Overwatch League, Week 4: Houston Outlaws confidently defeat San Francisco Shock

The more the Houston Outlaws play, the better they become.

It took a while for the Outlaws to find enough bricks, but now they have officially finished construction on that green wall all their fans talk about. Houston has dominated their competition since their two losses in week 1, with clean sweeps against every opponent for the last two weeks. However, with LiNkzr out of the roster due to sickness, Houston went into their week 4 opener without a key member of their team.

Standing in Houston’s way at the start of week 4 were the San Francisco Shock, a team in the bottom half of the standings that have had their own moments of brilliance. But the primary Shock experience has been struggle. Not having found their winning combination yet, San Francisco had to do the best they could to keep up with Houston.

Map One: Numbani

San Francisco started on defense with Babybay on Soldier 76. Houston attacked with Jake on Pharah and Rawkus on Soldier 76. The Shock immediately handled the Outlaws’ attack, de-meching Coolmatt quickly with Jake soon following. Houston’s next push was stopped by Babybay’s Attack Visor, but San Francisco also invested a Valkyrie into the fight. With more ults on the side of Houston, the next push was what the Outlaws needed to cap the objective and start pushing the payload.

With the payload moving into the second portion of the map, Jake switched to Soldier 76, building up his Attack Visor fairly quickly but not getting much from it when it was used. The Shock managed to mount a very strong defense on this stretch, preventing the payload from turning the corner to the second checkpoint. With 30 seconds left, Houston finally got the kills to notch the second point.

After the amount of resistance Houston had to cut through to get the first two points, it felt almost easy as they bore down to the last point on the map. Supported by Jake’s Soldier in the back, the Outlaws cruised to the end in overtime.

On defense, Houston kept Jake on Pharah and put Rawkus on Ana as one of the supports. Similar to the Outlaws’ approach, the Shock didn’t make meaningful process on the first objective until they got their Valkyrie and that would be enough to propel them to take the point. As San Francisco moved into the second portion of the map, Houston fumbled their Ana Nano Boost, accidentally applying it to Bani as Mercy. Bani did his best to make the most of his damage-boosted battle Mercy, but Houston unsurprisingly lost the engagement. The Shock took the second checkpoint without too much trouble.

At first, it looked like San Francisco would roll to a quick victory when Bani fell early. However, Houston was able to not just stabilize, but also repel Florida from the payload again and again. With time running out, the Shock mounted a final attack that wavered back and forth between the two teams. Finally, with Nevix on D.Va succumbing to a Pulse Bomb and San Francisco’s stall falling away, Houston grabbed a close victory.

Map Score: Outlaws 3, Shock 2

Match Score: Outlaws 1, Shock 0

Map Two: Temple of Anubis

On defense first, San Francisco set up on the lower, closer platform behind an Orisa shield. Houston attacked with Jake on Tracer and Clockwork on Widowmaker. San Francisco would lose Dhak’s Mercy immediately in the first engagement, but Babybay saved his team on Widowmaker with a couple excellent headshots. However, Houston’s next push also found Dhak quickly and this time Babybay was unable to repeat his performance as he was pressured by the Outlaws. Quickly, Houston would take point A.

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The Outlaws’ first push onto point B was quite decisive, allowing them to build up two solid ticks before they were forced to withdraw, especially after Dhak finally did get and use his Valkyrie in support of the Shock. But it wouldn’t take too much more for them to complete the point, and Houston was able to get it done on their next attack.

Houston mimicked San Francisco with their defensive set up, with Jake on Junkrat raining down his infamous grenades safely behind an Orisa shield. The Shock attacked with a solo-support composition, using that second support slot on the team for a Sombra instead by Sleepy. The EMP when used was decently successful, enabling San Francisco to get two kills. But the kills were resurrected immediately by Bani, and the attack ended in failure. It wasn’t until Sleepy had his EMP again as time ran out that San Francisco got the attack necessary to take the point. Not only did Sleepy land the EMP on several key Houston players, including Bani, but Babybay was able to start the engagement with a quick pick onto Clockwork.

After a couple failed point B pushes, San Francisco had five ultimates at their disposal. Nomy jumped right onto the point with a Primal Rage, and Babybay used his Dragonblade to take out Jake. But Houston had an active Primal Rage on their side as well, which Muma used to target and take out Sleepy on Zenyatta. Dhak also fell again, accelerating the demise of San Francisco’s costly attack.

