Overwatch Apex

Overwatch Apex, or simply Apex, was a competitive esports tournament series in South Korea for the video game Overwatch run by South Korean cable television channel OnGameNet (OGN) from 2016 to 2017. The tournament was contested mostly by South Korean teams, although several Western teams were invited to compete throughout most of its seasons. After four seasons, Apex was expected to continue operations as Overwatch Contenders Korea, but after Blizzard Entertainment, the owners of the Contenders, opted to use a different broadcaster for the Korean Contenders league, OGN shut down the Apex series.

Overwatch Apex
Apex logo used for Season 4
GameOverwatch
Founded2016
Ceased2017
Replaced byOverwatch Contenders
Owner(s)OnGameNet
No. of teams16
CountrySouth Korea
Venue(s)OGN Giga Arena
Last
champion(s)		GC Busan
Most titlesLunatic Hai (2 titles)
Relegation toApex Challengers
Official websiteogn.tving.com/ogn

Format

Every season of Apex was contested by 16 teams from both Korea and invited non-Korean teams, aside from season four, which had no invited non-Korean teams.[1] For the first season, 64 South Korean teams advanced from an online qualifier to an offline qualifiers, with the top 12 teams advancing to the main league, and the following 12 teams after that qualified for Overwatch Apex Challengers, a promotion tournament for the second season onwards. Seasons began with group stages, followed by playoffs. Each match in the season was a best-of-five series, aside from the finals, which was a best-of-seven series.[2]

History

Formation

On September 16, 2016, OnGameNet, a South Korean cable television channel that specialized in broadcasting video game-related content and esports matches, announced that it would be hosting a 16-team Overwatch league called OGN Apex.[3] A total of 1,531 people from 230 South Korean teams signed up for the online qualifiers of first season.[4]

Inaugural season
Matches were played at the OGN Giga Arena

Twelve South Korean teams, Afreeca Freecs Blue, MVP Space, BK Stars, Luxury Watch Blue, Rhinos Gaming Titan, Flash Lux, Mighty Storm, KongDoo Panthera, Kongdoo Uncia, RunAway, CONBOX T6, and Lunatic-Hai, qualified for the main league. Additionally two North American teams, Team EnVyUs and NRG Esports, and two European teams, Rogue and Reunited, were invited to compete in season one. English broadcasts featured the casting duo Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles and Erik "DoA" Lonnquist.[3] The league's inaugural season began on October 7, 2016, with the group stage of the tournament.[5] Following the group stage, an eight-team, single elimination tournament took place.[2] The finals, which took place in Ilsan, South Korea on December 3, 2016, saw Team EnVyUs defeat Afreeca Freecs Blue, 4–1.[6]

Continuation
Lunatic-Hai won Apex Season 2

Several changes were made for the second season of Apex. The league added a double-elimination bracket between the group stage and the playoffs, and the top four teams from the double-elimination bracket advanced to the playoffs.[7] Additionally, teams were allotted one timeout in the middle of a match.[8] The second season was contested by twelve South Korean teams, three North American teams, and one European team. Of the South Korean teams from the first season, MVP Space, Rhinos Gaming Titan, and Mighty Storm did not qualify, while MVP Infinity, Meta Athena, and Afreeca Freecs Red qualified for the group stage.[9] The Western teams invited were Team EnVyUs, Fnatic, Cloud9, and Misfits.[10] The season began with its first group stage on January 17, 2017, in Seoul, South Korea.[11]

The third season followed the same format as the second, with the twelve-team group stage, eight-team double-elimination bracket, and a four-team playoff. The league introduced a new rule in which teams were allowed to substitute players between maps; with this rule change, many teams increased the number of players on their roster from six to seven or more.[8] English casting duo Mykles and Lonnquist departed from Apex to prepare for Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming Overwatch League.[12] The league reduced the amount of invited non-Korean teams from four to two.[1] Returning South Korean teams from Season 2 included Lunatic-Hai, KongDoo Panthera, Afreeca Freecs Blue, RunAway, KongDoo Uncia, Luxury Watch Blue, BK Stars, and Meta Athena, while qualified teams from Challengers included Mighty AOD, X6-Gaming, CONBOX Spirit, MVP Space, Flash Lux, and Rhinos Gaming Wings. The two invited Western teams were Rogue and Team EnVyUs.[8] Season 3 began April 28, 2017.[8]

In May 2017, Blizzard Entertainment announced plans to launch Overwatch Contenders, a "development league" in North America and Europe.[13] Following, OGN announced that no international teams would be invited to compete in Apex for its fourth season; instead, OGN cancelled Apex's promotion and relegation event and invited the top five teams from the Challengers league.[1] Season 4 was contested by MVP Space, Meta Athena, KongDoo Uncia, Flash Lux, Afreeca Freecs, ROX Orcas, Meta Bellum, LW Blue, Lunatic-Hai, RunAway, KongDoo Panthera, NC Foxes, LW Red, GC Busan, X6-Gaming and CONBOX.[14]

