Week Two featured the Shock absolutely crushing the hapless Charge and calling it a week. This was a successful outing by the Shock, but the Charge are admittedly not that tough of an opponent.
That being said, the Shock are still 12-0 in the map score going into week three, and that’s one scary statistic. The Shock will definitely be tested a bit more this week however. Will the Shock still come out on top? Only time will tell.
Toronto Defiant (1-3 Stage Record, 6-5 Overall)
The Defiant have a very respectable 6-5 record overall, but they have had much less success as of late. This last week, they were bested by Philly and then handily beaten by the Fuel. Their only win this stage was against the Justice, so depending on one’s point of view, that win might not count for much.
It’s also worth remembering that the Shock dispatched the Defiant relatively easily in the Stage 1 playoffs. The Defiant could still pull off a surprise and potentially give the Shock a run for their money, but that seems somewhat unlikely given the prior history.
Shock Win 4-0
Player to Watch: Dong-jun “Rascal” Kim
Rascal is just insane right now. He’s admittedly been the player to watch a couple of times at this point, but it’s hard not to watch the insanity go down. Rascal already has Baptiste down pat, despite the Hero only being out for a few weeks in OWL.
Additionally, Rascal’s Brigitte is getting to the point where it can be called pretty good as well, which is nice to see because Rascal has arguably been the weakest part of the Shock’s GOATs comp. Be sure to keep an eye on Rascal. He’s killing it right now.
Hangzhou Spark (1-1 Stage Record, 4-5 Overall)
The Spark are somewhat difficult to judge because they haven’t really played much this stage. The 4-0 loss to Vancouver doesn’t say a whole lot because Vancouver simply mauls everyone they face at this point. However, the narrow victory against the Uprising is worth talking about.
The Uprising had been on a good stretch up until the Spark game, but Hangzhou did barely scrape out the victory. It was close, but they got the W. Now they face an even bigger threat in San Francisco, a team that is much better than the Uprising. The Spark could try to keep up the momentum and take down the Shock, but realistically, the Shock should probably take this.
Shock Win 3-1
Player to Watch: Matthew “Super” DeLisi
Super hasn’t been talked about too much as of late, but he is just as good as ever. Super’s Reinhardt has been bashing its way to success for a long time at this point. His consistency may have been an issue in Season 1 and early on in Season 2, but it’s not a problem anymore. In addition, his synergy with Jay “Sinatraa” Won is top notch as usual, and he’s working well with the rest of the team as well.
The only potential area for improvement is his synergy with Min-ki “Viol2t” Park, which doesn’t seem to be quite there yet. Viol2t and Super sometimes don’t appear to be on the same page positioning wise, which can lead to Viol2t getting picked early.
All things considered, however, this is fairly minor. It’s just business as usual for Super as of right now, but business as usual for Super entails smashing heads in with a giant hammer and leading his team to victory. The Shock should be in good shape if he keeps this up.
You can follow Sam on Twitter @GtSputnik or ping him on Discord (SputnikGT#2845) if you would like to talk Overwatch!
Follow The Game Haus for more sports and esports coverage.
Featured Photo Courtesy of the Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
Twitter: TGH Esports
Facebook: The Game Haus
“From our Haus to Yours”