Review: Stage 2 Week 3
Not a good week for Dallas fans. In Week 3 the Dallas Fuel played against the undefeated Vancouver Titans and their rivals the Seoul Dynasty, both matches the Fuel were swept. To be fair Vancouver are the best team in the league and the Dynasty are a solid team as well.
Vancouver Titans: 0-4
Everyone saw this coming. Only San Francisco, New York and maybe the Los Angeles Gladiators have a chance of beating the Titans. Everyone on Vancouver played out of their mind and has next level synergy in game, until 3-3 dies most teams will get swept away much like Dallas did in this match.
The whole series was GOATS, sometimes with Winston and Ana, a Sombra once or twice, but GOATS. There wasn’t much else Dallas could do for this match, practicing a triple DPS composition would take too long to get good at and even then it cant be run in every situation. With this in mind, the Fuel opted for the straight mirror, which obviously did not go their way.
Player of the game: Twilight
Jooseok “Twilight” Lee played Ana and Zenyatta during this match. He was mostly uncontested and able to pump out an insane amount of healing, building Nanoboost extremely fast. As Zenyatta, only one of his Transcendences were misused and it wasn’t even able to be punished by Dallas, overall consistent performance from Twilight.
Seoul Dynasty: 0-4
The Dynasty adopted a much more measured play style after starting Min-seo “Marve1” Hwang over Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek on main tank. This play style allowed the supports of Seoul to carry the game and outplay the supports on Dallas. The Dynasty played a lot of Ana and went for aggressive Biotic Grenades and Sleep Darts. This meant that Lucas “Note” Meissner’s D.Va had to look out for those as well as the million other tasks a D.Va has to do.
Everyone on Dallas played poorly. The Fuel’s GOATS was beaten by smart plays from Seoul, however in the neutral fights Dallas looked more even than the score portrayed. In this match Seoul were carried by their supports making amazing plays all series long and Dallas failed to punish them.
Player of the game: Ryujehong
Jehong “ryujehong” Ryu had an amazing game as Zenyatta and Ana. He almost lapped Benjamin “uNKOE” Chevasson in ultimate charge for Transcendence and was able to make cheeky Ana plays with her Biotic Grenade. Ryujehong is an original professional Overwatch player, this performance from him shows that he is still able to keep up with the best in the world.
Preview: Stage 2 Week 4
This week is the very first Overwatch League Homestand, hosted by the Dallas Fuel in Texas. The Fuel will have home advantage as well as going up against opponents that haven’t been up to par with Dallas this stage.
Dallas Fuel vs Los Angeles Valiant
The Valiant have had an upward trend this stage, but the likelihood that they beat the Fuel is still low. This team so far has only won two games against the Atlanta Reign and Washington Justice. It’s safe to expect GOATS as a default, Dallas might sport a Sombra, Winston and Ana on parts of some maps, but the Valiant will probably stick to their guns.
The maps in this set are Oasis, Temple of Anubis, Eichenwalde and Junkertown. Oasis has been a more DPS centered map, but both teams have looked strongest on GOATS and variants. The last time Dallas played Oasis they played Pharah, Tracer and Sombra, this could come out again for a short time. As for the other maps, bunker compositions with Junkrat and Widowmaker are great on Anubis and double sniper or Bastion compositions are good on Junkertown. Eichenwalde is typically pure GOATS from both teams and Dallas looks like the superior 3-3 team of the two.
Prediction: Dallas Wins 4-0
Dallas Fuel vs Houston Outlaws
The battle for Texas finally returns on Sunday. This match will determine who runs Texas and by the looks of it so far, Dallas could finally beat their rival. Last season Dallas never beat Houston, but this time the ball might finally be in the Fuel’s court. So far Houston has looked below average, losing every match this stage.
The maps in this set are Lijiang Tower, Temple of Anubis, King’s Row and Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Houston has been doing a lot of shenanigans so it’s hard to expect what they will run. Anubis and Gibraltar are both good Widowmaker maps and the more Houston can put Jiri “LiNkzr” Masalin on Widowmaker the better for them. King’s Row could very likely see a Sombra from both teams. As for other maps Houston could run anything but Dallas will likely stick to GOATS and their variations. Based off of Houston’s performance this stage compared to Dallas’, the Boys in Blue will likely take the win.
Prediction: Dallas wins 3-1
Player to watch: aKm
Dylan “aKm” Bignet has been a rock for Dallas, carrying at times on Zarya, Widowmaker and Sombra. Many of the fights could come down to aKm using EMP first or hitting more headshots than LiNkzr. His communication in game and consistency is a large factor to the Fuel’s success this season, keep an eye on his POV for both matches.
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Featured image courtesy of Overwatch League
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