Many video games that depict a journey have an end boss. Something that tests the character’s items, abilities, level-ups, and such. This is the last week of regular-season games for the Seoul Dynasty and is their own personal raid boss. The Shanghai Dragons have been, for the majority of these last two seasons, on top of the scoreboard in the APAC region. These two have faced up against each other many times either in the regular season or during playoffs.
Then there is the Philadelphia Fusion. The Fusion was the first match that the Seoul Dynasty played at the start of Season 4. It is this team that started and will close the regular season for the Dynasty. Not only is it the Overwatch League teams that are competing but also it is an organization match up of Gen.G versus T1. In Week 17 the Seoul Dynasty will either secure their own fate or will have to wait to see as well as rely on other teams to ensure their placement in the playoffs.
Shanghai Dragons:
The Shanghai Dragons had a rough first week of the Countdown Cup. Though the team is already locked in for playoffs it is no doubt that the team would want to try and have a 3-peat win. Unfortunately, the team lost both of their matches in Week 16 against the NYXL and the Philadelphia Fusion. That just means that this is going to be an even harder weekend for the Dynasty as the Dragons will be deadset to prove themselves and get that 2-2 scoreline for the end of the regular season.
Prediction: 3-1 Dragons
The longer the match goes on the better the chances that the Dragons will get the win. Their ability to adapt quickly is their point of strength. There are weaknesses that the Dragons showed in the two matches that the Dynasty should be able to poke at during their match, but no doubt that the team will have reviewed and fixed these issues this week.
Compositions
When the Seoul Dynasty faced the Hangzhou Spark they looked their weakest when they were mirroring the composition. With the Dragons favoriting the Sombra, Tracer/Pharah, Ball, D.Va, Brig, Zen it is worrying as Seoul also plays a similar composition with the difference being that Yougnwan ‘Creative’ Kim going onto the Ana. The Dynasty also showed that they enjoy putting Jaehui ‘Gesture’ Hong onto the Orisa for more of a bunker style. Seoul can’t play too defensive or else the Dragons will take advantage of that, like what the community saw when they played the NYXL.
What they need to do
The best bet is for the Dynasty to force positioning of the Dragons so that they scatter out of formation. Those positioning errors that are forced out will give the Dynasty the space and time to have safe rotations and be able to set up properly. Without Lucio in the mix, the slow-moving comp that Seoul runs can eat up a lot of time just trying to set up, and if it fails everything is reset.
Last week Minchul ‘Izayaki’ Kim didn’t have good matches. He was caught out of position, ults that were not impactful, and was staggered after fights had ended or was the first to be picked off. If Seoul is able to catch Izayaki off like the Fusion and the NYXL were able to then it would ensure that they would have more healing and survivability than the Dragons.
Player to Watch: Byungsun ‘Fleta’ Kim
Weakness
One of the weaknesses that the LA Valiant highlighted was the vulnerability of the Dynasty’s backline. Cai ‘Krystal’ Shilong was able to get into the backlines and eliminate Creative multiple times. That put the Dynasty in a tough spot, being down healing. If it was a more coordinated team that would have led to a team fight win or a map win against Seoul. Fortunately, it was the Dynasty’s mechanical abilities and coordination that was able to save the points and maps from Creative falling early. The Shanghai Dragons will not give as much leeway as the Valiant.
Protection?
Fleta was only seen in one map against the NYXL but was in the whole time for the Fusion match. If he is able to get in the backline and have quick assassinations of the supports on Seoul it will be nearly impossible to get a push started. This means that Hyeonwoo ‘Toyou’ Lim and Taesung ‘Anamo’ Jung, if he is on Brig and not Mercy, needs to peel more for Creative. It is reminiscent of when Seungtae ‘Bdosin’ Choi last season would be on Ana and would make sure to get the Nano off and then just die before Jinmo ‘Tobi’ Uang would come down to rez him. This feels similar, but there needs to be more protection on Creative.
Fleta
This all to say, Fleta is important. Either on the Tracer or the Pharah will need to get Creative low enough for Jaewon ‘LIP’ Lee to finish him or to just straight out eliminate Seoul’s supports. Keep an eye out to see if Fleta is able to make that difference in the match.
Philadelphia Fusion:
The Fusion is very close to the Seoul Dynasty in the overall standings and would love to overtake them. The Fusion is looking in top form. They have all their players together in South Korea and the meta is just seemingly designed for them. It is hard to imagine a more dangerous situation.
Prediction: 3-2 Fusion
The Fusion in Week 16 were forcing some engagements that made them lose the overall fight. Instead of hanging back and waiting for the other team to come to them, they would force an engagement that would hand over the objective. If Seoul is able to capitalize on these situations will allow them to play a closer game with the Fusion.
Donggyu ‘Mano’ Kim also did not respect the CC on the other team. There are flashbangs, Brig stuns, ball slams, etc that all can stun him up so he can’t escape. Many times Mano would jump into a situation that he wasn’t able to escape from, but his team was able to adjust to make it through the fight without losing too much ground. This is a moment of weakness that Seoul also needs to take advantage of and in a decisive manner as Ball can get back to the point quickly after respawning. That could help swing the momentum to their side.
Player to watch: Hyeonwoo ‘Toyou’ Lim
As seen in Week 16, Toyou is a consistent ult eating machine. This is going is be super important in the match against the Fusion. With Hongjoon ‘Hotba’ Choi heavily favoring the Zarya there will be no doubt many possible gravs eats. The Fusion has pulled out the Hanzo to combo with the grav so there will also be dragon strikes to eat as well. Jaehyeok ‘Carpe’ Lee is just as good of a Tracer as Fleta and Profit so pulse bombs to also matrix. All of these ultimates are game-changing ones. If Toyou is able to nullify even a fourth of them, that will give the Dynasty a really good shot in winning out some of the maps.
Week 17
It is not lost of the Tiger Nation that the last two matches are against teams that have now two of Seoul’s past essential components to the lineups. This is not just about the Countdown Cup or the overall playoffs, though that is always important, but the ability and foresight of the Seoul Dynasty as a team and organization deciding their roster. If the Dynasty loses they need to lose in a close manner to save their map differential. If they can somehow pull out a win then that would be amazing not just for the Countdown Cup, but also the overall standings.
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