It was quite a close match between these two teams and perhaps somewhat surprisingly so. Ignoring the final map Rialto, the Florida Mayhem should have a lot to be proud of today. The Dallas Fuel however, have a lot to work on. Despite this win, the playoffs will be much harder for Dallas than anything Florida could bring to the table, and they will need to improve quickly if they want to make a spash next weekend.
Busan (Dallas Fuel 2 – 1 Florida Mayhem)
Busan began on the Downtown stage and both teams opted to play the Reinhardt Goats composition. Florida came out very strong, focusing down the opposing tanks and capturing the point first. Over the course of Downtown Busan, Florida showcased very clean looking ultimate combos. This helped them to take the first stage of Busan quite quickly.
On the Meka Base stage of Busan, both teams again ran the mirror Reinhardt 3-3 compositions into each other. During this close quarters battle, Dallas focused down Yoon “Swon” Seong-won’s Reinhardt barrier in every fight. Dallas took this stage 100% to 0%.
On the final stage of Busan, Sanctuary, the teamfights were much closer and scrappier. Jo “HaGoPeun” Hyeon-woo carried Florida in the first team fight. HaGoPeun built Transcendence twice as fast as his counterpart, and whilst Trancing, moved in front of the enemy Reinhardt to take the pin for his teammate. Off of this first fight, Florida got 95% capture on the point. However, it was the Dallas Fuel in the long comeback that eventually won this map, taking the stage 100% to 99%.
Temple of Anubis (Florida Mayhem 6 – 5 Dallas Fuel)
The Florida Mayhem played Winston on defense as Dallas played Reinhardt on attack. The first attack for Dallas was blisteringly quick, they completed both points with 6:07 on the clock. On Florida’s first round of attack they too completed both points quickly with only a little less time than Dallas had finished with.
On the second round of attacks, both teams again completed the map. However this time Florida had a stronger defense and were able to halt the Dallas attack on multiple occasions. Heading into the next round of attacks on Temple of Anubis, the Florida Mayhem now had the time advantage.
Over the course of this map, both teams opted to play Winston on defense and Reinhardt on attack. However, on the final attack for Dallas, they played Winston on attack. It caught Florida off guard, and they took the first point quickly. With the timebank now dwindling, Dallas only had one shot to capture the second point which they were not able to do. Florida steamrolled through both points in their final attack to take Temple of Anubis in a close and well-fought map.
King’s Row (Dallas Fuel 3 – 2 Florida Mayhem)
Dallas played an Ana on defense here in an otherwise mirrored composition. Ha “Sayaplayer” Jeong-woo flanked Dallas on Brigitte and was able to stun Son “OGE” Min-seok for an easy elimination. After this elimination and a short hold at the arch just after the first point, Florida were able to push it into the third part of this map quite quickly. However, Lucas “NotE” Meissner helped the Dallas Fuel to hold for over four minutes before the final point to end Florida’s attack.
Dallas were able to get through first and second point very quickly, only losing one or two fights through streets phase. Again, it was NotE using his D.va ultimate quite aggressively in the long narrow streets of King’s Row helping the Fuel push through. Dallas had no issue in completing the third section of this map, ending King’s Row looking quite dominant despite some earlier back and forth between the two teams.
Rialto
This map was as one-sided as they come. Dallas were not held once on their attack, finishing the map with 27 eliminations to the Mayhem’s one. NotE’s aggressive bombs continued here, and it seemed that Florida did not have an answer. Dallas finished their attack with the third fastest time on Rialto in OWL history.
On attack, Florida looked terrible. They were not able to get a single elimination until overtime began. Florida were being staggered, torn apart and dismantled by Dallas. Lee “BQB” Sang-bum threw in some terrible Graviton Surges on this map, and was not able to contribute at all to his team’s attack. Florida won their first team fight on this map in overtime, but were again destroyed upon a reengagement D.va bomb by NotE. Dallas were able to full hold Florida and impressively, NotE did not die once on this map or on King’s Row. Dallas looked like a legitimate top eight team on Rialto.
Conclusion
Florida were able to yet again, play a competitive match against a team that is considered much better than they are. However they lost Busan, a map they really should have won. They also lost Rialto quite badly, a map they had a 3-1 record on prior to this game. With this win for Dallas, they have cemented their spot in the Stage 2 Playoffs. However, for the Mayhem, they had yet another chance to record a win here today, and struggled when it really counted. They will be looking forward to the next stage, possibly with reinforcements on the way, to show the OWL that they can take not just map wins, but matches.
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