Guangzhou 4 – Dallas 0
Guangzhou came into their first match of the second week with not much hope behind them. Yet, in another week of surprises, the Charge showed up in a very different fashion from before. This much more unified squad unexpectedly rolled over Dallas and took their first win in the Overwatch League.
Busan: Guangzhou 2 – Dallas 0
In the Downtown section of the Busan stage, the teams rolled out with mirror versions of the same triple DPS and Wrecking Ball comp. While the Charge took the early kills, they neglected the point for long enough to let Min-seok “OGe” Son cap first. However after only moments, the remainder of the team converged on him, and they regained the point rather quickly. The Charge continued playing strong, losing the point after 50% but gaining it back after a very scrappy brawl. Strong plays from Kim “Shu” Jin-seo on Ana and Hong-Jun “HOTBA” Choi on Tracer helped seal the deal and the Charge took the round.
On the MEKA Base portion, both teams played much more of a scattered playstyle, very rarely engaging, and sometimes giving up the point rather easily. However, largely due to Lee “Happy” Jung-woo showing off why he’s renowned on Widowmaker, the Charge managed to take the round in the end.
Hollywood: Guangzhou 2 – Dallas 1
On their offense on Hollywood, the Charge played a very strong point A. Having swapped in Finley “Kyb” Adisi, they played a standard 3-3 GOATs composition and cleverly rotated around the point, keeping Dallas on their toes. A very early Graviton from Happy secured the first point in under a minute for the Charge. They began to make their way through point B rather quickly, but were stopped by an impressive 4k D.Va bomb from Richard “rCk” Kanerva. The fuel capitalized on main tank Oh “Rio” Seung-pyo’s aggression, killing him early in each fight and burning up the time bank. Guangzhou reclaimed the payload in overtime, but were held before they could finish point B.
On the defense, by playing the high ground it cost the Charge an early tick, but they managed to hold off the Fuel until a well-placed EMP/Grav combo took them all out. The Charge continued to play aggressively, keeping the Fuel back by the cafe to buy time. Dallas continued pushing, despite many won fights from the Charge, and were only halted mere meters from the glowing box on the ground. Yet, against all odds and despite several early losses, the Charge engaged in an all-out brawl on the payload where they came out on top, preventing the Fuel from scoring the second point.
Anubis: Guangzhou 2 – Dallas 0
On Anubis’ offense, Dallas attempted a cheese comp by using Orisa, Junkrat, Bastion, Symmetra and Mercy, but by bringing out a Genji from Kyb, the Charge easily wiped the Fuel off first point. This turned into a bit of a snowball on the second, where the Charge unleashed the ults they had been saving, and took second point with 5:30 still on the clock. Aside from Kyb and Rio, no one on the Charge died during the whole round.
The defense proved equally successful for Guangzhou, where a strong showing of Winston GOATs held off Dallas’ mirror composition. The Charge let up some early ticks yet again by refusing to leave high ground, but it turned out to be a successful gamble, and after a big final teamfight they full held Dallas on point A, giving them the match victory.
Route 66: Guangzhou 3 – Dallas 2
The Charge were not done yet however, as on Route 66 their offensive push proved to be extremely well played. They used Sombra GOATS to push through most of first point until an EMP from rCk held them off. Switching to regular GOATs they finished up A and moved onto point B. Guangzhou was held for a while, but managed to rally and push both B and C in overtime, finishing the whole map.
On their defense they started with a risky Orisa, Roadhog and Mercy combo, which fell apart quickly when their healer Kim “Chara” Jung-yeon was picked off early. They switched off the composition to Sombra GOATs, but still lost first point. Similar to Dallas, the Charge reclaimed the objective right past doors on the beginning of B, and held for quite some time, forcing Dallas to panic and burn ultimates. The Fuel finally managed to cap the second point and moved onto third. The Fuel were pushing well in overtime, but another all-out brawl on the payload, and a magnificent D.Va bomb from Hotba shut down the offense, and prevented the Fuel from scoring a single map win all night.
Conclusion
The Guangzhou Charge came out looking so much stronger tonight. They appeared confident on the stage with far more fights being banked on the whole team rather than by clutch plays from HOTBA alone. The addition of Kyb also filled up some holes, letting HOTBA flex between Sombra and D.Va without having to dramatically change the composition by rotating around Ou “Eileen” Yiliang’s hero pool. The Charge also proved that they have a very aggressive playstyle, and take large risks, such as letting an opponent take some percentage points in order to maintain good positioning. It’ll be interesting to see how that strategy plays out in the future. Overall, this is the Charge that was expected in Week 1, and hopefully this is the Charge that continues to show up in the future.
Need More?
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”