It’s Week 14 of the Overwatch League, and we’re back with five questions we want answered by this week’s slate of matches.
Have the Dynasty been exposed in the China region?
Arda Ocal: The Dynasty have only had 3-0 series since moving online. One was a win against Hangzhou in Week 12; the other three were losses against Shanghai, and most recently two back-to-back sweeps at the hands of Guangzhou and Hangzhou. I’m more concerned about the wild swings here. They are either winning or losing spectacularly, and there doesn’t seem to be any consistency.
Emily Rand: The perceived drop in the Seoul Dynasty’s performances has more to do with scheduling than anything else. I’ll take full responsibility as one of the members of the media who was overrating the Dynasty going into their matches against the Hangzhou Spark and Shanghai Dragons in Week 12, but we hadn’t seen the Dynasty in four weeks at that point. Their previous two appearances were dominant victories over the Los Angeles Valiant and Los Angeles Gladiators in Week 8. Another thing to consider is, of course, hero pools and how ill-prepared the Dynasty and Park “Profit” Joon-yeong seemed to be for Echo.
Hero pools are naturally going to cause major shifts from week to week in how teams play and adapt, but even with this consideration around Echo’s debut, the Dynasty looked so bad last week, it’s difficult not to pin this on the team more generally as well. This year, they’ve either looked amazing or horrifying. The remarkable variance between these highs and lows is a new thing for this specific Seoul iteration, but not the inconsistency, which is unfortunately a Seoul Dynasty staple.
Tyler Erzberger: It’s more of the same with the Dynasty. They build up hype only to squander it before they can reach a natural crescendo. I agree with Emily that it’s more to do with the Dynasty showing a lack of flexibility than the team being outright terrible like a Boston Uprising or Washington Justice. All these past few losses have shown me is that the Dynasty are an incredibly one-dimensional team, where on the right week of hero pools they can be competitive and beat the top teams but are irrelevant come a roll of the dice that doesn’t fit in their wheelhouse.
Wolf: “Exposed” seems like a strong word. I do believe we, and many others, overrated them. The Dynasty are still a very inconsistent team, and I feel like the gap in games didn’t allow anyone to accurately judge them. There are certainly holes in their game — as exposed by the Charge and the Dragons — but I don’t think the Dynasty are the worst team in this division. I want a larger sample size before I make that call.
Has Echo become the most essential DPS pick in the game?
Ocal: Echo had a 78.3% usage rate last week, almost 10% higher than the next-most-used hero (Brigitte). The DPS pick is clearly popular. She’s a powerful character that fits well in many fluid team comps, and competitors seem to love to play as her. Some people were saying that McCree might be a good counter to Echo, but it seems like Echo is still ahead there for the time being. I expect Echo to remain a powerful pick.
Rand: For now, yes. To Arda’s point, Echo is a new hero, and people aren’t as familiar with how to slow her down both with specific hero counter-picks and full team counters. On that note, I also don’t think Echo has been played anywhere near what her potential is as a hero either.
Erzberger: Until a team finds a counter for her or she gets nerfed, Echo will continue to be a top selection barring a hero pool exile. The reason hero pools were implemented in the first place is because teams in the Overwatch League weren’t the best at experimenting and finding ways to clear obstacles. I feel like it’ll be the same with Echo, where if a flexible team can find a setup to neutralize her, everyone will follow suit, and she’ll become less of a must-pick selection for teams.
Wolf: Yes. Her ultimate provides too much utility to not make her warranted in many team compositions. Which is interesting, because when I interviewed Houston Outlaws DPS Dante “Danteh” Cruz about Echo for our How it’s Made piece on her, he seemed to think she wouldn’t make as much of a splash as she has. We’ve seen regional diversity in the meta, though, due to the coronavirus splitting up the competition in the Overwatch League — the West and the East essentially have their own metas.
What do you expect out of the completely revamped Vancouver Titans?
Ocal: A tumultuous situation that continues to unfold — when we did our live Twitch conversation about the Titans roster being released and Second Wind coming in as the bulk of the new roster, we didn’t have any of the details about how the players were possibly treated and what led up to the release. How will this be processed by the new players? Ultimately, it’s a very unfortunate situation and a difficult scenario for the new players to step into. I think it will take a while to adjust, to allow people to focus on game play, because the news cycle will keep everything but in-game play as the focus for the time being.
Rand: Not much. I’m honestly still reeling from how poorly the Titans handled what was a historically-dominant and beloved lineup. It’s a tough situation for these players coming in.
Erzberger: Vancouver will probably get stomped, the players will be unfairly chastised by the community for replacing a beloved team and the Titans franchise will continue their transformation from juggernaut to three-ring circus. For the sake of the players from Second Wind and the amateur scene stepping in with almost no preparation time, I hope they give a good show, but I honestly doubt it with how the Titans story continues to unfold.
