got_quiet

I've been writing these up but not posting them. Hopefully posting them all in one big ole post will keep people from being spammed by stuff they don't care about.

Going through these it looks like I got lazy and skipped a lot of games, even though I watched almost everything but the APAC games.

Warning: Super long.

June Joust Week 4?

Paris vs Gladiators

I don't know why Glads are one of the few teams I so consistently cheer against, because they're a likable roster, they have a Charge alumnus in Shu, who I really want to see succeed, and Moth, who everyone likes. But for some reason I always want the other team to win. This time I wanted to see Paris showing consistent improvement after finally winning an even game vs Washington iirc.

First map was depressing in the sense that the underdog kept getting close and coming short. Hanamura was a much better look. Blazing fast attack by Paris using Sym, and a much better defense by them, forcing lots of flanks and off-angles from the dps, resulting in an overtime cap by Glads.

With five minutes to gain a tick on point one they managed it easily.

Hollywood was all Glads. They broke through first fast, managed to get past that awful high ground choke on point two, and rolled through point three. Then they exploited space at an off angle to hold at point one to overtime. Eternal almost had it but were only capping with 3 people as the rest were spawning, and a fast assassination by Shu allowed Glads to retake and win the map.

Map 4 was Junkertown. Birdring and Onigod bust out the Widow. Paris take point 1 quickly with long rotations into the side room to avoid los. They over extend point two and end up in a position swap, Birdring finds his groove and clicks heads. Paris gets held a long time at the start of 2, until Naga's Echo finally gets the better of Birdring. That gets them through 2 but they're stopped right after.

The Glads attack is effectively uncontested, Naga actually gets echo diffed by Kevster, who also takes care of Onigod's widow, and Glads glide through all three points, winning the match.

Vancouver vs Dallas

It seems Linkzr is basically out and Dalton is in. Titans are in a place where if they win a single fight on a map there's relief, and under that metric they're doing ok even though they're completely outclassed. The teams played mirror Winston GOATS on Oasis first map and Fuel won without much difficulty.

Numbani and Volskaya were both full holds.

Shock vs Justice

Justice are such a cheese team. They're trash and suddenly they're not when they hit the right meta. They whomped Shock on Nepal playing Winston Goats mirror, with Decay on Reaper, but Shock adjusted and fucked them on Volskaya. Held them at B and then swept immediately through on their attack after a very quick pick on BeBe's Moira at the start of the round.

Numbani it flipped around again. Shock complete in over time after a very slow roll forward that felt like a single drawn out, messy fight. Washington manage much more quickly, mostly because their first point take was nearly immediate. Washington's second round is just as quick. Bebe gets the faster coal, Shock collapses, the end.

Venice is awful this meta, but at least it's not Winston goats mirror. It's double shield, plus hitscan and the ever present Echo. Nero's work manages to break through the second point shooting gallery, and they managed to get it complete after only a few fights. Their defense was strong, and they stopped Washington before pt 2. Super was clearly the stronger Orisa.

Busan is mirror Winston goats again, which is so messy in Koth. Just eternal fights. Violet low key throwing. with his aggressive coals. Seems like it's really a support diff at times, and the maps are close, but Shock eventually came out ahead. It was still a complete clusterfuck. I don't know if anyone is going to enjoy watching this for the finals.

Kockout Rounds

NYXL vx Spark

A complete upset. Spark looked strong on first map and then I guess NYXL dug in its heels and Spark could no longer properly dive them. I only listened to the game while doing something else so don't have much to go on beyond the flabbergasted casters talking about good peel by Jjonak and Flora popping off.

Shanghai vs Seoul

Although it would have been nice for Seoul to win in China they didn't manage it. The first map involved the most boops I think were ever booped in OWL. 10 on LJT by LJG, with assists from Fate's grabs. Anubis was also one sided. Dragons quickly double capped, Seoul got stopped on second. Hollywood was a little more scrappy. Dynasty held Dragons at third point for a while, but then just fucked everything up and almost gave them the opening to cap.

