Overwatch League, Week 4: London Spitfire shocks Seoul Dynasty with a 4-0 victory

London and Seoul, two Korean powerhouses, face off in a blockbuster match.

Last week was not particularly kind to Overwatch League’s Korean teams. All of them suffered their first loss, the London Spitfire falling to the Philadelphia Fusion and the Seoul Dynasty tripping up against the New York Excelsior.

But it’s a new week, which gives all of them a chance to rally and try again. For both these teams at the top of the standings, this match will be about putting themselves in a better position for the playoffs not only at the end of Stage 1 but at the end of the season. It will also be about immediate bragging rights, of course, which may be the most important reason of all.

Map One: Numbani

London started the series with a lineup that consisted many new faces: WooHyaL, HaGoPeun and Closer. Seoul also started the series with a few changes, including not starting ryujehong and adding in gido.

On defense, Seoul put Bunny on Tracer, gido on Ana and FLETA on Widowmaker. London attacked with birdring on Tracer and Rascal on Pharah. Despite negating the Spitfire’s first attack, WooHyaL blew things wide open with a Self Destruct on the next push, catch gido and FLETA. After that, London outlasted a Miro Primal Rage, Bunny’s persistent badgering on Tracer and even one last Seoul attempt at a hold to take the objective. However, the Spitfire took a long time to do this, solidifying the point with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

With not much time on the clock, Seoul immediately stiffened on defense, refusing to give London any more ground than necessary. The Spitfire was unable to push the payload to the second checkpoint until the map was already in overtime. With no time to lose, London put everything into continuing to push the payload, with WooHyaL switching over to Roadhog. Despite his hooks and heroics, FLETA rained down just enough damage to wipe London off the payload, ending their attack run short of the last point.

Moving to defense, London put birdring on Widowmaker and Rascal on Junkrat. Meanwhile, FLETA started on Pharah while Bunny remained on Pharah. After gido was downed early as Zenyatta, he switched to Soldier 76 and that added DPS power was what Seoul needed to gash the defense wide open, taking out first HaGoPeun, then birdring. However, just when the Dynasty thought they had the point to themselves, Gesture jumped back on the objective to contest it. Suddenly, it was Seoul looking discombobulated and as more of the Spitfire came back to the point, less of the Dynasty remained to fight them off. Unbelievably, London wrenched back the point from Seoul mere moments from conceding it.

The Dynasty had time to mount one last attack in an attempt to gain the tick that they were missing, but it was not to be. Rascal came alive on Junkrat, ripping through Seoul’s rank and even pulling his Riptire just for fun as overtime expired and his team notched the first map win.

Map Score: Spitfire 2, Dynasty 0

Match Score: Spitfire 1, Dynasty 0

Map Two: Temple of Anubis

Seoul set themselves up on defense on the high ground with Orisa, putting Bunny on Widowmaker while FLETA played Junkrat. This was a bit unusual, as FLETA  was a known killer on Widowmaker, but FLETA held down the fort just fine as Junkrat. Bunny also did his fair share of damage, pushing London back multiple times.

Just when it looked like another attack would fall apart, the Spitfire positioned themselves onto the point while a resurrected Profit sliced through three members of Seoul. It was the opening they needed, and London moved right ahead to point B.

With birdring switching to Reaper, the Spitfire looked strong pushing onto the second point. Almost immediately, Seoul was sent scrambling. FLETA tried to contain birdring with a Riptire used solely on him, but birdring entered his wraith form at just the right time. Seoul then tried throwing a Self Destruct onto the point to drive London away, but the Spitfire merely ducked into the alcove

London set up their defense on the lower platform, with birdring alone on the high ground further back. Seoul attacked with gido on Ana and FLETA on Genji. The Dynasty immediately struggled, with birdring first getting snipes that faltered the push and then FLETA getting downed by Profit on Junkrat. Tobi wastefully used his Valkyrie to resurrect FLETA, but he was eliminated immediately with the resurrected FLETA soon to follow.

Struggling, Bunny switched onto Widow in an attempt to contest birdring, but every attempt at that would fail. With time running out, Seoul jumped onto the point desperately without their Valkyrie. FLETA attempted to make up for it with a Dragonblade, but was unable to make anything of it in the time given. The furious engagement between London and Seoul continued on well after supports from both teams had expired, but the Spitfire ultimately came out on top when Profit downed the remaining Dynasty tanks on the point. London moved out to a 2-0 lead in the series with the impressive full hold on Anubis.

