June Joust Weeks 1 and 2

[got_quiet]

Even more Overwatch!

Week 1, Day 1
Paris vs Toronto

I'm not very high on Toronto and am hopeful about Paris so I was a bit disappointed that Paris didn't have a better showing here, but I also don't remember any details because I was coming off a Vaccine fever and didn't take notes while I was watching. Toronto won and that is literally all I can remember.

Spitfire vs Mayhem

While I feel bad for Spitfire, and like Paris they didn't look as bad as they had the first stage, I like Mayhem and would prefer to see them get out of their middle tier position. OGEs ball looked a lot better this match iirc (or maybe that was the replay of a different Mayhem game I watched that day. ugh.)

Week 1, Day 2

Guanzhou vs Hangzhuo

Unsurprisingly Hangzhou won, but Guanzhou looked better than the last time they matched up. It wasn't a brutal 3-0, and some of the maps that Guanzhou lost at least looked competitive. Ultimately Guanzhou was unable to complete two maps, rendering decent but incomplete defenses worthless.

Shanghai vs Chengdu

The frame rate on this match was ass. Usually I watch replays in 1.25 but it wasn't possible here because it made an already choppy VOD look like a gif.

Shanghai looked dominant, even though Hunters didn't look awful. The extreme flexibility of Fleta and the decent flexibility with the rest of the cast means that the hero pools aren't as much of a struggle for them. Plus Fate turned on the gas and was feasting on the Hunters backline on some of those maps.

New York vs Philly

Mano was not having a good time. NY would counterdive immediately when he went in and he'd be isolated and destroyed. I didn't end up watching the entire thing because the quality of the stream was too bad, but from what I saw New York was solid and Philly got pulled apart.

Paris vs Washington

Took forever thanks to two 2cp draws and multiple pauses on account of a Paris support having connection issues, but even so it was a decent, close game that ended up 3-0 for Paris. Everyone was wondering where Decay was as he didn't show up at all, but both teams were putting a lot of value into echo which Decay probably doesn't play that. Naga was going ham on Echo, Daan had better Orisa play than Mag, and Kaan continued to be a top tier flex support. Paris actually looked pretty good.

Houston vs Atlanta

Sad. Atlanta relied on a lot of Orisa and Houston on Ball. The result was Houston got full held twice and just got picked down by Kai over and over again. They looked completely ineffectual. It wasn't a game worthy of analyses for that reason because there's little than I can say except there was a massive comp mismatch.

Boston vs Toronto

I still have lingering fondness for Boston thanks to their S1 roster and the past two years have been very hard for them. Of all the bottom tier teams they were the ones I really wanted to see recover, so it's nice to finally see some success for them. They just picked up a new off tank, Gaelbullssi, who benched Punk, the last English speaking player on their starting roster. Whether this solved a language problem or what Boston looked pretty good with their double bubble come with GBS in, and ended up sweeping Toronto with some ease. Myungbong also managed to play his usual badass Ana. The first two maps looked relatively one sided, but Venice was harder. Boston almost got held on the first turn and Toronto got their shit together on their turn, even though both teams completed in overtime. Extra rounds were just a matter of who eeked it past the first bend a little more, and that was Boston.

Week 1, Day 3

I didn't take many notes for Sunday because I didn't pay much attention. Caught the replay of Philly x Chengdu, and it didn't look good for Philly. Mano was getting wrecked and they got spawn camped at certain points.

Skipped NY/GZ and SH/HZ.

Atlanta vs London and Washington vs Boston were both 3-0 and I don't remember anything about them.

Florida vs Houston

Maybe the only competitive game of the day. Watching 2 top Echos in Danteh and Yaki duke it out was good entertainment, and the pace of the game was high. First map was completely one sided. Outlaws could barely get out of spawn, even though they were playing the Orisa and Florida the Winston, which has usually been a problem for the team with the Winston.Things kind of went back to normal in Eichenwalde. Houston just barely got the payload through after a few good plays were followed by  multiple chokes on point three. But they full held Florida on their attack in a very chaotic round.Dorado turned in to the BQB show. He was taking off absolutely everyone's head on widow, every time they showed their face. Even so both teams completed within 13 seconds of each other.

It looks like  I forgot to take any notes at all for days 1 and 2 for Week 2 sooo...

Week 2, Day 3

NYXL vs Valiant

Completely one sided. The second or third fastest match in the history of the League. Valiant could do nothing.

I only saw a bit of the Seoul vs Shanghai game. Seems Gesture is hardlocking the hog at the moment. That did not work for them.

Toronto vs Houston

One sided. First map was strong from Toronto because Houston's monkey dive into their double shield could do nothing. Houston adjusted into double shield and basically full held Toronto on the following three maps without much struggle. Naist was getting hard countered by Happy and Elicit was hung out to dry multiple times.

Vancouver vs Atlanta

A complete no pointer. Vancouver won a single team fight the entire match. There wasn't much to say. Atlanta was just taking Vancouver apart.The players look completely checked out except for Linkzer, who is absolutely tilted.

Shock vs Dallas

Immediately better than all the other games from the day combined within the first minute. Both teams playing a mirror monkey brawl basically because Rein is banned. Felt like a weirdo goats where the monkies have to cleave and dva and supports need to win the sustain fight. It's so insane people are getting two ults in 30 seconds.

Dallas looked competitive but just could never get the upper hand and kept losing close maps. Tied on Anubis and then got one firm win on Eichenwald, but Viol2t was on Lucio that game so it was more a throw on Shock's part than an improvement for Dallas. Last map was also close but again Shock was just a little better. Seemed to be a bit of a dps dif. Final was 3-1 with a tie.

In other news I'm hurting for study material for Japanese. It's not that I don't have a ton of stuff I could be using, but  I'm not in the mood at all to use any of it. I didn't study at all this month, it feels like.