Overwatch League Stage 2 is underway. Coming off of a strong Stage 1 full of epic plays, success, and devastation, teams have everything to prove as they attempt to step off on the right foot in this competition. Day 1 saw matches between Seoul Dynasty and Los Angeles Valiant, Dallas Fuel and Shanghai Dragons, and Los Angeles Gladiators and San Francisco Shock. Here's the short breakdown of how each match went.
Seoul Dynasty Vs Los Angeles Valiant
In the first match-up of Stage 2, Dynasty and Valiant returned to the ring. Their last match-up saw LA take the series a 4-0 sweep, completely outplaying Seoul at every stage of the match. This time around, Seoul returned the favor with a vengeance. With Mercy generally out of the equation following some nerfs to her build, aggressive dive compositions have become both more viable and more dangerous. Nonetheless, Seoul seemed to have an answer for everything Valiant pulled out. Chae "Bunny" Joon-hyuk was going in hard, Tracer to Tracer against Valiant damage-per-second Terence "SoOn" Tarlier and their clashes saw Seoul coming out on top. Los Angeles almost managed to get the ball rolling in Nepal on the second map, but Seoul kept them from rising out into a competitive position. It was King’s Row where Valiant started to put it together. They finished early objectives aggressively and far faster than Seoul. SoOn was hot on Widowmaker shots during during their push, but it wasn’t enough to finish the match. Seoul pulled it together and shut Valiant down short of the finish line. Seoul had won the match and 3-0 and happily wrapped it up on Route 66 to make it a 4-0 win, laying down decisive vengeance against Valiant for their sweep in Stage 1, Week 5.
Dallas Fuel Vs Shanghai Dragons
Dallas Fuel and Shanghai Dragons suffered a slew of unfortunate losses and woes in Stage 1 of Overwatch League, but they also made a slew of moves to improve upon their teams in the time between stages that many anticipated just might change their luck. Unfortunately for Shanghai, travel visa issues kept new arrivals like Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon from arriving in time to give their team some variety and the Dragons had to make due with what they had. Meanwhile, Dallas Fuel was able to bring Dylan "aKm" Bignet for his first showing in the blue and white and he made an impeccable appearance. He supplied a wealth of damage throughout the match that allowed the Dallas Fuel to keep Shanghai Dragons on the ropes at all times. Shanghai showed some life and fought back for a win in Hollywood on the third map with Weida "Diya" Lu providing some shockingly potent play on his Zarya, but Dallas came right back on Route 66. Though Shanghai gave it their all, they couldn’t keep Dallas Fuel from taking the goal in shortest order and shutting down the series at 3-1. One wonders if Shanghai’s newcomers could have made a difference. It will remain to be seen as we wait for them to arrive on the active roster, but for now, Shanghai continues to take unfortunate losses.
Los Angeles Gladiators Vs San Francisco Shock
The last match of Stage 2, Day 1 saw the Los Angeles Gladiators go up against the San Francisco Shock. San Francisco Shock didn’t make any roster changes between stages, though when the Mercy changes happened, Shock was possibly better off for it without a great Mercy player on their team in the first place. On the other end, the Gladiators were able to sign over Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek from the London Spitfire during the break between stages. The series between the two was one of stalling and firm effort by the Shock, but the Gladiators were able to eke out victory at crucial moments at every turn. Fissure was a constant source of aggression and formation shattering plays on his tanks at every turn. Shock managed to change up their compositions and make the Gladiators work for it, but LA responded well to each change and each opportunity the Shock made for themselves. In the end, the Shock were just never able to come away with a full win, falling in a 4-0 sweep to the Gladiators.
With the first series of matches in the books, we look to Day 2 of Stage 2, Week 1 in the Overwatch League. Day 2 has a very exciting rematch between top playing Stage 1 team Houston Outlaws and the Stage 1 champions London Spitfire. Meanwhile, Stage 1 runner-ups New York Excelsior come out of the gate swinging at Florida Mayhem and Boston Uprising will be going toe to toe with Philadelphia Fusion. With the opening matches out of the way, it will be interesting who rises and who falls with what they’ve learned from Stage 1. Meanwhile, you can check out our expectations for Stage 2 as we look forward today’s matches.
