Dragons fend off Shock to win Overwatch League Stage Three last
Emily RandESPN
BURBANK, California — The Shanghai Dragons are the Overwatch League’s Stage Three champions.
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In the event you informed this to a Dragons fan final 12 months, they might in all probability have checked out you as when you have been insane and maybe backed away slowly in order to not be contaminated by your insanity. The Dragons’ 42-match loss streak, which started within the inaugural season and lasted till Week 2 of Stage 1 this 12 months, will doubtless stay the longest shedding streak in esports for some time.
Earlier than the 2019 season, although, new Dragons off-tank Jin “Youngjin” Younger-jin mentioned this 12 months could be fully completely different. They’d not be the identical Shanghai Dragons. This staff, which getting into Season 2 introduced within the majority of the Kongdoo Panthera roster from Contenders Korea, would make folks neglect concerning the shedding streak and deal with the strengths.
Because the season enters its final stage, the Dragons have achieved simply that by taking out the highest three groups within the league en path to the Stage Three championship victory — as an Eight-seed.
The playoff run was a notable victory not only for the Dragons but in addition for the gamers who make up the core of their Season 2 roster. Listed below are just a few snapshots of what this win means, not only for followers and others who suffered via the staff’s Zero-42 begin but in addition for the gamers who helped flip the Dragons’ fortunes round.
Former Kongdoo gamers get long-sought revenge forward of ultimate
Again within the Contenders Korea Season 2 finals, Kongdoo Panthera have been reverse-swept by the RunAway squad that later turned the Vancouver Titans roster — a squad that then tore via the Overwatch League and went unbeaten within the common season till the center of Stage Three.
4 of Shanghai’s present starters — Youngjin, Yang “DDing” Jin-hyeok, Yang “Luffy” Seong-hyeon and Son “CoMa” Kyeong-woo — have been on that Kongdoo Panthera lineup. They shut down the staff that denied them the Contenders Season 2 crown and turned their semifinal match in opposition to Vancouver right into a warm-up for Sunday’s in opposition to San Francisco.
“Kongdoo sort of break up on the finish of the season, whereas RunAway stayed as one staff and transferred over to the Titans,” principal help CoMa mentioned after beating Vancouver. “Because of this, I am going to name this a type of revenge that I used to be in a position to reap. I used to be in a position to assume that regardless that we misplaced within the regular group phases, the truth that we received on the most important stage, the larger one, simply means a lot to me.”
When Shanghai dropped Havana to the San Francisco Shock within the finals after going up Three-Zero, Kongdoo followers felt a well-known chill. Come Dorado, a sinking feeling, till Shanghai lastly pulled off the win, clearing the sector of an imposing reverse-sweep dread. Kongdoo Panthera is likely to be no extra, however followers will be proud of the Shanghai victory.
Luffy lastly turns into a champion
Members of the Overwatch League’s Shanghai Dragons have fun their Four-Three victory over the San Francisco Shock within the Stage Three last on Sunday at Blizzard Area in Burbank, California. Photograph by Robert Paul/Supplied by Blizzard Leisure
Throughout his time with Kongdoo, Luffy went to a number of main finals and was a runner-up in all of them, together with the loss to RunAway.
In opposition to the New York Excelsior, Vancouver Titans and San Francisco Shock, Luffy’s Ana was instrumental to his staff’s success, as Shanghai ran the gauntlet of essentially the most profitable groups within the league. At a number of key moments, it was a Luffy Sleep Dart or Biotic Grenade that turned the combat in Shanghai’s favor. His Ana prowess received him Participant of the Match within the semifinals in opposition to Vancouver.
Now he is lastly a champion.
“I am nonetheless in disbelief as a result of I assumed that I might all the time be second and by no means have an opportunity to win,” Luffy mentioned. “So yeah, I am nonetheless at some extent the place I do not consider that we received.”
Gamsu’s esports journey reaches one other excessive
It is tough to consider this staff with out principal tank Noh “Gamsu” Younger-jin, however Gamsu didn’t start the season on the Dragons. As a substitute, he was traded at season’s begin from the Boston Rebellion to the Dragons after Dragons’ principal tank, Lee “Fearless” Eui-seok, returned residence attributable to well being considerations. Since then, Gamsu has helped lead Shanghai to their first win, their first playoff look and their first stage title.
Final 12 months, Gamsu admitted that he almost retired from esports after an unsuccessful stint on Fnatic’s League of Legends staff. He picked up Overwatch because it rose in reputation at South Korean PC bangs and set a self-imposed problem.
“My mindset wasn’t actually good,” Gamsu mentioned. “I used to be feeling my failures. And I used to be simply operating away from the league. I used to be scared to play. So I mentioned if I get a high rank, I’ll need to pay attention, and I suppose I did.”
Beaming onstage and on the postmatch press convention Sunday, Gamsu, like Luffy, lastly had a title to go together with all his time on the stage.
“That is my first time profitable in these sort of scenes,” he mentioned, “and it is exhausting to place into phrases, aside from that I am very blissful.”
Overwatch League’s paradigm shifts
The Shanghai Dragons went Zero-40 within the inaugural season of the Overwatch League, however following a roster overhaul going into 2019, the staff has reversed its fortunes. Photograph by Robert Paul/Supplied by Blizzard Leisure
The San Francisco Shock have been finalists in each stage this 12 months and mentioned that Shanghai was by far the hardest matchup they confronted in any last, together with their Stage 1 loss to Vancouver and victory over the Titans in Stage 2.
“This was the toughest last we ever performed,” Shock principal tank Matthew “Tremendous” DeLisi mentioned. “It was completely different. Nobody actually performs Doomfist as a lot as they do. Vancouver, each instances we performed them, we knew what to anticipate, however I believe with Shanghai, it was slightly little bit of an oddball. We needed to adapt greater than any of the earlier finals.”
On Oasis, the Shock ran a DPS-variant of their lineup utilizing Yoo “Smurf” Myeong-hwan, Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo and Park “Architect” Min-ho. On different maps, the Shock adopted an Orisa-Roadhog technique to counter DDing’s Pharah, making use of Choi “ChoiHyoBin” Hyo-Bin’s phenomenal Roadhog play.
“Their coordination on three DPS is admittedly insane,” Shock help Grant “Moth” Espe mentioned of Shanghai. “We could not beat it utilizing different comps we have used earlier than — like quite a lot of instances, we have beat DPS with Baptiste-GOATS fairly simply. We struggled early on with that, and it labored on sure maps however not others, simply based mostly on how nicely they coordinated dives.”
Beforehand, the Shock excelled at forcing opponents to bend to their whims and take a triple-triple mirror, at which San Francisco stays peerless. Within the Stage Three finals, Shanghai pressured the Shock to adapt.
Above all else, Stage Three has been a transition. No matter whether or not the rumored two-tank, two-DPS, two-support place lock goes via for Stage Four in two weeks, the meta shifted in Stage Three, permitting for Sombra-GOATS compositions and extra DPS-heavy appears.
There isn’t a staff that higher represents Stage Three than its victor, the Shanghai Dragons.