Overwatch League Begins Last Week of Stage 1 With Explosive Action

Big storylines were the tale of the matches that entertained us yesterday. Shanghai looked for their very first win of Stage 1 against the struggling Dallas Fuel, who have been widely disappointing compared to what many thought this team could accomplish. The battle of California saw the San Francisco Shock and Los Angeles Gladiators with identical 3-5 records looking to to take home bragging rights and show  the improvement that they will need to be able to contend for a playoff spot in Stage 2. Finally, it was the match of the day as the 5-3 Los Angeles Valiant took on the the 6-2 Seoul Dynasty. A Seoul win would pratically guarantee an all South Korean stage 1 playoff, while a Los Angeles win would blow the race for third place wide open for themselves and a whole handful of teams. Let's see how all of the action went down

Shanghai Dragons - Dallas Fuel

The first match of the day between the Shanghai Dragons and the Dallas Fuel began on Eichenwalde and saw the Dragons come out of the gate extremely prepared, as they were able to escort the payload all the way to the end of the map and secure a 3-0 lead in their attack round. After a pause for techincal reasons, the Dallas Fuel were able to execute their own finish of the map and tie the map at 3-3. All Shanghai had to accomplish in their second attack round was to capture the first point to win the map, which they were able to do quite easily with the excellent play of Weida "Diya" Lu, 29 eliminations and 13,260 damage done, and Dongjian "MG" Wu, 31 eliminations and 11,390 damage blocked.

Map two saw the two teams duke it out on Horizon Lunar Colony with Dallas looking for a win to tie the series heading into halftime and Shanghai wanting to take a commanding 2-0 lead going into the break. Like the previous map, Shanghai was able to complete the map quite efficiently and take both control points giving them a 2-0 lead. Dallas had a rough time grabbing the very first control point, but after finally taking the point they saw a huge opportunity to take the second point immediatly, due to Shanghai investing too many ultimates to try and defend the first point. This allowed Dallas to rush onto point B before Shanghai could properly set up a defense. They would tie the map at 2-2. Going into the time bank round Dallas would prevent Shanghai from getting even one tick of control progress on Point A. This meant that Dallas only needed to get one tick of progress in three minutes in their second attack round to secure the map victory, which they were able to accomplish and win 3-2. Timo "Taimou" Kettunen's Widowmaker play, 25 eliminations and 9,784 damage done, and Jonathan "HarryHook" Tejedor Rua's Zenyatta play, 24 eliminations, 9,479 damage healed and 9,832 damage done, were major factors in Dallas' win. This would tie the match at 1-1.

Oasis was the stage for map three and saw the Dallas Fuel beginning to take command of the match, as they would capture the first two hills without too much trouble and secure a quick 2-0 victory. Dallas' Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangchod was the focal point of the victory with his 13 eliminations and 0 deaths on D.Va. This map victory gave the Fuel a 2-1 lead in the match and put Shanghai on the brink of continuing their losing streak. 

The Dragons would not go down easily and put together a strong showing on map four Dorado. Both teams would deliver the payload to the end of the map in their attack rounds resulting in a 3-3 tie going into the time bank round. Once again, Shanghai would only need to deliver the payload to the first checkpoint in order to get the map victory and they were able to accomplish this giving them the 4-3 map victory. MG carried the load the for Shanghai on this map with his 43 eliminations and 17,591 damage blocked as D.Va. Now tied at 2-2 in the match, both teams would head to a map five to decide the victor of the match. 

The tiebreaker map would be Lijang Tower and it delivered an exciting 3 round affair that saw Dallas take a 1-0 lead. Shagnhai would secure the hill and tie the map at 1-1, despite having to break through a 4 tank composition from the Fuel. Unfortunately, Shanghai would not be able to put up much of a fight in the match deciding round. Dallas was able to capture the last hill 100%-0% and win the map 2-1. This gave them the match victory with the score of 3-2. 

With the win Dallas improved to 2-7, while Shanghai would fall to 0-9. Brandon "Seagull" Larned led the way for the Dallas Fuel in the match, as Shanghai could not contain the massive hero pool, 7 heroes, he attacked them with. His best hero by far was Genji, as the popular player delivered a fantastic performance with the cyborg ninja with 53 eliminations, 33 of them being final blows, and only 13 deaths.

San Francisco Shock - Los Angeles Gladiators

Our second match of the day began on Numbani with the Shock having to throw everything they had at the Gladiators in their first attack round to deliver the payload. Dante "Danteh" Cruz, 31 eliminations and a 13 kill streak with Tracer, led the way for the Shock to grab a 3-0 lead. The excellent D.Va play from Aaron "Bischu" Kim, 22 elimations and 15,769 damage blocked, drove Los Angeles to deliver the payload all the way within 2 meters of completing of the map, but a miraculous last stand was made by San Francisco and the Shock were able to secure a map victory of 3-2 and take a 1-0 led in the match.

