Gladiators 1-2 Eternal
The Los Angeles Gladiators took on the Paris Eternal in Week 2 of the Overwatch League 2019 Season. The Gladiators lineup remained unchanged from Week 1, when they took on the Seoul Dynasty and the San Francisco Shock. They fought hard, but were not able to break the GOATS comp of the Eternal.
Nepal: Gladiators 2-1 Eternal
The Gladiators were shut down quickly in the first round. Terence “SoOn” Tarlier played Mei which helped them take this map, surprising the Gladiators. On the second round they were able to put up a good fight for the point. Jun-woo “Void” Kang D.Va play proved to be irreplaceable for the Gladiators, as they took the win. The Gladiators showed that they had the superior Winston in Chang-hoon “rOar” Gye. Jonas “Shaz” Suovaara also showed great work on Zenyatta.
The third round is where everything all went down. The Paris Eternal went up 99%-0%. The Gladiators took the point back, and with some impressive play from the team, they were able to completely hold the point for the win. In the last round, four Graviton Surges were eaten by D.Va’s Defense Matrix. The Winston play by rOar was highlighted as he got many environmental kills, including one where he knocked Damien “HyP” Souville off the edge while he was using Transcendence.
Numbani: Eternal 3-2 Gladiators
The Gladiators started off in a standard GOATS comp, while the Eternal started with Benjamin “BenBest” Dieulafait on the Winston instead of the Reinhardt. After they killed Benjamin “BigGoose” Isohanni early, the Gladiators were still able to get the kills they needed, and took the point on their first team fight. On the first turn, Void got another solid D.Va bomb, combined with rOar’s Earthshatter. In the fight just before Point B, Paris thought that they had the win after most of the players used their ultimates, but Lane “Surefour” Roberts, Shaz and BigGoose were able to stay alive and push the cart further. The final length that the cart needed to be pushed was hard fought for the Gladiators, and they were held just short of the point.
The Gladiators took the first kill on defense when rOar threw his Fire Strike in the tall hallway and found Harrison “Kruise” Pond. However, the Eternal were able to cleanly take the point. They found rOar before the Sound Barrior was used by BigGoose, which caused the first point to be taken quickly. Paris found themselves victim to Void’s D.Va bombs, with BigGoose booping members of the Eternal into the blast. Paris were able to take Point B easily after Benbest found BigGoose with a Fire Strike of his own. The Eternal tried to hold the Gladiators at the door, but they were able to get out and contest the point. It was all for nothing though, as the Eternal were able to hold the Gladiators off the point and push the cart all the way to the finish.
Anubis: Gladiators 3-3 Eternal
The Gladiators started their defense with Surefour on the Widowmaker, and João Pedro “Hydration” Goes Telles on the Junkrat. They also had rOar on the Orisa. Paris started on a GOATS comp, but swapped the D.Va for a Widowmaker, played by Nicolas “NiCOgdh” Moret. Void committed too deep to try and kill the Widowmaker and lost his mech, and the Eternal were able to take the point early. Hydration used his Riptire which killed one member of Paris, before he and Surefour switched to Brigitte and Zarya, respectively. Paris came out strong however, and were able to take the point with 5:07 remaining in the time bank.
The Gladiators came out with a standard Reinhardt 3:3 for their attack, and were met by the same from the Eternal. SoOn threw out his Graviton and the Eternal were able to find rOar early, but the Gladiators got a few kills and took a man advantage. After a scrap on the point, the Gladiators took point A. Hydration committed his Rally early, and the Gladiators were able to quickly rush onto the point. They finished off Point B with 4:16 in the time bank.
The Gladiators were on the attack again, and both teams ran the exact same comps. The Eternal held firm and played aggressively. They used their ultimate advantage to stagger the Gladiators. The Eternal did a great job forcing the Gladiators into multiple choke points, but with less than 30 seconds left, the Gladiators took the point, and SoOn used his Graviton Surge too late, giving them an advantage going into Point B. However, Kruise was able to find BigGoose early. Void found Kruise with the D.Va bomb in an all out brawl, but the Gladiators lost the fight, not getting anything on Point B.
The Eternal started their second attack with 5:07, and came out running a Widowmaker at first. They then ran a composition with Pharah, Tracer, Hammond, Sombra, Mercy and Zenyatta. They stormed the first point, killing Shaz first. NiCOdgh was able to use his ultimate to take out two members of the Gladiators as they found Point A with nearly four minutes to get one tick on Point B. They switched most of their composition up, only keeping the Zenyatta and Sombra. The Gladiators won the first defensive fight, forcing Hyp to use his Transcendence. Finnbjörn “Finnsi” Jónasson used his EMP, but did not find Shaz on the Zenyatta, who was able to use his Transcendence. Void ate the Graviton thrown by SoOn, and the Gladiators won the second fight. After another tough brawl, the Gladiators held on the third attack by the Eternal. With less than 30 seconds left, the final fight began. SoOn found rOar first, then Hydration fell. Hyp fell after rOar returned to the fight, and SoOn fell quickly as well. Somehow the Gladiators were able to keep them off the point and play for the draw.
Dorado: Eternal 3-2 Gladiators
The Gladiators started on attack, and both teams running the Reinhardt 3-3 comp. Shaz got multiple kills at the beginning, and they pushed the payload further. Void got SoOn and Finnsi’s mech with his D.Va bomb, but the Eternal were able to still wipe out the Gladiators. The Gladiators answered by moving up the left side, finding NiCOgdh first. After both teams used many of their ultimates, Surefour and BigGoose killed the rest of the team, and they pushed to the first checkpoint. Hydration found NiCOgdh, followed by Void finding Benbest. This was enough for the Gladiators to wipe the team and continue to push the cart. With just under a minute left, the Gladiators pushed the cart to the second checkpoint. Both teams fought well on the cart, with a back and forth fight on the point, with Hyp getting a pulse bomb on Surefour, and Void getting another double kill with the D.Va bomb.
Paris started their attack, and both teams fell back into the 3-3 comps. Paris got to the first checkpoint fairly quickly. They continued to push aggressively towards the second checkpoint, where they took down rOar and Surefour, followed by BigGoose and Hydration. They had 5:02 heading towards the final point. The Gladiators came out with an aggressive defense, but eventually had to fall back. However, Shaz found a nice pick on SoOn, and rOar and Void took out the rest of the team. The Gladiators were able to keep the Eternal back towards the choke point, but with around one minute left, they were able to keep the cart moving. Finnsi found Hydration and rOar right before the cart was found, and after a few more seconds of stalling by the Gladiators, the Eternal found the victory.
Overall, the Gladiators were in the game from the beginning, but the all-European roster of the Eternal was too much to handle. European Overwatch teams have been known for their GOATS comps, and the Gladiators were just not able to hang on for the win. The Gladiators return for Week 3 against the London Spitfire and the Hangzhou Spark.
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