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Overwatch League Stage 2: Los Angeles Valiant stave off improving San Francisco Shock

ByChristine Wang Dickson|
2018-02-24 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
2018-02-24 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment

The battle for California kicks off the first day of games during the second week of Stage 2.

San Francisco struggled in Stage 1 and has continued to struggle in Stage 2, losing both of its matches last week against the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Seoul Dynasty. Now, the Shock face the stronger of the Los Angeles teams, which should be a scary challenge on paper. However, the Shock were able to win one map against the Dynasty, no small feat and a potential portent for a team that’s improving.

Would San Francisco be able to make a dent in the Los Angeles Valiant’s armor?

Map One: Volskaya Industries

San Francisco started on defense first, with Danteh on Sombra and Babybay on Soldier 76. Kariv opened for Los Angeles on Widowmaker, with SoOn on Tracer. Right away SF’s Nomy fell, followed quickly by Danteh and Nevix. Within seconds, point A was capped and the Valiant were moving ahead to point B.

Without stopping, LA moved into the second portion of the map, and once again, Nevix and Nomy fell early. But Danteh’s EMP came in to help San Francisco hold the point. The EMP ended up being the Valiant’s weakness, allowing the Shock to push them back again and again every time the ultimate was used, as well as when it wasn’t used. From six minutes on the clock, San Francisco winnowed Los Angeles’ available time down to one last extra long push with under a minute left. In the end, it was Kariv ushering LA finally onto the point with a very successful Attack Visor. That morphed into an extremely long campout for LA on the point as they dealt with SF respawns in overtime. Eventually, the Valiant were able to solidify their hold on the point.

Switching sides, LA had a Sombra of their own in Unkoe, along with Kariv still on Soldier 76. Similar to LA, SF took point A very quickly, ensuring they also had plenty of time to take on point B. As the Shock readied themselves for their assault, both teams had tons of ultimates on the board. LA’s Fate on Winston attempted to use his Primal Rage to push forward and draw out a support ultimate but was unsuccessful. As soon as the rage evaporated, San Francisco made their move, starting out right away with a Babybay Attack Visor. As ultimates blossomed all around the map, it was the Shock who ended up with the first kills. With plenty of time still available on the board, San Francisco capped point B.

This brought the map to one final time bank round, where the Shock had a little over four minutes to just take the first tick on point A. Because the Valiant had ended with no time on the clock, they would not have their own chance at attack. San Francisco’s first attempt was decent, with the control meter building up halfway to the first tick thanks to Babybay’s Attack Visor. However, not enough San Francisco team members were there to follow it up, and the Shock had to withdraw. But with plenty of time left, San Francisco came right back to the point. Able to shut down everyone from the Valiant, the Shock went up 1-0 in the series.

Map Score: Valiant 2, Shock 3

Match Score: Valiant 0, Shock 1

Map Two: Lijiang Tower

Starting on Gardens, the Valiant brought Pharah into the match. Kariv’s Pharah was accompanied by Unkoe’s Mercy. Right away he made an impact, using his concussive blast to nab a couple environmental kills to give LA control of the point first.

San Francisco made a ferocious push onto the point next, with Babybay leading the charge with an Attack Visor, as he often does. However, it was unsuccessful, as was the Primal Rage that Nomy used next right on the point. No matter what the Shock did, the Valiant refused to leave the point completely. Eventually LA would cap the first point 100 percent to nothing.

Night Market started out similarly, with LA taking control in commanding fashion first. This time, however, San Francisco was able to push onto the point and flip it in their favor with LA only up 49 percent. For the next push, LA sent SoOn to contest the point and go one on one with Danteh’s Tracer while everyone else fought in the courtyard. When both teams finally did filter onto the point, the Valiant’s dive relegated the Shock to the back corner of the objective. With members of San Francisco falling quickly, LA was able to retake the point easily without needing to use the support ultimates they had available. From then on, the Valiant held strong to win the map with a quick two-point take.

Map Score: Valiant 2, Shock 0

Match Score: Valiant 1, Shock 1

Map Three: King’s Row

On defense, San Francisco ran a Reinhardt and Zarya composition. LA put SoOn on Widowmaker this time to attempt to get some key picks. Almost immediately, San Francisco started to back up as a unit off the objective, resulting in a quick take of the first point for LA.

However, the Shock stabilized just outside the archway, with a huge play by Danteh on Junkrat. Not very long afterward, LA would return the favor with a combination Graviton Surge with Deadeye that ended four members of the Shock immediately. Kariv finished up the play by killing Nevix as well, who was one of the only surviving members of the ultimate barrage. That was enough for LA to push the payload nearly all the way to the second checkpoint.

