Week 3 of Stage 1 brought fans some incredible plays. Along with the usual helping of D.Va bombs in combination with Earthshatter and Graviton Surge, this week also provided some record-breaking map completions and some highly technical Pharah play.
But, out of all of the great plays from the week, only the cream of the crop make The Game Haus’s top 10 for Stage 1, Week 3. In the midst of such stiff competition, will Daniel “dafran” Francesca’s Reddit Zarya play still manage to take the top spot?
10: Defiant Get the Combo
There are so many of these kinds of plays each week in the current meta. After a while, the repetition makes these plays start to lose their appeal and it becomes harder and harder to spot top combos. However, for this play, considering the team that Toronto was able to use the combo against, and the ability for Toronto to counter the use of the NYXL D.Va bomb, make this a combo play that deserves a top 10 spot.
9: Just Fleta Hitting Shots
In this play against the Uprising, Seoul were fighting through Numbani. Then, out of nowhere, in comes Byung-sun “Fleta” Kim to put an end to whatever was left of the Uprising defense. Fleta’s Pharah was absolutely on-point on Numbani against the Uprising. So on-point, that he may make another appearance on this list. :eyes:
8: Seoul Gets the Ults and the Fight
In this play, we see Seoul successfully absorb the damage from the Uprising onslaught and manage to turn the fight in their favor. Again, skillful combos are hard to spot in GOATS vs GOATS matchups, but this one from Seoul is one of the better ones of the season thus far. This shows a high level of coordination and ultimate tracking from the side of the Dynasty.
7: Just Fleta Hitting Shots… Again
Yep, he’s back. Not only does this play have the clutch factor, but it also has some mechanically impressive rocket shots and a nice barrage at the end to cap it off. Yes, this is the third consecutive Seoul play on the top 10 and, yes, it’s the second play with Fleta on Pharah. But, when considering the previous three plays and the result of the match, it is a wonder that Seoul managed to lose both that match and the one against NYXL, 1-3. Seoul are a big play team but have failed to follow through in the remainder of these maps.
6: DDing Making the High Value Play
In this high-flying play, the Dragons up-and-coming flex tank player Jin-hyeok “DDing” Yang cancels a Fuel Ultimate and then cleans up the team fight with a solid D.Va bomb. DDing has quickly become a volatile and highly flexible player for Shanghai, and if he can keep making clutch plays like this, he’ll continue to appear on this list. Especially if he keeps getting value like this.
5: The Spark Send Three Ultimates Down a Well
This play, while not as flashy as some of the others on this list, was still just as skillful and impactful for the Spark. In this sequence of events, the Spark cancel three of the Shock’s ultimates. First, Seong-Wook “Ria” Park eats a Graviton Surge, then Ho-jin “iDK” Park boops two into the well that cancels an active Rally and prevents the use of a D.Va bomb in the current fight. This puts this play on our list, not for what the Spark did, but what they prevented the Shock from doing.
4: London… Gotta Check Your Corners!
Unfortunate for London, they didn’t check to see if Chang-hoon “rOar” Gye was waiting around the corner. Spoiler Alert: He was. This sneaky play allowed the Gladiators to get a massive string of kills against the Spitfire. In a meta that calls for very consistent kinds of team fights, any edge a team can find on ultimate economy is huge. For the Gladiators, this play was just that.
3: Shockingly Quick Offense
This play, coming at the tail end of an incredible offensive on Numbani, gave the Shock a record-breaking time on the hybrid map. What makes this play so impressive, outside of the time bank it allocated for the Shock, was the Shock’s ability to survive Washington’s ultimates. Washington had the entire map to stock ultimates for this last fight. Even despite that, Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi was still able to land an incredible D.Va bomb to help seal the fight.
2: JinMu Tames the Dragons
In conjunction with a well-placed EMP, Yi “JinMu” Hu unleashes a devastating Rocket Barrage in this play. Somehow, in a tough corner of Volskaya’s second point, JinMu was able to find the remaining Shanghai roster. This may have lit up the kill feed for JinMu, but this was a well-coordinated team play from the Hunters who continue to show the league that they will not conform to the standard meta.
1: Let’s Go Duuuude
This was, without a doubt, the most unorthodox and unexpected play of this Overwatch League season thus far. Using the increased speed from the Lucio, dafran propelled himself over the red roofs of Hollywood right on top of the unsuspecting Paris Eternal. Caught off guard, Paris were unable to stop the Graviton Surge from dafran. Paris got value out of this play, yes, but the true value of this play is in its ingenuity. In a systematic GOATS meta, it was great to see a team successfully pull off something to refreshingly out of the ordinary.
Miss Week 2? You can catch the top 10 plays from that week here! Be sure to catch all of the Week 4 action through our coverage here at The Game Haus and check back in next Monday to see which plays make the top 10!
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