Week 5 was going to be the Seoul Dynasty’s first batches of matches at their own homestand. That was unfortunately canceled because of COVID-19. If they were to play this upcoming Week 5 matches how would they have fared with the hero bans of Mccree, Widowmaker, Rein and Moira?
Hero Pool Draw | Watchpoint | Hosted by Houston Outlaws | Week 4
Widowmaker and McCree out for the week hinders the Seoul Dynasty a little bit as Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park is great at both of them. This leaves the door open to having a resurgence of the dive meta with a Profit Tracer alongside a Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim Genji or Doomfist. McCree being out, the biggest buff is that players on those dive heroes don’t have to worry about being stunned. With two of the highest used hitscan heroes out that could bring a resurgence of Pharah. The Dynasty has three amazing Pharah players in Minhyuk ‘Michelle’ Choi, Profit and Jaemin ‘Illicit’ Park. With skies freer that could bring out an advantage for the Dynasty, especially on control maps.
Moira being banned would not have impacted Seoul’s support line up. Jinmo ‘ Tobi’ Yang and Seungtae ‘Bdosin’ Choi are both known to play Moira, but she is definitely not their signature hero. If the ban had been Lucio or Ana then that would have hurt the Seoul Dynasty line up. Of all the support characters Lucio, Ana and Zen are the most played on Seoul. Moira is a good healer to break through the shield comps, but with Rein out of the mix as well that might be as big of an issue.
Reinhardt being banned is impactful as he has been seen quite a bit in the Overwatch League so far. The maps in the pool have Rein as a viable option with the close quarters. This week, if Seoul had played they might have placed Gesture on the starting line up. His Orisa could replace Rein’s shield in many situations. The community has not seen Sigma in play much, but Seoul could have pocket strategies as they have one of the best Sigma players in the league in the form of Minseo ‘Marve1’ Hwang.
Courtesy of Heroes Never Die
The first match that Seoul would have played would’ve been against the LA Gladiators. If D.Va had been taken out of the rotation for the week that could have been a big blow to the team, as the Gladiators have the best NA D.Va on their team in the form of Indy ‘SPACE’ Halpern. Minseok ‘OGE’ Son is a good Winston, but Rein being taken out nerfs Roni ‘LhCloudy’ Tiihonen who does well on that hero.
With two hitscans taken out, Jason ‘Jaru’ White would probably be seen starting as he is known for his projectile heroes. Jihyeok ‘Birdring’ Kim wouldn’t be seen as much as he is known as more of a hitscan player, but if the Gladiators decided to run dive he is a good Tracer. Birdring had been a part of the kryptonite London Spitfire roster, so Seoul Dynasty may have been happy to see him sitting out on their match if they had played. Just like the Seoul Dynasty supports, neither Jonas ‘Shaz’ Suovaara nor Benjamin ‘BigGoose’ Isohanni is bothered by the Moira ban.
The match that would have been leaning towards the Gladiators make it much closer with the Dynasty. What would have tipped it towards a more level playing field is the tank ban. Seoul has a stronger potential with the main tank position that would give them an edge, though still predicted to be a 2:3 or 3:2 match.
San Francisco Shock Logo
The Shock is atop many power rankings as the reigning Overwatch League Season 2 champions. This team has a lot of flexibility with their players. Matthew ‘Super’ DeLisi can be in top form in any of the main tanks available. If Rein isn’t available he can flex onto Orisa or Winston easily without. Moira being out of the rotation this week doesn’t impact the supports of the Shock who are mostly seen on Lucio, Ana and Mercy. Minki ‘Viol2t’ Park would be their supposed Moira player and he is already been sitting out in favor of Minho ‘Architect’ Park.
With Widowmaker benched that would put Seonchang ‘ANS’ Lee and Namjoo ‘Striker’ Kwon out of the match as they are both know for Widow and hitscan. Striker is a great Tracer but it is hard to imagine not having Jay ‘Sinatraaa’ Won on Tracer if they were going to run dive. This week with the two DPS banned being two hitscan heroes that opens the door for Dongjun ‘Rascal’ Kim. As a player, he was never a hitscan or meta player. Also with Mei still open and an opportunity to play Pharah, Rascal could be that ace in the hole for the Shock this year.
This match would be a San Francisco Shock win. The hero bans impact the team as much if not less than Seoul. Therefore, the heroes that were banned would not give one team a leg up over the other. It would probably be a 3:1 Shock victory.
The fans will not see the Dynasty play until Week 9 against the Vancouver Titans. All the Tiger Nation can do is predict. Therefore it is fun to think about how these hero bans would’ve impacted the matches. When these matches come around it will be interesting to see what heroes are actually banned and if the Seoul Dynasty would’ve had a better chance beating these teams with the original heroes banned the week they were supposed to play.
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