 upper quarterfinal matches advance to the Upper Semifinals, and consequently, Day 2. For the losers of the 4 quarterfinal matches, they drop to Round 1 of the Lower Bracket. Lower Bracket Round 1, Match 1 will see the loser of the Team Falcons and ENCE quarterfinal battle against the loser of the Spacestation and SOG quarterfinal. The winner advances to Lower Bracket Round 2 and plays on into Day 2. The loser is eliminated from the OWCS Major. Then, it’s Lower Bracket Round 1, Match 2, as the loser of the Crazy Raccoons and M80 quarterfinal goes up against the loser of the Defiant and Twisted Minds quarterfinal. The winner advances to Lower Bracket Round 2 and plays on into Day 2. The loser is eliminated from the OWCS Major.
8 teams enter, only 6 will move on to Day 2 of the OWCS Major and DreamHack Dallas. The first-ever international live event of the OWCS era is about to begin - and short of a BlizzCon celebration, there is no better festival to host it than DreamHack, and no better place to host Overwatch matches than Dallas! So set your status to Out of Office, grab your popcorn, and make sure you’re not sitting too close to the edge of your chair! Day 1 starts…NOW!
BROADCAST NOTE: With 12 hours of rewards up for grabs, and with at least 15 hours worth of broadcasts expected over the next 3 days, players should have enough time to earn all the rewards avao;ab;e. I do recommend watching the games from Twitch as opposed to YouTube, where it is easier to tell if you are actually earning progress. In an effort to avoid potentially being viewed by Twitch and/or YouTube as AFK and thus not accrue watch progress, I recommend utilizing an auto-refresher extension (your browser’s extension/app store should have plenty of free ones) and setting it to refresh your browser at least every 15 minutes, and preferably 10 minutes if you want to be completely safe. Rest assured, I will be monitoring the stream chat and the forums - even if I do not respond personally, I will be at least lurking - and if issues with drops are widespread enough, I am ready and willing to begin the process of raising the appropriate alarms at BlizzardCS.
A FINAL NOTE: I understand that the ongoing questionable state Overwatch 2 is in, the kids getting out of school for the summer, along with recent non-Overwatch related world news, has resulted in some…most interesting threads and discussion here on the forums. HOWEVER, even if it’s a new era of OW Esports, my match discussion thread rules have not changed - I expect trash talking, as should the moderators and thread participants. I do NOT expect trolling, off-topic posts that are posted purely to hijack or ruin the thread, etc. - and those posts which clearly fall into the latter category will be flagged for moderators to review upon filing back into the office on Monday. Don’t be that guy who starts off the summer months with a vacation from these forums. As always, thank you in advance and whether you’re watching from home, on the go, or from DreamHack Dallas, ENJOY THE OWCS MAJOR!
3:20 PM UPDATE: Matches are currently delayed (no score currently) as DreamHack Wi-Fi routers may have just dethroned “World of Warcraft servers on patch day” as “Worst servers to host a Blizzard LAN on” - OW Esports will communicate an updated schedule once the scope and impact of the delays is understood - for details and further communication, you can follow OWCS on Twitter/X (OW_Esports) and other social media channels, and rest assured I will pass along updates as I get them.
4:52PM EDT UPDATE: Bad Pachimari has been banished from social media and DreamHack Wi-fi appears to have stabilized. Quarterfinals are now officially commencing, with ENCE vs. Team Falcons on the main channel and Spacestation Gaming vs. NRG Shock (formerly known as SOG) is on the B Twitch channel. 2 hour rewards, and for some, 3 hour rewards, should be trickling in if you took advantage of the free drops progress caused by the delays. But for now, GET IN HERE!
