The New York Excelsior started off their Season 2 campaign with a win over the reconfigured Boston Uprising. With that win in the books, they then turned their attention to the Washington Justice.
In perhaps the quickest match of the season, the NYXL ended up taking down the expansion team from the Capital of the USA, 3-1. With only a momentary spark of hope on Horizon Lunar Colony, the NYXL otherwise completely dominated the matchup, cementing their place atop the table.
The NYXL started off with a spark on Ruins, running an aggressive GOATS composition. Reigning OWL MVP, Sung-hyeon “JJoNak” Bang landed kill after kill, leading NYXL to an easy first-round win. The Justice found their footing on Lighthouse and managed to put up more of a fight through the aggressive main tank play of former NYXL player, Joon-hwa “Janus” Song. However, in the end, NYXL’s superior ultimate usage and overpowering individual play led them to the eventual round, and map, victory.
Image Courtesy of OverwatchLeague.com
After enjoying the sunny skies of Illios, each team made its way to the dark and GOATS-filled streets of King’s Row. For the Justice, they stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire, being full held on their initial offense. NYXL’s team play stood out on their defense but were greatly aided by a 17-0 (elims-deaths) performance from main support, Tae-sung “Anamo” Jung.
Then, in the blink of an eye, NYXL forced the Justice off of the point, got the tick they needed and claimed the victory on King’s Row. With this map win, the NYXL took an easy 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
Image Courtesy of OverwatchLeague.com
The NYXL decided to shake things up on Horizon Lunar Colony, coming out with a triple DPS composition. Yet, fight after fight the NYXL made no progress on the point, constantly being countered by the high-energy Zarya play of Corey “Corey” Nigra. NYXL delayed in switching away from this composition until there were just over 30 seconds left on the clock, resulting in their being full held on the first point.
On offense, the Justice got an early pick on an overextended Dong-gyu “Mano” Kim and proceeded to roll right onto the point, claiming the fight and the map victory. With this surge, the Justice quickly brought the series back to 2-1 in favor of the NYXL.
With a renewed sense of hope, Washington took to the streets of Rialto to challenge NYXL. New York’s defense, however, was too much to bear. The Justice only managed to move the cart halfway to the second point, in large part due to this incredible combo play from NYXL.
NYXL forced Washington farther and farther back on their offense. Constantly on their heels, Washington quickly fell after another incredible D.Va bomb from Tae-hong “MekO” Kim. After this play, NYXL officially clinched the map and the series.
After two 3-1 victories, the NYXL move to a convincing 2-0 start moving into week 2. They return to the battleground on Friday, Feb. 22 against the Los Angeles Valiant.
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