Atlanta Reign (3-2) vs (2-4) Los Angeles Gladiators
Atlanta Reign 0-4 Los Angeles Gladiators
Atlanta suffered a devastating loss today as the Los Angeles Gladiators were able to take every single map from them. With their play looking loose and a bit sluggish, they failed to adapt to the Gladiator’s newfound synergy.
Busan – Reign 0-2 Gladiators
Busan was the first map of the day, and the Gladiators made sure they would not be taken lightly. With a quick first fight victory, the point went to LA. Atlanta came back with a vengeance and flipped the point in their favor. It was short lived, however, as the Gladiators were able to come back and stay focused in scrappy fights. Off of this ability to clean up messy fights, LA took round one.
Sanctuary was an even worse story for the Reign as they couldn’t find any footing. The Gladiators won fight after fight, keeping Atlanta’s health low consistently and punishing mistakes. With strong synergy and consistent team play, LA was able to hold the point and take Busan 2-0.
King’s Row – Reign 3-4 Gladiators
The Reign fared only slightly better on King’s Row, as their early defenses were completely annihilated by the Gladiators. With a strong focus on taking out Pokpo’s shields and exploiting Atlanta’s uncharacteristically poor positioning, LA marched the payload across the map with ease. Without so much as a lost fight until right before point C thanks to Atlanta’s respawn advantage, the Gladiators made the Reign appear lost and unable to find focus.
Temple of Anubis – Reign 1-2 Gladiators
Moving on to Temple of Anubis, the Reign continued to show small improvements while the Gladiators maintained dominance. Atlanta could do little against the dive comp played by LA, and lost point a within a couple off pushes. Carrying some major momentum into point B, the Gladiators were able to continue to find opening after opening to pick off key members of the Reign’s defense to quickly take both points.
Atlanta moved onto attack and were still unable to find any weaknesses in the Gladiator’s armor. After a several slow pushes that kept being saved by LA, the Reign were finally able to cap point A and move to tie up the map. Unfortunately they were unable to pull anything substantial together despite a few good pushes. With mistimed ults and aggression into an expecting and ready Gladiators team, Atlanta were unable to capture point B. The Reign lost Temple of Anubis 2-1, and with that the series.
Rialto – Reign 0-3 Gladiators
Atlanta pushed hard to try and finish the day with at least one map win, and were looking like they could do it. With an initially strong hold on LA, the Reign looked like they may have finally found their footing. With time ticking off of the clock and the Gladiators struggling to push the payload, Void was able to find an opening with his D.Va bomb and take out the defense. After point A was captured, the Reign seemed to struggle to find their defensive strength again. The Gladiators marched strong across the map and secured all three points.
Atlanta’s confidence was noticeably shaken as they moved to attack. LA were able to exploit positioning, find huge boops into the canals, and just continually shut down everything the Reign threw at them. Even with everything they had behind their last pushes, Atlanta couldn’t overcome the tight team-play and massive plays from BigGoose to displace the team. The Reign stalled out without a single point on point A, leading to a devastating loss and the first time the team has looked completely dominated by an opponent.
Conclusion
While the loss is devastating, the Atlanta Reign took more of a hit to their pride than their season. With sights still set on stage playoffs, the Reign need to turn their attention to their games against the Chengdu Hunters and the Houston Outlaws. With this loss coming so early in the season, there is plenty of time for Atlanta to correct mistakes and stay ahead of the pack in the rankings.
Next week the Reign will have a challenging schedule as they play on both Saturday and Sunday to finish out the stage. With lessons learned from today’s loss, expect the Reign to rise from the ashes with fire in their eyes. Keep an eye out for them to look to prove that this game was a fluke as they take on the Hunters and Outlaws.
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