After starting Stage 3 off strong with two decisive wins, the Paris Eternal understandably struggled in their Week 2 match against the New York Excelsior. Moving past that, they hoped to get back on track by bringing down the Florida Mayhem. Sure enough, they enjoyed another successful run. Although Florida put up a good fight, the Eternal kept up the momentum, finishing out the series with a 3-1 victory.
Courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment.
A long team fight kicked off the action on Shrine, but Paris came out on top to capture the point first. From there, they held decisively, moving as a unit and quickly shutting down each of the Mayhem’s pushes. Although Florida pushed in one more time for a solid fight in overtime, the Eternal held fast and took the round.
Paris moved in quickly on Village, claiming the point early in the round. This time, the fight was less one-sided, with especially impressive work from Florida’s Pan-seung “Fate” Koo and Sang-bum “BQB” Lee allowing Florida to make some room. Despite that, the Eternal held the point into overtime before the Mayhem could flip. From there, Florida held the point for a while while Paris regrouped, but the Eternal came back in full force. They moved back in to reclaim the point, winning the map overall.
Paris played patiently on their first attack, moving in slowly to scout out the defense before heading in. They claimed point A quickly and moved on to point B, completing two ticks of progress before Florida fought back. The two teams brawled hard from there, and the tide could have turned either way at any moment. In the end, Paris finished the map with a hefty time bank.
Florida turned up the heat on their attack, claiming point A with six and a half minutes in the time bank. Keeping up the momentum, they stormed point B, rolling through Paris as they tried to regroup. They finished the map even faster than the Eternal had, sending the map to a second round.
Paris moved just as quickly on the second attack, and claimed point A in the first team fight. Hoping to snowball as well, they moved to point B and scattered the opposition, but the Mayhem regrouped just in time to keep them back. After the Eternal backed off to catch their breath, they headed back in as a group and finished out the map after one more tough fight.
Once again, Florida quickly made it through point A on their offense, but the Eternal regrouped quickly to keep the fight even on point B. Each team fight came down to the wire, with both sides hitting hard, but Paris came out on top each time. Just as time started running out, the Mayhem’s Jae-mo “xepheR” Koo negated a Graviton Surge from Karol “Danye” Szcześniak, which gave his team the edge they needed. They finished the map again, this time in overtime.
As the only team with a time bank, Paris got one more chance to get a single tick of progress and avoid a draw. They moved quickly, but forward play from Fate and BQB ended their first push. With less than a minute remaining, the Eternal took the fight to the point just in time. After a few crucial picks, Paris finally came out on top.
Courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment.
The Eternal found themselves facing a solid defense as they aimed for point A. Florida decidedly pushed them back on each attack, burning down the clock as they did. With Paris struggling to find a way in, they ultimately failed to capture more than a tick and a half on point A before the Mayhem repelled them. Though they fought once more into overtime, Florida full-held the Eternal, and the two teams switched sides.
With little progress to make, Florida played patiently against the Eternal’s defense. With Fate on Wrecking Ball and Jung-woo “Sayaplayer” Ha on Widowmaker, they slowly but surely picked apart the opposition. Paris made them work for it, but Florida ultimately made the progress they needed to put a win on the board.
Florida started out strong on their attack, making quick progress through point A despite the Eternal’s best efforts. Once they reached point B, however, Paris’s defense strengthened. The payload slowed down considerably as the two teams brawled it out. Though the Mayhem made some more progress before the end, Paris held them off just before the last fortress, preventing them from finishing the map.
On their own attack, the Eternal surprised Florida with an unusual composition, including Luís “Greyy” Perestrelo on Roadhog and Nicolas “NiCOgdh” Moret on Hanzo. By the time the Mayhem adjusted, Paris had nearly reached point A, and continued to move steadily forward against the defense. They only picked up the pace after capturing point B, finishing out the map with plenty of time and taking the series with a 3-1 victory.
After a lackluster Stage 2, Paris fans are no doubt relieved to see their team picking up speed. With a reasonably easy few weeks ahead of them, it’s the perfect time to see if Paris can keep improving. If they stay on the right track, they have a potential playoffs run ahead of them.
The Paris Eternal play their next match on June 20, against the Houston Outlaws. Be sure to tune in and see if they can keep up the good work.
Follow Darby on Twitter @soundchecck! She is happy to talk about anything she’s written! You can also get in touch with her on Discord (soundchecck#7242).
Featured image courtesy of the Paris Eternal.
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