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Overwatch League, Week 2: San Francisco and Philadelphia have a close duel

By Christine Wang Dickson

Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment /
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The second week of the Overwatch League kicked off with two teams trying to make a name for themselves.

Both San Francisco and Philadelphia entered Week 2 with 1-1 records. San Francisco fell in their season opener to the Los Angeles Valiant but redeemed themselves with a win against Shanghai later in the week. Conversely, Philadelphia started off the week strong, knocking off the Houston Outlaws and surprising analysts. But the Fusion were burned by the London Spitfire in their second match of the week.

Who moved up in the standings?

Map One: El Dorado

On attack first, San Francisco did not look strong. Philadelphia was able to stall San Francisco on the very first section of the map until the Shock only had one minute remaining. The Fusion’s Poko contributed to this, getting another one of his signature Self Destruct kills with D.Va.

The Shock’s pushes during the second section of the map did not look too much better. At one point, San Francisco found themselves baited into the close quarters of the courthouse, causing nearly the entire team to get wiped. Overall, Philadelphia got a lot more value out of their ultimates than San Francisco did. The Fusion was able to hold the Shock to just short of reaching checkpoint two, with ShaDowBurn on Genji cleaning up the rest of the San Francisco team.

But when it was the Fusion’s turn on attack, it was Philadelphia suddenly looking shaky. San Francisco’s Danteh ruled the plaza, grenading and trapping the Fusion left and right. Even with Carpe on Tracer taking people out in the Shock’s backline, San Francisco stood strong with key eliminations. With time ticking away, Danteh made a crucial pick on ShaDowBurn by trapping him just as he triggered his Dragonblade. With ShaDowBurn gone, San Francisco’s Babybay had free reign as McCree to point-blank Deadeye Carpe and then take out the rest.

Map Score: Shock 1, Fusion 0

Match Score: Shock 1, Fusion 0

Map Two: Temple of Anubis

San Francisco started off on attack once again on the series’ second map, and just as before their attack was lackluster. The Shock’s two supports, Dhak and Sleepy, had trouble using their ultimates effectively. At one point during the Shock’s attach on point B, they actually used their ultimates at the same time and San Francisco ended up with nothing to show for it except for a negation of ShaDowBurn’s Dragonblade. The Shock’s last push on point B was stymied once both their supports were taken out, and even though San Francisco was able to make those same support picks on Philadelphia, the Fusion got the first kills needed to give them the advantage.

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The casters immediately wondered if this would be a repeat of map one, where San Francisco was mediocre on attack but a star on defense. And as the Fusion started their attack, it did seem like that outcome could be possible. San Francisco was able to repel Philadelphia’s first push.

However, the Shock was all clustered on the rooftop on the left side, occupying that traditional higher ground. With close quarters positioning like this, any Genji with a Dragonblade would be tempted and that’s exactly what Carpe did, slashing down right into the middle of the group with plans to unleash his blade. As a plot twist, Danteh was able to Junkrat trap and kill Carpe first. But unfortunately for the Shock, Carpe was immediately resurrected. Back in the fight, Carpe hunted down those SF players he had originally scattered, taking out enough of them to open up point A to the rest of his team.

Without skipping a beat, the Fusion then pushed point B. Just as it seemed like they would be pushed off the point, ShaDowBurn displayed some of that high-level Genji gameplay he has become known for. ShaDowBurn was able to stay alive and on the point through two whole Dragonblades, dashing and slashing through any San Francisco player who happened to be in his vicinity. With a 15 player kill streak, ShaDowBurn helped earn his team a point B take and a win on map two.

Map Score: Shock 1, Fusion 2

Match Score: Shock 1, Fusion 1

Map Three: Oasis

Moving into Oasis, ShaDowBurn made the expected switch to Pharah. However, on City Center, he struggled to make anything happen as the rocket queen and ended up switching to Genji. In fact, San Francisco was able to maintain continuous control of this point up to 99 percent, when Philadelphia was finally able to wrench it back with a Self Destruct from Poko that took out two members of the Shock. However, the Fusion was unable to complete the hold, and with 94 percent on their control meter, the Shock took it back and held it through overtime.

ShaDowBurn tried Pharah again on the second control point, and this time was much more successful. With the first pick of the match going in favor of the Fusion, Philadelphia took control first. In the skies, ShaDowBurn battled with Babybay’s Pharah and won several times, which put San Francisco at a disadvantage every time they had to use a resurrection early. The Fusion was able to close out the point 100 percent to zero.

With a control point in each team’s name, Oasis went to a third point. Babybay was able to take out both Fusion supports early, giving the Shock control first. However, Carpe on McCree lurked unchecked in the hallways around the objective, picking off enough SF members to swing control in the Fusion’s favor. As Philadelphia’s control meter ticked upwards, ShaDowBurn and Poko combined their ultimates for one of the most devastating moments so far in the Overwatch League. Thanks to the Graviton, Poko’s Self Destruct eliminated four San Francisco players at once, helping Philadelphia cap the point and the map with a flourish.

Map Score: Shock 1, Fusion 2

Match Score: Shock 1, Fusion 2

Map Four: Eichenwalde

On the last map of the series, San Francisco put together the best offense thus far since the beginning of their Overwatch League season. After taking the first objective quickly, the Shock made continuous progress pushing the payload forward, their only delay occurring when Carpe landed four clean headshot eliminations as Widowmaker. With the payload less than a meter away from the castle doors, the Fusion put together a solid defensive stand that was able to stall the Shock down to a minute on the clock.

Once in the hallways of the castle, the fighting ramped up. The Shock surged forward thanks to three quick picks by Babybay on McCree. Then Philadelphia pushed San Francisco back decisively, with Poke and Carpe each taking out two SF members with each of their ultimates. However, it was Babybay on Junkrat in the end that made the final picks necessary to push the payload home during overtime.

Next: Overwatch League recap: Week 1 of regular season finishes up

Unfortunately for San Francisco, Philadelphia’s attack was simply stronger than theirs. ShaDowBurn opened the first objective up quickly, and then a Poko two-kill Self Destruct helped Philadelphia move the payload merrily along. With four minutes going into the final stretch, Carpe’s McCree stifled San Francisco close to their spawn room and Dhak on Reinhardt wrapped things up at the end neatly with a well-timed Earthshatter to keep the Shock from reaching the payload.

With both teams reaching the end of the map, Eichenwalde moved into time bank rounds. And as the only team with time left, the Fusion had to just take the first tick on the first objective to win the map. A bit surprisingly, they were unable to do so. San Francisco pushed them back repeatedly, even negating a ShaDowBurn Rocket Barrage, forcing the map to end in a draw.

While Philadelphia was unable to claim the extra point they would have gotten from winning Eichenwalde, the draw was still enough to help them win the series overall. The Fusion moved to 2-1 while the Shock dropped to 1-2.

Map Score: Shock 3, Fusion 3

Final Match Score: Shock 1, Fusion 2

Player of the Match: Carpe, Philadelphia Fusion