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Not many parts of Australia get to experience freezing, but this week, the Overwatch Contenders region certainly did. When Order and Athletico faced off during week two of Contenders Australia, it got pretty chilly. So “JJJJ” Spearitt brought out his signature Mei to help Athletico pull off a 3-1 upset.
On the first map, Nepal, Athletico had an impressive showing on Sanctum. Lucas “Wuvo” Tyson played a terrifying Roadhog, dragging numerous players on Order into the deep, dark pit. Daniel “Dfield” Banfield also brought out Torbjörn for more chaos. But it was the second round, Nepal Village, where Athletico really shined.
Order and Athletico traded control percentage on Village for most of the map. Clutch ultimates, especially from Order’s main tank Sam “Quatz” Dennis, allowed the team to continually wrench control back from Athletico. Athletico eventually took the point back, and as overtime ticked down, they used a genius (and chaotic) sequence of ultimates to maintain control and win the map.
Order’s Dale “Signed” Tang used Zarya’s Graviton Surge to trap the Athletico players on the point, but Wuvo threw his own Graviton Surge as a counter. In the middle of this chaos, JJJJ used Mei’s Blizzard ultimate to trap and freeze all of the Order players. Order’s Adam “Adam” Soong used D.Va’s Self-Destruct and Max “Unter” Unterwurzacher dropped Lúcio’s Sound Barrier to defend against the Blizzard, but it was too late.
Samuel “Paso” Harland used Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to do massive damage on the frozen Order players and secure the map for Athletico. JJJJ’s Blizzard was immaculately timed. While Order’s Adam and Unter were able to use their ultimates, James “yuki” Stanton and Quatz were eliminated before using their Brigitte and Reinhardt ultimates, respectively.
Athletico’s coordination can’t be overlooked. They were able to capitalize on JJJJ’s ultimate and take Nepal. In a way, however, JJJJ’s singular ultimate was able to negate the effectiveness of four enemy ultimates—not too bad for a deep freeze.
