Overwatch League, Week 2 recap: New York Excelsior beats Los Angeles Gladiators to improve to 4-0

Would the Los Angeles Gladiators be able to stop the next Korean team on their schedule?

The New York Excelsior entered their last game of the week having already dispatched a Los Angeles team. Now they would face the other one, whose only loss was at the hands of the most dominant Korean team thus far, the Seoul Dynasty.

For New York, the race was on to see which Korean team would reign supreme in the Overwatch League. For Los Angeles, the race was on to be the first to knock one of those Korean teams down to reality. Their LA counterpart came close earlier in the day, but was unable to follow through. Now it was the Gladiators’ turn.

Map One: El Dorado

Look who’s finally in New York’s starting line up? Instead of waiting until map three to make an appearance, Pine took his place on the stage right from map one. On defense, Pine elected to go with his original hero Widowmaker. On attack, the Gladiators went with Hydration on Pharah and Surefour on the Tracer. Once Surefour engaged New York with the distraction, Hydration went right in, taking out Pine immediately. However, he was not to rule the skies for long as Pine’s first action after getting brought back was to headshot Hydration. Los Angeles had to back out and try again.

With less than a minute remaining, Pine showed off his ridiculous reaction time by catching Surefour in the process of attempting to be a nuisance. Without that distraction, the rest of the Gladiators were unable to gain much ground. With no one able to deal with Pine and with Pine back onto optimal high ground, members of the Gladiators continued to fall to his headshots and the attack faltered without making it to the first checkpoint.

Even with a less than stellar offensive push, Los Angeles entered the defending role knowing that they have held El Dorado in the past. Last time they did it with Hydration on Doomfist, and they elected to try that tact again. But it was a flank by Libero on Genji coupled with a flank by Pine on Tracer that took out the Gladiators’ supports and quickly caused the rest of the defense to fold.

Map Score: Gladiators 0, Excelsior 1

Match Score: Gladiators 0, Excelsior 1

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

On defense, New York restored Saebyeolbe to the roster in place of Pine. The Gladiator tanks immediately attempted to dislodge New York off the high ground while the rest of LA went right to the point. The Excelsior were unable to pivot fast enough before the rest of the team were picked off by Hydration and the Gladiator tanks.

After a quick point A take, Hydration immediately charged onto point B with a Dragonblade. While the push was unsuccessful, LA was able to draw out ArK’s Valkyrie, making it unavailable for the next engagement. The Gladiators’ next to pushes were disrupted by a Libero Dragonblade and Saebyeolbe’s Tracer. Their next attack was much more effective, forcing a resurrection onto New York’s Jjonak while Hydration made a dent with Junkrat’s Riptire. With two ticks on the point, Los Angeles would try one more time. Even though BigGoose’s Mercy got taken out early, Surefour was able to take out Saebyeolbe and ArK. However, as the Gladiators dropped to the objective, Bishu was taken out. Down a tank, LA’s hold started to slip and the fight became frenzied as the map slipped into overtime. A desperation Riptire from Hydration triggered from way back on the map managed to nab two New York players, but the Excelsior never once took a foot off the point. With the control meter a millimeter away from completion, the last Gladiator fell, allowing New York to maintain control of point B.

On attack, New York immediately came out and took the first tick on point A. The Gladiators scrambled back on the point, but it was Jjonak on Zenyatta able to pick off anyone who got too close. After successfully fending off several New York attacks, the Excelsior suddenly took control with a support ultimate advantage, bottling up Hydration right away right at the Gladiators’ spawn. LA’s Shaz would pop his Transcendence in an attempt to contest the point, but with two ticks already firmly in New York’s possession it was only a matter of time before Shaz and the rest of LA were wiped away for the Excelsior win.

Map Score: Gladiators 1, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Gladiators 0, Excelsior 2

Map Three: Oasis

Pine came back in for New York on the control map. While the Gladiators went with a more traditional composition with Hydration on Pharah, the Excelsior decided to go with a heavier composition with Meko on Roadhog and Mano on Orisa. New York was able to grab control first, thanks to an early Bishu de-mech that was finished by a Meko Roadhog hook.

The Gladiators got the point back thanks to a damage-boosted Hydration Rocket Barrage that started right in Pine’s face. With Hydration still in the air, Los Angeles was able to hold strong. In overtime, New York nabbed control of the point once again but only after a lengthy fight with various members of the Gladiators that refused to go away. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, there were never enough members of the team on the point at one time to definitively drive New York back so ultimately it was the Excelsior who took the first point.

New York took Gardens first, but it was Hydration once again with a Rocket Barrage in close quarters that opened the point for the Gladiators to take. Unfortunately, he was caught by an Orisa Halt and a Roadhog hook soon after. But iRemiix unleashing a Primal Rage was able to knock New York back. With 99 percent for the Gladiators on the board, the Excelsior took the point back.

The Gladiators mounted one last furious attack but in the end it was the Excelsior’s Libero cleaning up with a Rocket Barrage and forcing the rest of overtime to burn away.

Map Score: Gladiators 0, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Gladiators 0, Excelsior 3

Map Four: Eichenwalde

Los Angeles was stalled early on attack, but was able to take one tick on the point thanks to a pick from Surefour that drew out New York’s support ultimate earlier than theirs. Libero finally denied the LA push with a multi-kill Rocket Barrage. But undeterred, LA came right back. Mano on D.Va refused to budge off the point even with the Gladiators bearing down, and it was only in overtime that LA managed to fully take the point.

With less than a minute remaining, LA was struggling to push the payload. Overtime found it not even halfway through the second section of the map. With Asher on Tracer zipping back to the payload, Surefour activated his Rocket Barrage onto the objective to give his team more time. But with still so much distance between the payload and the second checkpoint, LA lacked the time and the manpower to keep their presence on cart. The Gladiators’ attack came to an end without making it to the castle.

New York’s attack was extremely successful immediately thanks to Libero taking out Surefour’s Pharah at point blank range, and then following it up with a kill on BigGoose. With over five minutes on the clock, it felt like the Excelsior had a veritable eternity to push the payload to the goal line. Attempts to stall New York early were unsuccessful and at the end it was the Gladiators’ tanks jumping desperately on top of the payload to give the rest of the team time to get there. These efforts only delayed the inevitable, however, and the Excelsior went on to take the map and the sweep.

Next: Overwatch League, Week 2 recap: London Spitfire vs. Dallas Fuel

Map Score: Gladiators 1, Excelsior 2

Final Match Score: Gladiators 0, Excelsior 4

Player of the Match: Meko, New York Excelsior