Overwatch Esports: Overwatch League Day 4 Recap

The final day of the opening week of the Overwatch League has come to a close. Fans were treated to three games that went the distance, going all the way to the final round of a fifth map. In case you missed them, here is a recap of what happened during those games.

Houston Outlaws vs. Boston Uprising

After a back and forth affair between the Boston Uprising and the Houston Outlaws to kick off the day’s matches, it was Boston who took the win over the Outlaws, finishing the match with a 3-2 victory. Both teams had strong showings on the maps that they took from each other, but Boston was the team who managed to tip it over the edge to claim the glory.

Boston had a rough start to the match, but they soon brought it back on Hollywood during their attack round. After flex tank, Lucas “Note” Meissner, took out two members of Houston after fellow tank player, Park “Axxiom” Min-seob, placed a Graviton Surge to trap the members of the Outlaws. With DPS teammate, Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang, taking down two more players as Brigitte and the other members of the Uprising cleaning up the rest, Boston was able to continue pushing the payload forward and almost finishing the map, falling short of a few meters from the final checkpoint.

Houston may have lost the game, but they pushed it all the way to the very end. Flex tank for the Outlaws, Matt “Coolmatt” Iorio, had a solid showing on D.va during Hollywood, combining with new DPS teammate Dante “Danteh” Cruz, who was playing as Zarya, to kill half of the Uprising with his Self-Destruct. Coolmatt dropped the ultimate in the middle of Danteh’s Graviton Surge that he had placed down, and then took out another member of the Uprising after the Self-Destruct had gone off. Not only did Houston take it to map five, but they also had a fantastic first map. During the half time, the casters showed the statistics for the final blows during Nepal. Houston managed to land 32 final blows onto Boston, while the Uprising only managed to land 6 onto the Outlaws.

Atlanta Reign vs. Philadelphia Fusion

The second game to go the distance, the Philadelphia Fusion faced off against the new kids on the block, the Atlanta Reign. This was the second of three games that went to the third and final round of the map five, and this time, it was the Fusion who took the win, with the Atlanta Reign falling short as they tried to keep the game alive. The final score for the game was a 3-2 victory to Philadelphia.

Atlanta lost, but they had a very impressive showing across the series. The newest addition to the team, Dusttin “Dogman” Bowerman, impressed the viewers as Zenyatta on Dorado. Dogman was able to take down three members of the Fusion while the rest of his team took down the remaining opponents. Once the cart was clear, Atlanta pushed it until they had captured the first checkpoint. Another player who had a good showing was main tank for the Reign, Hyun-jun “Pokpo” Park, who landed a three-man Reinhardt kill on Atlanta’s attack round during King’s Row.

Philadelphia proved their dominance with the win over Atlanta, having beaten the Season One champions, the London Spitfire, earlier in the week. Flex tank for the Fusion, Gael “Poko” Gouzerch, showed us once again that his D.va is one to be feared, as he landed a three-man Self Destruct kill on Nepal Village. This allowed Philadelphia to flip over the point to begin building capture percentage, having cut it off from Atlanta who was at 84%. Poko wasn’t the only player to have a strong showing. DPS star for the fusion, Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee, had a stellar performance as McCree on Ilios Lighthouse, as well as getting a triple kill as Widowmaker on Nepal Sanctum to allow his team to take control of the point.

Los Angeles Gladiators vs. San Francisco Shock

The most exciting and nail-biting match of the evening was the battle between the Los Angeles Gladiators and the San Francisco Shock. Analysts and viewers had predicted that the Shock, who had beaten the Dallas Fuel earlier in the week with a 4-0 victory, were going to topple the Gladiators, as the team in purple had recently lost to the Seoul Dynasty. However, it was the complete opposite. The Los Angeles Gladiators took the Shock all the way to the third round on map five and took the win, with the final score being 3-2.

