Gladiators 3-1 Dragons
The Los Angeles Gladiators came into this match with a strange lineup compared to other weeks. All three of their DPS players, Lane “Surefour” Roberts, Gui-un “Decay” Jang and João Pedro “Hydration” Goes Telles, started the match. This left Chang-hoon “rOar” Gye as the only tank, while the Support duo of Benjamin “BigGoose” Isohanni and Jonas “Shaz” Suovaara remained. Both main tank players for Los Angeles, Jun-woo “Void” Kang and Hyung-seok “Bischu” “Aaron” Kim, started on the bench.
Busan: Dragons 2-0 Gladiators
The Gladiators came out with a triple DPS lineup, with Surefour heading onto his signature Widowmaker. His opposite Widowmaker on Shanghai was Min-seong “diem” Bae, who played extremely well in the first match of the series. The real hero of the series was Yong-Jin “YOUNGJIN” Jin, who played Soldier 76. This map was a breath of fresh air for fans who have become tired of the 3-3 compositions of Stage 1, as both teams played a number of DPS heroes.
Anubis: Gladiators 2-1 Dragons
Before this map started, Void subbed in for Surefour. The Gladiators returned to the 3-3 lineup, while Shanghai let Jin-hyeok “DDing” Yang play the Junkrat to try and deal large amounts of damage. The Dragons committed to having the Junkrat, even after his lack of ultimate kills. After the Gladiators started the defense well, they were pushed off the first point. Shanghai looked certain to take the point with about two minutes left, but the Gladiators were able to use their ultimates and stall until they could take control again. In the end, the Gladiators held the Dragons to 89.5% on the second point.
On attack, LA came out swinging, trying to corner the Dragons. Decay got to run the Genji that he had run previously on this map. The Gladiators were given just over six minutes to try and take the second point of Anubis. It took them over five minutes to get a tick, and as soon as they did, they were able to take the point. Shanghai also committed to the Junkrat for the defense, and it almost worked for them. However, a long teamfight that saw many players switch Heroes led to the Gladiators taking the map.
King’s Row: Gladiators 4-3 Dragons
LA defended first, and the Gladiators let BigGoose be their first player to play as Baptiste. Shanghai tried to get in behind early to get the bunker comp of Orisa and Bastion. After a failed attempt to defend the first point, the Gladiators returned to their familiar 3-3 composition. Void found himself a triple kill with his D.Va ultimate to help the Gladiators regain control in defense. Shanghai’s attack went all the way to overtime, but Void would not let the Dragons take it that easily, getting another multi-kill with his ultimate. After over a minute of overtime, the Dragons were able to complete the map.
The Gladiators’ attack started with three DPS with Void on Sombra. Hydration was able to land a great ultimate as Pharah to secure the first point for LA. They swiftly took the second checkpoint, and had over four minutes to take the cart to the final point. With just over 1:30 left in the Gladiators’ attack, DDing saved his team with his first successful Riptire. However, the Gladiators were able to finish the point with just over 30 seconds left in the time bank.
In the Dragon’s second try, the Gladiators completely shut down the attack. BigGoose’s Baptiste play was integral to the quick defense. The Gladiators came out extremely aggressively for their second attack to finish out King’s Row.
Gibraltar: Gladiators 1-0 Dragons
Youngjin came out for Shanghai on his signature Doomfist to start the map, and tried to get into the Gladiators face’s. However, Los Angeles were patient and ready for him, holding the high ground and getting the kills they needed to. On Winston, rOar showed his abilities by getting many kills both with his ultimate and the Tesla cannon itself. After many composition changes from the Dragons, the Gladiators were able to full hold the Chinese team.
The Gladiators were not messing around on their attack. They wanted to end this game as quickly as they could and celebrate their victory. They finished the map with just under two minutes remaining.
Conclusion
The Los Angeles Gladiators started off Stage 2 with a convincing 3-1 win against the Shanghai Dragons. They continued their momentum from Stage 1, and were able to show that they can win games handily. While they tried something different at the beginning of the match by running the triple DPS compositions with all three DPS players, they showed their flexibility and the depth in their roster. Shanghai had many creative strategies for this match, but they were not able to run all of them successfully. The Gladiators face the Seoul Dynasty on Friday, Apr. 5 for their second game of Stage 2.
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Featured Image Courtesy of the Los Angeles Gladiators
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