Despite the Outlaws looking much cleaner than they had been in previous games, Houston still could not come out on top. After a disappointing series against the Excelsior, it’s clear that the Outlaws have quite a bit of work to do if they want to succeed in a time where the league is dominated by 3-3 team compositions.
On Village, the Outlaws seemed to give the Excelsior a bit of a fight running a team with three DPS. The
Outlaws were able to gain control of the point and hold it until 79% when the NYXL regrouped and pushed through the Outlaws in overtime. With no one on the Houston Outlaws able to make it back to the point, the NYXL took the very close round.
Going into Sanctum, the Outlaws decided to run a 3-3 against the NYXL, mirroring the Excelsior’s composition. With Alexandre “Spree” Vanhomwegen landing a key D.Va bomb, the Outlaws took and maintained control over the point. However, with the Outlaws at 68%, New York was able to retake the point and push the round into overtime. After a long fight, the Outlaws were finally knocked off of the point, earning the Excelsior the round and the map.
With the Outlaws defending using the same 3-3 composition, the team was quickly wiped and the Excelsior captured the payload with 5:11 to push it through to the end. The Outlaws were unable to stop the Excelsior for more than even a few seconds, and with a massive D.Va bomb from Tae-Hong “MekO” Kim, the NYXL pushed through to the end with 3:19 to spare.
.@MekOppa bombs are BACK
➡ https://t.co/aoksKyN8os ⬅#EverUpward #OWL2019 pic.twitter.com/HGG42GVpix
— NYXL (@NYXL) February 24, 2019
On their attack, the Outlaws were held off for four pushes before the round ended, ultimately getting full held by the Excelsior.
On defense, the Outlaws are quickly rolled on point A before also being quickly defeated on point B. The NYXL take both points without much of any fight and end the round with 5:51 to spare.
With the Outlaws coming out of the gate on their attack running the same triple DPS composition that seemed to give the NYXL so much difficulty during round one, it looked for a moment like Houston will finally be able to stop the NYXL’s momentum. The Outlaws quickly switched before even engaging and were held off by the Excelsior team fight after team fight. After three pushes, the round was taken into overtime and with no one close enough to make it back to the point, the Outlaws were full held again.
With the Outlaws defending, the team looked determined to win the final map. The Outlaws were finally able to stop the Excelsior’s momentum for a few pushes after having been rolled through point A. Houston gained control in the choke points after points A and B, faltering the NYXL if even for moments, running down the clock. The Outlaws were able to stop the Excelsior from capturing point C.
Going into their defense, both teams were running DPS-heavy compositions. The NYXL looked like they were having difficulty dealing with Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty on Roadhog and Jake “Jake” Lyon on Hanzo.
Jakezo is here! pic.twitter.com/yUnRqZdtid
— Houston Outlaws (@Outlaws) February 24, 2019
The Outlaws pushed through to point A before switching back to 3-3, where they began to struggle once more. The team pushed the round into overtime only meters from point B, where they were ultimately held off as the Excelsior picked off team member after team member and took the series in a clean 4-0 sweep.
For the Outlaws to be able to succeed in a league climate that relies so heavily on 3-3 compositions, they need to rely on their strengths more than they have been. Every single time the Outlaws gave the Excelsior a real run for their money, the team was running DPS heavy comps that caught the NYXL off guard and forced them to pull back. For the Outlaws, attempting to force the team to play 3-3 clearly puts them out of their element and throws the team off. The team needs to rely more on their strengths in order to succeed instead of trying to force a composition that goes against the Outlaws’ nature.
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