Fuel 3-1 Dynasty
After receiving one of the only 4-0 sweeps in their last match and being written off as a bottom-ranked team once again, the Dallas Fuel came into today with the intention of proving that the loss was merely a fluke. Luckily for them, they exceeded expectations by playing on the level of the Seoul Dynasty for nearly the entire match, and by eventually taking the victory in the final series of the first week.
Busan: Fuel 2-1 Dynasty
On MEKA Base, Seoul took an early lead from a standard 3-3 play against Fuel’s triple DPS and Hammond comp, but after switching to a Sombra GOATS comp, the Fuel gained possession of the point and began to adapt to Seoul. By punishing many of Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek’s more overly aggressive plays and forcing the Dynasty back onto the point, the Fuel managed to take the round.
On Downtown, the Dynasty could not have looked stronger. The Fuel were completely blown away by a dominant showing from their opponents, most specifically Je-hong “Ryujehong” Ryu on his legendary signature hero Ana, and never got a single percentage before Seoul took the second round.
On Sanctuary, the Fuel took an early lead, playing smart until the Dynasty finally claimed the point at 89%. However, after regrouping, strong plays from Min-seok “OGE” Son and Hyeon “EFFECT” Hwang managed to consistently isolate Seoul’s healers, and the Fuel eventually reclaimed the point, winning both the round and their first map of the season.
King’s Row: Fuel 4-3 Dynasty
On their initial defense, the Fuel started off well. However, a well placed EMP from Min-hyuk “Michelle” Choi gave Dynasty the first point. Michelle continued to disrupt the Fuel well into point B, and even some smart plays from Dallas could not stop the Dynasty’s advances. Poor support ultimate timing continued to hurt Dallas during Seoul’s push until the Dynasty were eventually halted meters before the goal. The Fuel held on for several minutes, but in overtime Seoul managed to complete their push.
On the offense, Dallas once again played smart by punishing Seoul’s aggression and, with a similar time to Seoul, they managed to take the first point on their second push. They continued pushing through second point off of strong plays from Dylan “aKm” Bignet. The Fuel were similarly stopped near the end of the map, and struggled for several minutes against a strong Dynasty defense. However several out of place players on the side of Seoul led to Dallas taking advantage of the Dynasty and finishing their push in overtime.
On Seoul’s second offensive round, with only one minute on the clock, the Fuel let up two ticks rather quickly. However, after regrouping and baiting Seoul in, they once again punished the Dynasty, suffering zero deaths and holding the point at 70%. On the fourth round, the audience was treated to the familiar double sniper combo combined with an Orisa/Roadhog tankline. Benjamin “uNKOE” Chevasson’s clutch Roadhog play, followed by key eliminations from aKm secured the Fuel their second map win of the night.
Volskaya: Dynasty 4-3 Fuel
The Fuel’s offensive push did not start out very strongly; several poorly timed ults from uNKOE and EFFECT delayed the Fuel’s advancements and ate up a lot of the team’s time bank. However, a huge D.Va bomb from Richard “rCk” Kanerva changed the tide of the entire battle, netting the first point and even allowing the Fuel to begin a snowball onto the second. The Fuel took the point off a strong Grav with four minutes left on the clock.
On Dallas’ defense, an early loss of OGE ended up compounding into a quick loss of point A for the Fuel, but a snowball was prevented by a well-timed EMP from rCk. However, after a regroup and unified push from the Dynasty, they took the second point with 40 seconds more in the time bank.
On Dallas’ second offensive push, it was a long grind, but after two minutes they managed to secure a third point. However, their attempted snowball did not come through and their attempt to secure a fourth point failed. On their defensive round, the Fuel stalled for a decent amount of time on point A. However, eventually the Dynasty proved to be too much, and after taking the third point, an early loss of the Fuel tank line resulted in their first map loss of the night.
Rialto: Fuel 1-0 Dynasty
On the defensive-heavy map Rialto, The Fuel’s defense seemed stronger than ever before. They were finally wiped out after a minute of holding the first segment of the map, but came in right before the Dynasty could get to the first checkpoint, putting on an amazing hold and preventing the Dynasty from securing a single point.
The Dallas offense also proved deadly for the Dynasty, where an rCk Sombra distracted most of the Korean squad out of position and off the high ground, which led to the rest of his team securing a team kill. Afterward, it was simply a matter of clearing the panicked Dynasty members away for long enough to complete the map, allowing Dallas to win their full series 3-1.
Conclusion
Given the Fuel’s performance against the San Francisco Shock on Friday and the Dynasty’s strong showing against the Gladiators, few could have seen the outcome of this match going this way. The Dallas squad we saw today looked refined and strategic, punishing many of Seoul’s overaggressive plays. It remains to be seen if Dallas can keep up this momentum, or if they’ll begin to crash and burn in a similar vein to what happened last season. However, if this is the true capability of Dallas, and if we begin to see this level of play every time they hit the stage, I think a lot of viewers will realize that they had underestimated the Fuel going into Season 2.
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