Guangzhou Charge: Stage 2 Week 5 Preview

The Charge had the fourth week off to prepare during the first ever Dallas Homestand Weekend. After a particularly grueling beginning to the stage, the time off was well-deserved. They still have a rough record and very poor map differential, so they’ll need to begin their comeback as soon as possible. With only one game left in Stage 2 against a crippled Outlaws team, the Charge have a good opportunity to come in and score a powerful and much needed victory.

Week 5 Preview

Houston Outlaws (0-5) [League 3-9]

Image Courtesy of @Outlaws on Twitter

With only two map wins in Stage 2, the Outlaws are a team very rapidly on the decline. This gives them a lot in common with the Charge, who have had plenty of difficulty this stage. However, while the Charge seemed to have finally shaken this losing mentality with a close match against Hangzhou and a solid win over Atlanta, this isn’t the case for the Outlaws. The Outlaws may not let losses get them down, but Guangzhou will definitely be riding the momentum from their past win. Additionally, while Houston has a plethora of strong players, Guangzhou’s players have the edge in having deep hero pools. If Guangzhou can run unique strategies like Yiliang “Eileen” Ou on Doomfist or even Hongjun “HOTBA” Choi on Torb again and force Houston into unfavorable compositions (such as forcing Dante “Danteh” Cruz or Alexandre “SPREE” Vanhomwegen onto D.Va), they should take this match with relative ease.

Prediction: Guangzhou 3 – Outlaws 0

Fun Fact

Image Courtesy of @GZCharge on Twitter

There are quite the number of similarities between the Guangzhou Charge and Houston Outlaws at this time. Houston is 3-9 while Guangzhou is 4-9. Both were in the Top 5 for map loss streaks; Charge previously had 23, and Houston just broke theirs Sunday after 15 straight losses. Houston has also not won a game since Stage 1 Week 4, which was a win over the Los Angeles Valiant. In a similar situation, before their recent win over Atlanta, the last win Guangzhou had gotten was also against the Valiant back in Stage 1 Week 3. Both teams have clearly struggled in this stage with strength of schedule and not finding success in the meta. The main difference is the Charge have begun to make that comeback, whereas the Outlaws are still looking flustered.

Player to Watch

Image Courtesy of @GZCharge on Twitter

The player to watch most this coming week would absolutely be Jinseo “Shu” Kim. Shu is both a dominant Ana and Zenyatta player, and has insanely high league stats for accuracy and healing output. Considering flex-support initial pickoffs are crucial in this meta, Shu will have to prove he’s good enough to go against one of the best western Ana players in Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty. With Ana gradually making her way back into the meta, seeing a battle between these two would be legendary.

Featured Image Courtesy of @GZCharge on Twitter

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