It was sink or swim time for the Dallas Fuel, and they sank – hard. Once Chengdu gets into a teams head it’s over. Dallas started swapping over and over again on every map because they never knew what to do, which lead to ultimate disadvantage and the eventual 1-3 loss for Dallas.
Ilios: Dallas Fuel lose 2-0
McCree came out of spawn from Dylan “aKm” Bignet, a classic pick for him. However, there was too much poke from the bunker of Chengdu and they took control. The Winston GOATS comp eventually payed off after a 2k from Lucas “Note” Meissner. The control from Dallas was short lived after the best flash bang in OWL took place on the Hunters’ side.
This time with McCree, Sombra and Ana came out to shut down Pharah and Hammond. By rushing to point with their sheer health, Dallas took control time and time again. The Ana from Benjamin “uNKOE” Chevasson actually slept Pharah in the air. The last fight was super scrappy and lasted much longer than it needed to. Chengdu eventually stopped the stagger from Dallas after Tracer, Doomfist and Hammond came out.
Paris: Dallas Fuel win 3-2
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
More craziness from Chendu, Sombra, Hammond and Pharah. Dallas dropped their patented bunker comp and went for Winston GOATS defense. The tank duo OGE and Note held point A with their ultimates. After losing point A after a few minutes aKm beefed hard by teleporting into the enemy team. However he made up for it in his next life by swapping Widowmaker and picking up two kills to win the fight. Despite the Fuel’s efforts Chengdu still finished with two minutes.
Bunker attack from Dallas, aKm Widowmaker, life was good. They walked up and rolled Chendu, capping the point like it was already theirs. Point B would have been theirs in a flash as well if Mercy didn’t have a gun, after losing the snowball Fuel swapped GOATS. Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo made a huge play by stunning Sombra out of EMP and killing her. Point B came shortly after.
A scrappy point A defense again but Dallas lived through it all. Overall decent play from the Fuel team, but more so a disjointed attack from Chengdu led to a full hold.
After taking longer than needed to scout and decide a team composition, Dallas swapped GOATS for attack. After that Chengdu’s Sombra fed, OGE shifted onto point and somehow pinned Lucio. From there the rest was rudimentary and Dallas tied up the series.
Hollywood: Dallas Fuel lose 3-1
Dallas ran a Reinhardt defense, odd since Winston is better against DPS. Despite that, they camped in the mini health pack room and waited for Chengdu to overextend. During the next fight the Hunters had ultimates and Dallas overcommited in a lost fight. This meant that point B would be difficult. A Roadhog came out from ZachaREEE and he even had a huge hook onto Mercy. But quad DPS meant that ultimate charge was being fed hard and the next fight went again with EMP and Barrage. Rolling into C, GOATS came out from both, but OGE was uncoordinated with his team and died first both fights.
Bunker defense from Hunters and attack Bunker from Dallas. Ashe, Junkrat and Zenyatta meant way more damage from Chendu’s composition. It was only after aKm swapped Sombra that he got value, but ZachaREEE’s Hanzo actually popped off and won them the point. On point B Dallas started playing mystery heroes: Sombra, Genji, double sniper, Hammond/Winston. If Dallas had committed to a composition then they might have been able to finish B, but Chengdu was already in their heads. Dallas left with only a cap on point A.
Dorado: Dallas Fuel lose 3-2
Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
This is a wacky map, great for wacky compositions. Reinhardt GOATS defense from Dallas held in the choke under bridge. Like from the previous games, the Fuel held the first fight, but after the enemy gained their ultimates, they were unable to compete. The game plan from the Fuel was to camp in hallways and look for over extensions. Point B was held for a pretty long time, but the Sombra from aKm couldn’t shut down Doomfist. On point C the flaw in Dallas’ plan had no pressure on Hunters’ Zenyatta, who was doing a lot of damage.
Quad tank from Dallas came out, but the high ground and double sniper from Chengdu was too powerful. The Fuel was forced onto Winston and Sombra and managed to muscle their way through A in overtime. For point B ZachaREEE played Tracer and Doomfist, the fight was long and very close. Again the Fuel captured in overtime, but last point is always a grind and Dallas did not have enough time in the bank. The Fuel was stopped on point C and they took the loss against Chengdu.
Conclusion
The mental boom was hard from Dallas, swapping comps and characters over and over again. The Fuel was playing Chengdu’s game, which is exactly what they wanted. Making the enemy team second guess their entire plan leads to wins. Dallas just didn’t know what to do against the shenanigans, they face them again next week, so hopefully they come more prepared.
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Featured image courtesy of Overwatch League
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