RunAway wrecks Overwatch Contenders competition, then wrecks the trophy too
It was an accident.
In 1905 a member of the Ottawa Senators tried to drop-kick the Stanley Cup across the Rideau Canal. It didn't work out, but luckily the canal was frozen so they were able to go get it the next day. In 1962, the Leafs dropped it into a bonfire, and in 1987 it got banged up at a strip club; Mark Messier swung around to a local body shop the next day and got it hammered out before sending it back to the Hall of Fame. It is a resilient cup, in other words—unlike the Overwatch Contenders trophy, as South Korean Contenders champion RunAway discovered over the weekend.
Overwatch Contenders launched in 2017 in North America and Europe as a development league for the Overwatch League, then expanded the following year to South America, Australia, China, Korea, and the Pacific. This past weekend, RunAway decisively defeated Element Mystic to claim the Contenders Korea title. When the action was over, they gathered in the center of the stage to celebrate their win by hoisting the trophy in triumph.
But when they did, it literally came apart in their hands: The top of the handle on the right pulled away from the cup, while the handle on the left came off completely. Fortunately, players were also holding it around the base so it didn't fall to the floor, but it was still an awkward moment to say the least. One of the players appears to try to stick the handle back onto the cup (with the panicked desperation of a kid who just broke his old man's bowling trophy, is my guess) but that job is clearly going to require some serious super-glue.
As Fox News Asia noted, this is the second year in a row that RunAway has claimed the Contenders crown. Making the feat even more impressive, it did so with a completely different roster from last year: Following its victory in Contenders Korea's second season, the entire RunAway roster was signed by the Overwatch League expansion team Vancouver Titans.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.