After what happened earlier in the night, the Vancouver Titans had to be at least a little nervous. Luckily for them, the Boston Uprising lack the flexibility that allowed Seoul to knock off NYXL. They largely stuck to the GOATs meta where the Titans asserted their dominance. It was smooth sailing for Vancouver as they made sure at least one favorite would stay alive.
Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
Vancouver started their playoff run strong on Ilios, jumping out to an early lead on Ruins. They punished some positioning mistakes from Boston en route to 78% before the Uprising managed to flip the point. A couple of key pins from Sangbeom “Bumper” Park sealed their fate as the Titans took the first map.
On Lighthouse, the Uprising stepped out of their comfort zone with a triple-DPS composition that threw Titans for a loop at first. A quick swap from MinSoo “SeoMinSoo” Seo onto McCree put a stop to the shenanigans, and the Titans took control once again. By then Boston was too far down, and some big environmental kills from Seong jun “SLIME” Kim made sure Vancouver would hang on to grab an early lead in the series.
Vancouver attempted to maintain the momentum as the teams went to King’s Row. They were doing well in that regard until Bumper went for a sneaky Earthshatter. When he got caught, he tried to pull the plug, but the Uprising punished his aggression on their way to point A. Their momentum didn’t last for long, as Vancouver buckled down on point B. A trio of ultimates from SLIME, SeoMinSoo and HyunWoo “JJANU” Choi sealed the deal, and Vancouver gave themselves a huge advantage heading into their attack.
Vancouver’s offense was just as dominant. They captured point A behind JJANU’s early kill onto Minseok “AimGod” Kwon, and didn’t look back. The Titans rolled through point B with little resistance, consistently finding immense value out of their ultimates. Bumper dominated the Reinhardt matchup, finding key Earthshatters when Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth was out of position, and Vancouver found themselves up 2-0.
Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
The Titans kept up the pressure on Anubis, absolutely dismantling the Uprising as they tried to make their way to point A. Vancouver almost pulled off the full hold, but an overextension meant Hyojong “Haksal” Kim was the first domino to fall as Boston managed to capture point A and keep their hopes alive. A near-snowball almost spelled trouble for the Titans, but Juseok “Twilight” Lee charged two ultimates in one fight to save the Titans and repel the Uprising. Boston managed some solid progress but were ultimately held short of point B, and Vancouver had their win condition.
Boston looked strong on their defense, matching the Titans blow for blow as they took the time bank down to just over a minute on point A. The Titans were able to cap the point by forcing Fusions out of position and gave themselves a chance to end the series. Vancouver looked a bit sloppy on point B but pulled it together in time to close out the map. A clutch Self-Destruct from JJANU put an end to Boston’s playoff hopes as the Titans secured their spot as the Titans secured their spot as favorites to take the Stage 1 Championship.
Everything went according to plan for the Titans on Thursday. Their teamplay was spot on as they dominated the Uprising the entire night. Vancouver proved themselves as the best GOATs team in the league, remaining undefeated while their biggest challenger fell earlier in the evening. On Saturday, they will face off against the Seoul Dynasty, who looked rejuvenated against NYXL. Vancouver has to be the favorites, but anything is possible after Seoul’s shocking upset.
Featured image courtesy of the Ben Pursell for Blizzard Entertainment.
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