With half of the OWCS season done and dusted, Stage 3 is here - and the path forward to the OWCS Finals at DreamHack Stockholm is quickly coming into view. With that in mind, we’re here to provide you a Viewer’s Guide to OWCS Stage 3, with all the details you need in one convenient place. For starters, our first NA and EMEA Groups broadcasts of Stage 3 kick off this Saturday, August 17th at 9am PST on YouTube and Twitch!
The Stage 3 Viewer’s Guide will cover the following:
The Season So Far
Competitive Updates
Stage 3 Key Dates
Where to Watch
Featured Co-Streamers
Prize Pool and Incentives
Conclusion
The first half of our inaugural OWCS Season has given us no shortage of highlights! Established core rosters and new challengers alike have proven themselves worthy contenders for regional and international success, and Stage 3 is looking to be a continuation of that trend.
After three incredibly contentious days of play in Dallas, Crazy Raccoon pushed through an impressive Lower Bracket rebound to triumph over regional rivals Team Falcons in the Major Grand Finals. Spacestation also proved themselves as Best in the West after a Lower Bracket dogfight against NA’s #2 seed M80 and their perennial challengers, EMEA #2 seed ENCE.
During the break between the Major and the start of Stage 3, many OWCS teams also stayed sharp in the FACEIT League, with Spacestation and the Toronto Defiant continuing their regional dominance.
Now, our OWCS Major champions have returned home with their trophy, while the rest of the pack prepare for another shot at the international stage. Their attendance at the OWCS Finals at DreamHack Stockholm is far from guaranteed, however - challengers are rising in ALL regions to fight for Finals qualification as we enter the back half of the season!
As with the OWCS Major, our Stage 4 champions in each region will be joined in Stockholm by the 2 next best teams in the NA & EMEA regions by season-long cumulative Circuit Points at the end of Stage 4. Those six teams will be joined by OWCS Asia’s Stage 2 Grand Finalists for an 8-team, double-elimination bracket, crowning our first-ever OWCS World Champions!
In our efforts to continuously improve the OWCS player experience, we’re making a few tweaks to our competitive format going into Stage 3.
In Stage 3 and 4 for both NA and EMEA, the Top 4 teams by placement in the prior Stage’s Main Event will be automatically qualified into the Groups phase, skipping the Swiss phase entirely - if they meet the requirements listed below.
If any of the Teams who placed in the Top 4 of Stage 2’s Main Event do not meet this criteria, they will forfeit their Groups auto-qualification for Stage 3 and will need to compete in the Stage 3 Swiss phase to re-earn their slot in Groups.
We’ll be monitoring these adjustments through the remainder of the season and are always open to feedback in the OW Esports Discord.
Our Stage 3 Open Qualifier concluded this past Sunday, with 16 teams advancing from NA and EMEA into their respective Groups Stages. Groups kicks off August 16th, with our first broadcast matches beginning on the 17th.
As with our first two Stages, the Group Stage takes place over two weekends of competition, with the top two teams in each group advancing to their region’s 8-team, double-elim Main Event Bracket. Stage 3’s Main Event kicks off on Thursday, August 29th, and ends on Sunday, September 1st!
As always, you can follow along with all things OWCS and OW Esports at our social media and streaming channels, linked below.
NA & EMEA
Asia
We’ve been thrilled at the success of our Featured Co-Streamer program this year, and we’re excited to continue the initiative in Stage 3 and beyond!
Featured Co-Streamers are members of the OW Esports community that set themselves apart by their passion and dedication to the scene. These are streamers and content creators that always put on a show and give fans the content they crave, as well as a place to enjoy OW Esports with fellow enthusiasts.
At the end of every NA/EMEA OWCS broadcast, we’ll raid the Featured Co-Streamer of the day and pass them some codes for in-game rewards to give away on stream! These codes can range from OW2 premium currency to Battle-Passes, skin bundles, and more.
The following Featured Co-Streamers will help us kick off Stage 3.
Week 1
Week 2
If you’re interested in earning a spot as an OWCS Featured Co-Streamer, you’re in luck - ANYONE can sign up to be a co-streamer right here! OWCS Co-Streamers can stream anywhere, anytime, and have no restrictions on sharing content from their streams on any platform.. Assuming you're in good standing, you’re automatically approved when you apply - but you can also request to join our clean feed access list via the OWE Discord to stream matches in full with your own commentary.
We’re always looking for ways to uplift community voices via our Co-Streamer Program, so let us know on X, Instagram, and Discord if you intend to start co-streaming OWCS matches so we can give you a shout-out.
In NA and EMEA, each Top 16 team has the chance to earn their piece of the Stage 3 prize pool. Stage 3’s rewards mirror those of Stage 2, and serve as another opportunity for teams on the bubble to begin their push for a spot at the OWCS Finals at DreamHack Stockholm.
They’re not the only ones with something to earn, though! Everyone that tunes into the Stage 3 can earn a trio of in-game reward sets by connecting their Twitch or YouTube account to their Battle.net profile. We’ll have three sets of drops throughout Stage 3 - one for the Groups Phase (8/11-8/25), and two for the Main Event (8/29-8/30 and 8/31-9/1).
These rewards were created to evoke the competitive spirit of OW Esports, and the drive all our players share to reach the pinnacle of their regions, and the world.
The full list of rewards is as follows:
Campaign 6 - Groups (8/11-8/25):
2 hours - OWCS 2024 Icon
4 hours - OWCS Spray #1
6 hours - OWCS Spray #2
8 hours - OWCS 2024 Name Card
10 hours - OWCS Home Weapon Charm
Campaign 7 - Main Event 1 (8/29-8/30):
3 hours - Summer Games Torch Icon
6 hours - Taste of Glory Spray
10 hours - OWCS Ramattra (Home)
Campaign 8 - Main Event 2 (8/31-9/1):
3 hours - Summer Games Stadium Spray
6 hours - Torch Run Name Card
10 hours - OWCS Ramattra (Away)
The back half of our OWCS season is set to impress, and we’re so excited to have you cheering for our players and teams around the world. Tune in to our first NA and EMEA Groups broadcasts this Saturday, August 17th at 9am PST on YouTube and Twitch - where you can also find our ongoing OWCS Asia matches! You can follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok, and join the OW Esports Discord to keep in touch and stay involved with all things Overwatch Esports. Good luck out there, heroes!
