The Seoul Dynasty in Season 4 has shown a new wave of perseverance with a total of three reverse sweeps already. Of these three reverse sweeps, two of them have been during the Countdown Cup. This shows that the Dynasty is buckling down in preparation for the playoffs. It might be thought that reverse sweeps fit the Dynasty brand, close games that cause their fans anxiety, but in truth, there was a long drought from seasons 2 and 3 of reverse sweeps from Seoul. There is no other team that matches the three reverse sweeps in either region of NA or APAC. Here is a look at the reverse sweeps and the factors that brought them about.
@SeoulDynasty vs @GZCharge | Summer Showdown Qualifiers | Week 2 Day 2 — East
The first reverse sweep appeared in the Summer Showdown. It came after a bad 0-3 loss in the previous match against the Shanghai Dragons. This was distressing as the Guangzhou Charge had not won against a team that wasn’t the NYXL yet at this point. They were not the strongest teams in the region, though they have a lot of strong components. Some of the unconventional picks of Doom and Symmetra took the Dynasty from surprise in the beginning maps. The Charge took control of the tempo of play with quick decisions that helped them eliminate the Dynasty’s supports. There were many times where the team wasn’t able to finish fights off like they should be able to.
But it was on Volskaya Industries that they turned around their fortunes. Seoul started to wake up by getting those crucial picks to have the numbers be in their favor. It was the DPS as well as a tighter focus to melting players on the Charge, especially the main tank. The adjustments that Seoul made allowed them to refocus and reverse sweep the Charge to keep their Summer Showdown a 3-1.
@HangzhouSpark vs @SeoulDynasty | Countdown Cup Qualifiers | Week 1 Day 1 — East
The Hangzhou Spark was the first reverse sweep on the Countdown Cup and the first match that the Seoul Dynasty played in the latest tournament. The Spark had been compared to the Seoul Dynasty previously as teams that were middle of the pack and a little inconsistent. In the first two maps the Seoul Dynasty weren’t finishing kills and then themselves were staggering out after fights were done. The Dynasty showed up with more coordination of not just going forwards but retreating so that they weren’t hemorrhaging players and wasting time. The Spark was not able to nail down any of the players as consistently anymore to punish.
The first map in the reverse sweep is always important. But just as important is to keep that momentum going so that it can get to that map 5. The fourth map was Volskaya Industries. This seems like a comfort map for Seoul as it was the map that started their reverse sweep for the Charge. By the time that the match goes to Oasis the Dynasty had downloaded the Spark to know how to combat the playstyle. Hyeonwoo ‘Toyou’ Lim was especially important in this turnaround, able to be the defensive and offensive power that the team needed.
@SeoulInfernal vs @SeoulDynasty | Countdown Cup Qualifiers | Week 2 Day 2 — East
Just like in the reverse sweep against the Guangzhou Charge the maps of Volskaya Industries and Nepal were essential to their wins, that pattern continues here. The most recent reverse sweep against the Philadelphia Fusion was the last regular match of the season for both teams. It brought the potential to set the tone for the post-season for both of these teams. It was going to be a hard match as the Fusion was on an absolute tear through the Countdown Cup. They were the favorites to win with all of the Fusion’s pieces seeming to be aligning for a perfect 4-0 victory.
The burst damage from Jaehyuk ‘Carpe’ Lee on Hanzo and Kyungbo ‘Alarm’ Kim greatly impacted Seoul, who was never able to set anything up to take the advantage. It was the DPS that made the difference. Once Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park and Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim were in a groove that allowed them to perform to their best, it was a sudden turnaround. Again it was on Volskaya that the Dynasty was able to turn their luck around. They were able to hold for that 2:40 seconds without allowing for the Fusion to get 85.4% on A to be capped. From there it seemed as if the fortunes had turned. It was now the Fusion who was on the back foot unable to get the progress made in the maps. Though the Dynasty’s mentality is strong, they are also an emotional team. When they get rolling and know it, they pull out amazing feats, which were on the backs of the DPS.
A reverse sweep shows the strong mentality of the Seoul Dynasty while being down to match point. These reverse sweeps are not just in the ‘lower’ tiers of the APAC region. The Seoul Dynasty has been able to reverse sweep teams in each echelon of the APAC region with the Fusion being the highest and the Charge being the lowest. It is good to see that no matter the power level of a team that the Dynasty is facing that they are able to hold their strong mentality to turn a match around.
Fans hope that in the future the games wouldn’t need to be reverse swept but instead won out 3-0. Tiger Nation is happy to see the wins on the board as well as the perseverance and in-game leadership that is keeping them focused on the goal of winning. With the end of the regular season, it seems as three be the number of reverse sweeps, but the post-season could bring many more depending on their seeding for the Countdown Cup and the Play-ins/Play-offs for the Grand Finals.
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