Overwatch League, Week 2: New York Excelsior is too much for Los Angeles Valiant

For these two Overwatch League teams, the battle for the top continues.

New York Excelsior vs. Los Angeles Valiant was a matchup between two stacked rosters looking to remain undefeated. New York came by their wins courtesy of the Boston Uprising and the Houston Outlaws. Los Angeles rose to the top by beating the San Francisco Shock and the Dallas Fuel.

With the likes of Pine, Saebyeolbe and Jjonak on one side pitted against Soon, Agilities and Silkthread, the battle to stay unbeaten was underway.

Map One: Junkertown

On attack first, New York did complete the map but it took a while. It took all the time they were given, in fact. For the Valiant, Agilities stepped up on Junkrat to execute amazingly effective Riptires. But Jjonak on Bastion also used his ultimates well, taking out key members of LA to keep the New York push going.

New York mounted a stout initial defense, holding even with LA able to get a pick here and there. It wasn’t until the Valiant took out the shields of Excelsior that they were able to make significant progress, and Soon’s Bastion ultimate put the period on their push to the first checkpoint.

One the second portion of the map, New York held strong again thanks to their tanks and a Libero Junkrat ult that made its way to LA’s Unkoe on Mercy. As time ticked away, New York’s defense only got stronger, preventing Soon from getting in optimal Bastion position. Meko on D.VA locked down the area, able to get a full elimination on Soon even as he was de-meched. With Unkoe also falling to Meko during LA’s last push, the payload was stopped and New York took the map.

Map Score: Excelsior 3, Valiant 1

Match Score: Excelsior 1, Valiant 0

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

As opposed to their previous slow start, New York blasted through point A on their first attack, thanks to Moira having their tanks’ backs. The take was so complete and quick that no ultimates were used, giving them nice weapons in stock for point B. However, the Valiant were not keen on giving any more ground. LA’s Silkthread came alive on Genji, and the entrance New York took to the point, members of the Valiant were there to dive on top of them. The Excelsior was unable to take point B.

Unfortunately for LA, their point B stand wouldn’t be enough for them to take the map. The Valiant struggled to deal with an Excelsior Orisa shield that ate up too much of the damage they dealt. The Valiant also had poor positioning in the situations where they did make it onto the objective, and even with Unkoe’s Valkyrie, they were unable to make any progress on the point. New York won the map with a full hold.

Map Score: Excelsior 1, Valiant 0

Match Score: Excelsior 2, Valiant 0

Map Three: Oasis

Moving onto the control map of the series, New York welcomed Pine to the stage in place of Saebyeolbe. Right off the bat, Meko on Roadhog and Pine on McCree started to track down enemies. Pine didn’t start headhunting right away, but soon enough he was able to find LA players lurking in ones and twos in the hallways around the objective. It’s in those situations where he is most dangerous, and he certainly didn’t disappoint here, sniping off Soon, Kariv and Unkoe.

However, with New York threatening at 99 percent, LA wrenched the point back. Very smartly, Silkthread made it a point to slice apart Pine first before using any sort of Dragonblade, and while that move did buy his team time it just wasn’t enough. Silkthread met his end courtesy of a McCree bullet in the back of his head, and New York regained control to cap the point.

On Gardens, New York once again took the point first but wouldn’t maintain control for too long. With Silkthread once again doing his best to negate both Pine and Mano on Orisa, LA managed to build a control meter of 76 percent before giving the point up again. As expected, Pine ruined LA’s subsequent push by stunning and killing Unkoe on Zenyatta, and then connecting with Silkthread’s dome via a Deadeye. Meanwhile, Meko shredded through the rest of LA through the rooms around the point

However, LA’s next push was much more successful and with both teams’ control meters up to 99 percent, what resulted was a furious engagement featuring Silkthread using a Dragonblade to take out New York’s Mercy, but getting downed by Pine. In the end, LA was able to close out the point, forcing the map to go to a final third round.

This time, LA nabbed the point first but it wouldn’t stay LA’s for long. Once New York took the point, they positioned themselves forward of the point and put down Orisa’s Supercharger. With this strong placement allowing them to build up their control percentage, New York didn’t have to fend off LA for long nor did they really need to with Pine once again acting as clean up crew.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Valiant 1

Match Score: Excelsior 3, Valiant 0

Map Four: Numbani

Going into the last map, New York went on attack first with Saebyeolbe back in the lineup. With one strong push, the Excelsior took the first objective. Jjonak on Zenyatta helped push the payload through the second checkpoint with some impressive picks, and then it was Libero catching three LA players with his Attack Visor as the payload bore down on the finish line. LA made one final stand right in front of their spawn room doors, but it was too little too late.

The Valiant struggled mightily to take the first objective, but LA’s Envy helped them get there by taking out New York’s Mercy with his Self Destruct. Without the support, New York lost their hold over the point, even though a few of them did run in to make the point capture take as long as possible. Thanks to Silkthread on Pharah, LA kept the payload moving to the second point. Then it was Soon on Tracer poking New York on all sides as the payload moved toward the end. LA’s final push found success on the back of Silkthread, now as Soldier who, despite a Transcendence and Winston’s shielding, was able to do enough damage to clear New York away from the payload.

Next: Overwatch League, Week 2 recap: Houston vs. Shanghai

With both teams having completed the map, Numbani moved into time bank rounds but because LA finished with no time left, all New York needed was one tick on the first objective to get the win. The Excelsior mounted their best attack, but it was the Valiant who ended up with the impressive hold.

Map Score: Excelsior 3, Valiant 3

Final Match Score: Excelsior 3, Valiant 0

Player of the Match: Meko, New York Excelsior