Overwatch League, Week 4: New York Excelsior down the Dallas Fuel
The New York Excelsior look better than ever.
With the toppling of the Seoul Dynasty on Thursday night, the Excelsior rocketed to the top of the Overwatch League standings. Barring any major disasters, they would be participating in the end-of-stage playoffs next Saturday. But after a convincing 4-0 sweep by London earlier in the day, New York found themselves also needing a sweep of their own to stay competitive with the Spitfire. If the Excelsior wanted to take the top seed and get a first round playoff bye, they would need to be perfect.
The Fuel has continued to struggle, unable to quite find their rhythm despite bold and creative attacks. Dallas’ moments of brilliance were almost always overshadowed by their moments of disjointedness. The Fuel would need to be at the best to be able to go up against a polished team like the New York Excelsior.
Map One: Numbani
Saebyeolbe returned to the starting roster for New York and immediately took the role of Tracer on their defense. Jjonak went on Ana while Libero flew through the skies on Pharah. Dallas started their attack with Mickie on Roadhog, but he was unable to do anything as the Fuel was completely swamped in the doorway of the low ground by Libero and Jjonak.
Dallas tried again with Mickie on D.Va and Taimou on Soldier 76 and found much more success. After getting the first tick, the Fuel was forced to retreat as both supports met their end. Coming right up the gut, Dallas opened the fight with Mickie sending in a Self Destruct that caught Libero. This helped them get the second tick, but Meko refused to relinquish the point. Getting healed up by his Mercy, Meko barreled over Effect, Chipshajen on Mercy and nearly took out HarryHook on Zenyatta as well. With no time left on the clock, Dallas was able to only contest overtime briefly before their attack was ended.
So the Fuel went on defense needing to prevent the Excelsior from taking the first point, but their defense fell apart in record time. With New York able to take out both Dallas supports immediately, the Fuel had nothing to sustain them through the resulting fight. Very quickly, New York capped the point and won the map.
Map Score: Fuel 0, Excelsior 1
Match Score: Fuel 0, Excelsior 1
Map Two: Temple of Anubis
New York set up their defense on the lower platform with Saebyeolbe on Widowmaker and Libero on Junkrat. Dallas jumped onto them with Effect on Tracer and Taimou on the opposing Widowmaker. With a failed first attempt, the Fuel took one tick on the next. Just when it looked like Dallas would be able to get a bit more, Meko took out both their supports, stopping the Fuel.
Dallas committed to the next fight with Mickie’s Self Destruct to start them off. With most of New York concerned with taking Mickie out, Dallas was able to use their diverted attention to take out a few themselves. It resulted in the Fuel capping point A and moving forward.
Taimou finally made an impact as Dallas rushed point B, able to get a few New York kills to give the rest of his team space to take two ticks. Effect then switched to Reaper for their next push and it was the hero they needed. He seemed literally and figuratively untouchable, walking back and forth on the objective to greet all New York respawns with his shotguns. His biggest play was the Death Blossom he triggered within the close quarters left of the objective, which killed Ark on Mercy. Very quickly, Dallas capped the second point.
Moving onto defense, Dallas also set up behind an Orisa shield on the lower platform and very convincingly pushed back New York’s first attempt. But as the rest of his team withdrew, Saebyeolbe stayed forward, sneaking around the Dallas backline. As New York attacked again, Saebyeolbe made his move, zipping right into the ranks of Dallas and causing them to fall back off the platform. Right away, he followed up with a couple Dallas kills and with that New York took the first point.
The Excelsior’s first push looked successful at first blush, with Libero slashing and hacking all over the point. But HarryHook landed a perfect Transcendence during Libero’s Dragonblade, and that combined with a Taimou EMP prevented New York from truly getting lethal in the push. The next fight went much the same way, with Libero blazing through two Dragonblades in total in an attempt to help his team clear the point. But Dallas did a fantastic job of ensuring there was always one player on the point at all times. With another EMP, Dallas pushed New York back once again.
The Excelsior finally had the Fuel in a compromised position on the next push, especially after Saebyeolbe stuck a Pulse Bomb right onto Chips. With no support ults up for Dallas, all they had were more delay tactics before New York capped the point. However, even that was valuable, as New York’s available time for the time bank rounds ended up much less than Dallas’.
On attack again, New York’s first attempt was stopped short with Saebyeolbe on Tracer getting picked off. But he then switched to Widowmaker and wasted no time getting his team the crucial picks necessary to push forward. With HarryHook and Chips gone, Dallas collapsed immediately. New York then moved onto point B and after catching Taimou first, the Excelsior very quickly took the second point as well.
For their attack, Dallas was stalled again and again, de-meching Mickie immediately every time the D.Va showed her face. Meko also moved forward on Roadhog, taking out two Dallas Fuel members with hooks. But the Fuel finally rallies together to jump onto the point. In an attempt to help his team sustain, Ark triggered his Valkyrie for New York, but HarryHook sniped Ark right out of the sky. Mickie cleaned up the remaining members of New York and Dallas took point A.
With not much time left, Dallas attacked point B and immediately got off to a great start with Effect getting a Pulse Bomb stuck to Ark coming out of spawn. Suddenly it was New York using all stalling tactics available, but they just were not enough to keep Dallas away. In overtime, the Fuel capped point B.