Wolf: They’re not going to be good. Second Wind are a solid Contenders team, but I fully expect them to get run over by the Justice and the Mayhem this weekend, especially given several of Second Wind’s best players aren’t eligible to sign with the Titans and compete in the Overwatch League due to being underage. The Titans will have a pretty terrible second half of the season moving forward.
Where would be the best or most likely landing places for the released Titans players?
Ocal: Many of them are good enough to land on a OWL roster, there’s no dispute there. If Kim “Haksal” Hyo-jong doesn’t join a team in the next week or two, I’d be surprised, unless he wants a break. Some of these players might retire, or maybe one or two give VALORANT a try, who knows. If they want to stay in OWL, I imagine there will be teams bidding for their services. This does seem to be the end of the former RunAway team as a squad though, and for many that will be sad. Emily had a lot of thoughts about it, definitely read her piece on that RunAway roster’s demise in Vancouver.
Rand: It’s difficult to imagine these players without one another, which comes part and parcel of the original RunAway story, the fact that they were lucky enough to be picked up as a unit and the genuine bond that all members of this roster had with each other. Despite the individual prowess of these players, it’s going to be a new challenge for them to be playing on different teams. The other thing to consider is that the ex-Titans are in South Korea. With global travel limited due to the pandemic, that automatically narrows down their options before even talking about various holes that other teams have or the talent of these players.
It seems like the two players who are on most people’s radars are Choi “JJANU” Hyeon-woo and Haksal, but I really want to see a good landing spot for the former Titans’ support line: Kim “SLIME” Seong-joon and Lee “Twilight” Joo-seok. The Guangzhou Charge may be looking for a DPS player depending on the state of Charlie “nero” Zwarg’s visa (which, as an aside, would be sad given nero’s phenomenal performances) and have also had visa issues with their support line as well.
Wolf: Emily makes a good point in that there are limited options for the Titans players given that they’re in South Korea. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Haksal land on his feet somewhere like the Dragons or Dynasty. His talent is undeniable. My biggest hope is that this isn’t the end for Ryu “ryujehong” Je-hong. I know he said he wants to take a break, which is respectable, but I don’t want to see him retire. He is one of the hardest-working players in the Overwatch League, and he deserves another shot.
Who’s better: Dragons or Fusion?
Ocal: Overall this season? Fusion. Today? Dragons.
Rand: I’m leaning toward the Dragons, but I’d love to see that matchup. Both took very well to Echo in her debut, and both teams have made the most of their respective flexibility in the DPS role.
Erzberger: I’ve been a Dragons supporter since the start of the season. I honestly believe they have the most talent in the league alongside the San Francisco Shock, and in a hero pool era where depth and raw talent means more than ever, I’ll go with the Dragons. Not to say the Fusion aren’t a top-four squad, I believe they are, but I’m not turning on Shanghai until Philadelphia bests them in a series.
Wolf: I’ll say the Dragons. I think the Fusion could be a better team by the end of the season, but the Dragons are looking really solid right now.
Picks
Saturday
Dragons vs. Dynasty
- Ocal: Dragons 3-2
- Rand: Dragons 3-1
- Erzberger: Dragons 3-0
- Wolf: Dragons 3-1
Hunters vs. Spitfire
- Ocal: Spitfire 3-1
- Rand: Spitfire 3-0
- Erzberger: Spitfire 3-0
- Wolf: Spitfire 3-0
Charge vs. NYXL
- Ocal: NYXL 3-1
- Rand: NYXL 3-2
- Erzberger: Charge 3-2
- Wolf: NYXL 3-1
Eternal vs. Gladiators
Justice vs. Titans
- Ocal: Justice 3-0
- Rand: Justice 3-1
- Erzberger: Titans 3-2
- Wolf: Justice 3-0
Outlaws vs. Reign
- Ocal: Reign 3-2
- Rand: Reign 3-1
- Erzberger: Reign 3-1
- Wolf: Reign 3-1
Valiant vs. Uprising
- Ocal: Valiant 3-0
- Rand: Valiant 3-0
- Erzberger: Valiant 3-0
- Wolf: Valiant 3-0
Sunday
Spark vs. Dragons
- Ocal: Dragons 3-1
- Rand: Dragons 3-1
- Erzberger: Dragons 3-0
- Wolf: Dragons 3-1
Spitfire vs. Charge
- Ocal: Spitfire 3-2
- Rand: Charge 3-2
- Erzberger: Charge 3-1
- Wolf: Charge 3-1
Fuel vs. Fusion
- Ocal: Fusion 3-0
- Rand: Fusion 3-1
- Erzberger: Fuel 3-2
- Wolf: Fusion 3-0
Defiant vs. Shock
Mayhem vs. Titans
- Ocal: Mayhem 3-1
- Rand: Mayhem 3-0
- Erzberger: Titans 3-2
- Wolf: Mayhem 3-0
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