Both teams seemed locked on the double shield. No Winston GOATS, so it's going to be a big question which team will have the more successful approach to this pool.

June Joust Tournament Day 1

NY vs Atlanta

Was one sided but NY did manage to take Atlanta to extra rounds on two maps, so it wasn't a complete blowout. Didn't watch though. Was out to dinner and only peeked at the score at times.

Dallas vs Shanghai

Shanghai did not seem to have a counter to Dallas' game. Busan they picked a spread out poke come and Dallas just picked a target and rolled the deathball right out them. Best I can say is that Shanghai did get point control a couple times with the use of ults but never looked like they had things figured out. Sparkle doom came out in meka base and stuffed them.

Volskaya looks a lot better for Dragons. Their poke works better when they can rotate on high ground and threaten the killbox of the point without Fuel being able to rush them. But they couldn't do that on attack. A 2k D.va bomb opened up point A in overtime, but they got stuffed on point B and lose at 90% percent after only one good push.

Numbani is more of the same Dragons insist on ball again. Fuel immediately snipe Lip, take first, and roll through to a slightly more protracted fight on third. Dragons finally go for the mirror on their attack and they didn't look half bad on it. Fate was getting first picked a lot though, and in situations where he was in line with his supports, so it was feeling like a bit of a support/moira difference at times. They managed a decent time through second point, but got stuffed around that first bend past the tunnel and lost the match there at 3-0.

Day 2

Reign vs Dallas

After the matches yesterday this was a very competitive breath of fresh air. Reign opted into the mirror with Dallas and looked competitive the whole time. They won Nepal 99-100 1-2, with some great manipulative boops by Masaa and doom duplicates by Pelican.

Volskaya Reign tried Orisa on attack which stalled them out on second point. They ended up losing in extra rounds.

Numbani was pure mirror. Dallas was starting to show control over their situation and got a relatively quick time. Reign was fast on point one but got bogged down after that and ended up failing to complete after almost getting it to one meter.

Rialto Atlanta holds first for a significant amount of time, and even though they get through second quickly Atlanta remains super aggressive, get multiple fights out of c choke, and hold Dallas off there. But again their attack is just not as good. A dramatic final second contest by Dallas at point B ends the match, 3-1. Overall the pace of Dallas is too strong, and Hanbin seems better at keeping Reaper in Check than Hawk

Shanghai vs NYXL

Not notable. NYXL played Winston Goats, but didn't know how. Shanghai used the same comps they chose for their loss to Dallas but then found success here. The problem of course is that Shanghai could have played many comps and beat NYXL.

The highlight was weirdly on Numbani, after a massive disconnect that resulted in two NY players walking off the map, when game restarted Shanghai waited until NY grouped before resuming their push on cart.

Shanghai vs Atlanta

Shanghai again playing the ball rush while Reign sticks to the winston rush. They manage night market, and after a lot of shifting comps get control center on mirror Orisa Comps

Reign takes them to Hanamura. Shanghai walk straight to first and then takes second after a single protracted fight, with a mirror Orisa ash comp. It takes significantly longer for Reign on first point, and their second point push isn't clean. They can barely find an engagment, and rely entirely on intiating with Bob. They complete with only a minute vs shanghai's 5 mins. Shanghai is too oppressive on defense. And I guess they decide to get a little winston goats practice in on attack because they suddenly switch to that, showing it for the first time the match. They don't look particularly great. When they dive they split dramatically and Atlanta had a chance to repel them, but Shanghai get away with it.

Final map is Numbani. Atlanta look pretty boomed at this point. they try to mix things up a little, and do complete, but not with time, and with two minutes for 30% Dragons walk in without much effort and take the match.

Finals

Shanghai appear to fully believe in in the ball comp and that was not good. They got rolled the first two maps. 0-200 on Lijang and full held on Volskaya after putting up no defense. But they finally started coming together on Numbani, holding Dallas right before the end of two and making Dallas swap to their own ball. They pushed through.

