Home » Overwatch: Recap: Shanghai Dragons vs Boston Uprising

Overwatch: Recap: Shanghai Dragons vs Boston Uprising

Publish Date: February 23, 2019

Despite a slow showing in Week 1 of Season 2, the Dragons were able to pull a few bright spots. With Young-jin “Gamsu” Noh having a match with Shanghai under his belt, the team looked to take down Gamsu’s former squad: the Boston Uprising. After the emergence of Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth, the Dragons knew that this would be no easy task. The Uprising came out without Fusions in their lineup, and Shanghai took advantage.

Shanghai Dragons (1-2) vs Boston Uprising (1-2)

Illios: Shanghai 2 – 0 Boston

Shanghai surprised many as they entered with a Pharmercy composition with Widow, and it was spectacular. Jin-hyeok “DDing” Yang was overwhelming to start as Pharah, and it proved too much for Boston. Rocket after rocket against a GOATs lineup, Shanghai dominated the maps.

https://twitter.com/terramayyy/status/1099153862836006913

King’s Row: Shanghai 4 – 3 Boston

After Illios, Boston came out onto attack and provided no mercy on the Dragons. The story became about DPS, as DDing had moved over to Sombra, and Lucas “NotE” Meissner was placed on Reaper. Several EMPs from DDing and excellent shatters from Gamsu kept NotE at bay with no death blossoms until the final two fights. As soon as NotE pushed ‘Q’, Yong-Jin “YOUNGJIN” Jin stunned Reaper and pushed him off the map. It’s also worth a shoutout to mention that Son “CoMa” Kyung Woo threw down a Lucio beat to keep this team alive (for a time) until Boston capped the round in overtime.

Shanghai made quick work of Boston on their attack in round two. Seong-hyeon “Luffy” Yang came out shooting as Zenyatta, as he took Min-seok “AimGod” (Jeff) Kwon in the first fight to cap point A. DDing continued to show his dominance on Sombra, bringing a five-person EMP, full-team EMP and continuing to hack Boston until the end of the round. The Dragons were able to cap the map quickly, having plenty of extra time for the overtime round.

Overtime looked slow for Shanghai, as Luffy went down in the first fight on their attack. The second proved to be deadly, as a well-coordinated DDing EMP was just enough to wipe out Boston with the help of Min-seong “diem” Bae. The dream was alive of ending the streak, but the Dragons needed just one more map.

Horizon: Shanghai 5 – 4 Boston

In one of the whackiest maps that will forever be cemented in Overwatch (and possibly esports) history, Shanghai broke the curse to finally get their first win in franchise history. Round one started with Luffy providing even better Shanghai defense with essential eliminations in the first two fights. Aside from a diem graviton surge to stall more time, the Uprising cleaned point A using four ultimates with ease. Within seconds, Boston was on point B gaining ticks with even more ease. With 3:27 left on their attack, the Boston Uprising capped point B without much contest.

As if the offense was the only thing on either team’s mind, it only took two team fights for the Shanghai Dragons to fully cap round two. DDing continued excellent Sombra play, delivering a series of hacks and EMPs to finish off the round with 6:07 left.

Overtime

Round three was another defensive round for Shanghai, and it started off incredibly well. Gamsu clipped Park “Axxiom” Min-seob and the team stalled with NotE and AimGod to leave little time left on the clock. AimGod replied with a well-timed transcendence to counter a DDing EMP, capping point A. Axxiom claimed his revenge on point B with a nasty shatter, helping wipe the Dragons and capping the round with 44 seconds left on their clock.

The Dragons were stalled in losing the first two fights in Shanghai’s FIRST overtime round on attack. DDing (once again) laid an EMP to help the Dragons clean-house to cap point A with 2:38 left on their clock. Two minutes remaining, Shanghai laid down a diem graviton surge, CoMa beat and DDing EMP to cap.

Photo Courtesy to Brennon Hook

Overtime Part II

Overtime’s overtime was short and sweet, and the Dragon’s defense was all YOUNGJIN. Taking part in four eliminations in the only team fight of the round, Shanghai held point A to move into their attack. On the offense, DDing made quick work on Sombra, as he laid down a monster EMP to claim the victory that will forever be cemented in the memory of fans from all around the Overwatch world.

Rialto: Boston 1 – 0 Shanghai

Photo Courtesy of @labarcaOW on Twitter

Shanghai brought defense back into the Overwatch League with a stellar full hold on the Boston Uprising. Two more EMPs, and graviton surge, an earthshatter and more Luffy eliminations as Zenyatta had the crowd roaring. Boston didn’t want a full sweep for the Dragons’ first win, and their defense was phenomenal. Despite diem moving on the attack as Roadhog (grabbing a quick hook-off-the-bridge elimination), Boston didn’t let Shanghai move much farther than the first curve. Boston’s defense was so concrete, that not even a Shanghai EMP, transcendence, beat and graviton surge could push the Dragons to a map win. That didn’t matter much though to Shanghai after it was all said and done, as they had won their first ever match.

CONCLUSION:

The matchup will forever be cemented in esports history, as Shanghai completed their first win in the Overwatch League. This match meant so much more than that though, as Gamsu brought it against his former team, only ten days after being transferred from the Uprising. The chemistry looked so much cleaner from less than a week ago versus Vancouver. Map after map, the energy continued to crescendo in the Blizzard Arena. Now that Shanghai has sparked hope, this team can build on their momentum by preparing for next week’s matchup against a decent Chengdu Hunters team.