The Guangzhou Charge just missed the benchmark for making the playoffs last stage, meaning they had some ground to make up to move upward. With a new meta that looked to bring in more DPS, prospects looked good for Guangzhou. However, this initial week of the stage proved near disastrous, and the Charge were on the receiving end of two brutal 4-0 sweeps. This negative eight map differential sent them plummeting down to last place for the Stage 2 rankings and to 16th place overall. With two more brutal games ahead of them, the Charge should fight with all they have solely to prevent dropping down any further in the standings.
The Paris Eternal sat near the bottom of the rankings in the first stage after the other teams largely figured out how to work around their unique GOATS play-style. As a result, expectations were not high for the squad entering this stage. However, fielding several new players and boasting a monstrous DPS rotation, Paris strongly outperformed Guangzhou, who looked very insecure in the new meta and environment. The Eternal completely dominated the match and delivered a clean sweep of the Charge.
Image Courtesy of @GZCharge on Twitter
Without a doubt the player of the match against Paris had to be the hitscan hero Jungwoo “Happy” Lee. The only player on Guangzhou who seemed to be performing at full, Happy helped clutch out several fights throughout the match. His Widowmaker play in particular helped the entire team start to come alive in the latter half of the series. However not even that could save the Charge.
The Charge were by no means expected to win this match, as the San Francisco Shock are definitively one of the top three teams in the league. Yet even that knowledge still didn’t prepare for how blatantly one-sided it was. The Charge were at a loss for how to deal with the powerful aggression and teamwork of the Shock. As a result they were once again at the receiving end of a clean sweep.
The player of this match would have to be Hongjun “HOTBA” Choi for his ability to flex and cause chaos in the ranks of the Shock. He flexed onto D.Va, Pharah and even Zarya in this match, a hero he is not known for particularly. While most of Guangzhou played rather evenly across the match, HOTBA did manage to stand out.
SURPRISE, @HOTBA_OW‘s all CHARGED UP! #OWL2019
LIVE: https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/H4RaRSm95F
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) April 7, 2019
Overwatch League 2019 Season Stage 1 Playoffs / photo:Stewart Volland for Blizzard Entertainment
Given the results of Week 1, the Charge winning this rematch is a near impossibility. Out of the two cases so far of two teams playing a second time in the regular season, both ended up with the losing team getting even more destroyed the second time. San Francisco is absolutely an elite team and won’t take Guangzhou lightly this second time either. After how badly Guangzhou lost the first time, unless they completely change their strategy around and fight together as one unified team, it’s unlikely they’ll even have a chance at a win. A miracle would need to happen for that to occur.
Prediction: San Francisco 4 – Guangzhou 0
2018-06-15 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
The Los Angeles Gladiators are another team that Guangzhou has already played against, with similar dominant results. The Gladiators have continued their upwards trend, integrating Guiun “Decay” Jang and Chang-hoon “rOar” Gye smoothly into their roster. With Guangzhou on their own downward spiral and having played the Shock only the night before, the Charge will have a rough bout once again. The Charge once again should be aiming solely to take as many maps as they can.
Prediction: LA Gladiators 3 – Guangzhou 0
Image Courtesy of @GZCharge on Twitter
The player to watch for this week would absolutely have to be Jinseo “Shu” Kim. However, the reason why is far more of a double-edged sword this week. Shu is an insanely good flex support, and has one of the highest healing outputs in the entire league at the moment. Yet other teams are certainly picking up on this fact as well, and are isolating and targeting him first. When Shu dies, it changes the performance of his entire team and they rarely are able to win the following teamfights. However, if the Charge can keep him alive and peel for him, he can pop off and help his team do well.
Featured Image Courtesy of @GZCharge on Twitter
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