Overwatch League Recap: San Francisco Shock vs Philadelphia Fusion

San Francisco Shock (6-0) vs Philadelphia Fusion (3-4)

Shock 4-0 Fusion

The San Francisco Shock looked to continue their absolute domination in the Overwatch League. They faced off against the Philadelphia Fusion, who looked to pull off the upset and find a playoff spot. The Shock have not lost a map this stage, putting them at 20-0 before Week 5. San Francisco would be looking to continue this streak, and waltz their way into the first seed for the Stage 2 Playoffs. Neither team traveled to the Dallas Homestand last week, giving them both a week off to rest and time to strategize. 

Oasis: Shock 2-1 Fusion

Overwatch League 2019 Season2019-04-18 / Photo: Ben Pursell For Blizzard Entertainment

The Shock took early control of the point after winning the first fight against the Fusion. After a hard fought team fight, the Shock let go of control with 90% built up for them. The following fight was back and forth between the teams, but Philadelphia eventually won. The Fusion used a good amount of ultimates, and it worked in their advantage. Philly took the first map of Oasis after another long fight on the point.

The Fusion moved Su-min “SADO” Kim onto the Winston to start this round, but it did not work. Matthew “super” DeLisi took him out and the Shock moved to take the point. After Jay “sinatraa” Won was taken out early in the team fight, the Shock responded well and made sure to keep the point. The Shock racked up 95% before the Fusion were able to take it for themselves. Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi ate Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee’s Graviton Surge to flip the point, and San Francisco forced a third round.

Sinatraa found the first kill of the round on Carpe, and after many traded kills from both teams, the Shock did find control of the point. San Francisco did a great job of picking off members of the Fusion, and eventually the D.Va bomb from ChoiHyoBin found two Fusion players to secure the victory.

Hanamura: Shock 2-1 Fusion

San Francisco started this map on the attack, coming out with Sinatraa on the Sombra. Their first push got them one tick before they were wiped out by Philadelphia. Philly clawed their way back, making sure that San Fran did not take the entirety of the point, while making them use their ultimates. In Overtime, Super found two kills and ChoiHyoBin found a kill with his D.Va Ultimate to take the point. San Francisco snowballed their way onto the second point, taking it in just under a minute.

Courtesy of Liquipedia

The Shock came out with Dong-jun “Rascal” Kim on Baptiste, hanging back towards the point while the rest of the team began closer to the choke point. The Fusion switched things up, running a Wrecking Ball, Pharah and Hanzo, and took the point. Philly had just over six minutes to try and get the last three ticks. An ultimate-filled team fight broke out, and the Shock were able to push the Fusion back off of the point. San Francisco were ready for Philadelphia, and aggressively pushed them back to their spawn. The Shock comfortably defended the point, not letting Philly get a single tick.

King’s Row: Shock 3-1 Fusion

The Shock were able to take the first point in their first push, giving them a large time bank for moving the payload. They did this by taking out Carpe first, which allowed them to quickly wipe the Fusion, as well as give them an advantage for the future team fights. Minki “Viol2t” Park found the Fusions Brigitte, leading to the Shock reaching the second checkpoint. Sinatraa somehow lapped Carpe in Ultimates, getting his second Graviton Surge before Carpe got his first. On the back of Super’s Earthshatter, the Shock finished the map with around three minutes in the timebank. 

Philadelphia were not able to get the point capped as quickly as the Shock, but did take it in decent time. They won the second team fight as well, giving them a sightline to the second checkpoint. ChoiHyoBin ate Carpe’s Graviton Surge just before the checkpoint, and the Shock were able to regain control of the payload. The Shock were able to take the map after a great hold.

Junkertown: Shock 3-0 Fusion

The Shock came out in a Pirate Ship composition, with Sinatraa on Bastion and Super on Orisa. They took the first fight, and opted to stay in that composition. The first point went very quickly, and they continued to advance the payload without having to swap their lineup. Sinatraa’s Bastion was always perfectly placed, giving his team the advantage. Philadelphia needed to use multiple ultimates to take the Shock off the cart, leading to a very small ultimate advantage when the Shock switched Heroes. ChoiHyoBin caught three Philadelphia players with his ultimate, and the Shock took the point.

Rascal came out as Baptiste again, and the Shock held the Fusion for quite some time. The spawn camp from San Francisco worked very well, with Philadelphia not able to move the cart until they had just over two minutes to get to the checkpoint. The Shock had multiple players die, but Super and company were able to stabilize on the point. Sinatraa finished off the match in style, using his Graviton Surge, killing five players, and securing victory for the Shock.

Conclusion

San Francisco showed why they were able to get to the Stage 1 Finals with another dominant win. They handed the Fusion their first loss on King’s Row, and did so very convincingly. The Shock simply look to be the best team in the Overwatch League ahead of the Stage 2 Playoffs. Whoever sneaks their way into the last seed of the playoffs will have a very difficult time facing off against the Stage 1 runner ups. The San Francisco Shock improved to 6-0 with a map score of 24-0-0.

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Featured Image Courtesy of the San Francisco Shock

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