Overwatch League, Week 3: New York Excelsior wrestles down undefeated Seoul Dynasty

New York and Seoul meet in the Overwatch League’s first Korean team showdown.

Thursday was not the day for Korean teams. On Thursday, both the New York Excelsior and the London Spitfire suffered their first losses of the season. While humbling for the Korean teams in the league, it also elevated one of them onto an unchallenged pedestal: The Seoul Dynasty was now the only undefeated team in the Overwatch League.

So going into this big matchup, the pressure was all on the Dynasty to stay perfect and stay on top. The Excelsior’s role was to play spoiler, and play they did.

Map One: Eichenwalde

New York would start on defense, electing to go with Pharah on Libero to badger from above and Mano on Orisa to hold down the objective supported by Meko on Roadhog. Seoul came out with FLETA as the opposing Pharah. The first engagement saw both teams trading picks and New York holding. The second engagement went much the same way, just with a few ultimates used in the process. With Valkyrie coming in for Seoul in the next push and Yuki popping his Primal Rage, the Dynasty batted the Excelsior off the point and took it.

FLETA ensured the payload moved freely around the corner thanks to multiple Widowmaker headshots. But he was also New York’s first target on their next defensive wave, with Meko on D.Va flying straight at him and taking him out. And suddenly, it was New York holding strong and ramping up the pressure on Seoul as time ticked away. A Libero Dragonblade triggered in close quarters made the Dynasty’s situation even more desperate. As overtime hit, it was only Munchkin on Tracer left standing on the payload. He snuck it forward for as long as he could before New York took him out, holding Seoul from taking the second checkpoint.

On attack, the Excelsior absolutely overwhelmed the Dynasty immediately, with Libero on Pharah raining death everywhere. In no time at all, New York was pushing the payload forward. The Excelsior were briefly stopped by FLETA picking off a couple teammates, but the rest of the map was all New York. With the payload bearing down on the goal line, it took everything Seoul had to get their team on it to contest. At one point it looked like the Dynasty would win the fight, with a five-man advantage. But New York never yielded, never relented, and in the end it was a three-kill Libero Dragonblade that turned the tide for the Excelsior as the rest of the New York team arrived at the payload. The remaining Seoul tanks quickly fell and it was New York taking the win on map one.

Map Score: Dynasty 1, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Dynasty 0, Excelsior 1

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

New York would defend first, going with the traditional high-ground defense behind an Orisa, feating Sabyeolbe on Widowmaker and Libero on Junkrat. Seoul’s first push was stopped immediately by that Junkrat, as his grenades took out Munchkin’s Tracer. So the Dynasty would pause to regroup and their next push was marginally more successful. Able to take a tick on the point, Seoul was unable to get a significant enough man advantage to hold the point. It wasn’t until the next attack that the Dynasty would be able to finish out point A, with a ryujehong EMP helping out his teammates.

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Seoul took a tick on point B also thanks to a ryujehong EMP, which allowed him to quickly take out Jjonak. But with Seoul’s Tobi going down in the fight, the Dynasty were unable to cap the point. They found success on their next push, which opened with FLETA managing to get a flashbang and kill onto Libero, who was standing underneath the platform he was standing on. This time, Tobi was able to pop the Valkyrie, negating FLETA’s death-by-Pulse-Bomb and propelling him to rampage all over the point. All it took was Munchkin cleaning up the reamining members of Excelsior for the Dynasty to get the second point.

New York rolled in strong on attack, with Jjonak on Moira storming in with four big tanks. In no time at all, Jjonak had Moira’s Coalescence and the Excelsior claimed point A. As expected, New York stormed right ahead to point B. Saebyeolbe on Roadhog snagged the first devastating kill on FLETA. Tobi fell soon after. Already, the Dynasty found themselves in desperation defense mode, attempting to use the Transcendence to stall while impatiently waiting for the respawns to come in. Soon enough, there were no more respawns to contest and New York got the second point with more than a three-minute advantage on the time bank.

On attack again, Seoul took point A much quicker this time than in their previous attempt. Libero stalled their move onto point B with a big multi-kill Riptire. On Seoul’s next push, it was FLETA getting on the high ground with Widowmaker and getting the crucial picks necessary to clear the point. With just seconds remaining, the Dynasty easily capped point B as well.

New York stuck with the Moira on their attack but put Saebyeolbe on Widowmaker this time in the hope that he would be able to get a first pick to make their jobs easier. That did not happen, but that ended up not mattering. Libero on Roadhog stampeded through the objective, landing hooks and point-blank shotgun hits on anyone within his grasp.

Seoul stabilized on point B, managing to push back multiple New York attempts to take the point. But it wasn’t to last. The best the Dynasty could do was whittle away as much time on the clock as possible before New York also took point B.

So around the teams went again. This time, Seoul would only have a minute to get as much progress as possible, but they certainly made the most of that time. New York stalled them at first with a quick pick onto Kuki, but Seoul would recover nicely. Ryujehong on Sombra was able to run into the point and hack Saebyeolbe. He would eventually go down to an incredibly lucky Libero Roadhog hook while he was running around invisible. However, Ryujehong’s death wouldn’t slow the Dynasty. FLETA got some late kills and Tobi returned to the fight to resurrect enough teammates for Seoul to take point A.

Now with only 30 seconds left, Seoul had to keep moving onto point B. FLETA once again was able to land a couple of headshots, but Libero stopped them cold with a huge Dragonablde that took down nearly everyone on the Dynasty.

