Coming into their first match of the league, the Guangzhou Charge had a lot to prove to stand out from the other three Chinese teams in the league. They wanted this first match to be the victory that started their strong path forward. However, in a match far closer than many expected, the Hunters secured their prey in the end and took the victory.
Image Courtesy of Gamepedia
Starting off on Sanctuary, the Charge ran a rather unorthodox triple DPS composition, with Lee “Happy” Jung-woo demonstrating his widow prowess, Ou “Eileen” Yiliang playing the Sombra, and flex tank Hong-Jun “HOTBA” Choi displaying his versatility by going onto his pocket Tracer pick. The Charge managed to hold advantage for the majority of the map before taking it.
Moving onto MEKA Base, the outcome was much closer, with both teams reaching 99% of the control meter. Each team had an impressive wrecking ball main tank play and strong support lines, but it was once again HOTBA popping off on tracer that secured the Charge the 2-0 victory in the end.
An early aggressive defense proved to be nearly fatal for the Charge, as they were rolled through second point by Yi “JinMu” Hu’s strong Pharah play. However, near the end of third point, the Charge’s defense finally came online as they stalled for over three minutes before finally losing the third point with just over a minute on the clock.
On the offense, the Charge‘s offensive push using a Sombra GOATS variation was a bit slower paced, but they took first point and had a solid push through second point. It was at the beginning of third in which they hit a wall from the Hunters’ defense. Despite some impressive Sombra play from Eileen, the team just fell short of the third point, giving Chengdu the victory 3-2.
Image Courtesy of Orcz.com
Guangzhou started off extremely well on defensive, not incurring a single death until over three minutes into the map. They continued to hold a very strong defense on second point, only giving it up with half a minute left on the clock.
On the attack, the Charge took their time as well against a strong Chengdu defense, only taking the first point 20 seconds quicker than the Hunters did. However, their second point advance turned into a single long fight, and the Charge managed to secure it with four and a half minutes left on the clock.
On Chengdu’s second push, Guangzhou only had a minute to defend, and gave up two ticks rather quickly. They rallied behind a last moment hold and kept the Hunters at bay. On their offense, another strong showing off of HOTBA and Kim “Shu” Jin-seo on Ana helped them finally cleared off the point to secure the victory.
Guangzhou’s opening defense started off rather weak, only putting up definitive fights at the end of the first and the second points for a short time period. However, only meters from the end goal, they finally rallied and had a strong defense, stopping the payload directly before the full three points.
The Charge’s offensive push began extremely slow in comparison. Much of the time was spent trying to set up a single power play. On the first point, this eventually came together, yet on the second it never came to fruition. Additionally, Happy continued to lose the widow battles that he engaged with the enemy widowmaker, Lo “BaconJack” Tzu-Heng. In the end, the Hunters took the map 2-1.
Starting on Village, the Charge were quickly taken apart by the Hunters, and struggled to get a successful push in for most of the round. They also allowed the Hunters to keep the point after lost fights or retake with little effort, losing precious control meter. In the end, the Hunters claimed the village part of the map.
On Sanctum, the map was much more of a back and forth affair. The Charge once again made several mistakes that led to Chengdu flipping the point back and gaining extra percent from Guangzhou allowing backcaps to occur. While it was a close one, in the end the Charge managed to hold on to take it to a third round.
On Shrine, the final part of the map, the Charge could not muster up a strong offense for nearly the entire map. Indecisive picks and overwhelming team fights led to Chengdu getting to 99% before Guangzhou could finally take the point and start up the counter. The Charge won the first teamfight after capping, but were wiped by a well placed grav from Ma “LateYoung” Tianbin, giving Chengdu both the map victory and the series victory.
Chinese Overwatch compositions are still being played very differently from the rest of the league, and considering how we have only seen Chinese teams face off against each other, time will tell how their more nuanced compositions will face in comparison to the more dominant meta comps such as GOATS or Quad DPS. Additionally, we saw Guangzhou specifically playing mostly two compositions, that being triple DPS with HOTBA on Tracer, or Sombra GOATS. Will Guagzhou break out any new compositions in the future, or are these the only compositions they feel comfortable playing?
You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles
For more from Ethan make sure to follow him on Twitter!!
“From Our Haus to Yours”
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
