OWCS Stage 1 kicks off
Overwatch Champions Series Stage 1 is underway — Korea’s Stage 1 runs March 20–May 3 while North America’s Stage 1 begins March 21 with four partner teams and two qualifiers. ( ) Full schedules and live results are being updated as matches play out. (esports.gg)
Korea’s Stage 1 field lists nine participants: T1, Team Falcons, Crazy Raccoon, ZETA DIVISION, New Era, ONSIDE Gaming, ZAN Esports, Cheeseburger, and Poker Face. (liquipedia.net) The Korea regular season is a round‑robin of best‑of‑3 matches, with the top four teams advancing directly to Regional Playoffs and the next four entering a Last Chance Qualifier that sends two teams onward. (liquipedia.net) Korea’s competition enforces one hero ban per team per map (bans must be from different roles and cannot be reused within a series), and the published map pool includes Busan, Lijiang Tower, Oasis, Blizzard World, Midtown, Numbani and others. (liquipedia.net) North America’s Stage 1 field names four partner organisations — Dallas Fuel, Disguised, Spacestation Gaming, and Team Liquid — alongside two Open‑Qualifier entrants, LuneX Gaming and Extinction. (liquipedia.net) NA Stage 1 carries a $75,000 prize pool with the stage breakdown listed as $30,000 for 1st, $15,000 for 2nd, $12,000 for 3rd and $8,000 for 4th, and the top four teams advance to the regional playoffs. (liquipedia.net) Stage placements in NA carry international implications: the region’s Stage 1 awards include qualification spots for the Champions Clash international event, scheduled to run May 22–24 in Tokyo. (owtv.gg) All partner teams participated in the OWCS pre‑season Bootcamp in Seoul (a multi‑day training program and live preseason tournament hosted at WDG Studio), which ran in February as preparation for Stage 1. (esports.overwatch.com)
