RESULTS: Overwatch League Stage 3, Week 1 – Battle between Seoul Dynasty and San Francisco

Despite some strong defence, and a little cheeky offence, the San Francisco Shock were unable to prevail today, losing in straight sets to the Seoul Dynasty, 4-0. Here’s a brief breakdown of the match.

The first map, Temple of Anubis, proved to be a tough nut for both teams to crack. Seoul was up to attack first, and they battled mightily to get through the San Francisco line of defence. Though they achieved their goal of securing the first point, the second line of defence from the Shock proved too strong for Seoul to overcome. Though they were able to get some time on the point, Seoul were unable to defend against the Shock’s counter-attack, and were pushed away from the point. For San Francisco, the story was fairly similar. The initial attack was difficult, but the Shock were able to secure the first point before moving on. The second line of defence from Seoul was a much tougher battle, and in the end San Francisco could not prevail, leaving the Seoul Dynasty to claim the first map and a lead in this series.

The second map, Blizzard World, saw the Seoul Dynasty making their attack first. They got off to a great start, capturing the point and beginning to move the payload. Though the Shock tried their best to hold them back, Seoul’s attack was too strong to handle as they pushed the payload through the remaining two checkpoints with over two minutes remaining on the clock. When it came time for San Francisco to make their attack, they found the going much harder, with the defence from Seoul almost impossible to crack. They finally found a way through thanks to a good combination of ultimates, and secured the point before moving the payload themselves. Their payload push was much slower than Seoul’s, though they did manage to get through the second point and start attacking the third. Despite the best efforts of Seoul, the Shock were ultimately able to reach the final checkpoint, though with no time remaining it would be on Seoul to win or lose the round in overtime. With the stage set for a final confrontation on this map, Seoul needed just a third of a capture on the first point to claim victory. Battling hard through the defences of San Francisco, Seoul managed to achieve the required capture percentage with zero time remaining on the clock, to give them a two map lead.

The third map, Ilios, was a back and forth struggle between the two teams, as both seemed to gain the upper hand at different stages. Seoul managed to secure the first point, though San Francisco did get quite a lot of time in the capture zone. The second round went heavily in the Shock’s favour, as they kept Seoul back to barely a quarter of the capture rate. The third and final round was again a dominant performance from Seoul, keeping Shock from spending too much time on the point before claiming the victory for themselves. With the first three maps won, Seoul would claim the series victory, as the last map would only really be fought for pride.

The fourth and final map, Junkertown, was again a tightly contested clash between the two teams. Seoul was up to attack first, and they quickly managed to bypass the defences from San Francisco, pushing the payload through the three checkpoints with relative ease, all things considered. For the Shock, the attack was much more difficult, though they did reach the first checkpoint despite the impressive defence from Seoul. Their second and third point attacks were a lot easier than their first, and though they did reach the end of the road, they did so thanks to a cheeky back-cap and closed the round out with just under a minute to spare. Both teams would once again have to attack and defend, with San Francisco making the first move. This time the defence from Seoul was overwhelming as they barely managed to get the cart rolling from the start. With more time remaining, Seoul only had to battle forward a short distance to claim the victory, and despite the best efforts of San Francisco, Seoul were able to achieve their goal with time to spare, taking the series in a clean 4-0 sweep.

For more Overwatch Action, check out the previous match breakdown between the Los Angeles Valiant and the Shanghai Dragons, and to see when these teams will clash again, check out the Official Schedule page, here.