Disbandment

In late 2017, Blizzard Entertainment announced that Overwatch Contenders would operate in seven regions globally, and that Overwatch Apex would be re-branded as Contenders Korea.[15] OGN had planned to run a fifth season of Apex before it was rebranded to Contenders;[16] however, in December 2017, Korean news outlet Sports Chosun reported that Blizzard had sold the Contenders Korea broadcasting rights to television channel MBC.[17] In January 2018, OGN announced that they would be ending the Apex tournament series and would not be a part of Contenders Korea, confirming that Blizzard had sold the broadcasting rights in an interview, stating, "We did our best and agreed to most of Blizzard's conditions on continuing the competition, but we were notified that Blizzard was preparing a competition with another broadcast. Until that notification, OGN had been preparing for the next season, so we are very regretful."[18]

Seasons summary
Season Champions Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place Ref.
1 Team EnVyUs 4–0 Afreeca Freecs Blue No third place match [6]
2 Lunatic-Hai 4–3 RunAway LW Blue 3–1 Meta Athena [19][20]
3 Lunatic-Hai 4–3 KongDoo Panthera Afreeca Freecs Blue 4–1 Team EnVyUs [21][22]
4 GC Busan 4–3 RunAway Cloud9 KongDoo 4–0 Nc Foxes [23][24]

Legacy

The first Overwatch Contenders Gauntlet, the premier tournament in the Contenders series, took place at the OGN Giga Arena, the venue that hosted the Apex tournament.[25] In the Overwatch League's 2021 season, the league produced a hype video for one of their matches that was reminiscent of the videos that OGN produced for Apex.[26]

References
  1. Carpenter, Nicole (June 7, 2017). "International teams will not participate in OGN Overwatch Apex Season 4". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  2. OGN (October 10, 2016). "[Season 1] OVERWATCH APEX Overview & Info". tving.com. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  3. Tuffs, Josh (October 2, 2016). "OGN Apex Season 1 Teams Announced". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  4. Lee, HyunJun (December 1, 2016). "An extended look back on Overwatch APEX Season 1". Inven Global. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  5. "OGN Apex Overwatch Season 1 Opener". Dot Esports. October 8, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  6. Nguyen, Steven (December 3, 2016). "Europe's EnVyUs wins inaugural OGN Overwatch APEX Season 1". ESPN. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  7. Nguyen, Steven (March 3, 2017). "Overwatch APEX Day 13: EnVyUs-Lunatic-Hai rematch, RunAway upset kick off second group stage". ESPN. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  8. Nguyen, Steven (April 27, 2017). "OGN Overwatch APEX Season 3 preview: What to watch for". ESPN. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  9. Duwe, Scott (January 13, 2017). "OGN Apex Season Two: Groups Announced". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  10. Alonzo, Damian (January 17, 2017). "Everything you need to know about the NA and EU teams going into Overwatch Apex Season 2". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  11. Nguyen, Steven (January 17, 2017). "Team EnVyUs shines at OGN APEX Season 2 opener". ESPN. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  12. Erzberger, Tyle (April 7, 2017). "MonteCristo, DoA to depart South Korea to cast Blizzard's Overwatch League in U.S." ESPN. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  13. Chalk, Andy (May 22, 2017). "The Overwatch Contenders pro league kicks off this summer". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  14. Carpenter, Nicole (September 12, 2017). "OGN Overwatch Apex quarterfinal groups drawn—and Lunatic-Hai will likely make it to the finals again". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  15. Chalk, Andy (November 27, 2017). "Australia and South America will join Overwatch Contenders in 2018". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  16. Horti, Samuel (January 6, 2018). "OGN drops Overwatch Apex tournament after Contenders league snub". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  17. Mitchell, Ferguson (January 6, 2018). "OGN Exits Overwatch, Cancels Long-Running APEX Series". The Esports Observer. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  18. Sim, Youngbo; Jang, David (January 5, 2018). "OGN, "We can't continue Overwatch APEX season; we apologize to fans."". Inven Global. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  19. Shin, Yeonjae; Park, Kyung Yun (April 8, 2017). "Lunatic Hai wins the championship in Overwatch APEX Season 2". Inven Global. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  20. Carpenter, Nicole (March 31, 2017). "LW Blue dismantle Meta Athena in OGN Overwatch APEX third-place match". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  21. Nguyen, Steven (July 29, 2017). "Lunatic-Hai defends the throne at APEX Season 3 finals". ESPN. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  22. Nguyen, Steven (July 7, 2017). "Afreeca Freecs Blue exacts revenge on Team EnVyUs". ESPN. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  23. Jeon, Young Jae (October 26, 2017). "GC Busan went back to basics in Overwatch APEX finals win". ESPN. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  24. Nguyen, Steven (October 17, 2017). "Birdring and C9 Kongdoo sweep NC Foxes for 3rd place at Overwatch APEX". ESPN. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  25. Gao, Emerald (October 29, 2019). "Just the Beginning: On the Long Legacy of the APEX Tournament". Overwatch League. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  26. Qu, Bonnie (May 27, 2021). "NYXL's JJoNak is determined to lead a team of rookies to victory". Upcomer. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
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