In a rematch of the Stage 1 semifinal, Seoul looked to avenge their previous beatdown at the hands of the Vancouver Titans. Unfortunately for them, the map pool on Thursday heavily favored the Titans, who were able to ride the strength of their 3-3 comps to another easy win. ChanHyoeng “Fissure” Baek sat out for the entire game, and Seoul looked noticeably less aggressive without him.
Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment.
With MinSoo “SeoMinSoo” Seo back in the lineup after a week off, the Titans kept up their winning ways starting on Downtown. Seong jun “SLIME” Kim got the opening pick in both of the first two teamfights as Vancouver took firm control. A retake came through for Seoul as Vancouver reached 99%, but they couldn’t hang on. HyunWoo “JJANU” Choi nudged a Self-Destruct off the high ground to combo with SeoMinSoo’s Graviton Surge to finish off the round.
Going over to Mecha Base, the Titans again surged to an early lead when their Reinhardt led composition took control of the high ground and collapsed onto Jehong “ryujehong” Ryu. Seoul almost fought their way back with a mid-fight capture, but in the end, another JJANU Self-Destruct sealed their fate. Vancouver took Busan and a 1-0 lead.
Photo: Overwatch League
The Titans looked right at home on Anubis, where they stormed through the map in almost record time. An early kill on Min Seo “Marve1” Hwang crippled the Dynasty defense, and Vancouver made quick work of point A. Their significant ult advantage and an aggressive position on the point put Seoul in an uncomfortable spot, and they were unable to stabilize as the Titans put up an almost perfect attack.
Seoul needed to move quickly on the attack, but Vancouver had other ideas. Despite getting the first three kills of the fight, the Dynasty struggled to finish off the leftovers and Vancouver held point A for close to two minutes. Seoul had to make swaps across the board for point B but held on to one crucial tool, Min Hyuk “Michelle” Choi’s EMP. They took one eco fight to deprive Vancouver of resources then finished the map on the next push.
Coming into extra rounds, Seoul punished Sangbeom “Bumper” Park for an aggressive early defense but again couldn’t maintain the advantage. Twice it seemed they would take the point, but Vancouver held strong, barely hanging on in the end. The Titans had over six minutes to take point A, and it was just too much for Seoul to handle. In a war of attrition, Vancouver closed out the map as their closer spawns gave them the advantage.
On Eichenwalde, Seoul made another attempt to match the Titans on 3-3, and again it went predictably poorly. Vancouver powered through the first two points with little resistance and rolled into point C with over four minutes remaining. Seoul never found much value from their ultimates, and the Titans posted yet another insane attack round.
Seoul made a solid showing of their attack when an opening pick on Bumper broke open point A. They repeated the formula on streets phase, giving Marve1 the chance to hit a massive Earthshatter. The Titans made a stand on the bridge, where they took charge of the map as the teams traded ults. In the final fight of the map, Seoul lost Marvel early and they couldn’t recover as SLIME and Bumper combined for a double environmental kill en route to a 3-0 leade and another match win.
Photo: Stewart Volland For Blizzard Entertainment
After struggling all night to find their footing, Seoul put up a fight on Rialto. Their attempt at Winston GOATs fell apart when Hyojong “Haksal” Kim picked off ryujehong with an aggressive solo push. Seoul buckled down on point B, where they took control of the high ground and severely depleted the Titans’ time bank. It gave Vancouver little time to work with on point C, and when Bumper pushed too far forward, Seoul got their first stop of the series.
Seoul looked incredibly strong on its attack, playing patiently but engaging decisively. This time Haksal was the one to go down early and Seoul cruised to a strong start. Vancouver couldn’t stop their momentum on point B, losing out as ultimates were traded. The Titans managed to slow the Dynasty as they approached the final point, but Seoul built up an ult advantage and JJANU was denied a last-second contest as the Dynasty got their conciliation map.
It was a dominant series for the Titans, one where they posted top 5 times on two maps. Vancouver just can’t be stopped right now. It seems like there might be just one or two teams that can hang with the Titans, and they play neither in Stage 2. Until stage playoffs, they might not face a serious challenger. Up next is a date with the Houston Outlaws, an opponent that probably doesn’t worry the Titans too much.
Featured image courtesy of the Overwatch League.
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