Overwatch League Recap Stage 2 | Week 2 | Day 1

Welcome to the OWL S2W2D1 Recap! Stage 2 is now in full swing, and now that we’ve seen what most teams are capable of, the power rankings for the teams are beginning to fall into place. With a clean sweep and three similar match results, here is the recap for what happened in the most recent Overwatch League matches.

Final Scores

Teams highlighted in bold are the match winners.

Paris Eternal vs Florida Mayhem – 3-1

New York Excelsior vs Washington Justice – 4-0

Vancouver Titans vs Seoul Dynasty – 3-1

Philadelphia Fusion vs Toronto Defiant  – 3-1

Highlights

Paris Eternal versus Florida Mayhem

 Unfortunately for Mayhem fans, that second win still eludes the Florida team. The Paris Eternal took the victory, but the match itself was actually quite uneventful. But you can always rely on the “King of Dance” on the Eternal, Shadowburn, to bring out a good display as Genji, and that’s exactly what he did on Hanamura during their first attack. After flex support, Greyy, used his Nano Boost on Shadowburn, the Genji unleashed his Dragonblade to cut through the Mayhem whilst everybody was stacked up in a corridor on the second point, getting three kills whilst his team cleaned up the stragglers. And despite Florida’s main tank, Swon, assassinating two members of the Eternal on the point, it wasn’t enough, and Paris took the second point with time to spare.

New York Excelsior versus Washington Justice

 It was relatively easy to predict the result of this match, but unfortunately for fans of the Washington Justice, the team couldn’t muster the win, and they fell to the hands of the Excelsior. But of course, this match was a good one for New York fans. Firstly, it was the debut match of the renowned DPS star, Flow3r. The young gun has wowed the fans for a long time with his gameplay, especially his deadly Widowmaker that helped South Korea win the 2017 Overwatch World Cup. And although it was his debut match, it was flex support JJonak who stole the show.

The Excelsior’s flex support is well known for being the deadliest Zenyatta in the league, and he reminded the crowd of this whilst on the Excelsior’s first attack. As New York assaulted the point, JJonak got to the back lines without the Justice seeing, and all hell broke loose. One by one the Justice fell to the hands of the bloodthirsty support, eliminating five of the six members, and New York successfully captured the second point because of his lethal assassinations. Special mention to the Justice’s DPS player Corey, who gave it his all to keep his teams hopes alive, pulling off some great shots as Widowmaker.

Vancouver Titans versus Seoul Dynasty

 The third match of the night was a rematch of the Stage 1 semi-final game between the Stage 1 Champions, the Vancouver Titans, and the Seoul Dynasty. The Dynasty gave it their all to try and end Vancouver’s winning streak, but they were unable to complete their mission. The Titans have now continued their undefeated run through the Overwatch League. Each player has their strengths that showed throughout the game, but flex tank JJANU shone brightly during the first round on Busan.

As the Titans attempted to take the point from Seoul, DPS player SeoMinSoo used his Graviton Surge to keep the Dynasty in place. JJANU meanwhile, set off his Self-Destruct as D.va and gently nudged it off the edge of the walkway above the capture point. The bomb fell at just the right moment as it exploded, killing half of the Dynasty and leaving the rest to be cleaned up by Vancouver. With nobody left on the point, Vancouver took the first round, and would then take the second round to win the map.

Toronto Defiant versus Philadelphia Fusion

 To close out the night, the Toronto Defiant and the Philadelphia Fusion faced off in a somewhat intense series. While both teams had moments of strength, it was the Fusion who came out on top over the Defiant. Despite the loss though, flashiest play of the match goes to Toronto’s DPS player Ivy. The DPS player teamed up with flex support Neko, who was running as Ana, to decimate the defence of Philadelphia.

As they began to take the first point on Blizzard World, Neko used his Nano-Boost on Ivy as Genji, and the mayhem began. Ivy dove right into the defence of the Fusion, cutting them down one by one with his Dragonblade until four members had fallen to his hand, leaving the rest to his team as they steadily moved through the second part of Blizzard World.

Coming Up

FRIDAY 12TH APRIL

8 PM EST – Los Angeles Valiant vs Atlanta Reign

9:45 PM EST – Boston Uprising vs Hangzhou Spark

11:30 PM EST – Guangzhou Charge vs San Francisco Shock

Saturday 13th April 1:15 AM EST – Chengdu Hunters vs Shanghai Dragons

SATURDAY 13TH APRIL

4 PM EST – London Spitfire vs Philadelphia Fusion

5:45 PM EST – Vancouver Titans vs Houston Outlaws

7:30 PM EST – Dallas Fuel vs Toronto Defiant

9:15 PM EST – Los Angeles Gladiators vs Guangzhou Charge

SUNDAY 14TH APRIL

4 PM EST – Dallas Fuel vs Paris Eternal

5:45 PM EST – Atlanta Reign vs Washington Justice

7:30 PM EST – New York Excelsior vs Florida Mayhem

9:15 PM EST – Los Angeles Valiant vs Los Angeles Gladiators

Images VIA: Overwatch League

Photo VIA: Robert Paul/Blizzard Entertainment