Analysis and recap: ESL UK Premiership Overwatch finale

esl uk overwatch final recap 1

The finals of the first Overwatch ESL UK Premiership season were held last Sunday at MCM London Comic Con. Here, Craig Robinson breaks down the matches and looks at what happened…
The final saw MnM Gaming (formerly AMEIZING) and Reason Gaming (formerly Team Project) go head-to-head.
MnM had won two of the three premiership titles last weekend (CSGO and LoL), with Reason being in the CSGO finals too. Was this the triple title win for MnM Gaming or would Reason play spoil this series and bring one home? Let’s find out!
The first map of the series was Hollywood. This game kicked off well with some strong pushes from MnM. Reason had a solid defence at points and were able to keep MnM at bay most of the time.
This side ended with Reason unable to make it to the third point. However, MnM played like they had something to prove by dominating the first point defence and secured game one of the series.
MVP: SXY. He had good positioning and flanking with his Ana-buffed Reaper play, which was a strong contributor in denying Reason the first capture.


The second map of the series was Nepal. This map was a strong showing for both teams with really close caps throughout. One of the caps went well in favour of Reason Gaming with a 100-0 in there. Aside from that, the maps were well contested and the Ana Reaper combo definitely shined throughout this series.
Ultimately the team that took Nepal was Reason with a 3-1 victory in game 2.
MVP: Wacko. Like SXY, the combos of Ana and Reaper followed with some CC of either tanks or Mei, worked wonders in this series.


The third map was on Dorado. This map was a difficult map for both teams to attack on. The first point where taken well, but it was the second point that was the hardest to work around. Where the Bank entrance meets the corner of the road, both teams struggled to make it up the hill. Like Jack and Jill, they all tumbled shortly after.
Both teams used their tanks effectively and the Mei picks were proving troublesome at the flanks in the church. At the end of the onslaught, Reason found the map-winning team fight that secured them the furthest distance on the map.
MVP: ChrisTFer. I feel like lots of Reason’s success in team fights came from strong ults from his Reinhardt.


The fourth map was on Gibraltar. This map was crucial for MnM to stay in this series. And the pressure was on! Reason gaming had stepped it up this game and created an impenetrable wall for the first point on defence.
The micro, communication, everything was enhanced this game for Reason as it seemed nothing MnM could do was getting through to the first point. As explained, Reason Gaming held the payload atop the hill before the turning on the first point.
As for MnM, they put up a good fight on their defence. At first it seemed like MnM would do what Reason did to them. However, Reason found one flaw in their defence and that is all it took for Reason to gain momentum. Shortly after, Reason Gaming took the series 3-1 and crowned themselves Overwatch champions.
MVP: Realzx. His Mei was very good. He prevented many attacks from walling off routes and ulting them when MnM finally found an opportunity to get through. Not bad for a substitute player!


Overall, this has been a good run for UK Overwatch. The scene is producing fabulous talent performing in the UK and international stage.
We have players that have already transitioned from the UK scene to the global scene, such as Phantasy and Hayes. We have players from the UK that have dodged it all and are global names in the scene, like Kruise, KYB and numlocked.
With such a strong showing this year in the scene and outside of it, alongside a reasonable size turnout for initial entry into the tournament, I expect the next season to be even better. Thanks to everyone for making such a young scene flourish already – I look forward to the next season!

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