The San Francisco Shock appear to be unstoppable. Coming off of a 28-map winning streak, the team has been nothing if not dominant in Stage Two, entering the play offs as the first seed. However, while they may have dropped a few maps to opponents, the Vancouver Titans are undefeated in Season Two. The Titans even took down the Shock in a nail-biting seven map series in the Stage One Finals.
Having not crossed paths since, the two teams finally clash again in the Stage Two Finals. We sat down with Sung-jun "SLIME" Kim of the Vancouver Titans and Grant "Moth" Espe of the San Francisco Shock to see how they feel about the upcoming game, what sort of preparations they’ve made, and who they think will stand victorious once the dust settles.
“I think we could have beat them last time, but we’ll definitely beat them this time,” said Moth when asked about facing the Titans again. “Vancouver’s like our rivals since we played them last time, and we could have won. I’d rather face them again and beat them this time so we can prove that we’re better.”
“Yeah, I’d see us as rivals,” SLIME agreed via translation. “Personally, I always thought of Vancouver, New York, and San Francisco as a top three. But since we beat New York, Vancouver and San Francisco are top two now.”
Both players agreed that it was going to be an intense game. With both possessing strong communication skills and adaptability, it should be a spectacular Stage Finals to witness.
“It’s going to be a pretty difficult game,” admitted SLIME. “San Francisco really wants to get revenge against Vancouver. We can give them hope, but they’re not going to take the champion spot.”
“Last time, Vancouver changed their playstyle really rapidly between rounds and between maps, and we were slow to adapt towards the end of the series,” said Moth on the outcome of the Stage One Finals. “I think this time we have that experience and we’ll be able to figure out what they’re doing really quick and counter it.”
SLIME also gave a little insight into how the Titans look to dismantle the Shock; focusing on Matthew "Super" DeLisi. “Super and Viol2t are their main players,” pointed out SLIME. “If we make it more difficult for Super, we notice that Viol2t won’t be able to perform well, either.”
Both Lucio players had similar end-game score predictions, however, although each picking their own team to come out on top. “4-2 for Shock,” said Moth, without batting an eye.
“Personally, I’d want the score to be 4-1,” said SLIME. “But I think it may end up 4-2, [Vancouver].”.
“It would be amazing [to win the Stage Two Finals],” said Moth in closing. “Coming from a team that was ninth place last year and then did a ton of work in the off-season and had to do a ton of adaptation to this meta, I think we want to prove we’re the best, and we had the chance in stage one, but this time we can do it.”
“Thanks for always cheering for us,” SLIME parted with some words for fans of Vancouver. “We’ll thank you by winning tomorrow.”
You can watch the Stage Two Overwatch League Finals right here in the stream below. Don't sleep in, however, the game kicks off at 10am PT.
Watch live video from OverwatchLeague on www.twitch.tv
(Featured Images credit Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)
