Overwatch League Stage 1 Week 2 Day 3 Recap

Welcome to our Overwatch League Stage 1 Week 2 Day 3 Recap! Two five-map games and some action-packed matches between teams was on the menu for yesterday's games in the Overwatch League. From the Fuel bouncing back after a loss earlier in the week to a tight match between Paris and the Gladiators, here's the ESTNN recap of what happened during the most recent Overwatch League matches.

Paris Eternal versus Los Angeles Gladiators

The match between the Paris Eternal and the Los Angeles Gladiators was anticipated to be the most exciting matchup of the night, and the teams didn’t disappoint. Fans were split on who would win. Both teams have had strong showings during their recent matches, and it was anybody’s game. Paris took the win though, beating the LA squad with a score of 2-1.

Paris has definitely impressed the viewers of the Overwatch League. As one of the new expansion teams coming into the league, people weren’t quite sure what to expect. The team has different players from different teams, but the squad has proven that they have what it takes to compete with the top dogs. One player who had a strong showing during the game was the Eternal’s flex tank Finnbjörn “Finnsi” Jónasson, the only Icelandic player in the Overwatch League. Finnsi was key to the Eternal’s success in this match, landing several multi-kills throughout the series, and combining with DPS player Terence “SoOn” Tarlier to get some very impressive Self-Destruct kills as D.va.

The Zarya Graviton Surge and D.va Self-Destruct combo is one of the most effective combos to use when running the triple tank and triple support. If it’s timed correctly, it can devastate the enemy team. Finnsi and SoOn both understand this, and the effective coordination between the two allowed them to get a triple kill on Nepal Sanctum. The kills wiped half of the Gladiators and left the rest of the Eternal to flip control of the point back over to them.

Despite the loss, LA can still Compete

The Gladiators may have lost the match, but they still proved that they can compete against the stronger teams in the league so far. Through good communication and teamwork, Los Angeles did manage to take the map win on Nepal, and also forced a draw on Temple of Anubis, holding Paris from getting as clean of a victory as they would’ve liked. Both flex tank Jun-woo” Void” Kang and DPS star Lane “Surefour” Roberts had a strong game, with Surefour being able to clean up the objective at crucial moments and Void landing important Self-Destruct kills to give his team the advantage during team fights. Some fights could have been cleaner, and there were errors that could’ve been avoided, but this is a new season and the Gladiators are working to synergise with their new main tank, Chang-hoon “rOar” Gye.

Philadelphia Fusion versus Dallas Fuel

Philadelphia is having a rough week. Having lost 1-2 to the Florida Mayhem earlier in the week, the team were hoping to bounce back in their match against the Dallas Fuel. However, it wasn’t to be, as Dallas was also looking to get a win having lost to the Guangzhou Charge on Thursday. Whilst both teams were eager to take the win, it was the Fuel who emerged victorious over the Fusion, with the final match score ending at 3-1.

Philadelphia lost, and they are currently struggling to make things work as of right now. The Fusion is playing without their flex support player, Isaac “Boombox” Charles, who is currently ill. Playing in his place is one of their two-way contracted players, main support Elijah “Elk” Gallagher, who isn’t used to playing as heroes like Zenyatta and has had to learn them in not a lot of time. The Fusion did manage to take a map win off of the Dallas Fuel on Horizon Lunar Colony though. One of the things that the triple tank and triple support composition is good at outlining is good teamwork and communication. Sometimes, flashy D.va self-destructs aren’t needed to win a team fight, and Philadelphia knew this. Working together to take the points and eliminate members of the Fuel, the Fusion took the map win to keep their hopes alive.

RCK Impresses

The Dallas Fuel are in a good place right now. Whilst their current record is 2-2, they have looked rather dominant in the games they have won, and have put up a valiant effort to stay alive during the games they’ve lost. The new additions to the roster are paying off, especially the addition of the new flex player, Richard “rCk” Kanerva, who has shown off his D.va many a time so far during the Fuel’s matches.

Positioning and timing are key to get a good Self-Destruct as D.va, and rCk knows this. Combining with DPS player Dylan “aKm” Bignet as Zarya on Numbani, rCk launched his Self-Destruct onto the heads of Philadelphia while they were stuck in aKm’s Graviton Surge. The blast wiped out three members of the Fusion, leaving the rest of the Fuel to clean up the stragglers. With the entire of Philadelphia down and back in spawn, Dallas continued to push the payload on.