Rialto looked the strongest Dragons had ever been on the ball vs Winston rush. Their attack looked good, after push a 5k bomb at the very end from Void, and they held Fuel off to less time. Second rounds they stopped Dallas right past the bridge after a protracted fight. On their attack they almost had it to first when a double Dva bomb popped two, and their final attack was too rushed to succeed.

Which meant they were at match point on Busan. Sanctuary was a one sided stomp. Dragons dragged it back on city center, and Meka base was a fast paced back and forth that ended at 99-100 Dragons, after a forced overtime by Fate's ball.

Dallas pick Eichenwald. The fight is a struggle for Dragons, particularly at first, but on second they are fast enough that they finish, but in overtime. Dallas' point 1 cap is immediate but they get stuffed on the chocke immediately after. In fact Shanghai hold them before the bridge for so long that Fearless ends up swapping to to hog of all things to try to break through, and then to ball, where he stays for the match.

That's basically the turning point. Dallas concedes the meta to Shanghai. They get second but just barely fail to cap third, and now it's a tied match.

The whole thing ends on Junkertown. Shanghai push first quickly, but get stuffed on second as Dallas maintain high ground control and Fearless ball harasses Fate to literal death. They do get second and make it to the final bend of three but fail to cap.

Dallas had to fight off a spawn hold by Shanghai for about a minute, but Fearless' ball kept getting stronger, and they capped first relatively quickly. It looked like they were going to get an easy second push, but Shanghai's pace had improved too well, and they ended up reengaging right after first and holding there near forever. Ultimately, even though Dallas won an overtime fight there, they couldn't survive past the bend, and were eventually picked apart, costing them the series.

An insane game overall, with dramatic shifts in momentum and constant hero plays.

Summer Showdown Week 1 Day 1

GZ Charge VS NYXL

Mess of a game revealing a complete lack of communication. Just a lot of constant mistakes it seemed. Even Crong, who I like a lot, seems to be struggling this year. Both teams looked confused most of the time, and struggled with decisive action. It was particularly egregious on the final map, where Charge let NYXL back in to Oasis city center twice because they couldn't win a clean fight.

Spitfire vs London

Oh boy. Winlesss London vs a struggling Shock. Violet is continuing his completely careless behavior, resulting in multiple first deaths. Spitfire meanwhile still lacks cohesion, and tends to fold like paper the second a team fight is really engaged or can't follow up with agression when they punish the Shock backline.

Oasis London eeked the map out after managing a few good moments of coordination, mostly around Molfig's dva, some strong lucio beats, and consistant dps from sparkr.

Eichenwald was more expected result wise. They pulled the Violet lucio again, compelted and then held on 2.

On 66 London almost full held Shock. They keep geting close to success and then farting it out. The were held just before end of second and got very close to losing it all, but Shock was unable to clean up and Kellex hugged the cart for long enough for reinforcements and a win.

Anubis is a quick flip and Shock are dominant again, running an aggressive dive that Spitfire have no answer to.

At this point it seems that Spitfire is out of gas. Nepal is actually quite close, but a couple of fuckups is all it takes for London to lose 1-2 99-100. They could have had it, which is good for them.

Didn't make any notes for Glads Vs Shock or the other two APAC Games

Day 2

Defiant vs Mayhem

Equally back and forth but feels a big more high level. Both teams are playing dive so the game tracking is pretty poor from the observers. All the maps have felt very close.

Day 3

Glad vs Eternal

Missed the first half because I was outside trying to be healthy. Seems Paris was getting rolled in the first half but by the time I got there they had turned it around. Got a fuller hold on 66 at the very end, then held Glads on point 2 Anubis, almost wholly on a Winston Echo dive comp targeting mostly Shu in the beginning, plus some excellent support line play between Dridro and Kaan.

Nepal was the decider. Some excellent plays there. Including one on sanctum where Glads though they had the point and Muze charged to cap while Onigod fucked everyone left behind on sym.

Temple Naga brings out the Phara and that's game over for glads. She isn't contested and Naga hits every fucking shot, all the time. Just complete domination.

