Oceanic Nationals 2021 Stage 2 Predictions: Gameday 3

The closest OCN stage in history continues to heat up in Week 2

Well, isn’t this going to be an exciting stage? I can’t think of a closer Oceanic Nationals pack than the one we have in Stage 2 2021. Gameday 3 will have some decisive matchups that could settle down the power rankings, but it’s proving to be harder to tell than ever before.

Seriously, two games in, and it feels like any team could win the Stage and I’d accept that fate. Sure, there’s some front runners ⁠— Chiefs, Knights, even Bliss ⁠— but with squads like Rhythm and LFO putting up bigger fights than they did in Stage 1, the competition is tight.

All this excitement makes for great viewing, but horrible predicting. However, we’ve assembled the expert panel yet again to break down Gameday 3’s action, and who should emerge victorious.

Without further ado, let’s jump in.


RoflcopterGG vs Knights

Prediction: Knights win

RoflcopterGG showed they meant business in Oceanic Nationals with a stunning 8-7 upset against Chiefs on Gameday 2. It was even more miraculous given the squad looked headless against LFO on the first day.

However, it’s hard to see the RoflcopterGG lightning striking twice against the Knights, who are tearing through both Oceanic Nationals and APAC South. With a win against Invictus Gaming under their belts off the back of a classic Jsh performance, RoflcopterGG should be an easy beat.

While Knights stumbled last week against Bliss after facing the wrath of Shadey on Iana, you can never really keep the (on-paper) number one roster down for too long.

There’s a reason why the Knights are so feared not just in ANZ, but in APAC. They’ve failed to find that consistency across both leagues so far, but Roflcopter are going 

Rhythm vs Chiefs

Prediction: Chiefs win

Rhythm are the only winless team in OCN Stage 2 left. However, breaking that bogey against Chiefs is a tall order.

They pushed Wildcard to the very edge on Oregon but couldn’t finish the job ⁠— partly thanks to individual heroics by Gio, but partly because they couldn’t string the rounds together when it mattered. In reality, they should have never made overtime, given Novaix pulled out one of the clutches of the season to push it there.

The Chiefs are still the defending champions too, and while they may have lost to Roflcopter, they handily dismantled APAC South counterparts Order in the biggest win of last week.

I’m just going to put this in your mind: Stage 1 MVP Worthy has had a very slow start to Oceanic Nationals. Once he’s back up on top form, hardly anyone (outside of Knights) can stop the Chiefs. If he finally finds it against Rhythm, best of luck to them ⁠— they’ll need it.

Order vs Wildcard

Prediction: Wildcard win

Well, we’ve already seen this match this week. Wildcard took down Order yesterday in APAC South 7-3, finally getting off the ground in the international league. 

They did so off the back of Milostka, the team’s newest addition, who looked brilliant across attack and defense, posting a 90% KOST to match his 1.47 rating. However, it was a quiet night from Order, with the philosophy of “If Speca is quiet, Order lose” ringing true.

With JKR officially stepping down from the team too and Naate now back in the starting spot (although he played all of last week’s games), it does raise questions about stability behind closed doors. 

Order themselves admitted they made many mistakes on Clubhouse against Wildcard, including a big mishap with the defuser ultimately costing them the game. Cleaning up their act across 24 hours is a big ask, but if Speca is back on the ball, this game has the potential to be a close affair like we all remember it being.

LFO vs Bliss

Prediction: Bliss win

Jigsaw will go up against his former squad in LFO to round out Gameday 3, and if he pulls out the same performance he did against Wildcard, they’re going to get smoked. The star fragger made his entry onto the rising star squad known with a huge 15-kill performance. He had a bloody 3.00 player rating for God’s sake.

However, the new-look LFO ⁠— which is starting to suspiciously look like Ferox in 2020 ⁠with Deptra jumping onboard (Warden unretiring when?) — definitely showed they are much better than their Stage 1 selves.

They took a 6-0 defense half against Roflcopter on Kafe to get their first win. However, even though they lost to Order, they showed more signs of life ⁠— with huge clutches from Hills and Wettables putting LFO closer to their 2020 successes than they looked in Stage 1.

Bliss are the team that continues to surprise in OCN 2021 however, and it’s hard to see that train stopping ⁠— at least at Stop: LFO. While both squads boast incredible firepower, Bliss’ experience edge should definitely pull through.


Oceanic Nationals Stage 2 2021 returns tonight at 7pm AEST when RoflcopterGG takes on the Knights.

You can catch the action live on the Rainbow Six Bravo Twitch channel.

Andrew Amos

After joining Snowball in mid-2018, Andrew "Ducky" Amos has fast become one of our region's best esports writers. Cutting his teeth in Oceanic Overwatch, he now covers all kinds of esports for publications globally. However, his heart still lays at home, telling the story of Aussies trying to make it big.

Andrew Amos
Andrew Amos
After joining Snowball in mid-2018, Andrew "Ducky" Amos has fast become one of our region's best esports writers. Cutting his teeth in Oceanic Overwatch, he now covers all kinds of esports for publications globally. However, his heart still lays at home, telling the story of Aussies trying to make it big.

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