2018 Season Two for the Overwatch Contenders has begun! TGH will keep you updated with Overwatch Contenders as the weeks go on! Today our focus is going to be about the match between GG Esports Academy and Last Night’s Leftovers, who faced off last Tuesday. Â
MAP 1: Lijiang Tower
The first map was the infamous Lijiang Tower Gardens, where LNL took an early lead, capturing the point quickly with the help of Nlaaer’s Widowmaker. Voll, Fischer, and Smurf successfully took back the point while securing themselves three kills, forcing LNL to reset. LNL couldn’t come back afterward as Track was unable to use his Rocket Barrage to any effect while GGEA’s team cleaned up everyone else from LNL, winning the first point of the map.
The second round on Lijiang was Control Center, where LNL looked to still be in a slump originating from the end of Gardens. GGEA was highly aggressive while LNL were very slow and methodical to take the point in a quick time. In fact, LNL weren’t able to take the point before Overtime as GGEA secured the point to 99% before LNL could cap it. LNL held the point for a little while until Kellar, Fischer, and Voll helped usher in a Team Kill to finish the map and win their first point. They used the Space Dragon to take down a few members of LNL and the rest of the team finished off everyone else after the ult ended.
MAP 2: King’s Row
There was a notable absence in the first map that could have potentially prevented LNL from winning the map. Sugarfree, an esteemed DPS player for the Leftovers, was having server issues and was unable to join for Lijiang Tower. The case is entirely different for the second map, King’s Row.
Sugarfree definitely started the game with a bang as he charged up his Genji ultimate to 78% in the first fight between the two teams. Sugarfree killed the backline of GGEA, securing them the first point. The second fight yielded Sugarfree another two kills with use of his Dragonblade, giving LNL plenty of space to get almost to the second point in a very quick fashion.
GGEA wasn’t going to give up the second point for free, however, as their defense was able to stabilize for a moment thanks to an early kill onto Sugarfree’s Genji by Kellar’s Hanzo. Eventually Sugarfree unleashed his Dragonblade to kill two members of GGEA, which secured them the second point.
GGEA did not end up holding LNL to two points on King’s Row, but at least held them off until Overtime before the third point was captured. Sugarfree’s performance, and more specifically, his Dragonblades helped LNL win the major team fights needed to finish the map.
Sugarfree Makes the Game
On GGEA’s attack, the teams used the same offense/defense compositions. Sugarfree picked up Junkrat, but it didn’t help his team as much as his Genji did. Fischer’s Hanzo, Kellar’s Widow, and Greyy’s Zenyatta helped their team capture the first point in similar time to LNL. Sugarfree switched to Hanzo and enabled LNL to hold a good defense before the payload made it to the second point.
After Sugarfree’s switch to Hanzo, LNL was able to get a team kill on GGEA two times in a row. Sugarfree uses a damage-boosted Dragonstrike to split GGEA up and allowed for the first team kill, and Nexx’s Graviton Surge secured a second team-kill. Then to end the map, LNL combined the two to secure another team fight win. However, in the last few moments before Overtime started, GGEA was able to secure the second point. Then Sugarfree gets two headshot kills and then two more Dragonstrike kills to destabilize GGEA, holding them to two points and securing LNL the map win.
MAP 3: Temple of Anubis
The third map of the day was at the Temple of Anubis. GGEA began on defence with a double sniper composition. During the first fight, both teams’ Winstons died, affording Sugarfree with a lot of ultimate percentage. The point was captured by LNL due to some stagger from Smurf’s early death on Winston. Sugarfree saved his Dragonblade until his team was able to make it to the second point. The Genji ultimate was not able to secure any kills for LNL as Greyy’s Transcendence was able to counter any and all damage that the Dragonblade could have provided.
Sugarfree switched to Hanzo after his failed Genji ult, but GGEA’s Smurf was able to use his primal rage to keep LNL at bay. On the next fight after LNL regrouped, Smurf made another play by flanking Sugarfree and eliminating him, which forced out a late Valkyrie and Rally by LNL to no effect. Sugarfree is then resurrected by Ajax so that the Dragonstrike could be used. Sugarfree’s Hanzo ult was used for naught while GGEA’s Kellar on Briggitte afforded his team a double kill to send LNL back to regroup.
Sugarfree sees this as an optimal opportunity to switch to Zarya to play along with Decod’s Reinhardt. Nlaaer switches to Pharah, and then the team rolls in with a plan. Dogman uses his Transcendence to usher his team onto the point and then Decod uses his Earth Shatter to take down three members of GGEA. However, Smurf is on Winston for GGEA and uses his Primal Rage to buy some time for his teammates to return to the point. Kellar, on Tracer now, takes down LNL’s backline and ends the teamfight. For the last teamfight, Nlaaer kills two with his Tracer to start, but Smurf has his Primal again to buy time while Voll’s D.Va takes down Decod’s Winston and Fischer’s Hanzo takes down Nexx’s D.Va. The fight is over and the overtime clock ticks down with GGEA successfully holding LNL to one point on Anubis.
Some Trouble in Anubis
The attack for GGEA went rather easily. Before the first point was even able to be taken, Decod was felled and the game was paused. Apparently, there was an issue on Decod’s end because he was unable to play for the rest of the match. With a six-versus-five advantage favoring GGEA, they went on to win the match since all they had to do was match the progress that LNL made on the second point. It was a walk in the park for GGEA, who clearly had more firepower and team coordination due to having their full main roster. In other words, LNL’s absence of a tank handed the team a bitter defeat.
After an incredible performance, Decod has lost power at his home. We'll finish Anubis a man down.
Have we mentioned we're unsigned?
— ATL Academy (@ATLAcademyOW) July 4, 2018
MAP 4: Route 66
On the last map of the day, LNL was able to fix Decod’s issues since he was able to be present for this map. Sadly for this team, it did not fix the coordination issues as LNL was held to zero points on Route 66. Greyy’s Sombra, Fischer’s Hanzo, and Voll’s D.Va essentially killed the team’s backline every fight.
GGEA attacks with a full Dive composition, which pays off as most of LNL is taken out on the first fight. Dogman overextended and was promptly punished, which paved the way for GGEA to take the 3-1 victory for the day’s matches.
In Hindsight…
LNL was probably mentally affected by their technical difficulties amounting in a loss on Anubis. Also, Route 66 favors the highest coordinated team with strong coaching. GGEA is the Houston Outlaws’/OpTic’s OWC team, so they definitely have professional coaching and team coordination. On the other hand, there is no large organization behind LNL, leaving them at a coaching or coordination disadvantage. Lastly, during the last fight on Route 66, LNL’s Ajax was eliminated very early and caused Dogman to overextend. This ends in GGEA eliminating one-third of the enemy team in one go, which leads to their win on Route 66 and their win for the day’s matches.
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