Mayhem vs Uprising

Boston is playing a more rush comp where Florida is going with the dive and poke, showing both Winston and ball. A close game, but with Boston coming out on top most of the time. It seems Boston is on the way up, showing more and more cohesion, where Florida doesn't look awful, except that they can't seem to keep their tank alive and can't seem to break through the meta.

Gargoyle and Yaki were still looking good. Punk was eating ults left and right.

Toronto vs Vancouver

The usual sad game. Not the worst game Titans have played considering they've been in a match where they won a single team fight, but they only got one point the entire match, in control. As usual they cannot initiate, and as a team just fuck it up with regularity. On both Eich and 66 Toronto's attack was mediocre but got through mostly, and Vancouver couldn't break past first point, both times due to come from behind retakes. While Paris looks decent and Spitfire looks close to a win at times Titans still appear to be shit tier.

Charge vs Chengdu

Charge looked ok in big dive comps. they had at least one round on Busan that was fast paced and coordinated. The tankline doesn't look bad, and Choisehwan still has a great and impactful tracer. The result was a relatively close first map but Chengdu had better rotations and point control.

The same issue ended up with Eich. Hunters completed with an ok time. Charge held them off on point two where their dive and mobility helped them. But Charge couldn't push through first. Hunters just walked away from ults and stalled too well.

Route 66 Charge go with Orisa comp vs Hunter Ball dive. Charge push ends up in a soft c9 on point three.

Honestly with how Chengdu has been playing I expected worse from this series, but they seem to be gelling more, even though they were still taken apart in a quick and one-sided series.

Week 2 Day 2

Charge vs Philly

Again a decisive loss from the Charge, but one that didn't depress. The team looks something like a one trick pony. When they can comfortably dive they saw some success, but could never get the better of Philly outside of a draw on hanamura, where Philly was sometimes a little discombobulated, but were overall more flexible and still had the star power on every position to outplay Charge with consistence.

Vancouver vs Paris

And unexpectedly one-sided match, as usual. Kaan is proving himself again and again capable of just rolling entire teams with his Ana play. Constant sleeps, constant nades, pushing the tempo back in the few times Vancouver managed to get a foothold. Linkzr, Dalton, and Frdwnr did not look bad. The dps line was doing its utmost, in particular, but the backline was just permanently dead and there never looked like communication between the front and back lines, so Changsik was just getting fucked on the regular. A sad game, that involved a hold at spawn on Junkertown until literally the last 30 seconds.

Florida vs Dallas

Big question marks coming into this game because OGE has been benched in favor of Checkmate, who was originally signed to play DPS. Florida assured fans that this was a carefully decided swap, but stonks were at an all time low. Lijang was a wild one. Checkmate played like the spiritual successor to bumper, and while this worked on the first stage, with him charging on cooldown and getting pins through teleporters and shit Fule adjusted quickly and rolled the next two stages. Gibralter was better. They put Checkmate on Orisa, and managed to hold Fuel right before second, which gave them enough to take a win. The map was a scrappy fight, with a lot of bank and forth kills, and a lot of focus on Fearless, who escaped with double digit health most of the time but occasionally couldn't weather that focus. Florida get stuffed in Hanamura and then come back swinging on Hollywood. It looks like Checkmate has some strong Orisa, but his Rein really is a liability. Fuel couldn't deal with double shield, but rolled the second Doha and Sparkle had real space to work.

Florida couldn't play the horse on control in the fifth map, so the end was kind of in sight for them there. Still, 2-3 wasn't a bad result vs one of the top 2 in the league.

Day 3

Charge vs Seoul

Oasis looked good. Then Junkertown and the first point forward defense had some confusing positioning, which resulted in a quick lost fight. And then they couldn't contest again until the very end. Their dive is generally ok but it takes so long for them to set it up. Seoul pace was too much better. The DPS and tanks remain strong. But there are a lot of flubs. So many times ults get canceled. EMP, blade and rally all got cut down on Seoul's attack.

Attack was wild. The dps was spawncamping the tanks for a time while their backline was dying.

