Overwatch League Week 1 Day 3
Apr. 21st, 2021 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
got_quietA bit late but here's the quick overview of Sunday's games. Long story short, my team got bodied and there was an intense and exciting game between Houston and San Francisco that I'm trying to use to lure my friends into watching with me.
Charge vs Dynasty
Ooooh boy. Charge were completely dismantled. Couldn't get anything done in the mirror, Kaylee struggled to hit shots while Lip was dinking everything in sight. Rio and Kariv were showing some good signs and Choi wasn't feeding but they just couldn't deal with the pace or the pressure Dynasty was putting down and the game was an abysmal 3-0
Chengdu vs Shanghai
A complete upset. Not just in terms of the final score but on a play to play basis. Chengdu handed Shanghai its ass, and while the team already looked new and more cohesive than ever in it's match yesterday against the Valiant, they were next level this time. They didn't even let Shanghai through the arch in Eichenwalde and then full held them on Gibralter. Shanghai looked stunned in the end. And the great thing was it wasn't a chaos game. Eichenwalde in particular was a master class in reacation and space management from Chengdu and is worth watching again even as one sided as it was.
Philly vs Valiant
Another relatively one sided game in a night of onesided games, but a more predictable one. Philly really are looking like the new new york, a KR superteam that looks unbeatable on paper. The problem is that new york dominated the regular season and then collapsed when it mattered, which is also Philly's history, so we'll see if the new roster can break that curse.
The Valiant on the other hand put up something of a fight, but at this point I was almost asleep so couldn't pay too much attention. There were some decent plays by Wya and Showcheng but the team doesn't look that cohesive.
Outlaws vs Shock
A massive game. Not just because it was an upset but because it was massive play after massive play. The shock weren't even bad. They made a few aggressive plays that didn't take into account that Happy apparantly doesn't miss but for the most part it was a battle of inches, including a draw on Blizzard World. Outlaws were up 2-0 and Shock clutched the next two maps to get the match to a map 6, and then held Outlaws at first on Havana. Things were looking very bad, and Outlaws got about 1 meter within a loss twice, only to bring it back in overtime on the top of to massive ults from the Mei and Rein. Outlaws tankline is looking formidable. Dante on Echo is a menace, Happy is as accurate as ever while somehow no longer feeding, and Crimzo and Joobi are keeping it all together.
It was a great game that felt like a stage finals. Definitely one to rewatch.
Vancouver vs Florida
Another close match, but not as high caliber. The closeness seems mostly due to sloppiness, either bad calls like over extentions or lots of trades that devolve into last man standing fights. Florida is still uncomfortable with rush, and seems to go for Rein/Sig which means the Rein is always on the back foot. Vancouver is holding its own at least and isn't getting completely locked out when Florida switches to dive.
Florida is on the other end of the cliff. As long as they can get away with dive it looks like they can get shit done. If the meta closes that avenue to them they're in trouble, which is confirmation of what it looked like yesterday.
In the end Florida won as predicted. No upsets here. Vancouver is really going to have to fight for a win this season.
Toronto vs Atlanta
The story of two struggling teams. Toronto struggled just enough against Vancouver that it's not surprising that now that they are against Rein, who is substantially better both in organization and individual play they barely eeked out a win. Rein in the meanwhile look like rush comp kings. They may not be able to face stronger teams that can push them off of rush, but if they can force Rush for an entire match they might be able to get a few wins. As a result they spawn camped Toronto for something like 4 minutes on Blizzard world second point.
There were also some great Reddit Lucio plays from Masaa, including a 2k boop in overtime at the end of BW.
Rush is a lot of fun to watch. It's as close to GOATS as you can get and when it's done well it looks unbreakable. But on maps where it isn't as effective Reign looks vulnerable. Toronto took Dorado for that reason, then Anubis, and then managed to overwhelm Reign with mobility on Busan, completing a reverse sweep. Sucks for Reign because they're now 0-2, in a stage that's decided by 4 games.
It's crazy to me that in season one every team played every other team each stage. That was something like 10 games a stage per team. Now we're down to 4. It's probably much better for the players, and even at this rate I can hardly watch it all, but it means that every game matters that much more. It also means that with my team down 0-2 there isn't as much hope for a come back.
