In Stage 1 the New York Excelsior and Washington Justice sat on opposite ends of the spectrum. While New York experienced success Washington struggled to find consistency. On paper, this was a mismatch of epic portions, but they don’t play the matches on paper so here is how it all played out.
Lijiang Tower Washington Justice 0-2 New York Excelsior
On Garden, the New York Excelsior captured the point first and were able to repel the Washington Justice’s attack. Nenne was the focal point of the defense using his hook to get picks. One last push eliminated Yeon-kwan “Nenne” Jeong, Taesung “Anamo” Jung, Sung-hyeon “JJonak” Bang but the remaining NYXL were able to hold out until they were rejoined by the fallen and end the attack and the round 100-0.
In round two the teams clashed on Night Market and saw the NYXL quickly capture the point again. A well placed Junkrat tire from Ethan “Stratus” Yankel took out Nenne’s Zarya and started a waterfall of picks resulting in Washington capturing the point from NYXL at 47%. Five kills from Corey “Core” Nigra coupled with swaps robbing the Excelsior of their ult economy allowed the Justice to get to 99% before the NYXL flipped it back. A frantic fight with both teams at 99% saw New York take the map and win.
Hanamura Washington Justice 2-3 New York Excelsior
With the match moving onto Hanamura, Washington defended with a bunker composition. The Excelsior ran over the Justice capturing with more than six minutes on the clock to try to capture point B. JJonak did what he does best and found picks to make short work of the map as they finished with 5:34 left on the clock.
When it was the Justice’s turn to attack Corey was able to find three picks thanks in large part to Gihyeon “Ado” Chon reigning rockets down and splitting the NYXL’s focus. With their own six-minute time bank, the Justice moved on to point B. They quickly found kills but lacked the aggressiveness to gain a tick. New York were able to take advantage of the Justice’s lack of aggression who were able to capture point B in overtime.
In overtime, the Justice once again ran their bunker composition to try to prevent the Excelsior from capturing the point. With their formidable time bank, NYXL were able to feel out the Justice, losing their first engagement but regrouping and easily eliminating the Justice and winning the map. Â
Einchenwalde Washington Justice 1-3 New York Excelsior
Einchenwalde saw the Washington Justice run a bunker paired with Ado playing Symmetra. Once again the Excelsior broke through and began moving the payload. The NYXL made short work of the next few team fights. Once inside the castle the final team fight went as well as the rest of the engagements, NYXL easily marched to victory with 3:44 left in the time bank.
The Justice went on the attack with a quad DPS and the NYXL countered with a GOATs comp featuring Yeon-oh “Flow3r” Hwang substituting Baptiste for Brigitte. The Justice were able to quickly capture the first point and started to move the cart. Their DPS comp began to work against the Justice and by the time they swapped to GOATs their ultimate economy was against them. They weren’t able to recover and were stopped just after the bridge before the castle.
Junkertown Washington Justice 2-3 New York Excelsior
The Washington Justice started on defense on Junkertown playing only for pride. The Excelsior were able to quickly back the Justice up, forcing them to defend on their heels and soon after they captured the first point. On point B the Justice were able to mount a better defense slowing NYXL down considerably, though they still completed the map with more than two minutes on the clock. The third point it all came together as the Justice were able to prevent New York from completing the map.
On their chance to attack the Justice started off well but were soon held at the first choke taking a significant amount of time off the clock. Much like last week Corey was able to find picks and help the Justice capture the first point in overtime. The second point was once again captured with no time left. Despite a clutch grav combined with Sansam’s D.Va NYXL was able to hold the Justice and secure a 4-0.
Conclusion
The end result of this match was no surprise. Everyone expected the NYXL to win and most people thought it would be 4-0. There were some great moments in this match for the Justice, Ado was able to open things up for Corey when they played Pharah and Widow respectively. For that reason, Ado will take home the player of the game for the Justice. The team has raw talent but they will need to be more aggressive if they want to hang with top tier teams like the New York Excelsior.
For the latest Hot Takes and Good Content about video games, follow Brian on Twitter @theFakeBMarr! Feel free to DM if you have any comments, questions or feedback.
Be sure to follow The Game Haus for the latest on all things sports and esports:
Twitter:Â @TGHEsports
Facebook:Â The Game Haus Esports