The last semifinal of OGN Overwatch APEX Season 2 was a bag of excitement as South Korean teams Lunatic-Hai and Meta Athena faced each other for a finals berth. Meta Athena almost reverse-swept Lunatic-Hai, but the rookie squad wasn't able to continue its Royal Road attempt.
Nepal, the first map, was a crushing blow to the newcomers. Marked by solid plays from Lunatic-Hai and sloppy miscommunication from Meta Athena, LH took the lead and took the win before the teams moved to Eichenwald, where more pain awaited Meta Athena.
Meta Athena was able to push the payload close to the end of the map, but Ha "Sayaplayer" Jeong Woo's McCree ultimate was stopped by a well-timed deflect from Lunatic-Hai's Lee "Whoru" Seung Joon on Genji. Deflecting the Deadeye shot, and killing Sayaplayer instead, stopped Meta Athena's push. That resulted in Lunatic-Hai holding its opponent off the last point, and Whoru took that momentum and decimated Meta Athena's defense when it was Lunatic-Hai's turn to push, for a 2-0 lead in the series.
Meta Athena chose Hanamura to be the third map of the set, and for good reason. The team cut down Lunatic-Hai mercilessly, holding it off the last point after Meta Athena itself swept the map with over four minutes in the timebank. The rookies seemed to get into the swing of things as they tried to even the map to a 2-2 score on Dorado.
Meta Athena used a remarkably creative strategy where Kim "Libero" Hye Sung used a Mei Ice Wall to boost his team over the rooftops and go behind Lunatic-Hai as it defended Point A.
Taking its opponent completely by surprise, Meta Athena was able to push the payload almost all the way to the end before Gong "Miro" Jin Hyuk stopped its offensive with his pocket Winston pick. Lunatic-Hai was unable to push the payload past the finish line, though, and Meta Athena was one win away from a reverse sweep and the finals as a first-year team.
However, Meta Athena met its match on Hollywood, where where one misplayed Earthshatter from Moon "ChangSik" Chang Sik was blocked and ineffective, putting a halt to Meta Athena's offensive mere meters away from the Point B checkpoint. Lunatic-Hai was able to get past the point on offense and defeat the rookie team to earn a ticket into the finals.
The finals, then, will be a rematch of Lunatic-Hai's quarterfinal run-in with RunAway. On April 8, though, the stakes will be considerably higher than that previous series.