New York had 90 more seconds than Seoul on their attack, and chose to go with the heavy tank composition that worked so well the first time. This time, however, it backfired. With FLETA able to do so much damage as Junkrat, he got his Riptire within seconds and used it to take down the only target that really mattered — Moira. Without that massive amount of healing, New York’s push was all but over. However the Excelsior insisted on sustaining the attack, wasting precious seconds. When they finally did reset, New York changed to a dive composition and despite the ultimate meter disadvantage, they came out strong. The Dynasty fell back and thinned out, with Tobi getting taken out after being staggered. It looked like an all but won fight, but suddenly all of Seoul was back on the point with a Transcendence in hand to sustain them. Just like that, the Dynasty pushed the Excelsior out of the point to secure an incredible, improbable win.

Map Score: Dynasty 5, Excelsior 4

Match Score: Dynasty 1, Excelsior 1

Map Three: Oasis

Surprisingly, New York elected to not switch Pine into the team for the control point. Right out the gate, Seoul established themselves as a presence on the point, taking it first. FLETA on Pharah pressured the Excelsior back torward their spawn, taking Jjonak out in close quarters in the process. But New York would keep the point competitive.

Back and forth the point went, with whichever team with the support ultimate advantage winning the fight. With control at 99 percent for both teams, it was Saebyeolbe on Tracer getting the last kills on the map for New York and Excelsior would walk away with a hard-earned first point.

New York took the point on University first, with Jjonak managing to snipe Tobi as Zenyatta. But Jjonak is also the first to fall on Seoul’s next push, with Libero falling shortly after. That’s enough for Dynasty to claim the point for their own. As New York moved back onto the point, Jjonak would be taken out again by FLETA on Junkrat. That started a very long engagement with picks landed and ultimates used on both sides. It was the Dynasty standing strong in the end, sustaining through many deadly Excelsior ultimates. Mysteriously, New York never made one last push to contest despite the fact that it was clear they were preparing for it. The Dynasty would hit 100 percent control and take point two.

So the map would go to City Center, which saw New York taking ownership first. By winning the next fight, New York would take a huge lead on ultimates. With three fourths of the control meter already gone New York’s way, Seoul returned to take the point. However, Seoul never completely cleared New York, simply pushed them back. So as the Dynasty gained some ground, the Excelsior immediately challenged their hold. Soon enough, Saebyeolbe was able to get the picks necessary to switch the point back in the Excelsior’s favor, and with only five percent to go, it wasn’t long before New York took the point and the map.

Map Score: Dynasty 1, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Dynasty 1, Excelsior 2

Map Four: Junkertown

On defense, New York set themselves up back behind all the structures at the beginning of the map in the more open area. It was a risk, as a lost fight here would mean no chance to defend again before the payload reached the checkpoint, but the risk paid off for New York who was able to stall two Seoul pushes onto the payload. The Dynasty’s next push seemed very successful at first, pushing New York out of position and separating them into smaller separate fights but Saebyeolbe on Widowmaker came up huge with two headshots to stall Seoul once again. It’s not until the clock was already in overtime that the Dynasty got to the first checkpoint.

Moving through the second section of the map, New York was able to set up behind an Orisa shield on the high ground. With another early pick, the Excelsior stalled the Dynasty from making a cohesive push until the last second. With almost every single member of the Dynasty dropping, it looked like their life was over, but an incredible stall by Zunba out of mech allowed for the rest of Seoul to come back to the payload for a second chance. Then it was Seoul looking like they would be able to push to the second checkpoint, with FLETA executing a deadly Dragonblade. But the Excelsior flipped the switch on the Dynasty once again, taking out everyone around FLETA and finally FLETA himself to secure the payload before it could get to the next checkpoint.

Seoul set up just before the second archway but was immediately forced back. Both sides attempted to gain an advantage, resulting in traded picks. The engagement definitively ended when New York’s Ark was felled, and the Excelsior had to back up to regroup with their Mercy. Their next push saw Saebyeolbe attempting to flank Seoul’s backline to get a good pick as Widowmaker, but he was caught out and killed. Ark would use the Valkyrie in an attempt to resurrect both him and the rest of his team, but was killed mid-ult. That would push New York back again.

With 30 seconds left, New York would make their last push. FLETA immediately took out a New York tank. With Excelsior members falling left and right, overtime burned out quickly to give Seoul the series-tying win.

Map Score: Dynasty 1, Excelsior 0

Match Score: Dynasty 2, Excelsior 2

Map Five: Lijiang Tower

It was only fitting for this flashy matchup to come down to a fifth map. Once again Pine did not make an appearance for New York on this last control point. Starting on Night Market, New York had Libero on Pharah, attempting to get pressure on Seoul on the outside around the objective. Though Tobi fell early, FLETA and ryujehong worked together to take out two New York members and grab the point first.

With control of the point lost, Libero switched onto Genji. That wouldn’t make an immediate difference, with FLETA locking down the objective on Soldier 76. New York’s next attack also looked doomed, with Saebyeolbe stalking Ark to ensure his death. However, Jjonak was busy on the point, taking down three from Seoul. With that, New York would get the point.

Seoul would use nearly everything in their toolkit to take the point back with New York up at 97 percent. But as Seoul reached 99 percent, New York switched it right back and locked it up for the first map win.

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Moving onto the Garden, New York took the point first. FLETA on Pharah helped Seoul take the point back with a big Rocket Barrage right onto the objective. But Mano came right back for New York and took down three with a Primal Rage. With New York’s control meter up in the 80s, the Excelsior took the fight to the Dynasty, preventing them from even crossing the bridge to the objective. Seoul was barely able to send someone to the point to contest and by that point it was too late. New York brushed them off and pulled off a stunning victory.

Map Score: Dynasty 0, Excelsior 2

Final Match Score: Dynasty 2, Excelsior 3

Player of the Match: Saebyeolbe, New York Excelsior