The Contenders Gauntlet began on October 9 in South Korea featuring the very best teams outside of the Overwatch League. For XL2’s Christian ‘Ojee’ Han, this was an opportunity to flex and even beat drop on his foes.
With XL2 already up 2-0 in their first-to-three series with Hic Sunt Leones (HSL Esports), the New York Excelsior academy team ended their attack on Horizon Lunar Colony with authority.
After wiping the members of HSL in part due to four kills by Ojee on the Lucio, the 16-year-old support prodigy exhibited some BM on his fallen adversaries by proceeding to use his Sound Barrier ultimate on Mads ‘fischer’ Jehg’s head.
The beat drop was a classic display of ‘BM’ in esports. BM is short for bad manners and basically means a player exhibited some sort of action to humiliate or disrespect an opponent.
Using an ultimate, especially one like Sound Barrier, in this way was certainly a way to send a message. After the point had been capped, the camera focused in on the 16-year-old who had a massive grin on his face for what he did.
Meanwhile, HSL was anything but happy. When the cameras showed their team, the look on their faces was blank and seemingly defeated.
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They would go on to lose the series 3-0 and then immediately after fall to Chinese contenders champs Talon in yet another sweep eliminating them from the tournament.
How did XL2 and HSL qualify?
The XL squad finished second in North America East behind Team Envy to clinch a Gauntlet spot while HSL finished first in Europe.
North America East and West were able to send two teams to the Contenders spectacle due to their results in the Atlantic Showdown in which the top teams earned addition slots for their region.
XL2 would go on to lose to Element Mystic 3-1 and then Talon 3-2 to close out Group A. They will still have an opportunity to “run the gauntlet” so to speak as part of the lower final bracket.
The Gauntlet takes place at the Giga Arena in Seoul, South Korea from October 9 to October 13.