Another week, another action-packed weekend of Overwatch. This weekend brought seven Overwatch League teams to the Nation’s capital, for the Washington Justice’s first homestead weekend. The event was the Justice’s first of five homesteads they plan on hosting during the 2020 season. But here’s take a look at the highs and lows, the “woes and winners” of this weekend’s D.C homestead.
The Woes:
No Win’s for the Home Team:
There were many woes this weekend, but perhaps the biggest woe this weekend was that the home team didn’t get a win. The Washington Justice lost to both Paris Eternal on Saturday and the London Spitfire, in a big upset on Sunday.
The Spitfire match was probably the most devastating match of the two because they were “reverse swept”. Meaning the Justice was up 2-0 at the half, only to have the Spitfire win three matches in a row in dominant fashion to steal the win away. The losses were regrettable, considering the Justice looked poised to take both wins after a convincing performance last week at the Philadelphia homestead.
The Justice might have lost because star hitscan player Corey “Corey” Nigra was, unfortunately, sick this week. Although it might have gone unnoticed given how well he played. However, Corey wasn’t the only player suffering from sickness this week and that leads into the second woe of this weekend.
The Woes of a Cursed Houston Outlaws team:
The Houston Outlaws, have met with their own series of unfortunate events. The Houston Outlaws were already coming into this weekend after a disappointing showing at the Philadelphia Homestead. But that was only the beginning of their plight.
The Outlaws had some seriously unlucky flight issues, before even touching down in D.C. their suitcases were temporarily lost. Moreover, their own fan-favorite DPS player, Jiri “LiNkzr” Masalin, has been sick for a while and was unable to perform in both Philly and D.C. Their woes only continued when they faced off against Boston Uprising. The match went to a record-long seven map, because of two draws. The extended match almost saw the Outlaws bringing it back to secure their own reverse sweep, but in the end, Boston took the win.
The Winners
Whether it was Boston and Houston going to map seven, or the almost reverse sweep of the Toronto and Philadelphia match, or London reverse sweeping Washington. The matches this weekend went into extra rounds and unexpectedly went back and forth. So the real winner of the D.C homestead had to be the fans, who were gifted with some especially entertaining matches this week and A LOT of extra maps of Overwatch. But here are some other big winners of the D.C Homestead.
Jerry
Rookie damage dealer player Tae-ee “Jerry” Min, took the stage for the first time this weekend. He almost instantly became a fan-favorite, the moment it was known he was on Boston Uprisings starting roster this weekend. Jerry formerly played for Korean contenders team, Meta Athena and there were a lot of rumors about him coming into this season. No one was quite sure what to expect from this player. He, at the very least, outplayed the Houston Outlaws McCree player, Jeffrey “Blase” Tsang.
The crowd at the D.C Anthem certainly loved everything about Jerry. He was met with thunderous cheers from the crowd, chanting his name after every kill. Jerry instantly became an overnight success story, despite a close series. In a post-match press conference, Jerry expressed shock and happiness over the fans’ cheers. Saying, “I didn’t even know I became a superstar.”
London Spitfire:
The London Spitfire stealing a win away from the home team made themselves a pretty big winner this D.C Homestead. Going into this series, not many people had any hope for this newbie squad. London are not the inaugural season champions like they were once known as. The entire team was changed during this offseason and filled with tier 2 talent. The team has been on the receiving end of some pretty harsh criticism. But they proved a lot of people wrong this weekend. Beating the home-team at their own homestead, in a reverse sweep no less.
This win was Spitfire’s first win of the 2020 season. Hopefully, they get some confidence from this win. They showed some unexpected promise. Especially DPS player Lim “Glister” Gil-seong, who played very well, considering he was going up against the Justices own acclaimed DPS player, Corey.
Summary
All-around there were many winners of this weekend’s homestead. Not to be outdone, however, perhaps the most important winners of this D.C Homestead were the people behind the production. Need fans be reminded of the many technical issues the Overwatch League has faced. The Philly homestead was rife with game pauses due to various different technical issues. The IT boys backstage, were no doubt working overtime to prevent those from happening this time around.
Not only that, but this was D.C’s first-ever homestead. Despite the home team not taking a win, the event still went off without much of a hitch. Given that the Anthem is a larger venue compared to the other venues, so far this season. There were some question marks before the event, about whether D.C could host an esports event. Considering that D.C is not exactly regarded as an Esports hub, compared to other cities in the league. Things went pretty well for them, all things considered. The crowd was fantastic, and the games were just as good.
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