Atlanta Reign (1-0) vs (0-1) Florida Mayhem
Atlanta Reign 4-0 Florida Mayhem
The debut of the Atlanta Reign was highly anticipated for a number of reasons. Their international roster was something of an unknown, with questions looming about their ability to communicate off the bat. Consider those questions answered. The Reign looked incredible on Friday, taking a dominant 4-0 victory over the Florida Mayhem.
Ilios – Reign 2-0 Mayhem
Atlanta came out of the gates swinging on Ilios, breaking out Dafran’s signature Torbjorn on Well. He lived up to the hype, helping the Reign take a comfortable first stage. On Lighthouse, things opened up a bit as both teams showed dive variants. Playing around Erster’s Pharah and Daco on D.Va, Atlanta once again reigned supreme. Overall, the team showed tremendous versatility and creativity en route to a 2-0 victory.
Hollywood – Reign 2-1 Mayhem
On the second map of the night, Atlanta made a couple substitutions, bringing in Kodak and Gator. Both moves facilitated their GOATs composition, which they ran for the entirety of Hollywood. The Reign started the map with an impressive first point defense that was eventually toppled by a back-breaking Rocket Barrage from Tviq. Atlanta was able to stabilize at the end of point B, where both of their substitutions came up big on the defensive stop.
On their attack, the Reign maintained their momentum during a lightning-quick point A take that left five minutes remaining to clear point B. Florida put up a good fight, but they could not hold out against the onslaught from Daco and Dafran. Atlanta entered halftime with a commanding 2-0 lead after taking Hollywood 2-1.
Volskaya – Atlanta 5-4 Mayhem
Atlanta continued its impressive streak on Volskaya, this time with the help of NLaaeR, who came in for Daco. Running a unique lineup of three DPS players, the Reign broke out a damage-centric defensive setup with Pokpo playing Wrecking Ball. It was mostly ineffective as Florida quickly captured point A on their first two attack rounds. Ultimately the third time was the charm, with Atlanta stymieing the Mayhem thanks to some heroics on Tracer from Dafran.
On the offensive side, the Reign once again relied on their GOATs prowess despite playing without their D.Va superstar. Dafran continued to flash his Zarya and took over the game at times. Atlanta was incredibly patient and showed they have significant positional versatility, with Erster picking up flex tank in triple tank setups. They should perhaps reevaluate the decision to remove Daco from the game, but they were incredibly resilient in fighting from behind on the way to a 5-4 victory on Volskaya.
Route 66 – Reign 2-1 Mayhem
With Daco back in the lineup, Atlanta proved that they can be an elite GOATs team. They played every position to an extremely high level, and their teamwork was far ahead of the expectations for such a new roster. Dogman looked phenomenal on Zenyatta, and the team was able to close out their defense on point B in part due to his fragging ability.Â
For the Atlanta attack, both teams brought out Bastion compositions to start before once again swapping to the triple tank mirror compositions. Atlanta maintained their dominance in that matchup, closing out point B behind the sheer mechanical skill of Dafran and Dogman. The Reign finished the 4-0 sweep and took Route 66 2-1.
Conclusion
The Atlanta Reign came out like a team possessed on Friday night. Their performance was everything an Atlanta fan could have hoped for. The individual displays from Dafran, Erster and the rest of the Reign were top notch. Their teamplay looked a cut above the Mayhem all night, and the Reign proved that they have the versatility to be dangerous in any meta. The level of competition will rise significantly when they take on Philadelphia later this week, but for now, Atlanta celebrates.
Featured image courtesy of the Atlanta Reign.
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