Just before the payload could notch in, San Francisco pushed LA back again. With less than 30 seconds available, the Valiant were able to earn that second checkpoint. With San Francisco’s team wiped after one final scuffle prior to the second checkpoint, LA gained a lot of free ground moving into the final portion of the map as the Shock waited for everyone to respawn. With one last relatively short battle right at the very end, LA went ahead and completed the map, collecting all three checkpoints.

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On defense, LA also went Reinhardt and Zarya, with SoOn on Junkrat. San Francisco attacked with Danteh still on Junkrat, Babybay on McCree, and their own Reinhardt/Zarya. With the amount of damage done tremendous, Babybay very quickly built up and used his Deadeye, but was unable to get anything for the ultimate and for his attempt to flank and get behind the Reinhardt shield to take out the massive tank. LA eventually was able to get a clean team kill on San Francisco.

The Shock’s first push took quite a bit of time, but fortunately all they needed was one more to get the job done. As the Valiant moved in to the payload to contest it, Nevix launched his Graviton Surge. Even though it sucked in every member of the Valiant, San Francisco didn’t have the follow up to take advantage of it. What resulted was members of the Shock getting eliminated, causing them to fall back to regroup. But San Francisco won the next fight, and was able to push the payload to the second checkpoint as well.

Los Angeles’ defense in the last section of the map looked great at first, pushing back two mighty attacks and whittling San Francisco’s time down to below what they had on the clock. But after the Shock broke through, the Valiant scrambled to get back to the payload. With the objective nearly at the end, LA threw out a lackluster final contest. With less than 30 seconds on the board, the Shock were also able to complete the map.

This took the map to time bank rounds, with San Francisco on attack first once again as they had less time to work with. Right away, the Shock got the picks they wanted and started to build up control on the point. Just as it looked like San Francisco was going to cap the first point, LA came back just in time. With the Valiant barreling onto the point and Danteh off the point to use his Riptire, the Shock’s time ran out, ending San Francisco’s chance to add another point to their map score.

It came down to what Los Angeles could do in the 1:43 they had. Again, the Valiant attacked with double snipers. With Fate able to score a first kill on Nomy’s Winston, LA found the opening they needed to secure the point and get the win.

Map Score: Valiant 4, Shock 3

Match Score: Valiant 2, Shock 1

Map Four: Watchpoint: Gibraltar

On defense, San Francisco had Danteh on Genji and Babybay on Widowmaker. Kariv played the opposing Widowmaker, but was caught off guard by San Francisco and downed first. But when Kariv came back to the game, he won the Widow duel against Babybay. He then continued to headshot members of San Francisco, helping LA gain the first checkpoint in no time at all.

San Francisco put up more of a defense in the second portion of the map, but it was once again Kariv on Widowmaker taking out Danteh and Sleepy. His picks played a tremendous role in LA getting the second checkpoint relatively quickly as well. The sniper show didn’t end there. Kariv continued to disrupt in a big way as the payload made its way through the last portion of the map. With 3:21 on the clock, LA pushed the payload all the way home.

Kariv would not continue on the Widowmaker for defense, electing instead to go with the Soldier 76. Babybay, however, played the sniper on attack. As he attempted to get a pick, fighting broke out in the server room. Danteh attempted to make the difference with a Dragonblade in close quarters, but Fate denied that attempt by killing Genji quickly after he declared his ultimate usage. Even so, San Francisco was able to get the first and second checkpoint.

Moving into the last section of the map, the Shock were able to disorient and separate the members of the Valiant all over the map. With everyone scattered, Babybay was able and Danteh were able to easily take out LA members one by one. Relatively quickly, San Francisco had the payload all the way to the end.

Despite the relatively dominating attack performance, the Shock had less time in the bank for the next round on the map, which meant they would once again go on attack. This time, they had even less trouble taking the first checkpoint, helped by a huge Danteh Dragonblade.

The Shock’s push finally stalled as the payload reached the halfway point between the first and second checkpoints. In overtime, the Shock made one last attack. Danteh attempted another Dragonblade, but this time it was negated by a Transcendence. Soon enough, all that was left was the overtime and eventually that vanished for San Francisco as well.

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It came down to the Valiant’s second chance on attack. While they had more time available to them on the clock, San Francisco made it very difficult for LA to even get the first checkpoint. Minutes were wasted until finally the first checkpoint was achieved. From there it was just one final fight over the payload as it neared the goal line before LA forced their way to the last point and to the series win.

Map Score: Valiant 5, Shock 4

Final Match Score: Valiant 3, Shock 1

Player of the Match: Kariv, Los Angeles Valiant