Tiger Nation knows the pain that comes with losing. The flip side is when the Dynasty beats teams that have been a brick wall, the victory is just as sweet. Week 14 is the first week that the Seoul Dynasty will have only one match to prepare for. The Shanghai Dragons, on the other hand, will have two matches on Week 14 against the Hangzhou Spark and the rematch with the Dynasty. Unfortunately, Echo was not pulled out of the hero rotation, but instead, it was Reaper, Ashe, Reinhardt and Brig.
Has a new rivalry started? The Shanghai Dragons won their match against the Seoul Dynasty handily 0-3. It was the match that started the downward trend of the team. This match exposed many of the weaknesses that the Seoul Dynasty has. Much of the Tiger Nation was split because of how well Byungsun ‘Fleta’ Kim performed, especially on Pharah. If Twitch vods hold any truth, Fleta has a nasty Echo that he may pull out against the Dynasty.
There are so many points that could be hit on when talking about what is needed for the Dynasty to win the match. Many of these aspects are less what to shut down on the Dragon side, and more about their internal team. It is going to be boiled down to teamwork. This is ironic as Bdosin, Gesture and Profit have been playing with each other for a long time, while Michelle and Marve1 have also been a duo before joining the Overwatch League. Who is shot-calling? What are the comms like? Teamwork isn’t just going in all at once, but syncing up abilities, diving, counter diving and communication during high tempo fights. Right now the Dynasty looks their weakest when they can’t take the slower fights, and Shanghai is not going to allow them to do so.
The Dynasty cannot get swept up in the Echo game. They cannot feel pressured to use Echo because Echo is there, or Echo is meta. They need to play their strengths. Profit against all the Echos, just by the eye test, looks as if he does not have the hero mastered in any form. This is surprising as his name was thrown around as one of the potentially best DPS players to utilize Echo. His DPS playstyle is more the pop-off tracer than the stalling Echo. His ult choices of duplicating were confusing on most maps. As Reaper is out of the rotation this week, a Mei McCree could be a good option for the DPS players.
They shouldn’t avoid heroes in fear of the enemy team’s Echo duplication, which is like cutting off their own arm. They need to focus on their play and how they can make moves to defeat the Dragons. Less on what the Dragons might do and more what they need to do to get a map win, or at least cap a point.
That only covers what the Dynasty internally needs to figure out; there is a whole other component that is the Dragons. Shanghai has perfect teamwork and synergy. They have aggressive ult usage and high tempo plays that forced the Dynasty last time into trying to make individual plays over working together.
Courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment.
“This is going to be a nail-biting close match. Many people will be looking to see over the long break has the Dynasty gotten better or fallen.” That was what was written in the last preview against The Dragons, and it couldn’t have been more wrong. Just as it took a whole season to beat the London Spitfire and NYXL, it will take time to beat the Dragons. Hopefully, not a season worth, but the Tiger Nation is looking for improvements.
KOTH will highlight how the match will go and is their best chance of winning a map. They need to hammer down who is playing off-tank. If it is Michelle he needs to boot camp with Gesture and force some sort of synergy to appear. If it is Marve1, he needs to call up Michelle to learn D.Va so that he is comfortable with the hero. With Reinhardt out of the hero rotation, it is less likely to get double shield unless Gesture pulls out Orisa, which is unfortunate as that is one of Marve1’s best heroes.
Profit was heralded as a DPS legend that would help strengthen the weaknesses that Seoul has had in previous seasons. Fleta was always talked about as inconsistent. Profit has been oddly quiet. There hasn’t been many memorable plays when it comes to Profit. When it is DPS pop off moments, FITS on McCree is what comes to mind.
Image Courtesy of Ben Pursell for Blizzard Entertainment
Profit needs to have a great match. If he is going to be on Echo he needs to be more proficient. It might be that Profit is the one who should go onto Sombra as FITS was struggling last week, and FITS go on the Echo. There is more weight than just two DPS, but the underlying thought that the Dynasty ‘gave up’ Fleta for him. That is how the community sees it. Fleta left and Profit came in. He needs to show the Tiger Nation he was the better choice. Right now there is wistful mentions of Fleta in the Meta swirling around, but Profit has to make his mark. He is no longer a Spitfire but is still remembered as his performance as a London Spitfire more than a Seoul Dynasty Tiger, which is more telling than any statistics.
This does not just fall onto the shoulders of the pro players. Yes, they play the game, but it is the coaches that instruct them and come up with who is playing. It is also important to remember that no player or team wants to lose. They are putting their heart and soul into the game. Go to the Seoul Dynasty Discord to drop some encouragement for the players and coaches before their match on Saturday!
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