Dallas’ single game against the Shanghai Dragons was a nail-biter. Whenever Jinhyeok “DDing” Yang was able to play Sombra, Shanghai won, except for Dorado where they made history for the worst C9 in a professional game. On the maps where DDing was able to play his signature Sombra, Shanghai looked like a well oiled machine, on the maps where he couldn’t play Sombra, Dylan “aKm” Bignet shined. Dallas was only able to shut down DDing on a few occasions, not enough to make him reconsider his pick.
A lot was riding on Richard “rCk” Kanerva and Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo to find and shut down DDing, this did not happen. The map pool even favored Shanghai with Numbani, Volskaya Insdustries and Dorado having large open areas for Sombra’s to land big EMP’s. This was not enough though as Shanghai lost themselves the game due to a possible miscommunication that lead to one of the biggest C9’s in professional play history.
this is so atrocious i propose we rename c9 to pulling a shanghai
all those in favor say aye pic.twitter.com/ZtimAFQQuR
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) March 3, 2019
The last fight on Dorado could have gone totally different if they had pushed the cart further, this forced a game five on Nepal, not a great map for Sombra. This led to DDing playing D.Va and a mirror match for Dallas. They looked like the stronger mirror GOATS team from the get-go so this went in Dallas’ favor. Despite losing, Shanghai looked amazing when DDing was on Sombra and Yongjin “Gamsu” Noh pulled out his Winston. A huge C9 followed by a GOATS mirror map set pushed Dallas to a 3-2 victory over the Shanghai Dragons, now they’ll have to do it again.
This game cannot be talked about without DDing, despite losing overall, he put up an amazing performance on Sombra. DDing’s average ultimate generation time was 85 seconds as Sombra and his team won half of the fights off of his ultimate. Dallas were unable to shut DDing down in any meaningful way, he put the team on his back and tried his absolute hardest.
Get ready to experience some déjà vu, the Shanghai Dragons are Dallas’ only match this week again. On March 8, Shanghai will get their rematch against Dallas. The Fuel will try to replicate their success, hopefully without the help of Shanghai this time.
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
Dallas will need to shut down DDing better than their previous match. This task is left to rCk and ZachaREEE again. The D.Va’s primary fire can reveal Sombra easily. ZachaREEE can also quickly stun DDing as Brigitte. Dallas could also try running Benjamin “uNKOE” Chevasson on Ana to better defend the back line, but then Dallas might have to opt for a 2-2-2 composition. Shutting down a good Sombra is very difficult, but there are characters that are easier at countering her than others. Characters like Hanzo and Widowmaker can reveal her positioning when she is invisible, also McCree can stun her for an easy kill. Dallas will have to come up with some kind of strategy to stop DDing as three of the maps in the set are very strong for Sombra’s.
The maps in this set are Nepal, Hollywood, Temple of Anubis and Route 66. Nepal should go to Dallas as it will likely be a GOATS mirror match, but the other maps will be much more interesting for the Fuel to work through.
Hollywood first and second point are great for Sombra players as it is relatively open, point three can be difficult for Sombra though because of the long corridor leading to the end of the map. Anubis point B is notorious for Sombra because of the mega health pack under the bridge. Control of that health pack in particular gives a huge advantage to whoever controls it.
Lastly, Route 66 point A is strong for Sombra because of the mega packs in the gas station and the cave. The rest of the map can be more difficult though, this could be advantageous for Dallas. The map pool again favors Shanghai over Dallas and the possibility of another big C9 is unlikely. Dallas will have to fight an uphill battle again.
Prediction: Shanghai Wins 3-1
2018-05-26 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
Benjamin Chevasson has been a rock for this team since he was brought on. The Zenyatta player will have to position himself very well to counter Sombra’s EMP’s, so keep an eye on him. If uNKOE plays his signature Ana, eyes will be on him for some amazing sleep dart plays.
What are your predictions for week four? Tell Ethan what you think @Hearin_Voices
Featured image courtesy of Robert Paul
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