Recap – Overwatch Division 1 and 2 Student Champs Grand Finals 2020/21

Bryony-Hope

10 min read | 27 Jul 2021

Last week, we saw our Overwatch finalists battle it out for the Division 1 and 2 trophies at the British Esports Student Champs grand finals.

We look back on the action, and give some of the highlights from the games!

Overwatch Division 2:

Final score – AGSB 3 – 0 SYMONDS CENTURIONS

Symonds Centurions:
Slarrett (Tank)
Cassidiel (Tank)
Moose (DPS)
Perc30 (DPS)
No1ce (Support)
Nini (Support)

AGSB:
Harold (Tank)
SadLife (Tank)
PapaBinks (DPS)
Xaw (DPS)
Fungi (Support)
ILikeDoritos (Support)


Map 1:
Point capture on Nepal was very back and forth between the two sides, as the compositions were ever-changing to counter what the enemy brought forward.

Map 1 was the battle of the DPS – with both sides going back and forth getting some great picks on the backlines. On Nepal Sanctum, Moose from the Symonds side pulled out a huge death blossom, as well as an early EMP shutdown on AGSB’s PapaBinks. But Xaw made it known that they were not to be challenged on the Reaper, and managed to take down Symonds easily to secure them the point on Sanctum.

This DPS battle continued into Village, with Moose coming in on Pharah to absolutely dominate AGSB. Symonds stepped up in this second round, and took Nepal Village with ease – meaning map 1 went to a third round.

On Shrine, AGSB made a strong push putting PapaBinks on the Pharah, Harold on the Wrecking Ball and SadLife on D.VA. This final point flicked between both teams having control, but inevitably AGSB fought off Symonds to take the first point in the series.

Map 2:
Map 2 saw double bubble make an appearance on the Symonds defence, with Slarrett and Cassidiel on Winston and Zarya. AGSB pulled out a full dive on their first attack, but they were slowed down by Moose on the Pharah once again.

ILikeDoritos on Mercy really helped turn the tables for AGSB to capture the objective – providing support to both Pharah and Echo and getting clutch resurrections off to make sure the team stayed in the fight.

Symonds’ Nini pulled off some incredible sleep darts and anti-nades to keep AGSB at bay, but still they managed to let them capture two of the three points in round 1. Round 2 saw the return of double bubble for Symonds, and Cassidiel’s gravitic flux helped them secure the payload. The fight was very intense as Symonds approached the final push, but AGSB managed to clear them out once again to take a second series point.

Map 3:
Temple of Anubis (Map 3) saw PapaBinks bring out the Ashe, and they consistently took out Symonds’ flankers and utilised dynamite to its full potential. Xaw’s Torbjorn on AGSBs’ defence was very strong, but Perc3o managed to clear out AGSB swiftly to give Symonds first capture. Although their luck didn’t last long, as AGSB held their opponents off of the second point.

Round 2 brought dive comp back, with both sides sporting a Winston and D.VA combination. To counter Symonds’ composition after a few failed attempts of pushing to point, AGSB turned to spam heroes – putting Harold back on Hammond and Xaw on Echo to really increase their damage output.

This was a successful switch-up and AGSB stormed through to first point and took the Division 2 win!

MVP – PapaBinks AGSB

Overwatch Division 1:

Final Score – CIRCINAES 3 – 0 BASILISKS

CIRCINAES:
Gjallarhorn (Tank)
Kronos (Tank)
DevilWood (DPS)
GunsofVenom (DPS)
Andreas (Support)
Hazza (Support)

BRAINTREE BASILISKS:
Dysania (Tank)
Noon (Tank)
ArcticBravo (DPS)
DaxterKisake (DPS)
Exalt (Support)
Grimz1ck (Support)

Map 1:
For the first map, we went back to Nepal and saw both teams come out with completely different compositions. Gjallarhorn on the side of the Circinaes was straight onto the Winston (of which he is renowned for) and Kronos on D.VA to dive into the first round. After the first push, Basilisks’ Exalt pulled off an incredible immortality field as Baptiste, but unfortunately was unable to keep the teams’ push in full swing.

The combination of GunsOfVenom on Sombra and DevilWood on the Reaper allowed Circinaes to pick off the supports and tanks very easily – securing them full capture of the objective on Nepal Shrine.
In round 2 on Nepal, Basilisks were adamant on securing the objective, and with the help of Grimz1ck on Lucio and Noon on Roadhog, they were able to take the point. Some early picks from the Basilisks really helped them hold back the Circinaes for a brief period – but it didn’t take long for the capture to turn.

It was a very swift point takeover from the Circinaes, being led by a huge primal rage from Gjallarhorn with backup from DevilWood’s Reaper. They continued to hold, and pulled off an exceptional D.VA/Sombra triple kill combo from Kronos and GunsOfVenom. The point stayed in the Circinaes favour and they were able to win the first map in the series.

Map 2:
Going into map 2, we saw a different map from the Division 2 games – Eichenwalde. The Circinaes pulled out a heavy brawl composition for their defence to hold off the Basilisks and maximise their damage output. Running brawl on defence can be seen as a risky move from the Circinaes, but it definitely paid off in the long run.

Dysania and Noon came out with the Reinhardt and Roadhog to start their push for the Basilisks, but unfortunately DevilWood’s Ashe was too much for them to handle. Once again, the DPS take the spotlight with DevilWood and GunsOfVenom getting picks all round, as well as the Basilisks’ DaxterKisake on Pharah pushing through.

Basilisks had several good pushes to try and obtain the first point, but they were unable to counter the brawl composition they came against. However, on defence they had a very strong bunker comp with the Torb and Bastion on defence, but it didn’t take long for the bunker to go down to the Circinaes.

Using dive comp again really helped the Circinaes take control of the situation, and completely remove the threat of the bunker that the Basilisks had in place. This meant that another point went to Circinaes in this series. 

Map 3:
In map 3, we went to Volskaya Industries, where there was a very strong hold from the Circinaes in the first round. The brawl comp made an appearance once again, and they did not let the Basilisks push past them with double bubble. Both Exalt and Grimz1ck did an incredible job healing wise to try and maintain the Basilisk formation, but unfortunately it was not strong enough.

On their attack, the Circinaes changed to a dive comp to push hard and fast past the Basilisk defence, and were able to capture the first tick in just under 40 seconds. DevilWood on the Doomfist really carried this push, being able to take out the DVA Mech and then the squishies on the point very easily.

Circinaes took the point on Volskaya and secured themselves the Division 1 victory! They have remained unbeaten throughout the entire Champs season this year, and ended with 60-0 in map wins!

MVP – GunsOfVenom – Circinaes
Congratulations to both of our winning teams, and to those who made it to our grand finals!

You can catch the full stream over on our Twitch Channel, or find highlights from throughout the day on the British Esports YouTube!

“We’ve all put in so much work over the past 7 months, and just for it all to finally pay off, I couldn’t ask for more.”
ILikeDoritos, AGSB Esports Captain

“It’s been incredible! Even though we didn’t win, I think just the experience of the finals has been worth it.”
Slarrett, Symonds Centurions

“All of the practice over the last academic year has paid off really well. I’m really proud of the team, and really proud of our performance.”
Gjallarhorn, Circinaes Captain