With time ticking away, it came down to one more push by the Shock and it started off promisingly when both of Outlaws’ supports fell first. But Jake was still alive and in possession of Riptire. That was able to stall long enough for the rest of Houston to flood back onto the point and deny San Francisco any control on the objective.

Map Score: Outlaws 2, Shock 1

Match Score: Outlaws 2, Shock 0

Map Three: Oasis

Starting off on University, Jake would go Junkrat while Clockwork went McCree. Almost immediately, Houston was all over San Francisco and took control after three quick eliminations. But the Shock came back strong. Despite being able to get picks onto the likes of Jake and Muma, San Francisco was slow to convert those kills into objective presence. It’s not until Dhak popped the Valkyrie that the Shock was able to clear the area of the enemy and then flip the point.

The point would flip twice more, with Houston taking it up to 99 percent before San Francisco reclaimed it. Babybay was able to slightly flank Houston as they approached the point, using his Dragonblade to nab Rawkus but falling shortly afterward. Dhak immediately used the Valkyrie to bring him back, another Mercy ultimate that did not get maximum usage. With the Valkyrie out of the way, Houston was able easily get back to the point and cap it.

To start out Gardens, Jake on Pharah immediately knocked two San Francisco players off the high ground with a concussive blast. And while the Shock were able to come back from that with a nice push, they again made the mistake of committing everyone to the pursuit of pushing back the Outlaws instead of focusing on flipping the point. With Jake able to come back to badger the Shock, San Francisco didn’t flip the point until Houston had 57 percent.

However, that point flip ended up being all the Shock would need to take the map. Despite Jake’s rockets, San Francisco was able to keep Houston off the point, skirmishing in the areas around the objective. By the time the Shock were up 99 percent and it was time for the Outlaws to contest, everyone was still on the outskirts and no one was able to reach the objective to force overtime. San Francisco rather easily capped the second point.

Similar to the other two maps, Houston took control of City Center first and this time was able to gain 94 percent before giving it up for the first time. Once San Francisco claimed control, Jake switched to Soldier 76 in an attempt to get something going. However, the Shock never relinquished control and Babybay on McCree rained down bullets onto the Outlaws unchecked. As Houston’s push faltered, Muma attempt to jump onto Babybay to take care of him. As Babybay vacated the high ground, he got a flashbang kill on Muma and smoothly walked onto the objective to finish up Jake. As overtime burned away, Nevix capped San Francisco’s win by sending a Self Destructing D.Va mech flying in the direction of Houston’s spawn.

Map Score: Outlaws 1, Shock 2

Match Score: Outlaws 2, Shock 1

Map Four: El Dorado

San Francisco set up on defensive with their tanks on the rooftop nearest the spawn doors. Houston opened up their attack with an Orisa anchored onto the payload and Jake escorting as Pharah. Clockwork on Widowmaker eased the pressure on Houston quickly by taking out Babybay on an opposing Widow not once but twice. The Outlaws reached the first checkpoint with nary a stutter on the payload.

It’s as the payload reached the courthouse that San Francisco finally pushed Houston back for the first time. With Babybay solidly on the high ground, things started to go the Shock’s way as he took out Clockwork, Rawkus and Jake over and over again. Babybay finally met his end after a snipe was reflected by Jake on Genji back at him, and it was also Jake’s Dragonblade that helped Houston inch the payload closer to the second checkpoint. But it took one more reset and push onto the payload for San Francisco to completely relinquish the second checkpoint.

As the clock ticked down, Houston jumped right into their last push with Muma’s Primal Rage directly targeted at San Francisco’s supports. With Primal Rage zoning out the Shock’s healing, the Outlaws felt like they had an advantage. But with the help of their own ultimates, San Francisco held strong, able to take out Muma soon after the rage ended. The Shock was able to keep the Outlaws from completing the map.

Next: Overwatch League, Week 4: Los Angeles Gladiators keep strong against Florida Mayhem

On offense, San Francisco used a tank-heavy composition with Babybay on Zarya. Houston set up in the courtyard behind Muma’s Orisa shield, with Clockwork on Soldier 76 and Jake on Junkrat. The Shock was committed to the composition, but it was apparent that they were suffering from the lack of damage dealing. In the teams’ first big clash, San Francisco invested their support ultimates and gained no ground from it. With no hero swaps coming in for the Shock and time running out, they mounted one final attack only for it to fall quite flat.

Map Score: Outlaws 2, Shock 0

Final Match Score: Outlaws 3, Shock 1

Player of the Match: Muma, Houston Outlaws