Vancouver Titans versus Guangzhou Charge

This was the first of the two map five games to take place during the night, and it gave fans a nail biter of a series. Two of the new teams brought into the League during the off season went head to head, as the Guangzhou Charge battled against the Vancouver Titans. The match went all the way to the fifth map and the third and final point of Ilios, where the Vancouver Titans took the win over the Charge, ending the game with a final score of 3-2.

Vancouver is looking dominant so far this season. Currently in second place in the standings behind the New York Excelsior, the Titans are a force during the second season of the OWL. It’s not too surprising when you learn that the entire roster was picked up hot off the press from their Contenders Korea Season 2 victory under Team RunAway.

While every member of the Titans played well, it was flex tank Hyeon-woo “JJANU” Choi who stole the show. As the Charge were building up capture percentage on the final round of Ilios, it was neck and neck between the teams. DPS player for the Titans, Min-soo “SeoMinSoo” Seo, caught four members of the Charge in his Graviton Surge in the nick of time. As control of the point switched back to the Titans, JJANU launched his Self-Destruct right into the middle of the Graviton Surge. The bomb went off, and it took down all four members trapped with it. As the Titans cleared up the remaining two, overtime ticked away, and the Titans took the match win over the Charge.

Guangzhou was impressive despite the loss

Guangzhou Charge's loss should not disappoint the fans. The team took the Titans all the way to the very end, and whilst they fell short, they put up a good fight to prove their strength as a team. DPS player for the Charge, Ou “Eileen” Yiliang, had a strong showing as Sombra during Nepal Village, where he took down three members of the Titans to help clear the enemy team off of the point. With his team cleaning up the remaining few, and the point now in Guangzhou’s control, the Charge managed to take the round win, later taking the map win on Nepal Shrine by using his EMP to disable four members of the Titans. With next to no firepower, Charge forced Vancouver back, and Guangzhou took the map win.

Chengdu Hunters vs Florida Mayhem

The final match of the night was another five-map series between the Chengdu Hunters and the Florida Mayhem. Chengdu were looking for redemption as they came into this series after a 0-4 loss by the Seoul Dynasty on Thursday. Meanwhile, Florida was looking to make it a 2-0 week, having beaten the Philadelphia Fusion earlier in the week. With both teams itching for a win, it was a back and forth affair until the Hunters took the match win on Busan, ending the game with the final score of 3-2.

Chengdu is one of the only teams that aren’t a fan of running the triple tank and triple support composition. That didn’t stop the Hunters from taking the win over the Mayhem though. A common theme for the Hunters is having main tank Ding “Ameng” Menghan on Wrecking Ball instead of on Reinhardt. This is due to the fact that Ameng is much more comfortable on the former hero than the latter. One of the highlights from the match though, came from DPS player Yi “JinMu” Hu, who had a nano-boost from flex support Kong “Kyo” Chunting as Ana whilst JinMu played Genji. Activating his Dragonblade, JinMu cut down three members of the Mayhem on Kings Row, decimating their backline. With the Mayhem forced to retreat, Chengdu took the first point with ease and began to move through the streets.

Hope for Florida

While Florida Mayhem lost the match, they still managed to give their fans a strong showing, and they also took two maps away from the Hunters. On those two maps, Florida demonstrated good team coordination and effective communication that enabled them to work together to take down the members of Chengdu to gain progress on the maps. Though they lost, the Mayhem have improved since last season, having signed an almost entirely new roster to better their results. With some fine tuning, and now that their new assistant coach has arrived in LA, perhaps all the pieces are finally in place for Florida.

Coming Up

Here are the next upcoming matches in the Overwatch League:

SUNDAY 24TH FEBRUARY:
3pm EST – Hangzhou Spark vs. London Spitfire
4:30pm EST – New York Excelsior vs. Houston Outlaws
6pm EST – Toronto Defiant vs. Los Angeles Valiant
7:30pm EST – Vancouver Titans vs. San Francisco Shock

Make sure you check out Don't Sleep on the Toronto Defiant, where an ex-pro gives us some insights, or take a look at Toronto Defiant's Contender's Team, the Montreal Rebellion!

Images via the Overwatch League