OWCS Midseason 2026: Eight Teams Enter the Paris Playoffs

How the Eight Teams Qualified

Twisted Minds and Weibo Gaming took the upper paths from Group A. In the lower qualification matches, T1 defeated Team Falcons 2-0 and Dallas Fuel beat Virtus.pro 2-0. Crazy Raccoon and ZETA DIVISION advanced unbeaten from Group B; Geekay Esports defeated JD Gaming 2-0, while Spacestation Gaming beat VARREL 2-1.

JD Gaming, Virtus.pro, VARREL, and Team Falcons therefore finish 9th-12th. Team Liquid, 9z Team, Team Secret, and All Gamers finish 13th-16th. These placements and scores are recorded in the completed OWTV group bracket.

August 1 Quarterfinal Schedule

Crazy Raccoon versus T1 begins at 10:00 UTC. ZETA DIVISION versus Dallas Fuel follows at 11:45 UTC, Weibo Gaming versus Spacestation Gaming at 13:30 UTC, and Twisted Minds versus Geekay Esports at 15:15 UTC. The times come from Liquipedia’s tournament schedule; a later series may shift with the length of the previous match.

The pairings connect upper-series winners with teams that survived qualification matches. Crazy Raccoon and ZETA represent Korea, Weibo represents China, Twisted Minds and Geekay represent EMEA, while Dallas Fuel and Spacestation represent North America. That is the verified bracket, not a prediction of relative strength.

Why the Format Changes

Group matches were first to two map wins. Playoff series before the final are first to three, while the August 2 Grand Final is first to four. The four quarterfinal winners create two semifinal pairings, and a third-place match is also scheduled.

A loss now ends a team’s title run because the playoffs are single elimination. The champion receives $400,000 from the $1 million prize pool, the runner-up $180,000, third place $100,000, fourth place $60,000, and each quarterfinal participant $35,000.

What to Watch in Longer Series

Each team bans one hero per map, and the two bans must come from different roles. A team may not repeat its own hero ban within a series, although it may ban a hero previously removed by its opponent. The higher seed bans first on the opening map; afterward, the previous map loser bans first.

That procedure makes a longer series a test of prepared roster depth rather than one opening composition. All four quarterfinals occur on one day, so results and subsequent pairings should be updated only after official series completion, not from a live partial score. Sources: Overwatch Esports; OWTV; Liquipedia.