The Guangzhou Charge may still be one of the league’s underdogs, but they have demonstrated this week that they are still a force to be reckoned with, and have the potential to rocket up the standings. The week ahead will certainly throw them some curveballs as they face two teams who are at the bottom of the leaderboard, but also have shown competency in the meta and some strong performances thus far. Considering the next two weeks only get harder, the Guangzhou Charge need to take these two wins to have a chance at making the stage playoffs.
Many fans were unsure of how Guangzhou would play after a shaky first week, but the team seemed to have learned from their prior mistakes and came in emboldened. They debuted Finley “Kyb” Adisi for the first time, subbing in for Ou “Eileen” Yiliang, and he put up strong performances on both Brigitte and even Genji during the match. With a new air of confidence, they took the match in a dominant 4-0 fashion against the Fuel.
The player who showed up the most for this match had to have been Oh “Rio” Seung-pyo. The main tank looked somewhat out of his element in his first match against an unorthodox Chengdu strategy, but he came into this match a far more fearsome opponent for the Fuel to deal with.
CHARGE! @osp0418 #OWL2019https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/hSdFEgZ9gu
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) February 22, 2019
The Charge may not have taken the victory, but pushing the Vancouver Titans, one of the current powerhouses of the league, to a game 5 ending was no small feat. Guangzhou played strong in the first map before Vancouver finally awakened and began taking the next two maps in a dominant fashion. However, a near miracle overtime push on Route 66 enabled a map 5 to be played, and it was truly neck and neck until the final game-winning bomb from Hyeon-Woo “JJANU” Choi sealed the Titans’ win. Yet no one (especially not the Vancouver Titans) could have predicted such a close end to the match.
While many of Guangzhou’s players were crucial in helping them reach a fifth map, the player of this match had to have been Kim “Shu” Jin-seo. His crucial sleep darts and his ability to flex onto several heroes, including even a Widowmaker when necessary, were all key factors in the match.
The flex god himself, @shu_overwatch. #OWL2019
WE’RE GOING TO MAP 5!!https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/i5fkQyFnkJ
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) February 24, 2019
Courtesy of OverwatchScore
The Florida Mayhem are currently sitting near the bottom of the pack with only a single win to their name. They took a win this past week and even brought Chengdu to a game 5, but these matches were against teams that were on the downward swing or missing crucial players. Last week Guangzhou played the Titans and nearly won. This could indeed be a close match, but considering how strong the Charge looked against their opponents this last week, it’s safe to say the team overall looks better than the Mayhem did in Week 2.
Prediction: Guangzhou 3 – Florida 1
The Guangzhou Charge currently sit in 12th place officially in the league’s standings. However, purely in terms of Map Differential, they would actually rank in 6th place. This factor should be crucial for tiebreakers at the end of the stage, so continue to keep an eye on their map differential.
Image Courtesy of @LAValiant on Twitter
The LA Valiant are a curious case indeed, as they have been shown to be an extremely formidable team, yet they are one of only two teams that have not won a match yet. They’ve played several strong matches already, and lost by close margins each time, so the Valiant might be looking to push through this match with brute force. One of their biggest weaknesses however seems to be control maps, so if Guangzhou can force out that fifth map by being creative, it would likely be their victory in the end.
Prediction: Guangzhou 3 – LA Valiant 2
Courtesy of @GZCharge on Twitter
The player to watch for this coming week would definitely be Shu. The young Korean has had monstrous showings on Ana and Zenyatta and is an overall delight to watch. Many on the desk are starting to consider him to be one of the best supports in the league, and in the upcoming matches his ability to dish out both damage and healing should be the critical factor in many of Guangzhou’s upcoming battles.
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