Last season, not a single series was put in the Dragons’ favor. Leaving that in 2018, Shanghai have achieved their first playoff berth in franchise history. The Dragons had a tough Week 5 in order to reach it, and their first-round foe won’t give them an inch.
This match proved to be the “win or go home” game for the Dragons. As the final Stage 2 standings had six teams finish 3-4, Shanghai needed to separate from the pack. The Dragons were dominant in almost every facet, except for Blizzard World, where the Justice stole a map. Paris was arguably one of their better performances in the series, which came as a surprise to many due to their struggles on 2CP maps this season. Tieing the fastest attack time (at that point) on the map, they even replied with a stellar defensive hold on Point B. The Dragons took down Washington on a final score of 3-1.
Image Courtesy of the Overwatch League
Similar to the rest of this season, Jin-hyeok “DDing” Yang came out and did DDing things. EMP after EMP, DDing stopped critical runs with a single Q-click, including final pushes on Watchpoint: Gibraltar.
Photo Courtesy of the Shanghai Dragons on Twitter
Despite the Shock pulling off the sweep and completing the perfect stage, Shanghai gave San Francisco a run for their money. The Dragons took the first round of Oasis, and then took the rest of the three maps into extra rounds. Seong-hyeon “Luffy” Yang continued to excel under-the-radar, as his discord orbs provided excellent opportunities for DDing and Min-seong “diem” Bae eliminations. Shanghai proved that they can run toe-to-toe with the rest of the league, and it will be interesting to see how they can gain momentum from this to the playoffs.
The high-flying-head-clicking diem once again bolstered his All-Star resume, rising up four spots in the league in Eliminations per 10 minutes. The Zarya/Widowmaker now averages over 21 eliminations, fifth in the league. He’s also still second in Final Blows per 10 minutes.
It’s no secret that the Shock have become one of the most dominant teams in the league, looking to reach a second consecutive Stage Playoff championship. As mentioned previously, these teams know each other’s strategies better than any other team, competing in both scrims and weekly matches. The Shock love their GOATs composition of Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi on the D. Va and Dong-jun “Rascal” Kim being able to flex on almost any Support and DPS character. The Dragons may need another trick card up their sleeve. With Weida “Diya” Lu reportedly being gone for another week, Shanghai may not be able to toss a joker to throw off San Francisco.
Look for Young-jin “Gamsu” Noh to complete a team earthshatter off the high ground, and diem to be more in control of graviton placements. It won’t be enough though, as Shanghai will only be able to shave off one map in a 3-1 loss.
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