What Can the Shanghai Dragons Do To Win Their First Series

Everybody loves an underdog story, cheering for the little guy in sports, movies, even games. But how long do you continue to cheer for the underdog without them finding success? Is it possible to run out of optimism when wishing all the best for a player or team? How many battles must you fight before you claim victory? These are all questions being asked right now of the Shanghai Dragons, the perennial underdog of the Overwatch League.

There’s been a lot of talk about what exactly is going on with the Shanghai Dragons, and their equal parts impressive and depressing losing streak. Mitch "Uber" Leslie, Overwatch Caster, had a few thoughts on their struggles during a recent episode of Game Talk Live, stating “I mean they have come so close to winning on multiple occasions. At the start of this stage it definitely struck me, in the first week at least, that perhaps Shanghai didn't hit the ground running in terms of the new meta of utilizing Brigitte and playing around her. You have a team that came into the league, and I think initially when they hit the ground it was definitely clear to see that the understanding of how the game was played from the Chinese scene differed a little bit as opposed to the Western scene and perhaps even in Korea. It definitely took them awhile to reach the same point. Also, you factor in you taking half of your team and replacing it with three people from South Korea who speak a completely different language, and you have to integrate them, and these players that you put in like Fearless, Geguri, Ado and even Daemin later on in the piece. These are people who are outperforming center piece roles on this roster, so being able to integrate with your support lineup or your tanks is super important.”

We know now know that the Shanghai Dragons did not have an interpreter before for some time, making practice sessions and scrims an incredibly difficult task for the multi-lingual team. There are not too many games remaining for the Dragons to play, in fact there are only four series left for them to try and attempt to gain their first victory. The problem does not seem to be a lack of effort or desire to win, but something else that’s holding this team back from achieving their goals.

The next match the Shanghai Dragons are set to play out is their final series against the Florida Mayhem. This very well might be the best chance they have to win a series, as the remaining games after that will see them take on the Boston Uprising, Los Angeles Gladiators, and the San Francisco Shock. The Shanghai Dragons have been slowly improving over time, and the recent match between the Florida Mayhem and the Houston Outlaws highlighted some extreme flaws in the gameplay of Florida that Shanghai could potentially exploit.

The unfortunate reality is that there is a very real possibility that the Shanghai Dragons will fail to win a single series in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League. Should that prove to be the case, they very well may find gaining and maintaining a fan base to be quite difficult, especially if they lose any of their more popular players in the off-season. You can catch the upcoming match between the Shanghai Dragons and the Florida Mayhem on Wednesday the 6^th of June at 6pm PDT. For more information on that game, and the other remaining matches of the Overwatch League, check out the Official Website, here.