2019-04-14 – Overwatch League 2019 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
Courtesy of: Gamenews
The Dallas Homestand weekend started off with a bang as the Paris Eternal and London Spitfire faced off on Busan. Paris looked incredibly strong at the beginning of the match; an early pick on Jae-hee “Gesture” Hong gave Paris momentum to take the first cap on MEKA Base. The Eternal were able to hold the Spitfire off for quite some time until Jun-ho “Fury” Kim managed to eat one of SoOn’s Graviton Surges. This allowed the London Spitfire to flip the point in their favor. A massive shatter from Gesture would prolong the Spitfire’s hold on on the point. With one fight left, the Eternal nearly managed to flip the point during overtime, but another fat shatter from Gesture would halt them in their tracks.
It would also cause the power to go out.
Memes aside, once the power was back up, the match continued right where things had left off. On Sanctuary, Greyy would find himself out of position and an early pick from Seung-tae “Bdosin” Choi would have the Spitfire getting the first cap. From there, Greyy would continue to make questionable plays. Random transcendences and focusing on getting kills would leave the Eternal weak and defenseless. Finally managing to get a pick on Bdosin, Greyy would give his team momentum to take down the Spitfire. With the point at 88% in favor of the London Spitfire, one last fight, and a wasted self-destruct from Nicogdh, would be all the Spitfire needed to take the point back. The London Spitfire would win Busan 2-0.
Photo courtesy of Overwatch
On Anubis, the Eternal would swap out ShaDowBurn for Danye. Immediately going onto a bunker composition, the Paris Eternal would nearly full-hold the London Spitfire. Both Danye and SoOn were popping off during the majority of this defense. However, an unfortunate pick on Danye would give the Spitfire the momentum they needed to overrun the Eternal’s defenses. Taking Point A during overtime, the Spitfire would rush Point B. London would get continuous picks on the Eternal, trapping them in a looping stagger. An unfortunate Mei wall form Nicogdh would trap LhCloudy, thus breaking the loop and allowing the Spitfire to cap the second point.
Deciding to go onto a triple DPS composition, Paris would quickly blow through the Spitfire’s defenses with SoOn on Widowmaker and Danye on Pharah. After capping Point A, Paris would swap back onto a traditional 3-3 composition. Unfortunately, the Eternal would not be able to break through London’s defenses. They were constantly being wiped out by Fury, Gesture, and Joon-yeong “Profit” Park. An incredible stagger on Nicogdh would have the Eternal pressed for time for their final fight. With the clock ticking down, SoOn would throw a hail-Mary graviton surge that the Eternal would not be able to capitalize on. The Spitfire would take Anubis 2-1.
Photo courtesy of Overwatch
King’s Row was a mess of a map for the Paris Eternal. Profit would out-snipe SoOn on Widowmaker the second the spawn doors opened on King’s Row. From there, Profit would gleefully switch back onto Zarya as SoOn changed to Junkrat. Favoring another bunker composition, the Eternal would refuse to get onto the point and they essentially gave the London Spitfire Point A. The London Spitfire would then roll through Point B; it was not until LhCloudy managed to get a shatter on the Spitfire’s backline that London lost momentum. However, the Spitfire were quick to regroup and they pushed the payload to the end of the map with ease.
On Attack, the Eternal would favor a triple DPS composition with Nicogdh on Sombra. They would methodically poke their way onto Point A with Nicogdh harassing London’s backline as Danye pressured London from the front. This worked to their advantage and Paris was able to cap the first point. As the Eternal pushed the payload, London would attempt to initiate a team fight at the choke point between the pub and alleyway. Danye would wipe out Gesture and Profit using Barrage, and the Eternal would be able to push the payload to Point B. Losing momentum, Paris would only be able to push the payload to the end of the map during overtime.
The Eternal managed to quickly cap Point A during their second turn on attack, but the Spitfire would be able to hold them at the choke after getting key picks on Kruise and Greyy. During the Eternal’s second chance at defense, SoOn would once again get out-sniped, this time by Gesture. That pick caused Paris to panic, and the London Spitfire were able to take King’s Row 5-4.
Photo courtesy of Overwatch
The Eternal were the first to defend on Junkertown. Profit was able to get a key pick on Kruise, but Danye’s Widowmaker would have the Spitfire scrambling. Getting pick after pick, Danye forced the Spitfire into a looping stagger. A great EMP from Nicogdh would allow the Eternal to wipe out the Spitfire and eat up more time on the clock. Nearing overtime, Paris was almost able to full hold the Spitfire on the first point. However, unfortunate picks on SoOn and Greyy gave London the momentum they needed. London would sail through the second and third points, despite LhCloudy’s best efforts to stall.
On attack, Paris would do their best to run Pirate Ship. For a moment, it seemed like it would be able to work. With SoOn and LhCloudy setting up on top of the wreckage, they were able to continually take down the Spitfire as they pushed the payload to Point A. Unfortunately, Pirate Ship would not work for long. Once Danye was taken out, the Eternal swapped back onto GOATS. Unable to break through the Spitfire’s defenses, SoOn would do his best to get into the backline and push the payload, but he would be continuously denied. The London Spitfire would take Junkertown 3-1.
Going into this matchup, many fans predicted that the Eternal would struggle. However, fans did not think things would be as bad as it was. The Paris Eternal looked lost this entire series. Having Nicogdh in instead of Finnsi was a confusing move for the Eternal. While one can give Paris props for trying to be more flexible with their compositions, refusing to swap back in their actual off tank when Cyber GOATS was repeatedly not working hurt them. Going into their next match against the Spark, the Eternal will need to go back to the drawing board if they want to walk away from Dallas with a win under their belt.
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