Summer Showdown Week 3 day one

Spitfire vs Reign

It just gets more and more depressing every match London plays. Illios looked good for them. They had an aggressive and coordinated rush for a while. But when Reign hit's W or Q Spitfire crumbles. Hadi hit's the occasional one or two man shatter and Spitfire can't follow through. Half the time they retreat after.

But that was the end of them looking good. While they finished Volskaya they did so in overtime after getting held on second forever. Just got poked to absolute death while walking into bongo and window for example, and overstayed lost fights multiple times. Atlanta swept through with like four minutes and swapped to Genji for what felt like funsies to get the win in the second round.

And then King's Row was a rout so bad that Reign decided to completely BM. Spitfire tried a pincer but ended up constantly splitting themselves while Reign remained perfectly cohesive and unphased in a tight double shield/sym/mei. Every time London found a slight in Reign could turn with a major ult. London's defense was hopeless, but they were not giving up. They tried a ball doom dive that won them a single messy fight, and then they couldn't recover after that.

The end was notable for the ultimate BM as the Reign walked off point after winning the team fight and started shit talking them in chat before finally deigning to cap.

Houston vs Boston

Boston had been looking stronger going into the match and Houston has been seeing a lot of success. Houston was the strong favorite because of more convincing wins over stronger teams.

Houston played double shield, but with a Torb. Boston went with a classic Sombra Genji dive, just with Bap instead of Zen. Boston relies on a rotation of blade and primal first point Ilios. On second point Houston get some hero plays out of Jjangu who out juggles some very good peel from uprising. Dante had an uncharacteristically poor game on Echo and Jjangu couldn't carry enough.

Anubis is more classic dive from Boston. Was actually nice to see since the Note Gamsu dive on Anubis was one of the things that originally made me like the team. Houston looked like they were responding well. Dante looked better on tracer. But a single 2 man blade broke them open on point one, and another cracks point two, even though Houston does manage a half minute of stall.

Outlaws attack looks strong. They just brute force their way on point with Orisa and almost snowball it, but lose too many to Im37s tracer and then can never get a clean fight again.

Eich Outlaws get again a quick point one with the same comp. (Torb Cree Orisa Sig Bap Brig) against classic dive. And again they get fucked again and again once Uprising ults are online. Nano Winston, to blade, with pulse bombs in to clean up, all on an mobile comp. Houston tried to adapted by moving the dps to tracer and echo, but it was too late. They were stopped before two. Uprising's attack did get semi stuffed, and Crimzo pulled some great moves as Ana, sleeping a blade and ulting Happy's Cree to help him. And a peeling pulse by IM37 turned the fight.

It was a deeply one sided series but Houston didn't play poorly. They got out-comped it seemed. Who would have expected that pure dive was going to be that effective?

Week 3 Day 2

Glads vs Justice

A rough game with a lot of Sombra play. Justice were dominant the first two maps, Glads almost clawed it back with some messy play, particularly on Hollywood, but map 5 was a trouncing by Justice again.

Elimination Rounds

Dallas Vs Washington

A good back and forth match. Mostly mirror comps with rush, though there was also a lot of ball and dive. Genji showed up on occasion. Justice managed some major holds to win two maps, but Dallas was able to exploit Nepal to force the rush it seems and they were superior at it. Mag had a great game, pushing out some massive shatters, but Dallas' support line is just insane.

Glads vs Reign

A real back and forth game. I half paid attention because of tabletop. Reign fucked on Lijang. Glads got very little done with a doom instead of the Mei Sym. Glads full held Anubis and got the capture relatively easy with a dive against Sym brawl. King's Row Edison absolutely fucks Glads all defense long on tracer, even though Shu is his usual baller self. Glads lose messy fights over and over by just one man and only make it 90% in. Reign's attack is successful.

On Gibraltar it flips again. Glads hold on to point A by the skin of their teeth and then take a nano blade comp in for a near guaranteed win.

Map 5 is Nepal. Village Glads get to point first and turtle easy the entire round. Temple is Reigns after Glads try a mediocre ball comp. Sanctum decides. Back to Sym Mei comps. Birdring kind of feeds but Muze picks it up and the supports are syncing. It looks like Glads finally have it and Edison swaps to doom and just demolishes them. Birdring goes to reaper of all things and that's it. Reign are in again.

