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Overwatch League, Week 2: Houston Outlaws get first win by completely overwhelming Shanghai Dragons

By Christine Wang Dickson

Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment /
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Entering the second week of the Overwatch League, these two teams are still looking for their first win.

No one could have predicted that the Houston Outlaws and the Shanghai Dragons would be winless after two Overwatch League matches. And yet both teams entered the week with records at 0-2, probably thankful that at least one of them would be improving at the conclusion of this match.

Last week, the Outlaws dropped to the Philadelphia Fusion and the New York Excelsior. The Dragons lost to the Los Angeles Gladiators and the San Francisco Shock. For both teams, this match was their chance at redemption.

Map One: Junkertown

Houston kicked the series off on offense, and right away it was a furious battle with Shanghai. Both teams got eliminations, but eventually Houston’s closer spawn point gave them the advantage. Rawkus’ Bastion ultimate was the last thing to tip the scales in the Outlaws’ favor, and their payload reached the first checkpoint.

Thanks to Jake on Junkrat and LiNkzr on Widowmaker, Houston continued to roll through the second part of the map. Then, as Shanghai attempted to arrange a defense in the final area of the map, Rawkus used Bastion’s ultimate yet again to blast a hole right through the Dragons. Without meeting any significant resistance, the Outlaws were able to complete their attack run.

The Outlaws on defense elected to go with a single-support composition. Just as it was on offense, Jake’s Junkrat and LiNkzr’s Widowmaker seemed to be all Houston needed to hold their ground, with a Coolmatt double-kill Self Destruct just an added bonus. On the side of Shanghai, Diya was never able to get too far away from spawn before getting picked off. As time dragged on, the match felt more and more one-sided. The Dragons had no chance to mount a cohesive final push before overtime came to an end.

Map Score: Outlaws 3, Dragons 0

Match Score: Outlaws 1, Dragons 0

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

The Shanghai Dragons were able to notch a win on this map last week but with the way Houston started out the series, the chances of Shanghai repeating this feat felt slim.

Houston started their first engagement by sending Jake on Tracer into the back corner of the objective to draw Shanghai’s attention. As the Dragons were drawn onto the point, the rest of the Outlaws followed. As expected, the teams traded picks before the Outlaws were able to stabilize on point A.

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Houston’s first push onto point B started promisingly with a quick pick on Diya. However, MG launched a Self Destruct that caught Jake in its range, pushing the Outlaws back. Houston’s next push was much more successful, with Jake storming the point uncontested. Once Jake triggered his Attack Visor, the objective was all but taken with Dragons falling left and right to Soldier 76’s bullets. With plenty of time in the time bank, the Outlaws finished taking point B.

In order to contest that robust Houston time bank, Shanghai wasted no time in charging into their attack, adding speed by switching Altering to Lucio. Just when the Dragons seemed to start to gain an edge, the Outlaws used their Valkyrie with Coolmatt taking on the role of clean up crew. Despite these early failures, Shanghai was able to move onto the point, even able to overcome LiNkzr taking out Freefeel’s Mercy at point blank range.

Moving onto point B, Shanghai got a decent initial start when Undead on Widowmaker made a headshot on Bani’s Mercy. However, Jake on Junkrat in the beams above the point was able to get kills with his grenades. Then, on a subsequent Shanghai push, Coolmatt used his Self Destruct to take out multiple Dragons in the room to the left of the objective. On the Dragons’ final push, Undead fell early to Jake, getting caught in the doorway to the high-ground platform and the rest was just a matter of clean up. With Shanghai unable to come up with different attack strategies, Houston easily fended them off and jumped to a 2-0 series lead.

Map Score: Outlaws 2, Dragons 1

Match Score: Outlaws 2, Dragons 0

Map Three: Oasis

While Jake has not felt very effective on Pharah on control maps, he started off strong against Shanghai, working with LiNkzr on Tracer to make sure the players he damages get picked off on the ground. While Shanghai was able to nab control up to 54 percent, a well-placed Pulse Bomb from LiNkzr enabled Houston to retake control. The Outlaws capped the point with a nicely constructed play by Muma as Winston, who drew the Dragons toward the edge and knocked them off with a Primal Rage.

The Outlaws started point two much the same way, immediately gaining control and then going so far as to push almost to the Dragons’ spawn point. After a few stalled pushes thanks to Jake’s Junkrat grenades, Shanghai mounted a successful coup of the point started by an Undead Deadeye. But the Outlaws’ next attack saw Muma jumping right onto Altering as Mercy, shutting Shanghai off from a Valkyrie and leaving the rest of the team high and dry despite an Orisa ultimate and a McCree ultimate. The Outlaws regained the point and locked it down until the end.

Map Score: Outlaws 2, Dragons 0

Match Score: Outlaws 3, Dragons 0

Map Four: Numbani

As if Houston wasn’t impressive enough on the previous three maps, the Outlaws started out Numbani with a lightning fast take of the first objective, started by Muma’s Winston flattening Shanghai’s Roshan. From there, the payload never really stopped. Jake on Soldier 76 got a three-kill Attack Visor, Muma’s Primal Rage stuffed Shanghai quite literally back into their spawn point and the Outlaws completed the map in perhaps the most one-sided showing so far in the Overwatch League.

On defense, it almost looked like Houston was toying with Shanghai, with Muma using Primal Rage to see just how many players he could knock off the edge of the map. Bani also tried his hand at Battle Mercy, although he was not quite able to pick off Diya’s Pharah. Perhaps it was that distraction from healing that gave Shanghai the opening they needed to take the first objective as time ticked down.

Next: Overwatch League, Week 2 recap: Florida vs. Seoul

Once the payload started on its way, Shanghai was able to push it nearly to the second checkpoint. However, one final frenzied battle saw the Outlaws clearing out the payload. Houston clinches their first Overwatch League win in commanding style.

Map Score: Outlaws 3, Dragons 1

Final Match Score: Outlaws 4, Dragons 0

Player of the Match: Muma, Houston Outlaws