Tense1983 and Test Team 1 win Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown
Tense1983 and Test Team 1 won their respective regional events of Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown earlier this Sunday, and with that secured US $10,000 in tournament winnings each.
Often times, when a new hero is introduced to Overwatch, it pays dividends to practice on it and become an expert, but rarely did that earn player any monetary reward. That, however, changed this Sunday, when Tense1983 and Test Team 1 won the gold medal and $10,000 in tournament winnings at Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown EMEA and NA respectively.
The Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown was a Blizzard-ran Overwatch tournament which took place over the weekend, featuring hundreds of teams who competed against each other for the largest slice of the $25,000 prize pool, while the whole idea behind the tournament was for each team to have at least one player using the newly released Echo hero at all times. Although the tournament was meant for amateur teams and players, each team was allowed to have up to two players from the Overwatch League of OVerwatch Contenders on their roster, which resulted in tougher and more exciting competition.
Tense1983 who won the Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown – EMEA fielded took advantage of that rule and fielded a few current and ex- Overwatch pro players who competed and are still competing in the Overwatch League and Overwatch Contenders. The team was assembled mostly from Raspberry Racers players in tank Esteban "Helv" Fernandez, DPS Niclas "sHockWave" Jensen and suppoer Watery. Joining the trio were the retired Overwatch Contenders flex players Thimo "TwolzZ" Wilts, Lars "Kaas" van Oorschot, as well as Pastor.
With strong synergy, Tense1983 took over the Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown – EMEA and put up a dominant display. The team secured a spot in the final 16, where they defeated bigbiceps (3-0), edged past (INT)ERNATIONALS (3-2), took down Gigantti V4 (3-1) in the semis and defeated don't test out gangster (3-1) in the grand finals.
Test Team 1, on the other side, fielded multiple current and former Overwatch League players and some of the biggest and most well-known personalities in the Overwatch scene, including the retired Houston Outlaws tank Jacob "JAKE" Lyon, his former teammate and still active OWL DPS player Dante "Danteh" Cruz, former Skyfoxes tank James "Cloneman16" D'Arcangelo Overwatch streamer and ex-Contenders offtank for Luminosity Anthony "harbleu" Ballo, Toronto Defiant support Young-seo "KariV" Park, as well as Francine “Fran” Vo and Redshell and Redshell.
Competing through the North American version of Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown, Test Team 1 proved to be unstoppable and did not struggle to secure a spot in the playoffs, where Test Team 1 defeated HurrieUppers! (3-1), Bulldoza! (3-0), HogAndBall (3-1) and crushed Scion Esports (3-0) in the grand finals to pocket the top reward.
Their grand finals fixture was one for the books, especially considering Scion were very effective in shutting down Test Team 1's Echo, effectively leaving them without the main source of damage. Nonetheless, Danteh's performance on Echo was not to be underestimated as he quickly showcased his prowess on the new hero – something Overwatch teams should take note of as they should get ready to face Danteh's Echo soon.
The two teams each took home $10,000 in tournament winnings, while the second-placed teams got awarded a $5,000 consolation prize, while the third-placed teams from each tournament won $2,500.
