The final day approached as the Korea University Tiger Dome in Seoul, South Korea filled with spectators ready to watch Lunatic-Hai and RunAway compete in the finals of the OGN Overwatch APEX Season 2 finals. Lunatic-Hai aimed to take the throne for itself, having failed to do so in APEX Season 1 and before that at APAC in China. Its opponent this time were the rising stars, RunAway, who bested Lunatic-Hai in the quarterfinals and were making waves as it marched headfirst into the finals. For this rematch, Lunatic-Hai would get its revenge in a closely fought series that went all the way to the seventh game.
The Teams
Lunatic-Hai: Kim "EscA" In-jae (DPS), Lee "Whoru" Seung Joon (DPS), Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk (Tank), Kim "zunba" Joon Hyuk (Flex), Ryu "Ryujehong" Je-hong (Support/Flex), Yang "tobi" Jin-mo (Support)
vs.
RunAway: Kim "Haksal" Kyo Jong (DPS), Lee "Stitch" Choong Hui (DPS), Ryu "KAISER" Sang Hoon (Tank), Park "BUMPER" Sang Beom (Tank), Yoon "Runner" Dae Hoon (Support), Kim "KoX" Min Soo (Flex)
The Maps
Map 1: Oasis (Control Map)
Ojective: Take the control point and hold onto it until you reach 100%. Best of 3 control point maps.
Map 2: Hollywood (Assault/Escort)
Objective: Take point A, then push the payload to the end.
Map 3: Volskaya Industries (Assault)
Objective: Take point A, then capture point B.
Map 4: Route 66 (Escort)
Objective: Push the payload through points A, B, and finish the map on point C.
Map 5: Hanamura (Assault)
Objective: Take point A, then capture point B.
Map 6: Dorado (Escort)
Objective: Push the payload through points A, B, and finish the map on point C.
Map 7: Eichenwald (Assault/Escort)
Objective: Take point A, then push the payload to the end.
Note: All map types except Control maps have a "timebank" system. Each team has a certain amount of time to complete the objective while the other team defends. If both teams complete the objective on their turns, they each try to complete the objective again with the time remaining in their timebank.
The Finals
The first map on Oasis started big and delivered its promise to showcase both teams' incredible supports as ryujehong and KoX landed clutch sleep darts left and right on Ana. Ryujehong especially landed them on Haksal's Genji each time he started his Dragonblade animation, rendering his presence useless. Despite Haksal being neutralized, EscA's McCree play was less than satisfactory, unable to find targets with Deadeye which gave RunAway the opportunity they needed to secure two out of the three maps on Oasis.
The second map of Hollywood looked like Lunatic-Hai was going to even the series out, taking the first point with a considerable time for the push on point B, and despite a well fought defense in that phase, LH were held in their tracks right before they got the cart to point C. At first it didn't look like it mattered that they didn't finish the map because things looked grim for RunAway as they struggled to capture point A. With only around 20 seconds left on the clock as they took the point, it was Lunatic-Hai's map to lose and they did so at the hands of KAISER's Reinhardt.
Each time RunAway pushed, it made great use of players' ultimates to teamwipe Lunatic-Hai and fill their ultimates for the next fight. A big contributor to these consecutive teamfights was KAISER's Earthshatters on the supports of Lunatic-Hai. Thanks to this tactic, Haksal could use his dragonblade on Genji without the fear of Ryujehong getting another sleep dart on him. With this fantastic teamplay, L-H completed the map and won Hollywood.
Lunatic-Hai excels on assault maps, and it dominated the third map, Volskaya Industries. They took the first point in one push and stormed the second point with relentless ferocity, winning the map with absolute efficiency. RunAway's failure to take the second point brought the series from 2-0 to 2-1.
Lunatic-Hai had a lower win rate on escort maps, which spelled another opportunity for its opponent. Runaway took both points in a desperation overtime, but they also had an excellent defense in which Bumper's Roadhog came up huge, picking off members of Lunatic-Hai. This stalled pushes and allowed his teammates to save their ultimates for when they mattered, pushing the series 3-1 in their favor.
With their backs against the wall, Lunatic-Hai was grateful to have another assault map to excel in for the fifth map of the series in Hanamura. RunAway struggled to get a foothold onto the second point on their offense and failed to capture, but Lunatic-Hai on the other hand had no trouble capping both points, bringing the series to 3-2.
While RunAway looked better on Route 66 for escort, it would be seriously tested on Dorado against Lunatic-Hai who had a whole five minutes to push the payload through point B to point C. With incredible team coordination, RunAway's ultimate efficiency gave it the biggest stall as it went into overtime, but through sheer willpower Lunatic-Hai was able to shove through and finish the map. Making sure that they didn't move into the timebank stage, Miro on Winston devastated the offense from RunAway for the first full hold of the series and tied the series 3-3.
In one of the fastest Eichenwald finishes, Lunatic-Hai pushed all the way through the map from beginning to end with almost no stop to the flow, with EscA's Tracer finally showing up and dropping a devastating Pulse Bomb onto KAISER's Reinhardt, eliminating him on the final push. With the series going downhill for RunAway, its offense became more and more scattered with the exception of RunAway's Stitch's Tracer being well disciplined, doing his best to keep his team in the series. But wishes weren't enough to stop Lunatic-Hai's peak performance on this map, and they came back to take the grand finals 4-3 by holding RunAway to only one point.
Lunatic-Hai emerged victorious and are back onto the throne of South Korean Overwatch. For a team that fell into the promotion tournament from Season 1, second place winner RunAway's run deserves all the praise for turning a team around and finding success as well.