Overwatch League Stage 1 Week 4 Day 3 Recap

Welcome to the OWL W4 D3 recap! Draws, one-sided games and more unexpected results were on the schedule for the third day of Week 4. Featuring a complete fiesta of ultimates during the first game of the night, here is what happened in the Overwatch League Week 4 Day 3 matches.

Los Angeles Valiant versus Houston Outlaws

This might’ve been the messiest game of the night, and it was officially the last chance for the Los Angeles Valiant to get a win during Stage 1. Unfortunately, they still couldn’t make it happen in the match. The Valiant have now finished Stage 1 with no wins. Both teams were sloppy during the first half, but the Houston Outlaws managed to pick up the win at the end. The final score for the game was 2-1 in favour of Houston.

Houston won the game, but they were rather messy during the first half of the match. They may have gotten the win on Busan in the first map, but that’s only because the Valiant didn’t realize that DPS player Danteh was backcapping the point, allowing Houston to take the win. However, the Valiant and Houston may have set a record on Route 66 for the most ultimates used in the shortest amount of time, with all 12 ultimates going off in the space of 13 seconds. Still, Houston managed to pick up the slack in the second half of the game and took the win from the Valiant, managing to full hold them on Route 66.

Valiant Gave a Valiant Effort

It’s wings down for now for the Valiant, as they have now finished Stage 1 in last place with no wins. Thatsaid, that could change if the Washington Justice does worse than them in their next two matches. The Valiant weren’t as sloppy as they have been in some games, but considering they were completely unaware of Danteh backcapping the point on Busan, a game they could’ve very easily won, it’s clear to see that the Valiant are currently a shadow of their former selves. Before the Valiant threw the game away on Busan, the map itself was relatively close, with Izayaki playing quite well as Ana and SPACE eating Graviton Surges for dinner during the games. The Valiant now have plenty of time to go back to the drawing board and figure out what went wrong during this stage and fix it before Stage 2 kicks off.

Seoul Dynasty versus Washington Justice

The Valiant isn’t the only team to be winless this season so far. The Washington Justice were seeking their first win during their game against the Seoul Dynasty. Unfortunately, the Dynasty wasn’t going to give it to them. Seoul took the win from the Justice convincingly, with a final score of 3-1 in favour of the Dynasty.

Whether it was the weird choice to put DPS player Stratus on Zenyatta, or the lack of coordination, Washington took us to the circus during the game. They looked out of sync during the first three maps of the series. They did, however, manage to pick up the slack during the final round on Dorado, beating the Dynasty with a 3-4 map score in the end. Not only that, but DPS player Corey landed three kills on Point C of the map as Zarya, forcing Seoul off of the point and allowing the Justice to flip it. Washington have two matches left in the stage as they face off against the Paris Eternal and the Florida Mayhem, and it is possible they may pick up their first win against either of these teams. It’s also possible they’ll end up like the Valiant.

New Faces on Seoul

Seoul had a great game, and they debuted four of their players that haven’t played yet in this season. Returning to the Overwatch League stage was main support Tobi and flex tank Zunba, both of whom have been part of the original roster since the team played as Lunatic Hai in APEX. Two new faces also joined the others, as DPS player FITS and main tank Marve1 joined them on the stage for the first time. And the team most certainly didn’t disappoint. As the last fight of Seoul’s attack broke out on Dorado, Zunba launched his D.va Self-Destruct into the Justice, taking out three of them and allowing Seoul to finish the map.

Los Angeles Gladiators versus Guangzhou Charge

The third match of the night was between the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Guangzhou Charge. Both teams were looking strong going into the match, as the Gladiators were riding the high of their clean sweep over the Atlanta Reign on Thursday. For their end, the Guangzhou Charge were looking to further their win streak after they were victorious over the Los Angeles Valiant. Going into the game, people weren’t quite sure what to expect in terms of who to pick as the favourite to win. In the end, though, it was the Gladiators who took the win, with a final score of 3-1.

Guangzhou may have lost the game, but they still took the first map of the series off of the Gladiators on Nepal. Flex player for the Charge, Hotba, teamed up with DPS teammate Happy to flip the point in favour of Guangzhou on Nepal Village. As Pharah flew into close range as Pharah, Happy released his Dragonstrike as Hanzo to force the Gladiators outside of the point. With nowhere to hide, Hotba used his Rocket Barrage to take out two members of the Gladiators, and landing a final rocket onto the third. With half the team dead, the remaining members fell, letting the Charge take over the point that would lead to them winning the match.

shields up

The Gladiators looked strong going into this match, and they didn’t disappoint their fans with their performance either. Though they lost the first map, they regained their stride very quickly and won the next three maps in a row, even managing to full hold the Charge on Temple of Anubis. There were some very well-timed D.va bombs from flex tank Void, but there weren’t many flashy plays from the Gladiators as they worked together efficiently and coordinated to bring themselves another win in Stage 1.

Hangzhou Spark versus Toronto Defiant

The final match of the night was between the Hangzhou Spark and the Toronto Defiant. Hangzhou was hoping to keep their hopes alive for the Stage 1 Playoffs, but unfortunately, Toronto destroyed those hopes as they took the win. The final score was 3-0 in favour of Toronto.

Toronto was a strange team when coming into the new season. Nobody quite knew what to expect from them, as they were a mixture of players coming from different teams across the Overwatch League and Contenders. But now they have secured a place in the Stage 1 Playoffs, and they have also eliminated Hangzhou’s chance of getting to the playoffs. From Envy’s 5-man D.va Self-Destruct on Volskaya Industries to Neko putting on a performance as Ana, Toronto have proven themselves to no longer being a mid-pack team and that viewers should be seeing them as one of the tougher teams to beat.

The Charge just aren't there yet

Hangzhou looked relatively strong during the first map on Nepal, taking the first round 100% to Toronto’s 0%. They were looking stronger than they have in recent weeks with their losses. But that’s when everything began to fall apart. They picked some strange compositions that didn’t work out in the end, and players were being isolated and picked off frequently across the match. Whilst they did manage to draw on Volskaya Industries, it wasn’t enough for them to stop the Defiant from taking the win, thus eliminating their Stage 1 Playoff hopes. Hangzhou will have to go back to the drawing board during the break and see what can be fixed for Stage 2.

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Images via the Overwatch League and the Los Angeles Gladiators