Against the Meta, Chengdu Hunters Entertain the Fans and Defeat Paris

Overwatch League’s Chengdu Hunters may be hit or miss in the rankings, but are a surefire hit with fans due to their unorthodox hero picks.

While the Overwatch League still sees many teams playing within variations of the Three Tank/Three Support meta—commonly referred to as GOATS—in Stage Two, one team has continuously experimented with outside-the-box compositions; the Chengdu Hunters. While their unique playstyle may not always result in success (Chengdu is currently 4-4), the new expansion team has never been more fun to watch as they were in their 4-0 match versus the Paris Eternal.

During the match, Luo "Elsa" Wenjie flexed across many characters from D.Va to Sombra and Tracer. Most notable, however, was their selection of Symmetra to counter Paris’s Bunker strategy on Hanamura. Using Symmetra’s teleporter to strategically position turrets and teammates away from Bastion’s line of sight, Chengdu forced Paris to abandon their original position and fight from a non-ideal spot. With damage-boosting from Li "Yveltal" Xianyao’s Mercy, Elsa also dished out the damage with their Photon Projector, cutting through shields and players alike. 

Reality BENDS TO @Elsa06453086's WILL! #OWL2019

LIVE: https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/vPhgdbjHub

— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) April 7, 2019

When asked in a post-match interview if they had developed the impressive Symmetra strategy, the flex player was quick to give credit to the coaching staff, helmed by Xingrui Wang. “It was definitely our coach,” said Elsa. “Our coach is amazing.”

Elsa wasn’t the only Hunter excelling on lesser-played heroes. On Blizzard World, Ding "Ameng" Menghan kept Paris off their feet with a monstrous Wrecking Ball performance, earning 123 knockbacks on a single map. DPS player Lo "Baconjack" Tzu-Heng also made an impact on Blizzard World, clearing Paris’s backline as Tracer. Even though they were at game four, these picks made a noticeable impact on the audience at Blizzard arena, eliciting cheers and excitement from the crowd.

While these dynamic, non-mirror matches may give a breath of fresh air to viewers, it begs to question if they are competitively viable. Currently, Chengdu is ranked twelfth (out of twenty), which doesn’t give much weight to the argument of trying something new. There's just not enough data of success to push teams to lose maps on something unorthodox, potentially costing them at the end of the season. Even when a team is brave enough to attempt something, it’s not uncommon to them swap back to 3/3 as soon as anything starts taking an unfavorable turn. Why experiment when you have consistency with GOATS? Vancouver Titans almost exclusively played GOATS during Stage One, and were undefeated.

Would you like to see more teams follow Chengdu’s lead, or do you think that the Overwatch League is stuck with 3/3 for another stage? Let us know in the comments below!

(Feature Photo Credit: Robert Paul via Blizzard Entertainment)