Horizon Lunar Colony saw both teams take to space to decide the second map of the match. The Shock have been abysmal on this map for all of Stage 1, as they had not yet won the map once in 4 weeks of competition. The Gladiators capitalized on the Shock's woes on the map and were able to hold them scoreless in thier attack round. This gave the Gladiators the opportunity to win the map by only capturing the first control point, which they did quite easily. Bischu and Luis Galarza "iRemiix"  Figueroa were the MVPs of the map for Los Angeles, as the two tank players combined for 23 eliminations and only 1 death between both of them. 

Oasis would be the stage for map three of the match and Lane "Surefour" Roberts would take it upon himself to make sure the Gladiators continued their momentum that they had started on the previous map. With excellent use of his Dragonblade ultimate with Genji, Surefour was able to spearhead the Gladiators' capture of the first two hills leading to their 2-0 map victory. Jun-Sung "Asher" Choi was also instrumental in the map victory, as his performance with Tracer, 27 eliminations and only 4 deaths, gave the Shock a great amount of trouble.

Map four of the match would take place on Junkertown and saw the Shock with their backs against the wall and the Gladiators with all of the momentum. Despite this, the Shock were able to utilize solid teamwork to take a 2-0 lead and looked poised to complete the map. This would not last long, as the Gladiators star DPS player Joao Pedro "Hydration" Veloso de Goes Telles would continue Surefour's superb use of Genji's Dragonblade to stop the Shock from getting a third point. Los Angeles would be able to continue the exceptional play they had shown throughout the match and deliver the payload all the way to the end of the map to grab the 3-2 map victory.

The DPS trio of Surefour, Hydration, and Asher could not be contained by the Shock. Surefour was named player of the match, as his Genji play, 29 eliminations, 13 of them being final blows, and 10 Dragonblade kills, delivered in clutch moments throughout the match. With the win the Gladiators improved to 4-5 and the loss dropped the Shock to 3-6.

Los Angeles Valiant - Seoul Dynasty

The match of the day began on Eichenwalde and despite Byung-Sun "FLETA" Kim's laser like accuracy with Pharah's rockets, the Valiant were able to secure the payload and deliver it to the end of the map and take a 3-0 lead. It was not easy for Los Angeles, as they had to survive three straight overtime holds from Seoul. Terence "Soon" Tarlier, 33 eliminations and a kill streak of 12 with Tracer, and Pan-Seung "Fate" Koo, 38 eliminations and 15,319 damage blocked with Winston, were too much to handle for Seoul and the Valiant's defense would hold the Dynasty to only 1 point. The 3-1 map victory gave the Valiant a 1-0 lead in the match.

Temple of Anubis would be the stage for map two of the match and saw the Valiant capture the first two control points and take a 2-0 lead to begin the map. Not letting the Valiant enjoy their successful attack round for long, the Dynasty was able to execute a perfect dive composition to capture both points and tie the map at 2-2. The second attack round would see the Valiant break through Seoul's defense to capture the first point, but the Dynasty would tighten up their defensive effort and would not allow Los Angeles to capture Point B. Down 3-2, Seoul was able to capture Point A and tie the map at 3-3. The Valiant were able to put together their own strong defensive hold on Point B and stop Seoul from capturing Point B and winning the map. This resulted in a 3-3 tie on the map and opened the door for the Valiant to win the match with just one win in two maps left. Benjamin "Unkoe" Chevasson put up incredible numbers as Zenyatta, 25 eliminations, 8,488 damage done and 8,621 damage healed, to propel the Valiant to force the tie against Seoul and hold onto their 1-0 lead in the match.

Map three took place on Oasis and saw Los Angeles capture the first two hills and secure a 2-0 map victory. This map victory would give the Valiant a 2-0 lead in the match and the match victory, as the result of map four would not matter due to the tie on map two. Seoul did their best to hold off the Valiant by delivering a barrage of EMP ultimates from FLETA's Sombra, but the excellent D.Va play from Chevasson "Envy" Lee, 21 eliminations and 5,366 damage blocked, was too much for the Dynasty to overcome. 

Dorado would be the last map of the match and with the victory already assured for the Valiant, Seoul was now playing for map count to make sure that they would still control third place in the standings. Unfortunately for Seoul, Los Angeles was out for blood now and delieverd another strong effort to secure the 3-2 victory. Soon delivered the deciding play, as a clutch Pulse Bomb opened up the final checkpoint for the Valiant to complete the map and get their third point. 

Fate was named player of the match with his Winston play, 105 eliminations to only 29 deaths and 43,497 damage blocked, driving the Valiant's victory. With the victory the Valiant took sole ownership of third pace in the league and opened up the door for a handful of teams, such as the Houston Outlaws, Boston Uprising, and Philadelphia Fusion, to have the chance to fight for the last coveted spot in the Stage 1 playoffs. 

With another day of exciting Overwatch action upon us today there is no telling what sort of craziness might unfold. With the Valiant's victory over Seoul these next few days now have major playoff implications and fans can expect to see all of the contending teams deliver their best performances. To see which teams will be competing today, check out the official Overwatch League schedule and if you are interested in more Overwatch League news make sure to check out the exciting roster news the Shanghai Dragons are reportedly involved in!