Overwatch League, Week 9 Recap

The Overwatch League continued it's online format matches this weekend and the action did not disappoint. The San Francisco Shock had their revenge map Against the Los Angeles Valiant. The Chinese teams continue to fight over who the most dominant team in the east is and more. Below is your Overwatch League week 9 recap.

Toronto Defiant 3 v 1 Washington Justice
Los Angeles Gladiators 3 v 0 Dallas Fuel
Los Angeles Valiant 1 v 3 San Francisco Shock

Shanghai Dragons 3 v 0 Hangzhou Spark
Chengdu Hunters 2 v 3 Guangzhou Charge
Houston Outlaws 1 v 3 Paris Eternal
Philadelphia Fusion 3 v 0 Washington Justice
Dallas Fuel 3 v 2 Los Angeles Valiant

Chengdu Hunters 1 v 3 Shanghai Dragons
Guangzhou Charge 2 v 3 Hangzhou Spark

Last week the San Francisco Shock fell to both Los Angeles teams in 3 - 1 series. Historically, when the Shock suffers a defeat they come back in aggression that is unparalleled. Last week with Lucio being on the ban list, Grant "Moth" Espe was out one of his signature heroes. This week with Lucio back in and a new set of heroes on ban, the playing field looks a bit different.

The Shock's starting roster once again excludes Sinatraa and instead starts newcomer Seonchang "ANS" Lee. ANS comes out playing the Torbjorn all first map. Coupled with an extremely aggressive style and double shield they're able to delete the Los Angeles Valiant and take first control of Nepal. With some quick picks by Kyle "KSF" Frandanisa on the Doomfist, the Valiant was able to flip the point back and answer in kind with their own aggression. The Shock retook the point and stabilize, securing the first round. In round 2, Hyobin "Choiyobin" Choi demonstrates his versatility as an off-tank playing Zarya. Coupled with ANS's Torbjorn the Valiant aren't able to take the point back and lose the map.

The Valiant answer back on Paris with an aggressive composition with Kai "KSP" Collins on Symmetra and KSF on Reaper. They take point A in just over a minute. They push the advantage on point B, splitting the Shock and taking point B with 4:44 left on the clock. The Shock seems to lose steam on the attack as the Valiant run a mirror composition aside from their off-tanks. The Valiant still running D.va while the Shock stick with Choiyobin's Zarya. The Shock grinds out the first point but the Valiant shut them down on point B.

For map 3 Dongjun "Rascal" Kim subs in for ANS but stays in the Torbjorn. Choihyobin is back on the D.va for a perfect mirror match. San Francisco easily takes point A and continue the pressure with aggressive plays on the way to point B. A devastating stagger on Caleb "McGrravy" McGarvey's D.va almost allows the Shock to take point B. The Valiant is able to come back at the last minute catching Namjoo "Striker" Kwon being too aggressive and manage to halt the payload. Shock come back strong and take point B, eventually completing the map. The Valiant brings out KSF on the Pharah for a moment but swaps back to Torbjorn after wasting almost a minute. Los Angeles look lost trying to take point A and the Shock hold them.

A quick point A takes from the Valiant as KSP flanks in on the Reaper and gets the opening pick on Matthew "Super" DeLisi. The Valiant keep up momentum and aggression allowing a lot of cart progress as they fight in the castle and push the Shock back. The Shock is able to delay the take of point B. Once the Valiant secures point B they roll through to point C to finish the map. Shock attack with immense aggression, Super finds a flanking kill on Lucio that leads to a point A take. Super leads the team through point winning team fight after team fight. The Valiant is able to stop the cart just shy of point B. The Shock does take point B and eventually finish the map through a strong Valiant defense. In round 2 the Shock ends up cleaning up the series with increased aggression.

The Chinese debuted on the stage last week in the Overwatch League and the competition was cutthroat. Between the four of them, they left week 8 all with a record of 1 - 1. This week's competition was just as fierce as the teams fought to prove who was superior. The Dragons came out of the gate just as strong for the Spark as they did last week against the Guangzhou Charge.

The biggest difference for in this match was the composition, the North American teams all elected to run Torbjorn in the meta. Shanghai and Hangzhou had the same setup in regards to Reaper, Reinhardt, D.va, Lucio and Moira. Instead of the Torbjorn, they had Sombra in the mix for a slower less brawly strategy. The Spark took first control of the point and kept in their favor for nearly 90%. Patient by the Dragons eventually switched the point. Dragons kept up the momentum with several key ultimate combos to win the first round. Kang "Void" Jun-woo swaps to the Zarya for round 2 and the Dragons are able to take first capture and run the percentage up to 99% before Spark was able to flip it back. Sanghyun "Sasin" Song for the Spark switches to Zarya in kind and Hangzhou takes the round. The Dragons come back in round 3 to secure the first map.

Lee "LIP" Jae-won takes an early hack and first pick on Jaehwan "Adora" Kang to take point A in 1 minute. This allows the rest of Shanghai to push forward to point B aggressively. Shanghai opens the fight with an EMP and nearly gets the cap on point B at 93.1%. On their second attempt, Void has built up his Graviton Surge and the Dragons are able to finish the point with it. On the defense the Dragons switch out their Reinhardt with Winston for easier disengages and their Moira for Ana. The Spark push point A on Huichang "BeBe" Yoon coalescence allows for a take on point A. The Dragons switch back to a mirror composition and they manage to fend off the first attack on point B. Shanghai forces early, aggressive fights off the point against the Spark.

Shanghai comes out of the gate with early aggression and an early pick by Byungsun "Fleta" Kim on the Reaper allows them considerable progress on the cart. A huge 5 man EMP by LIP pushes their momentum further as they take point A. The Dragons are able to push through point B and another huge EMP by LIP allows them to complete the map with an assist from Void's Graviton. Despite some huge aggression by Shanghai on defense, the Spark does eventually take point A. The Spark is stopped just shy of point B and the Dragons take the series with a clean sweep.

For more Overwatch League recaps and analysis by Robbie Landis and Jake Lyon, make sure you check out the OWLs Nest!

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