Atlanta Reign Get First Win of Stage 3 in Front of Home Crowd

By Wyatt Fossett ·

Eight teams traveled to Atlanta, Georgia this weekend and the hometown heroes managed to snag their first win of the split.

Atlanta Reign Get First Win of Stage 3 in Front of Home Crowd

For the second time this season, the Overwatch League took their show on the road. This time, it is Atlanta, Georgia, playing home to an entire weekend of Stage 3 Overwatch action. 

(courtesy Tonya McCahona, Blizzard Ent.)
(courtesy Tonya McCahona, Blizzard Ent.)

During Day 1 of the Atlanta Homestand, it would be the hometown heroes in the Atlanta Reign playing the Toronto Defiant live in front of their fans. Both the Reign and the Defiant came into Saturdays head-to-head without a single win on their record so far in Stage 3. 

These squads have been trying to figure things out (roster wise) all season long, as both teams fight through their inaugural franchise season of Overwatch League play. In the previous stage (Stage 2), it looked like everything was on the up and up for these two teams, but things have fallen apart a little bit in the third of four splits. 

The @ATLReign take their first home win over the @TorontoDefiant to thunderous cheers and A-T-L chants!#ReignAtHome pic.twitter.com/dCzl5JtqfE

— ESPN Esports (@ESPN_Esports) July 6, 2019

As this match-up was played for pride, in front of a huge stadium audience, and saw full squads hungry for their first win, it was absolutely electric throughout. If you couldn’t tell by the identical 7W - 12L record for both, these teams are pretty evenly matched. 

It would be, however, the stellar offensive mastery of Dogman, BabyBay, and the rest of the Reign that break through the extremely formidable defense of the Toronto Defiant in the end. 

The Defiant and Reign went into half-time tied up at 1-1 after a pretty impressive Volskaya Industries hold by the Canadian squad. After the break, the Reign would push through to take Eichenwalde, stealing the momentum and eventually stealing the series 3 maps to 1. 

(courtesy Ben Pursell, Blizard Ent.)
(courtesy Ben Pursell, Blizard Ent.)

With the win, Atlanta maintains their spot sloshing around the middle of the pack as it pertains to the entire season standings. Their loss drops Toronto all the way down to 18th place overall, only having two 2-win teams below them. 

The rest of the Atlanta Homestand continues tomorrow where the hometown Reign may easily snag another win against the disastrous Florida Mayhem.