Summer Showdown Tournament Day 1

Chengdu vs Dallas

Jinmu phara on Lijang. Managed to dominate the skys about til 80 on garden. The usual stall antics were in play but both teams were too aggro to let it drag.

Night market no Phara, so Fuel had a lot more control. They opened with a Strong dive with Sparkle on tracer and Feilder on Moira for added suitability. Hunters had to dump almost all ults to take, but then held to final fight. Dalas EMPs were not adequate but their strong first half let them retake one time and cap. Control center Phara comes back. For the third time Dallas have a strong first dive and this time force Chengdu off Phara. Absolute chaos fight. Chengdu couldn't properly disengage after losing the fight and basically gave the final map away because they never got their footing again. Doha finally had a substantial ult to close out the map for Dallas.

Map 2 is Volskaya. Dallas still diving. Chengdu still on ball but now it's mostly Tracer Sombra. Really back and forth fights. No real resets. Monk and Yvetal remarkably able to survive on zen/brig and leave fucking with surgical pulse bombs. Notable that there have been arguments on whether or not he should be in the conversation as MVP and he's really killing it on tracer. Goes to extra innings. Chengdu get four with a quick push and Dallas stall out on first. Only a big grav gets them first in over time, and then they can't repeat the clutch on second, failing at 90 some percent. Second game Chengdu. Fearless was getting completely denied on the dive which was why they went double bubble, but the change wasn't fast enough, and not effective enough.

Kings Row. Fuel end up with a sparkle soldier in an attempt to contest Jinmu Phara. Jinmu does Jinmu things. Yvetal does Yvetal things. They get choked up a bit on second but manage it and then we get some Jinmu Genji. Chengdu almost barrels through third at a high pace, but Fuel claw it back with stall heroes. Jecse's existence as Lucio is almost all it takes to hold for something like 2 minutes, denying the blade with a good boop, but ults come online again for Chengdu and they get it in with a minute on time.

Dallas attack... they move to Sparkle McCree. That experiment ends quick and instead it's double bubble dive. Things look hairy. Backline is playing to well to fall to dry dive, and they just barely get a fight win in overtime. The pace is insane at this point. The hunters ults are getting significantly more value. EMP on Dallas is used just to deal with bombs. They fail at the end of third. Hunters are looking like they did their first game vs Shanghai.

Alterable. Dallas are not looking as coordinated. Weak dives. Fielder left alone on Ana and fucked immediately. Poor gravs. Chengdu takes advantage but individual clutch still keeps Fuel competitive. Great counter EMP by Doha to stop inertia and a good pulse from sparkle to clean up. Yvetal is making Fearless's life eternal pain. Honestly it's a bit of support diff. The peel and positioning ins stronger for Chengdu. The monk sleeps in the Dallas attack were massive. Dallas could not get an in. It seemed the further into the match they went the more Hunters hand their number.

3-1 Chengdu.

Reign vs Dragons.

Nepal.

Dragons run Phara, Reign run rush, with Mei Sym, eventually swapping to a Sombra. Reign are constantly swarmed by the more mobile dragons and although they do win a couple fights they are just constantly harried and picked apart, and can never collapse properly onto a target.

Shrine is the Lip show. Lots of assassinations. Reign focuses Phara harder with Edison on tracer which works but it gives everyone else on Dragons the space to pop off. Reign tries double shield in the beginning and abandons it immediately.

Hanamura

Reign swap to Echo but the rest of Reign can't even get into choke. An extreme forward hold by Dragons finally results in them getting picked and Reign at least have the sense to press their advantage, and once they're on the point Dragons can't push them off. Reign move to brawl second point but can't push into Phara and barely even see second point. Dragons steamroll first, and after a brief amount of repositioning against a Reign bunker, complete with Torb, a right click by Izayaki busts them open, and Dragons take the map calmly.

