Overwatch World Cup recap: Who is going to the finals?

The top eight teams competed on the opening day of BlizzCon. The goal? Get to the finals.

Overwatch Arena was packed. Everyone was ready to see these top eight teams fight it out for a chance to win the first Overwatch World Cup.

Read on for highlights from all the matches and to find who will be playing for it all:

QUARTERFINALS

France felt like they were the underdogs coming into their matchup against Russia for good reason. Russia showed dominance throughout all of group play, particularly Shadowburn’s dangerous ability to cut down entire teams with Genji.

However, it took Russia a little bit of time to get into a rhythm. France was able to win the first map. But Russia came back with a vengeance, and Shadowburn predictably wreaked havoc. Russia won the match 2-1. The fan voted Match MVP, however, went to Kitty from France for her crucial Ana play that helped sustain her teams through many an opposing ultimate.

Finland vs. Spain was up next. Spain was riding high, coming off its upset of Sweden in group play. Finland, though, has been a formidable opponent throughout all of the World Cup so far and were one of the favorites to win it all.

Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

This match went back and forth. Finland took the first map, but only barely. Spain then regrouped and stunned Finland on Hanamura. Finland was unable to take even the first point on attack, and crumbled against Spain on defense, allowing Spain to take the point on their very first charge.

It came down to the last map, where Finland took the lead early. Spain stayed in the fight, but unfortunately some key mistakes allowed Finland to run away with the victory. For example, Spain’s Neptuno should have stayed in the point here during overtime to give his team more time to get to the point. However, he left the point to chase down the rest of Finland. With no one from Spain to challenge the point, overtime expired and Spain lost.

Footage courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Match MVP went to Spain’s Bromas.

Next was the United States vs. South Korea, a matchup that South Korea had hoped to get. Casters wondered if that was because South Korea considered the United States an easy target to take out. Would the US prove them wrong?

Unfortunately, no. The United States were unable to take even the first point on Temple of Anubis. They came close when South Korea succumbed to their tendency of going too aggressive and defending too far up. However, at that point the US only had around 30 seconds left on the clock, and South Korea was quickly able to right the ship. South Korea was ready for the US’s most dangerous weapons, shutting down Seagull on Genji early and often.

South Korea took the match 2-0. Match MVP went to Ster from the United States.

The last match of the quarterfinals was China vs. Sweden. China struggled more than most expected during group play and was only able to make top eight after going through a series of round-robin tiebreakers. Sweden was coming off of that stunning upset dealt to them by Spain.

Perhaps it was because Sweden realized their humanity in that loss that made them play so well here. Across the board, Sweden dominated. On the second map, Sweden’s TVIQ was able to build up and use Genji’s ultimate twice without ever having to leave the point. China was downed in a clean sweep, 2-0. Match MVP went to Sweden’s IDDQD.

SEMIFINALS

And then there were four.

The first of the semifinals saw Finland against Russia. With both teams featuring abundant talent, it was no surprise that there were fantastic individual performances from both sides. Russia attacked first on El Dorado, and were on their way to pushing the payload to the end after Shadowburn cut down five out of six of the Finnish team. But that’s when Finland’s Taimou put together a fantastic stall single-handedly with McCree.

Footage courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Notice how Taimou picked up his last kill with his health at 1.

But not to be outdone, Shadowburn countered with one more devastating Genji attack, deflecting Taimou’s ultimate right back at him in the process.

Footage courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Most expected this match to come down to the wire. Surprisingly, it did not. Russia notched the victory with a 2-0 sweep of Finland. This 2-0 victory was unlike other 2-0 victories, however, as it did not indicate complete dominance. Finland pushed Russia to play at their best. Russia clearly felt the pressure, often being goaded into using ultimates unnecessarily in their attempt to assure a successful engagement. But those gambles paid off in the end.

Lastly, it came down to Sweden vs. South Korea, two teams that many thought we would see facing each other in the finals. Due to tournament placement, however, only one of these two behemoths would be moving on to play for the title.

South Korea’s Ryujehong on Ana pestered Sweden throughout the entire match. Ryujehong’s accuracy on Ana makes him deadly. He was able to pick off members of team Sweden before their attacks, which would then force them to either wait for their fallen teammate or push on undermanned.

After South Korea took the first map, Sweden seemed to lose their edge. They gave ground easily when defending, and were unable to use ultimates effectively. South Korea made mistakes — Miro accidentally used an ultimate while Sweden was still regrouping, and Zunba fell off the map while backing away. However Sweden was unable to capitalize. South Korea ended up easily winning the match 2-0.

Next: Overwatch League details announced at BlizzCon

And with that, the finals are set. It will be South Korea vs. Russia in the finals, taking place on Nov. 5 at 3 pm EDT. Sweden and Finland will play for third place prior to the finals at 1 pm EDT.