Overwatch: Gilded Gala – London Stage

A few weeks ago, we talked about the Overwatch Gilded Gala, hosted by the London Spitfire and the Houston Outlaws. Now that the event is over, how was it?

If you’d like to see the match, you can do so here, courtesy of the London Spitfire’s official Twitch channel.

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the matches.

1v1 Duels

We start off on the Black Forrest, a match that at first sight seems to be very one-sided. Jun-Young “PROFIT” Park vs. Wonhyeop “ARHAN” Jung, both on Genji. Profit being arguably one of the best in the world on this Hero, made this match seem like it was gonna be quick. However, rather than it being easy for him, Arhan presented quite the challenge. Showing off his peak potential on this Hero, he took the match to a 7-4 in his favour. But from that point on, after a quick few words from coach birdring, the match took a different turn. Almost facing defeat, Profit reverse swept Arhan, hence, getting the win 7-8.

The second match featured the unlikely duo of Ji-Hyeok “birdring” Kim going against Alexandre “SPREE” Vanhomwegen. With McCree being the Hero they were going to play, you can’t help but wonder what SPREE is about to go through having to play against one of the best hit-scans in the world. With his amazing tracking skills thanks to all that Zarya play, SPREE was able to land some amazing shots, but it was still birdring the one who ended winning the match on a 8-2

Finally, we saw the end of these 1v1s with a Gilded Gala exclusive. The premiere of Dante “Danteh” Cruz playing with the Outlaws jersey against Seung-Tae “Bdosin” Choi. However, there was still something special about this match that the past two didn’t have, a different kind of match. Both players showed their skills on a game of Mystery Heroes without restriction on characters. Ranging from Pharah to Mercy, the Heroes favored both players at different times, but at the end it was Danteh who took the win on a 8-5. And what better way to end the match of Danteh’s inauguration game than pulling off a JAKE on Junkrat. This changed the general map score to a 2-1 still in favor of the London Spitfire.

Pros vs Joes

We kick off the match on King’s Row. The two teams consisting of three Pros and three Joes. We saw the Houston Outlaws go full force with a triple tank. Being forced to step back and group up only until after taking point B, the London Spitfire started to organize their defense and hold them off until the inevitable capture with one minute left on the clock.

On London’s turn to attack, we saw what it truly means to be a main tank pro player. Gesture showed off his skills and the reason he is called the best Winston in the world and carried their team across the whole map, tying the game  3-3 with almost four minutes in the timer.

On the third round, we started with Houston on attack. This time running GOATS, once again, took Point A in a single attempt and took the payload very close to Point B but ended up giving the match away with a C9 after getting too excited with a triple Rein Shatter. On the counter-attack we saw London run GOATS and playing a very good offense. However, it was thanks to NUS that the Spitfire took an advantage. A quadruple kill was enough to wipe out the remnants of the Houston Outlaws and give them the first map.

We then went to Horizon Lunar Colony. London Spitfire showed a defense strategy that we definitely wouldn’t see on the Overwatch League. With a Mercy-boosted Bastion and a Torb, the double turret reigned Point A. Due to them getting a little overconfident and going forward too much, the Outlaws were able to clutch an Overtime wipe and capture first Point and proceeded to take second with some prime Tracer plays from Danteh.

When it was Houston’s turn to defend, wanting to have some fun as well, we saw double turret from their side too. But as London steamrolled through the map, players were being sent back to spawn. Most noteworthy, when defending Point B, the Outlaws defended the entire area, except the point itself.

With only one minute in the time bank for Houston, they needed to make a perfect attack round in order to capture Point A in time, however a very good defense from London stopped them in their tracks. Wiping out one man at a time, the Spitfire delayed the possibility of another full attack facing against a desperate enemy one by one as they tried to make their way to point. In contrast, London Spitfire had six minutes to capture 33%. Less than one minute was necessary to take the win thanks to Profit’s top tier Tracer plays and a devastating Gesture Doomfist. This event finished with the London Spitfire winning 2-0 against the Houston Outlaws.

Junkenstein’s Revenge

At the last event of the day, a rather unusual game mode was seen. A match to see what team could finish Junkenstein’s Revenge with less damage on the door or get furthest on legendary difficulty. Each of the teams would play with 3 Pros and 1 Joe.

We started off with the Houston Outlaws who, as a Joe, chose “Nooks”, one of their teammates in the previous matches who displayed a great Reinhardt. The team from the Lone Star State melted bosses and glided through the game until the final wave, when Arhan was downed on the Hanzo. As a result, they finished the match with eight bars of damage on the door. The London Spitfire had a match as smooth as silk going all the way through without a touch on the door, the only bump being when birdring was downed by Junkenstein’s Monster. Going in with actual strategies and Nanoboosted Deadeyes, they took another win for the home team.

Featured Image Courtesy of Houston Outlaws.

Big thanks to @Subutai91 for the amazing photos!

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