Crazy Racoon Secure Back-to-Back Overwatch Champions Clash Title

Crazy Racoon are the champions of the Overwatch 2026 Champions Clash in Tokyo, Japan. After a closely contested Grand Finals that went the full distance, the team successfully secured the victory over Twisted Minds in front of the home crowd. 

A Victory that Almost Slipped Their Grasp

Match Stats

After opening the Bo7 Grand Finals series with decisive Maps 1 and 2 on Ilios and Circuit Royal, it looked as if Twisted Minds had not arrived in the Grand Finals. The defending World Finals champions had torn through the Lower Bracket after an Upper Semifinals loss to Crazy Racoons; taking down Weibo Gaming, Virtus.pro, and ZETA DIVISION to earn their rematch. 

And despite the impressive performance, it had looked as if their efforts were all for nothing as Crazy Racoon rocketed to a quick lead in the series. However, Map 3, Kings Row proved to be a critical turning point for the series.

Off the back of a Reinhardt pick from Twisted Minds’ Abdualziz “TVNT” Altmimi, the team was able to finally not only seize their first point of the series but in the deciding 3^rd round, successfully secure their first point of the series.

Heading into Maps 4 and 5 (New Junk City and Runasapi respectively), a different, reenergized Twisted Minds emerged; one that Crazy Racoon were unable to contain as the former took both maps. After a poor start, Twisted Minds were now at series point with all the momentum, and in pole position to bring home the win. 

Ahead of Map 6 (Oasis), Crazy Racoon brought back out Park “JunBin” Jun-bin. His reentry into the series proved pivotal as his Wrecking Ball, in particular, was the much-needed proverbial shot in the arm the team needed to finally bounce back and draw even in the series.

With one final Map (Suravasa) to decide the champion, the crucial decider ended up being the hero bans. Deciding against banning Wrecking Ball in favor of targeting the Jetpack Cat instead, it would prove to be Twisted Minds undoing. The Wrecking Ball reemerged on that final map and powered them to a decisive final score.

When in Doubt, Bring Out the Ball

For my money, the MVP of the series ultimately has to be JunBin. When considering the fact that Crazy Racoon was up in the series 2-0, compounded by the facts that Twisted Minds had them by the ropes with 3 straight map wins AND Ibrahem "Quartz" Alali was lights out on the hitscan... Crazy Racoon most likely would have lost the series. 

Against the EMEA team, it appears Wrecking Ball continues to be a good answer, with their lesser experience playing against it domestically. Moreover, Ball was the primary harasser of Quartz's Cassidy once JunBin reentered the series and gave him no space to work with. Which in turn allowed Crazy Racoons to convert the critical Map 6 back to their favor and carry that momentum into a Map 7 win. 

Winning Roster:

With the conclusion of Champions Clash, teams will look towards the Midseason Championship at the end of July in Paris for their next chance to lift an international trophy ahead of the World Finals in China at the end of the year.

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Featured Image Credit: Overwatch Esports

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