With the celebrations of Lunar New Year subsiding, Overwatch teams return to Seoul, South Korea to resume OGN's Overwatch APEX Season 2.
There was no knowing what a fresh year would bring, but OGN gave teams and viewers a gift, with the first map of both sets on the newest Overwatch map, Oasis. On top of that, the new patch hit recently and South Korean teams get to finally strut the DPS (damage per second) meta again as many never fully adopted the quad-tank meta.
First up were South Korean teams Afreeca Freecs Blue and Kongdoo Uncia, taking that trip to the new map to decide who the King of the Hill -- or Oasis -- would be. Kongdoo would make AFB regretful, not only on Oasis but during the entire best-of-five, letting Kim "birdring" Ji Hyuk flank them several times on McCree. On Oasis, on King's Row, on Watchpoint: Gibraltar -- you name it -- birdring was finding the right time to sneak around the side and find the opportune times to strike and cripple at least one or two players on AFB, allowing the rest of Kongdoo to storm the front and take the set 3-1, dropping only Volskaya Industries in a close tussle on the last point.
If spectators weren't entertained enough, the second match featured the return of Kim "Haksal" Hyojong. That's right, South Korea's RunAway returns to OGN after re-qualifying through the relegation tournament to face up against Flash Lux in hopes of redemption. Haksal's first appearance on Genji dazzled as he made longtime Overwatch fans think that he might be better than Brandon "Seagull" Larned's Genji. This time around would be different, of course, as RunAway entered the season fresh with roster changes that have fantastic players like Kim "Shine" Minkyuk on support to elevate Haksal's Genji in the current DPS-favored meta.
RunAway completely wiped the floor with Flash Lux 3-0, allowing Haksal nearly free reign in their matches but so much credit deserves to be given to players like Shine, making a statement on Ana, and Kim "KoX" Minsoo on the other DPS spot, putting plenty of pressure on Flash Lux with Mei and other heroes.
There are more matches on the horizon between South Korean teams MVP Infinity, Meta Athena, LW Blue and Lunatic-Hai. Their matches begin February 3rd.