Overwatch League, Week 4: London Spitfire easily sweep Shanghai Dragons

The London Spitfire are on a roll, but can’t afford to let up if they want to stay at the top of the standings.

The Spitfire dazzled the Overwatch League with their stunning sweep of the Seoul Dynasty on Thursday. With that win, they’ve positioned themselves second overall in the current standings, well within the playoff zone.

But if there’s anything that Overwatch League teams want, it’s to be the best, not the second best. London needs to continue to win in order to keep pace with the New York Excelsior. That means not dropping any more maps than necessary.

If the Spitfire could sweep the Dynasty, logic dictates that they should be able to also sweep the Dragons. But the Dragons wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Map One: Eichenwalde

On defense first, London played Hooreg on Pharah and Profit on Tracer. Shanghai also attacked with Diya on a Pharah, supported on the ground by Undead on McCree. Right away, Profit started causing major problems for Shanghai, first nabbing Undead and Freefeel with a Pulse Bomb and then sweeping through the Dragons even as Shanghai was making progress toward getting the London kills they needed to take the point. With time running out, WooHyaL dropped a Self Destruct right onto the point to zone Shanghai away from the objective, but it almost seemed unnecessary. There was not a Shanghai soul anywhere close to the point to even make use of the overtime.

After the full hold, Shanghai had the herculean task of preventing London from taking even a tick on the first point. The Spitfire jumped right into the fray, with WooHyaL aggressively laying down D.Va fire, unconcerned with Diya’s rockets coming from above. And even as Shanghai took down London’s own Pharah, Profit and the rest of the tanks were undeterred. The constant pressure on the point soon paid off as Shanghai backed away. Just a couple seconds was all London needed to get the first tick and win the map.

Map Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 1

Match Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 1

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

London brought birdring back into the roster to play Widowmaker as they set up for defense on Horizon. Fury was also subbed in and immediately started decimating the ranks of Shanghai as Roadhog. Shanghai attacked with Undead on Sombra supported by Lucio and Moira, but outside of getting a tick on the point right away, the attack did not work. Once London dropped down to the point, the Dragons were pushed drastically out of position and the rest of the engagement consisted of the Spitfire nabbing kills while Shanghai sloppily sent in whatever respawns were available in a poorly executed attempt to retain the slim amount of point control they had.

As time ticked down, half of Shanghai was waiting to respawn while the other half had retreated back toward point B. As the Dragons from spawn started to push up to start their last attack, Profit foiled all of their plans with a huge two-kill Riptire right into the support players. Shanghai’s attack ended with just under two ticks of control on the first point.

This meant that the Dragons would once again essentially need to full hold the Spitfire in order to have a chance to win. HaGoPeun on Sombra and Profit on Tracer rushed onto the point to start London’s attack, but were unable to get much out of the push with birdring falling to Undead’s Widowmaker. The next attack was much more successful, as HaGoPeun landed his EMP on a vast majority of the bunched up Dragons. Profit seized the opportunity to land a huge Pulse Bomb, and with that the first point was London’s to take.

Map Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 1

Match Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 2

Map Three: Ilios

The control map started on Ruins, which meant Hooreg and Undead would both attack the point on Widowmaker. Shanghai got off to a great start, not only taking the point first but also cutting through London’s next attack thanks to Diya’s excellent Tracer play. Undead continued help the Dragons build control percentage, getting several headshots. When London finally did flip the point, Shanghai was at 99 percent.

Because the Spitfire were building their percent control from scratch, the Dragons had plenty of time to reset and return. However, their engagement went poorly and despite investing many ultimates into the fight, including both from supports, Shanghai left without the point in hand. Hooreg did a tremendous job of supporting the rest of his teammates by nailing headshots with Widowmaker, and as London reached 99 percent and the overtime wick started to burn, it was Hooreg who got the last snipe to clear the point of Shanghai’s presence.

Moving onto the Well, Shanghai took control first and once again started off with a fantastic hold of the point. It’s not until they were up 89 percent that London was finally able to get the eliminations necessary to flip the point. And just as before, Shanghai’s attempt to regain control took too long and netted too little. Even as picks were traded, members of London like Profit refused to fall which meant the Spitfire’s presence on the point never wavered. Profit gleefully sank round after round into Shanghai’s tanks to build up his Pulse Bomb, which he would then use to great effect. Overtime added nothing to Shanghai’s push and London took the map.

Map Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 2

Match Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 3

Map Four: Junkertown

On defense, London had Profit on Junkrat and birdring on Widowmaker. Shanghai attacked with Freefeel on Bastion, Xushu on Roadhog and Undead on his own Widowmaker. Picks were traded back and forth, but with Xushu unable to follow through with his hook onto Nus as London’s Mercy Shanghai eventually found themselves backing up to regroup.

Shanghai’s next attack was mostly stopped thanks to the efforts of WooHyaL on Roadhog, who was never targeted by the Dragons which meant he was damaged but never brought down. With Nus constantly healing him, WooHyaL was able to cut through almost every single member of the Dragons. He also saved his Whole Hog to use as the clock ticked down into overtime, pushing all Dragons back from the payload. Overtime came to an end quickly, with London standing tall all around the payload.

The Dragons found themselves for one last time in a difficult defensive situation, essentially forced to hold the choke point in the first area of Junkertown. Profit remained on Junkrat and WooHyaL remained on Roadhog as they moved forward behind the Orisa shield. After traded picks, London backed off momentarily to pick up fallen teammates and as the battle for the payload continued, Profit made the first huge play by taking out both Shanghai supports with two quick mines. Somehow, the Shanghai tanks prevented themselves from getting stampeded and the Dragons had time to regroup.

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But one more push was all London needed. After waiting out a Transcendence, London triggered a WooHyaL Self Destruct that caught at least one Shanghai player. That caused the Valkyrie to come out for the Dragons. But to combat that, Gesture dropped down a Super Charger. With all their damage getting boosted, the Dragons were mown down and the payload rolled right to the goal line.

Map Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 1

Match Score: Dragons 0, Spitfire 4

Player of the Match: Profit, London Spitfire