Over the past few months, eight teams from Oceania fought it out in the OZF 15 Premier league to find out who would become the best team in Oceania and claim the lion’s share of the $1218 AUD prize pool. And this season proved to be the most competitive season of ozfortress in the league’s history.

The eight teams first fought in a round robin, where each team would play every other team once in a best of two series, with the top four teams earning themselves a spot in the playoffs. ozfortress Summer Cup 2016 winners Jasmine Tea topped the round robin without dropping a single map, while the ex-iM team of ego were able to place 2nd. Can’t Stump the Trump and Home Alone secured themselves the last two spots with a 3rd and 4th place finish respectively.

The top four teams advanced to the playoffs in a page playoff system. The first two matches would be the 1st seed (Jasmine Tea) vs the 2nd seed (ego), in which the winner would earn themselves a spot in the grand finals, and the 3rd seed (Can’t Stump the Trump) vs the 4th seed (Home Alone), with the loser being eliminated from the playoffs and the winner moving on to face the loser of the first match in the semi-finals to fight for the last spot in the Grand Finals. The loser of the 3rd vs 4th seed match would then play the loser of the semi-finals for 3rd place.

In the first match between Jasmine Tea and ego, both teams fought tooth and nail to earn the spot in the grand finals, with the series going all the way to the third map, and even a Golden Cap round to decide who would win the series. After a brutal fight, ego cutted off the heat from Jasmine Tea to take the series and advance to the Grand Finals. On the other side of the bracket, Can’t Stump the Trump’s wall was not high enough to stop Home Alone, and Home Alone stopped the Trump’s playoff campaign with a swift victory to move on to the semi-finals.

Thus, the semi-finals were between Jasmine Tea and Home Alone, with Jasmine eager to move on the the finals after their defeat against ego. In the first map on Granary, Jasmine Tea were slowly able to take the first map 5-0 despite Home Alone’s best efforts to keep them at bay. Home Alone hoped to take the second map on Gullywash to tie up the series, but they weren’t able to stop the Tea Train as Jasmine Tea dispatched the homeless men from their train 5-1 to move on to the Grand Finals.

Despite the defeats, Can't Stump the Trump and Home Alone faced off in the 3rd place match to at least end the season on a high note. The first match on Badlands was a landslide for Home Alone, ending the map 5-0 in less than nine minutes. On the second map on Process, the story was different, as both teams fought back and forth to gain a lead. After some intense fighting, Home Alone managed to break the tie and finish the map 6-5, taking the series and netting themselves a nice 3rd place finish.

With the 3rd place match done, the final leg of the OZF 15 came down to a rematch between ego and Jasmine Tea; one best of five series separated both teams from an ozfortress title. The series started on Badlands, with ego fighting with lightning aggression, stunning Jasmine Tea to take the first map 6-1. On the second map on Snakewater, Jasmine answered back with aggression of their own, and managed to take four rounds in a row. ego stopped their roll with two rounds in a row, but Jasmine eventually closed out the map 7-2 and tied the series 1-1. The third map, Granary, proved to be a bloodbath, as both teams tied up the score 3-3. With only two minutes remaining, Jasmine won the crucial 7th round to put the score in their favor, taking the map and the lead in the series 2-1. The 4th map on Process was another slaughterhouse, as both teams met with a similar situation like in Granary - the score tied up and two minutes remaining. This time, ego took the round and the map, bringing the series to the 5th and final map: Sunshine. With all their might, Jasmine Tea dominated on Sunshine, and defeated ego 5-1 to take the map, series, and title of OZF 15 champions.

The final standings for OZF 15 Premier are:

• 1st: Jasmine Tea ($731)
• 2nd: ego ($365)
• 3rd: Home Alone ($122)
• 4th: Can't Stump the Trump

Note: Jasmine Tea will receive the full prize pool ($1218) if they decide to use it to participate at Insomnia58. If they decide not to go, the prize pool will be distributed between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams as shown.