Kings Row

More Fleta Phara. First point is taken with deliberation, starting with a great Phara boop on high ground to destroy bunker in first second of the game. Reign manage to hold a corner but are basically corralled and disposed of eventually. Point to is a roll. Reign digs in on three but some great plays with dragons, a baller res, the a bomb barrage combo crack it open. It takes a little more to get the point so Reign gets it down to 2mins.

Dragons live at the Reign spawn, dumping in ults to maintain supremacy. Reign put up some of a fight but literally can't get out of spawn, honestly. They touch first point and that's as good as they can do. It's a complete roll.

Chengdu vs Shanghai

A five game winner. Shanghai won relatively firmly the first two maps and Chengdu managed to claw it back with close games in the second two. Both played mostly ball dive with tracer and Sombra, although there was some double bubble, some Zarya, some McCree. Leave was not nearly as effective as he had been in the Dallas game. The backline peel was stronger and Izayaki on Zen seemed to cancel him in a way that Fielder's Ana couldn't.

Busan was map five. Dragons take a Phara comp but Hunters keep Jinmu on Sombra and put leave on Echo. It's a complete mismatch and Shanghai takes it 100-0. Next map is mecha base, which gives Dragons an opportunity to rush, and they do so, running over Hunter's Orisa, making the fifth map one sided after an otherwise competitive series.

Dallas vs. Reign

Lijang. One sided. Dallas go with the Rein Sym rush and bulldoze a near mirror. Sparkle's doom punches everything to death.

Hanamura

Another buldoze for Dallas for point one but they can't successfully bulldoze and Reign keep the cap at 50, both playing Rein Sym brawl, and then manage a successful attack with better transporter positioning.

Kings Row

Reign is starting to hit their stride. Pelican is Mei diffing Doha a litle maybe, while Reign is playing their usual double shield and Dallas are sticking to a Rein Sym brawl. The double shield helps mitigate the Sym much better than the Rein Dva on Dallas. But Dallas attack brings out the Phara, and though Sparkle isn't as insane with it as Fleta he still is uncontested and manages a couple amazing barrages.

Route 66.

Dallas attack is a phara dive featuring some absolutely baller aggro plays that lets them push through second quickly, but after hitting the narrow third point can't find success and get stopped before cap. Reign's attack is a little slower and more prodding, but Edison's Cree proves the difference and denies the Phara enough that they push it through, leading to map 5.

Nepal.

Phara Sombra for Dallas, At first a full rush for Reign but they swap to Cree Tracer to deal with Fuel and it works. Reign has point for first half. Fuel swaps to Ball to improve disruption and it does a little better but hitscan too strong.

So game ends at village, and back to the classic Mei Sym brawl. It's close, with some back and forths, but ultimately comes down to a better ult economy on Dallas that gives them a bonus Sym wall on final fight and keeps Reign from even touching in the last seconds.

Dallas vs Chengdu

Lijang

Fuel come out with a Sombra Genji dive, which is new, and fielder goes back to Moira Lucio instead of Ana Brig. Mmonk continues to fuck and does not get properly respected. The blade is nullified by it and the rest of Dallas can't properly chase down the hunters that give them the runaround whenever they have the point. The Dallas dives are getting discorded to death and Monk is getting the resources he needs to live. Lateyoung and Yvetal are both doing an excellent job and Mmonk is hitting his shots.

Anubis is map 2. Chengdu blast through with an Echo dive where leave executes three and Dallas can't confirm kills. Dallas' attack is decent but their snowball is incomplete at two ticks. Chengdu is hyper aggro, throwing ults at spawn and shit and Sparkle manages to back cap. with 2 minutes in the bank, but on their attack they can't get a tick. It's not a bad attack, but even though they barely win the fight they can't touch point. Hunters attack is just as successful as the first. Dallas is playing more scared and Chengdu dictate the pace, getting the first picks with little peel to deal with.

King's Row. Hunters get first point with relative ease but some good ult cycling stalls them out. Chengdu has to stock up 5 ults to get to second, and then are stalled out past the first curve on third, with Sparkle getting actual blade kills for once.