So Anubis would go into another set of time bank rounds, each team with a minute. Dallas would again set up on the lower platform to defend. After shirking off New York’s first attack, the Excelsior mounted a furious push in overtime. Thanks to a huge Saebyeolbe Pulse Bomb, New York charged through and eventually took the first point.
Despite missing his next Pulse Bomb, Saebyeolbe helped New York start the second point off strong by cutting apart HarryHook as he left the spawn room. After both teams’ Valkyries, Libero laid down more damage with a Dragonblade. Before long, New York was capping point B once again.
Dallas attacked one more time with Taimou on Junkrat and Effect on Tracer. With New York set up farther back on the point, Dallas had a difficult time of quickly assessing the situation to decide how best to attack. Time was a commodity the Fuel just didn’t have. And just as they started to engage, New York’s tanks jumped on Taimou, eliminating him as he was separated from the rest of his team. From there it was just clean up work for the Excelsior to finally take Anubis.
Map Score: Fuel 5, Excelsior 6
Match Score: Fuel 0, Excelsior 2
Map Three: Oasis
As usual, Pine subbed in for Saebyeolbe as the series moved to the control map, which brought the teams first to Gardens. Dallas would put Taimou on McCree, while Pine would go Junkrat alongside with Mano on Roadhog. Dallas was quickly pushed back, with Mickie getting de-meched quickly and Cocco falling as well.
Dallas would take a long time to make their next push, but for good reason as New York was unafraid to push forward to get poke damage. But when Pine was downed early, Dallas made their move. Escorted by Effect on Tracer after a huge Pulse Bomb, the Fuel easily slid onto the point and took control.
While it seemed that Dallas had complete control of the point against New York’s next wave, a Valkyrie helped them regain their power to flip the point. But at 99 percent, Dallas flipped the point again. As the Fuel climbed up to 99 percent, Taimou executed a huge Deadeye that took out Jjonak. Taimou then pivoted and took care of Pine on Tracer as well. With Effect also taking out a couple with a Pulse Bomb, Dallas easily outlasted Mano and took the first point.
Moving onto City Center, Taimou stayed on McCree and Pine would join him on the hero. Dallas took the point first with Effect absolutely ripping into both Jjonak and the New York tank line. But as the Fuel’s control percentage passed halfway, Libero on Junkrat murdered Taimou mid-Deadeye while the rest of New York cleaned up the rest.
After that, it was all New York as they managed to catch members of Dallas even as the Fuel was attempting to reset and regroup. With team members continuously falling in ones and twos outside of the objective, Dallas started to run out of time to put together a cohesive attack. This was something the Fuel could not change even as the point rolled into overtime, and the Excelsior got their first objective of the map.
As the point unlocked on University, Jjonak showed off his deadly Zenyatta play by taking out both Effect and HarryHook, giving New York control first. But Dallas would solidify behind the shield and Super Charger of Cocco, and flipped the point. Dallas pushed away New York’s next push as well, with Mickie immediately hooking and killing Mano. Pine was then staggered as Effect found him all alone on the side of the objective.
With Dallas up 99 percent, New York finally got the positioning they needed as Mano’s Halt pulled and dropped Dallas’ tanks through the hole to the lower level. Without them, the Fuel had to backtrack. But Mickie and Cocco would come back and strike again. Before long, the Fuel had the point back and this time held on to win the map.
Map Score: Fuel 2, Excelsior 1
Match Score: Fuel 1, Excelsior 2
Map Four: El Dorado
New York set up their defense on the high ground next to the archway with Pine on Widowmaker and Libero on Junkrat, but the Excelsior quickly moved off the rooftop into the courtyard. Dallas attacked with Taimou on Soldier 76, who immediately moved up to the archway to get some initial damage down on New York in the courtyard. The Fuel’s first engagement pushed the payload halfway through the area before they were forced out.
With less than a minute on the clock, Pine pushed forward onto the ground but it ended up being a crucial mistake. Effect got a huge Pulse Bomb stuck onto Pine which took both Pine and Libero out of the fight. With the DPS down, Dallas easily pushed the payload forward and got the first checkpoint.
The Fuel was able to push the payload around the corner, but a Libero Riptire pushed them back when it took out Chips. Dallas tried again, even investing their Transcendence into the fight. But even as Effect got a kill onto Jjonak, New York continued to bear down on Dallas with Pine unchecked in the back taking shots as Widowmaker. As overtime hit and the Fuel made their last push, Taimou was immediately taken out and the attack soon ended.
New York opened their attack in traditional dive composition, with Libero on Genji and Pine on Tracer. Dallas held strong through the first engagement, causing Pine to switch onto Widowmaker. New York’s push started shakily at first, with Pine getting taken out as well as Libero as he pulled out his Dragonblade. But after getting resurrected, Libero was instrumental in helping New York maintain presence on the payload while also taking down HarryHook. The Excelsior was able to push their way through, clearing away any remaining Fuel players wishing to stall.
Next: Overwatch League, Week 4: Seoul Dynasty and Houston Outlaws battle to the very end
Dallas mounted one good defense as the payload moved into the second portion of the map, but New York ended up getting the kills needed to push forward, helped along by both a Valkyrie and Super Charger. With everyone on the Fuel falling back, the payload rolled onto the goal line and New York would finish up the series.
Map Score: Fuel 1, Excelsior 2
Final Match Score: Fuel 1, Excelsior 3
Player of the Match: Meko, New York Excelsior