Overwatch League, Week 4: New York Excelsior pummel Shanghai Dragons

After a mixed-bag week, the New York Excelsior look to recenter themselves with a week opening win.

New York is a team that is capable of beating the previously unbeatable Seoul Dynasty and losing to the Philadelphia Fusion in the same week. This makes New York a little hard to figure out. Are they worthy of being named best team in the Overwatch League? Was the blip against the Fusion just that, a little accidentally blip, never to happen again?

Unfortunately, the Shanghai Dragons won’t be the best to figure out New York’s identity against. Despite a strong showing against the very team that took down New York, the Dragons still have much to figure out as a team. And while the maps Shanghai took against Philadelphia probably spoke to the Fusion’s inconsistency than the Dragons’ strength, they are approaching every week and every match as a chance to continually improve as a unit. That’s what a good team must do.

Map One: Eichenwalde

Starting on defense, Shanghai put Diya on Pharah, MG on Roadhog and Undead on Junkrat. New York would attack with Libero on Pharah and Pine on Tracer. The Excelsior easily took the first objective, despite losing a couple players to MG hooks. It’s not until the payload moved past the archway that Shanghai put a solid stop on New York’s forward progress, with a successful Rocket Barrage and Deadeye. The stop was short-lived, as Libero came in with his own Rocket Barrage soon after, completely wiping the map of Shanghai.

Moving into the castle, Pine made an appearance on Zarya. Alongside Libero now on Junkrat, New York steamrolled ahead with minimal resistance. Pine capped the Excelsior attack with a switch onto his infamous McCree, easily clearing the point of the Dragons.

Shanghai would put Diya on Pharah and Undead on McCree on attack. In their first engagement, the Dragons immediately targeted Pine on McCree, with MG pinning him with D.Va against a wall and blasting him with fire until he fell. This was crucial in helping the Dragons start making progress on the objective. Even though members of Shanghai fell, New York made the crucial error of focusing too much on killing the opposition, not on maintaining a presence on the point. As the Excelsior moved off the objective hoping to hunt down members of Shanghai, the rest of the Dragons stayed on the point, allowing them to gain the ground necessary to ultimately cap it.

Undead came alive during the second portion of the map, taking out quite a lot of New York players as the payload moved forward. But with Libero’s help on Pharah, the Dragons were stalled again. The attack finally petered out just outside the doors of the castle.

Map Score: Excelsior 3, Dragons 1

Match Score: Excelsior 1, Dragons 0

Map Two: Temple of Anubis

Shanghai set up their defense on the lower platform, with Diya on Junkrat and Undead on Widowmaker. New York attacked with Pine on Widowmaker and Libero on Genji, and right away jumped down onto the Dragons’ platform. Freefeel fell quickly, and the rest of Shanghai soon followed, helped along by Pine.

As the Excelsior pushed onto point B, New York would strike first again, with Undead’s Tracer falling. A Libero Dragonblade would make that deficit even more pronounced, but Shanghai stopped New York short of entirely taking the point, with an MG Self Destruct and an Undead Pulse Bomb taking out just enough of the Excelsior to force them to retreat.

With room to breathe, Diya switched to Mei. Despite New York entering the next engagement with Libero’s Dragonblade available, Diya’s Cryo-Freeze stopped him in his tracks quite literally and Libero only made it out alive thanks to Jjonak using his Transcendence. New York’s next push didn’t look great on paper, with no support ultimates in the bank, but this time they did lead with Libero’s Dragonblade. The Excelsior capped the point, but the Dragons were able to hold point B for five or so minutes.

Shanghai started attack with Undead on Widowmaker, and he immediately made an impact, eliminating Pine’s Widowmaker in one shot. But MG fell on the push, causing the Dragons to withdraw. The next engagement was long, with picks made on both sides. Even with Libero causing trouble from the side on Junkrat, Shanghai gained solid ground on the objective. New York made one last attempt to hold, boosted by an Orisa Super Charger, but Shanghai did get the job done.

The Dragons were not as fortunate moving onto point B. Confident in their abilities, New York continuously lurked on the rooftops and in the rooms in front of the entrance to the second point, cutting Shanghai off before their attack could even begin. Whether it was Libero on Genji slicing through a Dragon early or Pine on Tracer perfectly placing a Pulse Bomb that took out both support players, the Dragons struggled to even reach the point. They finally did on their last push as time ran out, but New York rebuffed this advance fairly easily, ending the push by using a Primal Rage to casually knock a Death Blossoming Reaper to the side out of harm’s way.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Dragons 1

Match Score: Excelsior 2, Dragons 0

Map Three: Oasis

Shanghai came out strong on University, fending off Pine on McCree to establish a base behind Roshan’s Orisa shield. New York’s next attack wrapped all the way around the point, with Libero on Junkrat attempting and succeeding to take out at least MG with his mines and grenades. But Undead on McCree was unrelenting, taking out Pine, Meko on Roadhog and Jjonak’s Zenyatta in quick succession.

New York took the point on their next push, however, staring at Shanghai’s 99 percent control on the meter. And with both percent meters reaching dangerously high levels, Shanghai made their final attack. Despite investing both their support ultimates, it was New York finding themselves backtracking from the point. Pine used a Deadeye to no effect and tried to reposition on the high ground on the side. MG pursued and with Pine cut off from any healing, Pine’s health was slowly wiled away, resulting in him falling at the hands of Freefeel. Shanghai would take the point and cap it after a quick kill on Jjonak.

The Dragons also started strong on City Center, with Undead continuing his rampage on McCree. Nothing boosts a McCree’s confidence like taking out Pine also on McCree, and that is what Undead was able to do. But this time New York was able to take control earlier, with Shanghai only up to 63 percent. The Excelsior held the point more ruthlessly this time, and Shanghai was never able to take the point back.

With momentum on their side, New York strolled onto Gardens easily to take first control. Looking very much deflated, Shanghai was never able to muster up enough of a push to flip the point. First, it was Pine on Tracer taking out three quick Dragons, and then it was Libero on Solder 76 chasing Shanghai back toward their spawn. The Excelsior convincingly took the last point and the series.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Dragons 1

Match Score: Excelsior 3, Dragons 0

Map Four: El Dorado

It felt a bit like Shanghai had no chance to defend even before the doors of the spawn room opened. Pine ran all the over the map unchecked as Tracer, picking off every player in red that he could find. Undeterred, the Excelsior roll to the first checkpoint.

With one quick Libero Dragonblade, the payload continued to move through the second point of the map. Meanwhile, Pine had free reign to gleefully run far, far forward and badger Shanghai to his heart’s content, managing to take out Diya and Undead in the process of trying to make their way back to the payload. Jjonak got his own eliminations as Zenyatta as he escorted the payload to the second checkpoint.

The cruise through El Dorado didn’t stop as the payload reached the last section of the map. Another Libero Dragonblade parted Shanghai like water, and that was enough to complete the map.

Next: Overwatch League, Week 4: Houston Outlaws cruise to win against San Francisco Shock

Shanghai had a chance to make up their dismal defensive performance on attack, putting Undead on Widowmaker and Diya on Tracer. However, they had Pine on Widowmaker to contend with. The payload barely made it past the archway before the Excelsior pounced, with each member of New York getting their own chance at a highlight-reel performance. With a full hold on El Dorado, New York completed a 4-0 sweep.

Map Score: Excelsior 3, Dragons 0

Final Match Score: Excelsior 4, Dragons 0

Player of the Match: Libero, New York Excelsior