In a poetic situation (OWL is an anime), Shanghai faced off against the Shock for the second time within four days on Thursday. With the match set in the Stage 2 Playoffs, Shanghai gained the advantage of choosing maps in this series. Garnering their first Stage Playoff appearance in franchise history, this team had no expectations as the eight-seed.
Final Score: Shock 3 – 1 Dragons
Oasis: Shanghai 2 – 1 San Francisco
Kicking off Oasis, the Dragons didn’t start with a Pharmercy composition similar to last week, instead of running GOATs. Shanghai moved slowly as they built Jin-hyeok “DDing” Yang’s EMP, going down 0-70% early. After his first EMP caught Minki “Viol2t” Park, the Dragons would rack up to 85% before San Francisco took over and reached 100%.
Rounds two and three ended in Shanghai’s favor, closing the map streak of the Shock at 28. DDing would continue to harass Viol2t, picking him off at the start of two different fights. Min-seong “diem” Bae constantly pestered ay “sinatraa” Won, keeping his ultimate charge high through the rounds.
Gotta respect @ShanghaiDragons breaking the streak though.@SFShock were never going to have that streak last forever.#OWL2019 #Breakthrough #ShockTheWorld pic.twitter.com/P1gTYycLrt
— LEGDAY (@LEGDAY) May 10, 2019
Eichenwalde: San Francisco 3 – 2 Shanghai
The Dragons rolled off on attack first, and they started hot. Back onto the Pharmercy composition, the Shock had no answer to DDing’s rockets with their GOATs composition in the first fight. Until the drawbridge, Shanghai faced little to no resistance from San Francisco. San Francisco stalled after a Grant “moth” Espe boop for about two minutes, but a DDing EMP helped Young-jin “Gamsu” Noh rack up three eliminations before capturing point B. The Shock’s stall continued and proved to be just enough, as the Dragons were stopped short of map completion, falling behind simply due to spawn location.
San Francisco used this momentum and absolutely ran over the Dragons on their attack. Matthew “super” DeLisi was an absolute unit of a man, as his aggression rolled over Shanghai in just four team fights. His Earthshatters while in a Graviton would constantly catch Dragons off-guard. San Francisco ended up completing Eichenwalde.
Paris: San Francisco 4 – 2 Shanghai
The Dragons performed well (for the most part) on Paris, running their attack on the signature Sombra-GOATS. Seong-hyeon “Luffy” Yang and Kyungwoo “CoMa” Son were constantly caught by biogrenades, and a nano-super melted Shanghai. The EMP was the Dragons’ saving grace on their first attack, as DDing deleted super to complete the map. Shanghai rolled out on defense with a Pharmercy composition with Rein and Zarya, and San Francisco could barely move past them. Barrage after barrage, the Dragons took the Shock down to the final minute, still on point A. After CoMa was caught in an Earthshatter, the Shock moved onto point B. Yong-Jin “YOUNGJIN” Jin and diem bullied in consecutive fights, but a Graviton, Shatter and Self-Destruct combo were enough to overtake Shanghai.
Overtime was a worst-case scenario for the Dragons. The Shock attacked first with the smaller time-bank, and their run shattered Shanghai. Super was once again a madman, barreling through the Dragons to double-cap. Shanghai’s attack wasn’t ready for San Francisco’s aggression, as Luffy and CoMa were always separated and caught early in fights.
How does DDing build his ult this fast?! #OWL2019 pic.twitter.com/yVbP3z0wjO
— Shanghai Dragons (@ShanghaiDragons) May 10, 2019
Rialto: San Francisco 3 -1 Shanghai
Continuing their momentum, the Shock constantly gave problems to the Shanghai Dragons. Shanghai rolled out again on their unique Pharmercy composition, and before point A it seemed to work. With the constant spray of rockets, it allowed players like Luffy to pick off the rest of the players’ health. Once the Shock capped point A, it was all downhill. Fight after fight San Francisco’s attack wiped Shanghai clean, causing players like diem to misplace crucial ultimates.
The attack for Shanghai put their kryptonite in shining light; super. Comboed with Viol2t’s nano-boost, the Dragons struggled to take down the main tank. Thankfully Gamsu was able to smash a Shatter in retaliation to cap point A, but the dwindling timebank was too much for the Dragons. Sinatraa’s Gravitons put the icing on the cake for the Shock, and the Dragons fell to end their historic Stage 2 run.
CONCLUSION
Although one would say that super popped off on the Dragons, Shanghai’s passive play at different points was their downfall. San Francisco came out after Oasis and pressured the Dragons constantly, and it caused Shanghai to panic at times. A couple of gravitons were misplaced by diem and some DDing barrages were countered by Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi, but there were improvements. This was even a closer matchup than the one on Sunday between these two teams, more than just a map win. They tried new strategies versus their scrimmage partners, and the Pharmercy seemed to work at times. The Dragons will prepare for what could be an excellent Stage 3 run, as their schedule seems a little squishier than Stage 2.
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