Overwatch Open Pacific Division Week 3

So close yet so far. Small mistakes are costly even in video games

We are past the halfway point in this season of the open division and our performance continues to improve. Unfortunately our second game this week resulted in a no show from our opposition. Even though we get the win 3-0, we really wanted to play them and see how we would match up as this was a team of similar ranking to us. However with their team only contacting us 10 mins after the start time and then no further communication, we had no choice but to contact the tournament admins and register our opponents as no shows. That aside, our first match up this weekend ended up being an epic affair with us going down 3-1.

Vs Klook Klaeng Ta Klaeng Yae

Our match up against Klook Klaeng Ta Klaeng Yae was a hard fought battle. While we performed much better as a team, we were still not fully moving as a unit and at times were lost and spread out, allowing our opponents to counter us and keep us at bay. Looking back on the game as captain there is a couple of changes I should have made to our composition mid-game that would have drastically turned the tide on some maps and that is something I will need to work on more as we move forward. Also we are lacking a shot caller on our team, someone to call out targets and team movements. At the moment our calls are jumbled up with everyone talking often at the same time and not always in-game constructive talk. While it has fallen on me to call out our major strategies, I’m still too focused on my own gameplay to also consider the wider picture. This concept right here is one that separates casual players from pro players and is another skill that I need to work on as well. Being able to look back and pick out our mistakes is easier than picking them out in the heat of battle.

Map 1: Control on Nepal

A back and forth affair. We got dominated on the first map, their triple tank reaper comp blew right thru us, we should have switch to dive and Pharah to counter this but tried to slog it out instead and got wrecked in the process. The second map we switched to our dive comp and found instant success, winning out most of the team fights to take our first ever round in the competition. The final map again we needed to switch to Pharah but instead found ourselves indecisive and getting stalled out multiple times. We finally capped the point in Over time and managed to hold on to it for 53% but once we lost one team fight, it was game over, going down 2-1. The reason we didn’t run Pharah was because we needed our Pharah player to run healer because our other healer needed to play D.Va. There was an adjustment we could have tried out thou to allow us to run Pharah but didn’t really think of it at the time.

Map 2: Watch Point Gibraltor

On Escort we decided to go back to Gibraltar. Again we are really struggling on escort maps. Trying to run a static push with Rein and Zarya just isn’t working for us where as our dive would have been more effective. Again, hindsight is a great thing. We did in the end managed to push just shy of the first point but couldn’t capitalise on some great picks from our Widow. Again, our communication and targeting priorities not quite clicking together. On defense we were much better and almost managed a full hold. In the final team fight with a minute left, I didn’t have my shield placed and our Mercy held of on her Valkyrie. The resulting earthshatter and mercy kill ended up losing us the team fight which we should have otherwise won. Seemingly small things but ended up being critical in the end.

Map 3: Temple of Anubis

Temple of Anubis has become a strong map for us. As a map that has multiple strategies available and has become a fan favourite in OWL for its epic battles we have managed to mostly make some of those work for us. Running triple tank of Offense we were able to cap the first point with relative ease, bullying our way on to the point. The second point proved harder. We should have made a couple of changes to our line up to fully secure the point but we still managed to get 77%. Being thwarted in the end by a Genji ult coupled with a well timed transcendence. On defense we managed to stall the first point relatively well, working from the high ground has shown us good success on the first point stall. Finally losing it with 1 min 30 remaining. Again on the second point we proved that we could hold off a team determined to cap it. A smart change to Winston and a nice earthshatter allowed us to fully close out the point after 5 min 30 and win us our first map of the competition.

Map 4: Hollywood

The final hybrid map on Hollywood ended up being a terrible one for us. We got rolled on defense, again never really grouping up to set up our defensive line. Hollywood is more open and again we should have gone with a more Dive orientated comp on that map. The fact that we have never made it to a hybrid map or really practiced them didn’t help either and their dive comp just wrecked us to shreds. Once we finally switched up we were able to stall them on the final point thanks to the defenders advantage. They still got thru but we did managed to keep their time at a reasonable 42 seconds. While we did switch to a Rein-D.Va tank combo on attack, our lack of co-ordination and indecision on where to attack and how to counter their comp saw us get totally stalled out.

 

With only 2 weeks to go, we are hoping to be able to keep our momentum going forward and finish off the division on a high! Stay tuned!