Crazy Raccoon becomes champion of Esports World Cup Overwatch Tournament
After a thrilling Grand Finals series between Crazy Racoon and Toronto Ultra in Riyadh, Crazy Racoon have now lifted their second major trophy of the year. This victory comes within the organization’s debut year in Overwatch, showcasing a remarkable achievement for the Japanese organization.
Moreover, the team accomplished this phenomenal feat while simultaneously only dropping 2 maps throughout the entire event. With this victory, a cash prize of $400,000 has been awarded to the roster, as well as 1000 Club Championship points.
Crazy Racoon on Top
Crazy Racoons began their journey in the group stage. Despite finding themselves placed within the same group as Toronto Defiant (who played under the banner of their sister COD team Toronto Ultra), they managed to finish at the top of the group with a flawless 9-0 scoreline of points, exiting Group A as its top seed.
Heading into the Playoffs Stage, ENCE proved to be a minor inconvenience, despite the latter’s reputation as a strong European contender. A rematch in the semifinals against Team Falcons proved to be the closest matchup with the series going the distance despite the scoreline.
An opening domination on Busan was replied in kind with a clean push on Runasapi by Falcons. Suravasa, Shambali, and Eichenwalde were all close affairs as well, proving that Team Falcons did not lose by much.
In the Grand Finals, Toronto Ultra and Crazy Racoons clashed in an intense series. Lijiang as the opener once again went to Crazy Raccoon. Toronto managed to reply with strong opposition on Circuit Royal but was unable to convert into a victory overall.
It was not until the fourth map, Runasapi, that Crazy Racoon once again lost a point, suggesting a potential exploit for teams for the future. What was incredible though, about that 4th map, was the manner in which Crazy Raccoon lost. With a distance score of 130.42m, Toronto Ultra won the map with the smallest possible distance difference, scoring 130.43m.
Despite the close nature of the series, in the end, Crazy Raccoon proved their ultimate dominance throughout this event, with a masterful close to their Grand Finals and Esports World Cup run.
Crazy Raccoon Delivering the Two-Peat
The dissolution of the Overwatch League last year came with powerful ripple effects that continue to be felt to this day. A multitude of talented Overwatch players found themselves teamless. However, as a result of that, new contenders have emerged in the wake of the league’s demise, interesting rosters that could see a new turn for Overwatch.
Coming into this tournament, both Crazy Racoons and Team Falcons were of particular interest given that the two teams had attended the Grand Finals of the OCS (Overwatch Champions Series) 2024 Major less than 2 months prior to this.
Crazy Raccoon also lifted the trophy for the OCS 2024 Major, hence coming into this event, their team was in high spirits, and were strong contenders for a repeat performance.
Of important note in this tournament was Crazy Raccoon particular adaptiveness to the additional feature of the tournament - the hero bans. Their use of the ban secured them a solid roster of maps in each of the series they played. Their stranglehold on Lijiang in particular is of note.
Domination for Crazy Raccoon
The organization entered Overwatch officially in April 2024, after picking up former free-agent roster WAC. While the uninitiated may not have been extremely impressed, they might be when they realize how incredibly stacked this roster is.
3 former San Francisco Shock players in Chae “HeeSang” Hee-sang, Park “Junbin” Jun-bin, and Choi “MAX” Su-min rejoined forces. Alongside them, is the final OWL Playoffs winner, Sung “CH0R0NG” Yoo-Min, once support for Florida Mayhem.
Former Atlanta Reign DPS player Lee “LIP” Jae-won and Houston Outlaws support player Kim “Shu” Jin-seo joined them as well to round out the roster. All in all, there is a lot of collected veteran firepower on this roster and they have certainly proven their worth in a post-OWL world, first as a free-agent team and then now as part of Crazy Raccoon.
What Next for the Raccoon?
The OCS Stage 2 in Korea will be the next stop for Crazy Raccoon. Assuming they do well, the final achievement of the year will undoubtedly be the OCS 2024 Finals, set to kick off on the 22nd of November.
It will be a fairly long road however, as the team will first have to earn minimum top 4 in Korea before facing another 7 teams in the Asia Stage 2 Main Stage. And they’ll have to do it in the most concentrated region of talent, Korea. Time will tell if Crazy Raccoon can potentially step up one more time onto the international stage in 2024, or will this be the swan song for their debut year?
Credit: Crazy Racoons Twitter
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Esports World Cup Overwatch Tournament: All you need to know