Fuel attack shows signs of life with a great Genji/Winston dive that cuts through back line, but they stall out right before second, and cannot deal with the support line or Gaga's mines properly. Fearless makes a number of uncharacteristic deep dives that gets him killed again and again, and that's the end of the match.

Dragons vs. Hunters

Ilios

Finally a real Pharmercy dogfight. Hunters swap Yvetal for Nisha, who saw no time in the tournament until now. Chengdu get the upper hand on lighthouse, but just, with Jinmu getting stronger Phara plays at the end. Ruins is tracer Sombra vs Ash Sombra. Mmonk opens up the fight with two kills and Hunters remain unmovable for most of the game. Fleta is playing scared for the most part. and Dragons end up with no real presence at any time. 2-0 Chengdu

Anubis

Yvetal is back. Ball dive with Genji Sym on Hunters side vs an Echo Ash Orisa D for Dragons. A hack on Fleta closes first quickly but Fate swaps to monkey and they stall the snowball. A few chaotic fights. Fate is constantly cced and dies too quickly as Winston and goes ball, which gets Dragons off the back foot and into a more aggressive defense and the Hunters cant push in again. Shanghai attack on first is much messier. Fights all over the place and constant attrition preventing a cap until Dragons finally pick off enough people. Both teams keep a Winston dive and Fleta swaps to reaper for second, but Hunters defense is even more aggressive, playing close to spawn. Hunters just dive past him. Dragons need to collect 6 ults to push through but they do with an EMP dive and get the map.

Eichenwalde

Big anti dive on Chengdu, with Mccree torb double bubble and Ana Brig. Dragons go half dive with reaper. They dive straight to backline and kill leave immediately even though Mmonk gets a big anti on entry. There's a protracted fight on point but Dragons get nano first which tips the fight over. Second point is a roll after Chendu threw too many ults in to defend first. Lots of swapping on third but Fleta gets in deep on Reaper, escorted by LJG's lucio, and they push it in with decent time.

Dragons defense try an extremely forward hold which does nothing, but they get out. A massive fight spanning practically two points ensues and Hunters can't catch anyone. Izayaki sleeps Jinmu to death, Dragons kiss the spawn doors. Hunters have to dump ult at spawn but it gets them on the point. Now it's time to spawn camp second point but only briefly, and once payload is out on route Hunters get momentum, but some bad choices at the end, particularly a trance in a lost fight puts them back in at the castle doors, giving Dragons point 2.

Route 66

Chengdu go for a tight anti dive on their attack (Reaper Torb, Rein), which is novel for them. A bit more successful than Atlanta, as they slowly force their way to point 1 and 2 without Dragons manage to find an in. It helps that Jinmu clicks heads on Torb. But the com breaks up once they're stopped on third and it's into Ball dive with Tracer Sombra. Like Anubis the defense is extremely aggressive with Void taking the upper corner without contest and cart stops just past third.

Dragons attack is a double bubble with Reaper still. Dragons get killed easy first point but Leave swaps to Cree to strengthen backline and it works great. It forces out more swaps, with Fleta and lip swapping to Tracer Hanzo. Hanzo gets wrecked but tracer causes the chaos needed for picks and they finally get second. Fleta is back to Reaper for the inside of third, and with such a short way to go, they manage it without trouble.

Nepal. Match Point

Ameng is in! Ball with an Echo Mercy with both teams mirroring. The get a strong first fight with Ameng dipping and diving but great Lip hacks flip it and Hunters dump 3 bad ults in a losing fight. Dragons manage a near eternal stall and Hunters can't manage a flip until a good dry fight and then Ameng is on the hunt for Sombras. After a massive overtime fight Dragons claw their way back to get point.

Village again Hunters get point first, with Dragons going Echo Mercy against Jinmu's Phara. The map is more open and the Phara has a lot of leeway here. Dragons only manage to take it when Hunters leave Mmonk to vs Fleta alone on Ana. After that Hunters can't get in. Ameng gets caught out too much, the Dragons dive oppresses the back line, and the match ends with the body of the Hunters within a foot of the point but unable to contest.