For Season 4 this is going to be the first time that the Seoul Dynasty is going to be facing up against teams from North America. Though they have made it into the playoffs for the regional tournaments they have never made it to Hawaii. The Seoul Dynasty will be facing up against the Atlanta Reign who is the number one ranked team for the Countdown Cup in North America. This is going to be a massive hurdle to overcome. The Seoul Dynasty needs to place at least one higher than the Chengdu Hunters in this tournament to ensure that they will a bye into the overall playoffs. That is a large ask as the Chengdu Hunters look like one of the stronger teams overall in the League. Though Seoul’d first priority is going to be to take down the Atlanta Reign.
Atlanta Reign:
The Atlanta Reign and the Seoul Dynasty are both ranked number three in their perspective regions for the overall season. These two teams have a very similar style, which will be interesting to see if they can combat what they themselves like to play. The slower defensive style teams that not giving up space and who caps the point first in KOTH is going to be essential to pull out a win.
One aspect that separates the bunker styles between these two teams is that Blake “Gator” Scott does favor the Rein whenever he is able to get away with it. Jaehui ‘Gesture’ Hong definitely prefers the Orisa or ball comps. It will be interesting to see how both teams go about dissecting each other’s playstyles in the match.
Prediction: 3-2 Seoul
If Seoul is able to out mechanic the DPS they have a good chance. Junyoung “Profit” Park, if he is able to get to the backlines, taking out Seunghyun ‘Ir1s’ Kim then a lot of the healing will be void with Petja ‘Masaa’ Kantanen normally on Brig, which would weaken the frontlines of the Reign. This would then give the Dynasty more room to move as well as rotate to a favorable position. Rotation is going to be important if both of these teams do opt to play bunker.
Backline Pressure
On that same note, if Gesture and the Dynasty decide to go for more of a dive look, they need to watch out for the CC. The Reign will most likely be playing Brig and McCree that can double stun and melt anyone in the backlines. That means that Profit, Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim, and Gesture need to be more careful. Against Reign, Gesture is really going to struggle to survive, and if Youngwan ‘Creative’ Kim isn’t on Ana the healing output of Brig Zen might not be enough to sustain the team.
Off Tank Carry?
This match will come down to the DPS and who will be shut down more. Both Xander ‘Hawk’ Domecq and Hyeonwoo ‘Toyou’ Lim have been known to eat a few ults when on D.Va which could help swing the tides if a pulse bomb or grav disappears.
Player to Watch: Kai ‘Kai’ Collins and Toyou
Kai is the player to watch as he has shown that he is a dangerous DPS. If Seoul allows him to take off angles without putting pressure on him, he will be able to decimate the backlines. He will be facing up against Profit and FITS, which won’t be easy, but if he steps forward and starts shutting them down this could spell trouble for Seoul.
Toyou is going to be important whether it is diving on D.Va or on Zarya. If Toyou could get a private lesson from Joonhyeok ‘Zunba’ Kim, the season 1 and 2 off tank from the Seoul Dynasty, it could greatly help. Zunba was always great at bubble management so that he was always at high energy to do damage. That is one place of weakness for Toyou on Zarya. His bubbles are not at the level it needs to be that was highlighted in their match against the Fusion when Hongjoon ‘Hotba’ Choi was out damaging him. He is going to need to tighten that up in the future so that other teams don’t take advantage of that weakness.
Countdown Cup Week 19
This is Seoul’s first time to Hawaii, while it is not the first time for the Reign. Hopefully, the Dynasty will be able to adjust fast and play their strategies to win. This will really give the team the momentum that they need going into the overall playoffs. For once Tiger Nation will not need to wake up early morning to watch their team play. No doubt Seoul will be looking to add that first star to their banner for the Countdown Cup.
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