Dallas went into this match with the confidence off the back of last week. Gaungzhou came into this game relatively unknown and surprised everyone. Dallas was unable to coordinate plays and ultimates when it mattered the most. Despite looking like the better GOATS team, Dallas found themselves in disadvantageous map positioning. At times Dallas combined ultimates and made very coordinated plays, however the good times did not outweigh the bad times. Guangzhou Charge took all four maps from the Dallas Fuel.
Courtesy of: Gamespot
Dallas started this match with Hyeong “Effect” Hwang over Dylan “aKm” Bignet on hitscan. DPS was out on map one, Effect on Tracer, triple DPS on both sides. Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo was hitting shots on Widowmaker, all while being pushed by the Charge. However it was not enough, as a big EMP came out from the Charge and map one was a loss.
ZachaREEE and Jeong “Happy” Woo Lee were trading Widowmaker shots, with ZachaREEE winning the majority. However Hong-Jun “Hotba” Choi was besting Effect on the Tracer, the dives were better in this spread out and it was chaotic game. The Guangzhou Charge took Busan 2-0.
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
Dylan “aKm” Bignet was subbed in for Effect on Hollywood, suggesting a 3-3 strategy. Dallas started on defense with Zenyatta GOATS, but a quick Graviton Surge from Happy lead to a decisive point on capture. A huge Graviton surge and Bomb combo stopped the momentum for Guangzhou. Great communication lead to seamless combinations with ultimates for the Fuel. Dallas stopped the Charge before capturing point two of Hollywood, they looked like the better GOATS team.
On the attack Richard “rCk” Kanerva showed his versatility on Sombra, building an EMP in one fight. Dallas captured point one using a full deck of ultimates, before being stopped by an aggressive D.Va bomb. The Fuel relied on a big EMP from rCk to get out of the first choke, but headed to the last fight with nothing in the bank. Because of this Dallas was unable to win the last fight, they went into halftime down 0-2 in the series.
Effect came back in for Anubis, a map that is home to off meta strategies. Dallas started off on defense with a very strange Orisa, Symmetra, Bastion strategy. Guangzhou countered with a Genji, Sombra dive and dismantled the defense. With the ultimates built up for the Charge, they snowballed the second point with ease.
The attack was a GOATS matchup with Winstons on both sides. Dallas was unable to rally together for the attack and failed to capture first point on Anubis. The enemy Winston pressured the supports and the series went to the Guangzhou Charge.
Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
For the last map Dallas put aKm back in on the Zarya, and rCk played Sombra. This was a Sombra GOATS matchup, so whoever landed a bigger EMP faster than the enemy would typically win. Dallas held first point for a reasonable amount of time with the Sombra pick. The second point was almost deja vu from the first, a strong defense for Dallas, losing the point near the end. Point three was by the books for the Charge, capturing it in overtime.
The attack for Dallas showed a different strategy for both teams, an anti-dive composition with an Orisa. The DPS for Dallas opened up with picks every fight, namely aKm on the Widowmaker. This was short lived as both teams eventually came back to reality and swapped to GOATS. A misstep from the Charge’s Reinhardt and Sombra lead to a point two capture. The last point was close but Wonsik “Closer” Jung was a second too late with the Sound Barrier. The Guangzhou Charge beat Dallas 4-0.
Dallas look like a decent GOATS team that can improve in time. The roster is in turmoil with Effect and aKm sharing playtime, the latter looking much better in this meta. The positioning for the team and uncoordinated ultimate usage were punished by Guangzhou. If Dallas can manage to make their opponents play their game, they stand a chance in this meta. Dallas is too willing to play into enemies hands and as expected, this leads to Dallas losing the fights. GOATS may be on the way out of the meta, but it is still very strong and becoming well practiced in it seems like the optimal solution as of right now.
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Featured image courtesy of Overwatch League
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