In other news I'm actually reading a book right now. It's a collection of short essays called The Age of Waiting. It's good but also hits on some emotional stuff so it's been difficult for me to get through.
Charge vs Dynasty
Ooooh boy. Charge were completely dismantled. Couldn't get anything done in the mirror, Kaylee struggled to hit shots while Lip was dinking everything in sight. Rio and Kariv were showing some good signs and Choi wasn't feeding but they just couldn't deal with the pace or the pressure Dynasty was putting down and the game was an abysmal 3-0
Chengdu vs Shanghai
A complete upset. Not just in terms of the final score but on a play to play basis. Chengdu handed Shanghai its ass, and while the team already looked new and more cohesive than ever in it's match yesterday against the Valiant, they were next level this time. They didn't even let Shanghai through the arch in Eichenwalde and then full held them on Gibralter. Shanghai looked stunned in the end. And the great thing was it wasn't a chaos game. Eichenwalde in particular was a master class in reacation and space management from Chengdu and is worth watching again even as one sided as it was.
Philly vs Valiant
Another relatively one sided game in a night of onesided games, but a more predictable one. Philly really are looking like the new new york, a KR superteam that looks unbeatable on paper. The problem is that new york dominated the regular season and then collapsed when it mattered, which is also Philly's history, so we'll see if the new roster can break that curse.
The Valiant on the other hand put up something of a fight, but at this point I was almost asleep so couldn't pay too much attention. There were some decent plays by Wya and Showcheng but the team doesn't look that cohesive.
Outlaws vs Shock
A massive game. Not just because it was an upset but because it was massive play after massive play. The shock weren't even bad. They made a few aggressive plays that didn't take into account that Happy apparantly doesn't miss but for the most part it was a battle of inches, including a draw on Blizzard World. Outlaws were up 2-0 and Shock clutched the next two maps to get the match to a map 6, and then held Outlaws at first on Havana. Things were looking very bad, and Outlaws got about 1 meter within a loss twice, only to bring it back in overtime on the top of to massive ults from the Mei and Rein. Outlaws tankline is looking formidable. Dante on Echo is a menace, Happy is as accurate as ever while somehow no longer feeding, and Crimzo and Joobi are keeping it all together.
It was a great game that felt like a stage finals. Definitely one to rewatch.
Vancouver vs Florida
Another close match, but not as high caliber. The closeness seems mostly due to sloppiness, either bad calls like over extentions or lots of trades that devolve into last man standing fights. Florida is still uncomfortable with rush, and seems to go for Rein/Sig which means the Rein is always on the back foot. Vancouver is holding its own at least and isn't getting completely locked out when Florida switches to dive.
Florida is on the other end of the cliff. As long as they can get away with dive it looks like they can get shit done. If the meta closes that avenue to them they're in trouble, which is confirmation of what it looked like yesterday.
In the end Florida won as predicted. No upsets here. Vancouver is really going to have to fight for a win this season.
Toronto vs Atlanta
The story of two struggling teams. Toronto struggled just enough against Vancouver that it's not surprising that now that they are against Rein, who is substantially better both in organization and individual play they barely eeked out a win. Rein in the meanwhile look like rush comp kings. They may not be able to face stronger teams that can push them off of rush, but if they can force Rush for an entire match they might be able to get a few wins. As a result they spawn camped Toronto for something like 4 minutes on Blizzard world second point.
There were also some great Reddit Lucio plays from Masaa, including a 2k boop in overtime at the end of BW.
Rush is a lot of fun to watch. It's as close to GOATS as you can get and when it's done well it looks unbreakable. But on maps where it isn't as effective Reign looks vulnerable. Toronto took Dorado for that reason, then Anubis, and then managed to overwhelm Reign with mobility on Busan, completing a reverse sweep. Sucks for Reign because they're now 0-2, in a stage that's decided by 4 games.
It's crazy to me that in season one every team played every other team each stage. That was something like 10 games a stage per team. Now we're down to 4. It's probably much better for the players, and even at this rate I can hardly watch it all, but it means that every game matters that much more. It also means that with my team down 0-2 there isn't as much hope for a come back.
In other news I'm actually reading a book right now. It's a collection of short essays called The Age of Waiting. It's good but also hits on some emotional stuff so it's been difficult for me to get through.