The Los Angeles Gladiators had already improved leaps and bounds from their match against the Dynasty. One player who was on fire during the game was flex tank Jun-woo “Void” Kang, who had been charged off of the map during Horizon Lunar Colony by the Shock’s main tank, Matthew “super” DeLisi. However, due to the low gravity, Void was able to use his boosters as D.va to make it back to safety once the charge had ended, leaving Super to fall off the map. Not only this, Void landed a three-man Self Destruct on the Gladiators’ attack during Rialto, allowing for more payload progress from his team. DPS star for the Gladiators, Lane “Surefour” Roberts, also had a good game with his Zarya, landing several multi-kills with high energy across the match.

The Shock was defeated in the end, but this isn’t to say that they had a poor game. After all, the game went to a fifth and final map. Main tank Super managed to pull off an impressive triple kill as Reinhardt on Hollywood, allowing for his team to gain capture progress to get closer to moving the payload. Flex tank for the Shock, Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi, had a decent game as D.va, landing a three-man Self-Destruct kill onto the Gladiators during the Shock’s attack run on Rialto, as well as a double kill during Ilios Lighthouse.

Seoul Dynasty vs. Dallas Fuel

Fans received a break from the heart-stopping map fives at the end of the night, as the Dallas Fuel faced off against the Seoul Dynasty. After the Dynasty defeated the Gladiators with a 3-1 victory, fans of the team in gold were hoping for a similar story, but the Fuel came out of the gates swinging. With the final score of the match being 3-1 in favour of the Fuel, it’s safe to say that anything can happen this season.

The Dallas Fuel surprised the viewers during their match. After a heart-breaking loss to the hands of the Shock, fans were worried for this match. However, the Fuel did not disappoint their fans as they secured the victory over the Dynasty. New flex player for the Fuel, Richard “rCk” Kanerva, stunned the viewers as he landed a timed Self-Destruct as D.va, taking out half of the Seoul Dynasty to make way for his team to take control of Point A on Volskaya Industries. As well as this play, DPS player Dylan “aKm” Bignet had a strong showing as Widowmaker on Kings Row, landing three consecutive headshot kills onto members of Seoul that resulted in Dallas taking the percentage they needed to win the map and go up 2-0 in the series.

The Seoul Dynasty were looking to take a second win in the opening week, but they fell short in this match. The score may seem entirely one-sided, but the Dynasty did have a strong game. Well known flex support, Je-hong “ryujehong” Ryu, was brilliant during their game on Busan Sanctuary. While AKM from the Fuel snuck around as Sombra, Ryujehong managed to use a biotic grenade as Ana to find his enemy and then used a well-timed sleep dart to put him to sleep. Not only this, Jehong landed a double kill as Zenyatta alongside DPS teammate Byung-sun “Fleta” Kim on Zarya to clear the point of the enemy team on Volskaya Industries.

Coming Up

The first week of the Overwatch League is over, but there are still plenty of matches to come. Here is the schedule for the next upcoming matches:

Thursday 21st February:

7 pm EST – Washington Justice vs. London Spitfire

8:30 pm EST – Philadelphia Fusion vs. Florida Mayhem

10 pm EST – Guangzhou Charge vs. Dallas Fuel

11:30 pm EST – Seoul Dynasty vs. Chengdu Hunters

Friday 22nd February:

7 pm EST – Atlanta Reign vs. Toronto Defiant

8:30 pm EST – New York Excelsior vs. Los Angeles Valiant

10 pm EST – Shanghai Dragons vs. Boston Uprising

11:30 pm EST – Houston Outlaws vs. Hangzhou Spark

Saturday 23rd February:

3 pm EST – Los Angeles Gladiators vs. Paris Eternal

4:30 pm EST – Philadelphia Fusion vs. Dallas Fuel

6 pm EST – Vancouver Titans vs. Guangzhou Charge

7:30 pm EST – Chengdu Hunters vs. Florida Mayhem

Sunday 24th February:

3 pm EST – Hangzhou Spark vs. London Spitfire

4:30 pm EST – New York Excelsior vs. Houston Outlaws

6 pm EST – Toronto Defiant vs. Los Angeles Valiant

7:30 pm EST – Vancouver Titans vs. San Francisco Shock