OWCS 2025 Midseason Championship preview: Can Crazy Raccoon go back-to-back?

OWCS Midseason Championship for EWC 2025

The Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) Midseason Championship 2025 is just around the corner, with the 16 best teams set to compete at the Esports World Cup (EWC).

There’s a lot to consider ahead of the tournament in Riyadh, from the line-up of qualified teams to potential winners. Here are the biggest talking points surrounding the upcoming Overwatch 2 tournament.

Keep Reading

Will Crazy Raccoon Retain Its Crown?

OWCS Champions Clash 2025 Hangzhou Crazy Raccoon win
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment, OWCS

When it comes to the upcoming OWCS Midseason Championship, Crazy Raccoon has become the centre of online discussions. As both the previous year’s Esports World Cup 2024 victor and winners of Champions Clash, the Korean team is entering this year’s tournament as the favourites.

Crazy Raccoon has shown no signs of slowing down in OWCS Korea Stage 2, despite already qualifying through its Champions Clash placement. The organisation placed the highest in terms of standings for the regular season, with a 7-1 win-loss ratio.

Crazy Raccoon saw a momentary hiccup during the Playoffs Seeding Decider Matches, where it lost every single one of its matches. However, Crazy Raccoon went on a rampage during the Playoffs, knocking out Team Falcons in the quarter-finals and claiming victories against All Gamers Global and T1 in the semi-finals and finals.

Fans saw a true reflection of Crazy Raccoon’s skill during the Champions Clash in Hangzhou, China. Despite being knocked down to the Lower Brackets by NTMR, the organisation managed to claw its way back to the Grand Finals. In the Champions Clash Grand Finals, Crazy Raccoon defeated Team Falcons 4-2 to become the best Overwatch 2 team in the world right now.

Crazy Raccoon has shown itself to be one of the strongest rosters entering the Esports World Cup tournament, but it is not invincible and has endured some close calls. This raises the question of whether the organisation will retain its crown this year, or if another organisation can claim its title.

Potential Dark Horse in the Midseason Championship?

OWCS Mid-Season 2025: Zenyatta, Ashe, and Moira in game
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Despite Crazy Raccoon being the team to beat, several teams have shown strong performances during OWCS Stage 2. As a result, there are a few teams that could prove to be the dark horse of the Midseason Championship.

Geekay Esports proved to be a standout team in OWCS NA Stage 2, and was one of the few esports organisations to undergo drastic roster changes prior to the event. This proved to be fruitful as the organisation topped the OWCS Stage 2 regular season 7-0 and beat out Team Liquid to claim the crown in the finals.

EMEA saw Al Qadisah dominate the competition, also ending the regular season with a 7-0 win-loss ratio. In the playoffs, it demonstrated a strong performance, beating the likes of The Ultimates and Twisted Minds.

Can Team Falcons Join the Fray?

Amongst all the teams participating in OWCS, Team Falcons was considered to be amongst the strongest rosters internationally. Placing third in last year’s EWC tournament and second in Champion’s Clash, its appearance at the tournament seemed assured.

However, Team Falcons was eliminated during OWCS Korea Stage 2 after losing to Crazy Raccoon 2-4 in the Regional Playoffs Quarterfinals, putting the organisation’s chance to place in the Mid-Season Championships at risk. The organisation can now only hope to claim the final spot from the Last Chance Qualifier.

How will Season 17 Impact the OWCS Midseason Championship?

OWCS Mid season: Sigma, Lucio and Freja from Overwatch 2 fighting in game
Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Season 17 hasn’t really seen a lot of changes when it comes to the best characters in esports play. Across each role — Tank, Damage and Support — the top picks have mostly remained the same from the previous Season.

For Supports, Lucio and Kiriko have remained the top two most picked characters in the game. Kiriko remains a top pick due to her Suzu ability, which cleanses allies and provides temporary invulnerability. On the other hand, Lucio is viable because of his speed boosts, wall-running to reduce downtime between fights and constant healing.

In the Damage role, one character has been prevalent throughout the meta, the recent hero addition, Freja. Her high burst damage output means that she has become one of the most popular picks for most Damage players, followed by Tracer with her high mobility and recent damage buff.

During the OWCS NA Stage 2 Playoffs, Ramattra was among the most popular Tanks chosen by team comps. With his high sustainability in Nemesis Form, he has become a go-to pick for many brawl comps across various maps such as Circuit Royal, New Junk City, Oasis and more.

Only time will tell which characters will see the most usage in the Mid-Season Championship, and whether more niche heroes will have their moment to shine.

Source: https://esportsinsider.com/