Overwatch League Stage 1 Week 2 Day 4 Recap

Welcome to our Overwatch League Stage 1 Week 2 Day 4 Recap! The second week of the Overwatch League is at a close, and with it came several exciting moments from the games. From a clean sweep to a fantastic comeback game, here is what happened during the most recent matches in the Overwatch League.

Hangzhou Spark versus London Spitfire

 Nobody could’ve predicted this game. The Hangzhou Spark began the season by coming out of the gates running. The team beat the Shanghai Dragons and the Los Angeles Valiant in week one, but lost their game against the Outlaws earlier this week. Meanwhile, their opponents were looking to make it a 2-0 week. London had a shaky start to the league, but regained their stride after beating the Washington Justice. Now, they seem to have bounced back, as they surprised everybody by taking the win over the Hangzhou Spark with a final score of 3-1.

London are back. The Season One champions of the Overwatch League had a great game against the Spark, and they look as they did during last season. Flashy plays weren’t necessary during this match for the Spitfire to make progress. The team worked together as a cohesive unit to take down the Spark, and they looked indomitable whilst doing it. So much so that they now hold the quickest time in Overwatch League history for taking Point B on Horizon Lunar Colony. London took the point in a staggering 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Second place belongs to the LA Gladiators with 2 minutes and 42 seconds. While London still have a whole season ahead of them, it’s clear that things are beginning to look up for the squad.

Is there hope for Hangzhou?

Hangzhou lost, but they still took a map off of the Spitfire at the end of the match. They looked lost during their first three maps of the series, but regained some of their stride during the last map on Dorado. Through good teamwork, coordination and a nice double kill Self-Destruct as D.va from flex tank Sung-wook “Ria” Park, Hangzhou took the map win. Hangzhou did have some other good moments during the other maps of the series, but it wasn’t enough to take down the Spitfire. With the rest of the season still ahead of them, there is still plenty of time for the Spark to find their stride again.

New York Excelsior versus Houston Outlaws

 New York got the clean sweep over the Houston Outlaws, as they now have a 4-0 match record and are first in the league. Houston had a good start to the week after beating the Hangzhou Spark, but they were simply outplayed during this match against the Excelsior. New York managed to take the win with a final match score of 4-0.

New York, New York. What more can the team ask for other than a perfect sweep? One of the most impressive things to come from this team is the synergy between them, especially between flex tank Tae-hong “MekO” Kim, main tank Dong-gyu “Mano” Kim and DPS player Yeon-kwan “Nenne” Jeong. During their last game against the LA Valiant, we saw an incredible Self-Destruct from MekO with help from Mano, and they got away with it again during their game on Hollywood. As Nenne dropped a Graviton Surge to trap the Outlaws, MekO launched his Self-Destruct into the air. Before Houston could escape, Mano used his Reinhardt Earthshatter to knock down their shield, and it took down the four players stuck inside. With nobody left on Houston to defend the payload, New York swiftly pushed it to the finish line.

Houston may have gotten swept, but they still put up a valiant fight against the Excelsior. DPS player for the Outlaws, Jake “JAKE” Lyon, played as Hanzo during their attack on Route 66. Noticing that three members of the Excelsior were in a good spot for him to get some kills, Jake launched his Dragonstrike into the already low health members of the Excelsior, taking out all three of them. With the remaining members gone, Houston pushed the payload forward and took the first checkpoint for their own.

Toronto Defiant versus Los Angeles Valiant

 Both of these teams were looking for a victory in this match between the Toronto Defiant and the Los Angeles Valiant. Toronto lost earlier in the week to the Atlanta Reign, and the Valiant lost to the New York Excelsior as well. However, only one team could emerge victorious and this time, it was Toronto, as they took the win over Los Angeles with a final score of 2-1.

The Los Angeles Valiant have had a rough start to the league. They’ve lost every match they’ve played so far, but it wasn’t because they were playing poorly. In fact, their coordination and teamwork looked good during this game. Flex tank Indy “SPACE” Halpern landed a three-man D.va Self-Destruct on Hollywood during their attack phase. Whilst stuck in a Graviton Surge from Toronto, DPS player for the Valiant, Young-seo “KariV” Park dropped his own Graviton Surge in response. Sensing an opportunity, SPACE dropped his ultimate in the middle, getting three kills from the explosion and allowing Valiant to continue pushing forward.

Toronto looked good this game. They lost earlier in the week to the Atlanta Reign, but they proved they were able to bounce back from the loss and take the win against the Valiant. As some have come to expect by now, flashy plays aren’t everything when playing triple tank and triple support. Toronto know this well, and they worked together as a team throughout the match to take down the Valiant and win crucial team-fights that won them the maps, and eventually won them the entire game.

Vancouver Titans versus San Francisco Shock

 The Titans once again proved their dominance in this match as they took on the San Francisco Shock. San Francisco were looking to bounce back after their match loss to the Los Angeles Gladiators last week, but it wasn’t to be, as the Vancouver Titans claimed the victory during their match, with the final score being 3-1 in favour of the Titans.

Synergy Rules

One thing that cannot be ignored from the Vancouver Titans is the synergy between the tank duo of flex tank Hyeon-woo “JJANU” Choi and Sang-beom “Bumper” Park, who have been playing together since they were on RunAway. Their ability to coordinate and land game-saving plays is something to admire, especially when they can do it two days in a row. As the Titans pushed the payload towards the checkpoint on Kings Row that would secure them the win, DPS player Min-soo “SeoMinSoo” Seo dropped a Graviton Surge to hold San Francisco in place. Once it began to wear off, Bumper dropped his Reinhardt Shatter whilst JJANU’s D.va Self Destruct was in midair. Unable to move, San Francisco were wiped off the map by the blast from JJANU, as four members of the Shock fell to the explosion.

San Francisco may not have taken the overall match victory, but they did manage to take a map win from the Titans at the end on Route 66. Flex tank for the Shock, Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson, won the Shock the game as he used his D.va Self-Destruct at just the right time. As Vancouver inched near to the payload checkpoint that would secure them the win, Nevix dropped his Self-Destruct whilst members of Vancouver were stuck in a Graviton Surge. The blast took out two members of the Titans, the only two who were near enough to the payload to contest. With nobody left on the payload, San Francisco took the map win.

Coming Up

Here are the next matches coming up in the Overwatch League:

Thursday 28^th February

7pm EST – Washington Justice vs Philadelphia Fusion

8:30pm – Seoul Dynasty vs Boston Uprising

10pm – Florida Mayhem vs Guangzhou Charge

11:30pm – San Francisco Shock vs Hangzhou Spark

Friday 1^st March

7pm EST – Los Angeles Gladiators vs London Spitfire

8:30pm EST – Toronto Defiant vs New York Excelsior

10pm EST – Vancouver Titans vs Los Angeles Valiant

11:30pm – Shanghai Dragons vs Chengdu Hunters

Saturday 2^nd March

3pm EST – Paris Eternal vs Atlanta Reign

4:30pm EST – Florida Mayhem vs Houston Outlaws

6pm EST – San Francisco Shock vs Washington Justice

7:30pm EST – Shanghai Dragons vs Dallas Fuel

Sunday 3^rd March

3pm EST – Boston Uprising vs Toronto Defiant

4:30pm EST – Hangzhou Spark vs Los Angeles Gladiators

6pm EST – Los Angeles Valiant vs Guangzhou Charge

7:30pm EST – New York Excelsior vs Seoul Dynasty

Images via the Overwatch League