The first week of the Summer Showdown proves to be a hard one for the Seoul Dynasty. They are not only matching up against the undefeated during the June Joust team of the Hangzhou Spark, but also the strong and unpredictable Chengdu Hunters. In the regular season, the Seoul Dynasty has only lost two matches, which puts them just below the Shanghai Dragons. Hopefully, the Dynasty will be able to keep their record as the second seed, with the Fusion only one map win behind them.
The Summer Showdown will no longer have hero pools which is good as Seoul can get back on some of their best heroes, but also bad as other rival teams will have that as well.
Chengdu Hunters :
The Chengdu Hunters at the beginning of the season looked super strong, and as that was when there were no hero pools, it would make sense that they would come back out swinging. The two teams just played each other in Week 8, where Seoul won 3-2 on Busan. It was a close match, which predicts that this match will be just as close.
Prediction: 3:1 Seoul
A bold prediction. This match is going to be momentum-based. Seoul is a very emotion-based team. If they are doing well it will snowball, but if they get snagged up or start off badly, that can ruin their mental. As this is the first match of the Summer Showdown, the team should have enough preparation to make the team confident in facing the Hunters.
The Seoul Dynasty needs to bully the supports of the Hunters. Tan ‘Nisha’ Li is a very good Mercy. It is unsure if he will continue to play her, but if he does the Dynasty needs to stop and punish him when he goes for the resurrections. Nisha and Xiang ‘Mmonk’ Zhou are a strong support duo that helps empower their DPS. This is rewarded by their team getting out of situations, regrouping, and coming back in to win a fight. If the Dynasty is able to cut off the healing via shields or positioning they that will allow for Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim and Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park to do a lot of damage.
Player to Watch: Jaehui ‘Gesture’ Hong
Gesture is the player to watch in this match. He is going up against Jiaxin ‘GA9A’ Qiu who is also a great Wrecking Ball player. In the last tournament, Gesture could be seen out of position and taken out early. That then facilitated panic ults and missteps. It is a new tournament and a fresh start. It is important to see that Gesture is able to get into the backline and disrupt the enemy team. If he is stunned up and taken out that will only delay the push and stop the Dynasty from progressing.
Hangzhou Spark:
The Hangzhou Spark just had an upset in this past week to their lineup. Kyeongbo ‘Godsb’ Kim who was one of the main DPS in the lineup was let go. The Godsb and Minho ‘Architect’ Park DPS duo was highly rated as it played on old synergies. This means that the Spark is going to play Yangjie ‘Shy’ Zheng who is the other hitscan DPS player. There are some questions about how much Architect and Shy have played together recently.
Prediction: 3:2 Spark
The Spark showed in the June Joust that they have a lot to offer. Their coordination, in prioritizing players to focus on, helped them go undefeated in the last tournament. This was seen in the way they were able to contain players such as Byungsun ‘Fleta’ Kim from being able to make as much of an impact in a match. With Sombra and Tracer back in the meta that will give the Spark’s dive a boost. Even without Godsb, the team can’t be underestimated.
If the Dynasty wants to win they are going to need to be very smart in their tactical retreats and re-engages. The Spark’s aggressive pushes could force Seoul into bad positioning that splits them up or puts them away from the point. It will be essential for the Dynasty to focus on clean engagements that punish the tanks when they engage into a fight.
Player to watch: Shy
It is no doubt that the player to watch is going to be Shy. There is a lot of expectations on his back to perform better than Godbs did in the past. As Godsb was a beloved player there will be an even more critical eye on him, which could make shy feel pressure. In the matches that Shy has played, he has shown some great prowess and skill.
If Shy is able to keep the high gameplay up, this could spell trouble for the Dynasty. If the Spark decides to play dive, Qiulin ‘Guxue’ Xu Winston and Tracer Shy could be a deadly combination. Keep an eye out to see how Shy does in this first match of the Summer Showdown.
Week 8
This is a hard weekend for the Dynasty. This isn’t a Shanghai Dragon, but both teams hold credible threats to the team. If the team is able to get out the other end unscathed it would cement their place in the APAC region. With the no hero pools, this is the chance for Seoul to show their power to the region. They have made it halfway through with a good clean record, and they need to end strong as well.
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