Rogue and EnVyUs prove they’re the West’s strongest Overwatch teams

Rivalcade’s Overwatch Rumble tournament over the weekend proved that OGN invited the top two international teams to the upcoming Overwatch APEX.

Rogue and Team EnVyUs proved their prowess during the Overwatch Rumble finals on April 23. Despite being an online tournament rife with ping issues, both teams earned fan support heading into the South Korean tournament. The teams came out strong during the weekend, but Rogue ultimately bested EnVyUs 3-2. First place earned Rogue $6,000, while EnVyUs took home $3,000.

Related: Rogue is the first international team confirmed for the OGN Overwatch APEX

With an aggressive defense catching EnVyUs by surprise, Rogue set up for a strong hold on the fourth map, Hollywood. Bursting out of the first building facing the attacker’s spawn, Rogue’s Soldier: 76 player Dylan “aKm” Bignet landed a few key picks on EnVyUs before the rest of the team even knew what was going on.

The surprise aggression was enough to hold EnVyUs from capturing the first point until less than a minute remained. EnVyUs, however, pushed through the momentum earned by Rogue and capped the payload right as time began to run out. But that’s where EnVyUs’ success ends: Rogue held EnVyUs before they could push the payload to the first checkpoint.

Rogue’s win on Hollywood pushed the tournament to a fifth map, Nepal. While the first two points were a back-and-forth battle, Rogue ultimately scored the win to end the night.

Their win doesn’t mean that Rogue have secured themselves as the dominant international team heading into the Overwatch APEX in Korea, however. Both teams were working through ping issues, but EnVyUs was facing a notable disadvantage: Just a day before the tournament, EnVyUs support player Dennis “INTERNETHULK” Hawelka announced his departure from the North American esports organization. INTERNETHULK will join Laser Kittenz as an Overwatch coach on a trial basis while he explores his options.

EnVyUs was then forced into role swaps, putting DPS player Jonathan “HarryHook” Tejedor Rua on support, while stand-in Luis “Lui” Olivares took over DPS. It’s unclear at this time if Lui will compete with EnVyUs when the Overwatch APEX begins.