Map Score: Spitfire 2, Dynasty 0

Match Score: Spitfire 2, Dynasty 0

Map Three: Ilios

Moving onto the third map, London switched out four of the six players on the starting lineup, ensuring that they would keep it fresh against Seoul.

Starting out on Lighthouse, FLETA took to the skies on Pharah. With Tobi on Lucio and gido on Mercy, the Dynasty barreled onto the point right away. And with the point safely within Seoul’s grasp, FLETA felt free to push forward and rain rockets down on London as they attempted to push up to the point. However, even as FLETA flew through the air, the Spitfire rallied to rush the point, pushing Seoul off.

The resulting battle was tremendous and fierce, with the point switching control a couple of times. With London up 99 percent, FLETA got two with his Rocket Barrage, allowing Seoul to wedge themselves just enough onto the point to take it back. As the Dynasty’s own percentage rose dangerously high, the teams clashed for one final engagement for the win. Back and forth the war raged until finally it was the Spitfire retaining control and winning the map.

Moving onto Ruins, FLETA moved onto Widowmaker and immediately took out Nus on Mercy, giving Seoul control of the point first. But it’s London’s Widowmaker Hooreg that made the most impact, taking out FLETA, then gido, then both Seoul supports as they came back to the fight. That damage allowed the Spitfire to flip the point.

Seoul managed to fight their way back onto the point and held onto it long enough for their control to hit 99 percent. But London came right back. As the last fight commenced, supports from both teams were taken out very early, leaving it all up to the DPS players. Never able to get solid footing onto the objective, Bunny was pushed back and eliminated. With their last foe vanquished, London swept the third map as well, assuring themselves the match victory.

Map Score: Spitfire 2, Dynasty 0

Match Score:  Spitfire 3, Dynasty 0

Map Four: El Dorado

Seoul put FLETA on Soldier 76 and Bunny on Tracer to defend. London attacked with Profit on Hanzo and birdring on Tracer. The Dynasty set up with their tanks on the near rooftops, jumping down to lay down initial damage before jumping away. Seoul did suffer two close calls with Bunny getting cornered by WooHyaL and FLETA nearly getting reamed by birdring, but both escaped to the courtyard.

Seoul’s defense crumbled quickly in the courtyard, but before the payload could reach the checkpoint they bounced back. Suddenly, Valkyries, Primal Rages and Profit’s Dragonblade were used as both teams committed to the fight. Eventually, the Dynasty fell away to give the Spitfire the first checkpoint.

Profit’s Dragonblade was put to better use as London moved through the second portion of the map, jumping up and onto the high ground to surprise gido’s Zenyatta. Easily enough, the Spitfire found themselves in possession of the second checkpoint as well. From there, Profit helped clear the way again with another Dragonblade and even a couple kills into the Spitfire backline was not enough to take the wind out of the sails of London. With over two minutes still on the clock, Seoul ran out of people to throw at the payload and London cruised to the finish.

On defense, London had birdring on Widowmaker and Profit on Junkrat. Seoul’s first engagement with London started poorly, with Tobi falling early, but they did not disengage. Continuing to push forward, Seoul was able to take out several members of London while also getting thinned out themselves. Unfortunately for Seoul, London’s tanks were still alive and actively stalling the payload to make sure it would make no progress. With the rest of the team returning, Seoul was finally able to make the room to take the first checkpoint.

Thanks to FLETA and Bunny, the Dynasty made it to the second checkpoint as well. And as the payload moved into the last checkpoint, Bunny made a hero play, dashing through a Transcendence to stick his Pulse Bomb onto Closer’s Mercy. But even as Bunny made that crucial pick, the Transcendence healing kept the rest of London strong and the payload sat there stalled for more precious seconds. Ultimately, the Spitfire repelled the Dynasty, forcing Seoul to quickly reset.

Next: Overwatch League, Week 4: New York Excelsior cruise to victory over Shanghai Dragons

With time running down, Seoul came in Profit swinging his Dragonblade. He was able to take out Closer, but it just wasn’t enough. The rest of London bore down onto Seoul, repelling them for a final time to cap their clean 4-0 sweep.

Map Score: Spitfire 3, Dynasty 2

Final Match Score: Spitfire 4, Dynasty 0

Player of the Match: Gesture, London Spitfire