In their return to the Overwatch League stage, the New York Excelsior were poised to go against the Houston Outlaws in what was predicted to be an easy matchup. However, the Outlaws managed to give the Excelsior a fight, bringing the series to five maps. In a tense series, New York managed to overtake Houston 3 – 2.
On Ruins, both teams ran mirror GOATs compositions. In a swift and easy few moments, the NYXL were able to pick off two Outlaws and force them to reset. After a very long fight, New York picked off Houston’s players time and time again, full holding them on the first round.
On Well, the Outlaws decided to run a “bunker” composition, which proved itself to be successful for a moment. With Linkzr on McCree, Houston had the upper hand for a moment before New York came back and captured the point first. The Outlaws, however, managed to capture the point back in overtime after having switched back to GOATs. After pushing forward, Houston managed to hold through to 100%, taking the second round.
On Lighthouse, the Outlaws managed to gain first capture of the point after picking off Anamo with ease. Houston pushed with aggression towards the NYXL’s spawn. Things looked scary for a minute, but the NYXL came back hard. New York took the point at 88% and gave the Outlaws a taste of their own medicine as they pushed them all the way back to their spawn doors. The Outlaws were able to touch the point to push the round into overtime, and wiped the Excelsior from the point. Unable to recapture the point, New York lost the final round to the Outlaws, losing the first map of the series.
Clutching up when it matters! We take Ilios 2-1!#AnteUp pic.twitter.com/bZgSoAq6GA
— Houston Outlaws (@Outlaws) June 8, 2019
Just roll with it. Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
The NYXL ran Sombra-GOATs into the Outlaws’ triple DPS composition. Having captured two ticks of percentage, things were looking bad for the Excelsior as Saebeyolbe was deleted almost instantly. However, things turned around and the NYXL took the match one fight at a time. It was slow and difficult, but the NYXL managed to full hold the Outlaws on the first round.
On attack, New York decided to run a triple DPS composition into the Outlaws’ own triple DPS composition. Houston’s defense was really strong for a while, keeping the Excelsior at bay as the clock ran down on their attack. After a long few fights, the NYXL managed to finally break through Houston’s hold on defense and capture the first point, winning the round and the map.
With two minutes bled off of the clock, the NYXL seemed to struggle against the Outlaws’s triple DPS composition for a long time before finally being able to push through their defense and capture the first point. However, the fight was slow and steady as the NYXL managed to push forward through Houston’s aggressive defense. The Outlaws’ aggression certainly gave the Excelsior trouble, but it was never for too long as their aggression was often cut with a lack of foresight. The NYXL managed to capture all three points in overtime, after a long and hard-won round.
On defense, Jiri “Linkzr” Masalin was able to completely and totally decimate the NYXL in just a few seconds, giving viewers a taste of his expert Widowmaker play.
DiNkzr is back! 😈 pic.twitter.com/uIqKVAzgC9
— Houston Outlaws (@Outlaws) June 8, 2019
Their momentum kept going on strong, rolling through the NYXL’s defense before the game was paused. With this, the Outlaws’ momentum slowed and the Excelsior were finally able to get their bearings. However, Houston pushed back against the Excelsior’s defense and finished the map with time to spare, forcing the NYXL to have to fight for the draw.
In the map’s final round, the Outlaws managed to quickly take the first point, taking the map and leading the series 2-1.
On their defense, New York gave quite a bit of ground before they were able to slow the Outlaws. After holding the first point for just a moment and ultimately losing control of it, the NYXL let Houston roll through
the entire second leg of Gibraltar with ease. In a strong final push, the Outlaws were able to finish the map out with a little over a minute left in the time bank.
On their attack, the NYXL had a lot of difficulties trying to push through the first point. Despite being slowed a few times by the Outlaws, New York captured the first point with over four minutes to spare. This victory was shortlived, however, as Houston was quickly able to push the Excelsior back to their spawn after they pushed through and under the bridge. Ultimately, New York was able to capture the second point with over four minutes in the time bank yet again. As they moved forward through the map, the team seemed to be playing stronger than they had been, finishing the map with three minutes to spare.
On their final defense, the NYXL were able to stop the Outlaws before they were even able to capture the final point, running the time bank down and holding their ground. On their attack, the Excelsior pushed the Outlaws all the way back towards their spawn, pushing the payload through and tying up the series to bring it to a map five.
Follow captain @saebyeolbe
➡ https://t.co/aoksKyN8os ⬅ #EverUpward #OWL2019 pic.twitter.com/eehrLzBTVY
— NYXL (@NYXL) June 8, 2019
On City Center, the NYXL managed to get the first capture of the point. Despite this, the Excelsior were quickly wiped, forcing a reset. This reset went surprisingly well, resulting in another flip. They were able to hold the point through the end, preventing the Outlaws from even touching the point to push the round through to overtime.
On gardens, the NYXL captured the point first again and held it strong. Pushing the round into overtime, the NYXL were able to wipe the Outlaws from the point and take the series.
Despite this being a victory, the Excelsior’s performance through most of the game is certainly worrying to many fans. New York were not playing like themselves for a majority of the game, and while Houston certainly brought their A-Game, this should not have been as much of a struggle as it was. In their last match up against the Outlaws, the Excelsior rose above Houston in a clean 4-0 sweep. This was nowhere near similar to that Stage 1 matchup. Even though the team brought fan-favorite Saebeyolbe back on stage, his return brought a lot of struggles for the boys in blue. If New York are itching to get their “captain” back on stage, they should really hope for a change in the META, because it doesn’t look like Saebeyolbe’s strength is in such a GOATs dominated scene.
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