Overwatch League Stage 3: Seoul Dynasty get back on track with win over San Francisco Shock

The Seoul Dynasty search for their first win of Stage 3 of the Overwatch League.

With a completely accessible roster, the San Francisco Shock has finally reached full bloom. In their stage opener against the Los Angeles Gladiators, the Shock soared to a 3-1 victory with both sinatraa and super on display.

But while the Gladiators are a good team, the Dynasty are a great team even despite the puzzling loss they suffered at the hands of the Los Angeles Valiant in their own stage opener. One got the sense that the Dynasty were still trying to make all the pieces of their new roster fit together. They didn’t find the winning formula in their first match, but perhaps they would be in their second.

Map One: Temple of Anubis

Seoul’s starting lineup looked a lot more like its usual self with the likes of ryujehong, Miro and Wekeed taking their place on the stage. Meanwhile, San Francisco certainly brought their new A-team to the table with super, sinatraa and Danteh all included.

Seoul attacked first against a very aggressive dive defense. Their first two pushes ended quickly, the first dying after both supports were downed and the second shredded to ribbons by a huge Danteh Dragonblade that took down nearly the entire team of six. The Dynasty finally found their opening after their own Dragonblade from Wekeed found both Shock supports. San Francisco was able to return to the point and threaten, but another Wekeed Dragonblade was all Seoul needed to firmly grab point A.

As teams usually do, Seoul immediately tried to attack point B but again was pushed back by Danteh’s Dragonblade. Overall, the fights were long and intense between these two teams as the clock ticked down into overtime. With one more push left, Wekeed dashed onto the point with yet another Dragonblade. This time he was only able to take down one before sinatraa ended both his and his team’s offensive run.

With FLETA on Widowmaker as part of Seoul’s defense, San Francisco struggled to put together a successful push onto the point. Finally in overtime, sinatraa helped open up the point with a Dragonblade. The rest of the Shock followed, throwing all the ultimates they had at the point. The Dynasty evaporated in the face of such heavy firepower and the Shock lived to attempt point B.

San Francisco was able to put together several solid attacks, but Seoul time and again managed to stay in control. Wekeed’s Junkrat cost San Francisco many lost fights, including one that ended with a three-kill Riptire. Fittingly, it was also a Riptire that ripped apart the Shock’s last attack, giving Seoul their first map win of Stage 3.

Map Score: Dynasty 2, Shock 1

Match Score: Dynasty 1, Shock 0

Map Two: Blizzard World

Seoul’s very first attack was enough to get the job done on point A. With rujehong healing his teammates so vigorously as Moira, he got and used Coalescence as part of Seoul’s very first push. The Shock simply could not deny that extra power.

Fairly easily, the Dynasty rolled through the section portion of the map. Seoul was finally stopped in their tracks by a Riptire from sinatraa. But it wouldn’t be long before the Dynasty returned stronger than ever. A double kill from Zunba’s Self Destruct followed by a Deadeye was enough to usher the payload all the way to the end.

San Francisco’s attack on point A was much less successful than Seoul’s. But in the tussle, Danteh on Sombra was able to build up his EMP and once he had it, he proceeded to find a place to hide as his team regrouped. When the time was right, he ran up behind the entirety of Seoul and triggered his EMP, catching everyone in its sphere. With that, the Shock officially took point A.

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But the payload wouldn’t move far before Seoul was back, doubling down at the choke point between the first point and the road. It took a while before San Francisco truly got the payload moving, and even when they did they were doggedly pestered by Seoul the entire time. With time running out and Seoul strapped with five ultimates, San Francisco made a miracle push onto the payload. Fortunately, Munchkin’s Pulse Bomb stick onto super caught himself in it as well and with the rest of Seoul falling, the Shock reached the second checkpoint.

Through the last part of the map, San Francisco glued themselves to the payload like a leech. Racing against the clock and the Dynasty, the Shock fought furiously right to the end. Thanks to a late EMP by Danteh, San Francisco finished the map as well in overtime.

With the Shock drawing even, Blizzard World went into a time bank round. However, since Seoul was the only team who ended with time on the clock, the Dynasty just had to take one tick on point A to win the map and they would get 3:20 to do it. Almost right away, San Francisco lost control but again an EMP saved the day, pulling the Shock out of a dangerous situation where both supports were unavailable. With the clock hitting the minute mark, Seoul ground their way to the point and ended up securing their victory.

Map Score: Dynasty 4, Shock 3

Match Score: Dynasty 2, Shock 0

Next: Overwatch League Stage 3: Los Angeles Valiant easily down Shanghai Dragons

Map Three: Ilios

On Well, San Francisco would win the first fight to take control of the point first. Seoul put together good pushes to attempt to take the point for their own, but San Francisco was brilliant with making sure to stall through every single fight. Up 81 percent, the Dynasty finally managed to wipe the Shock from the map largely thanks to some deadly McCree plays by FLETA. Seoul kept control all the way up to 99 percent, and Munchkin wrapped everything up with a Pulse Bomb stick onto Sleepy’s Moira.

So the map would move to Lighthouse, with the teams clashing right away. San Francisco would come out on top first, which not only let the Shock start building their percentage first but also allowed Danteh on Sombra to hack all the health packs around the point. It took a while for Seoul to make a true approach on the point, but when they did it was definitive. Even so, the Shock had 95 percent already in the bank. When San Francisco swept back onto the point and flipped it, Seoul had no chance to come back again. The Shock tied up Ilios 1-1.

On Ruins, San Francisco came out with a tank-heavy composition that seemed impenetrable at first but Seoul’s agile damage healers were unshaken. Eventually, the Dynasty wore down the Shock to take control of the point first. It wouldn’t be until Seoul had 93 percent on the board that San Francisco got a handle of FLETA’s Widowmaker. With that threat neutralized, the Shock came onto the point confidently to flip it. But Seoul easily came back, eliminated the members of San Francisco who were on the point and locked up the map and series win.

Map Score: Dynasty 2, Shock 1

Match Score: Dynasty 3, Shock 0

Map Four: Junkertown

Seoul threw a little curveball on their attack, with ryujehong running Mei instead of their usually two-sniper attack composition. Right away, the Dynasty started getting picks on the Shock, including one icicle to the face of super. Within seconds, Seoul was at the first checkpoint. The Dynasty would just as easily get point B. San Francisco struggled to make any sort of dent in Seoul’s ranks, and only came alive slightly in the last section of the map. Even then, the defense felt too little too late. With 3:41 still on the clock, Seoul completed the map.

San Francisco’s push ran into its first obstacle as the payload reached the corner before the map opened up. With Zunba landing hooks as Roadhog and FLETA raining down damage as Widowmaker, San Francisco’s offense was scattered time and again. It wasn’t until the final seconds, with the Overwatch wrap-up music already sounding in the background, that the Shock got the kills they needed to get a foothold on the payload and push it to the first checkpoint.

Fortunately for the Shock, they were able to snowball their momentum quickly through the section portion of the map. Once in the home stretch, Seoul hardened their defense, going so far as to bring the entire team up to the choke point coming into the area. This aggressive defensive stand, however, ended up completely backfiring. Danteh was able to slip behind the Dynasty, and ended up backcapping the payload all the way to the goal line before anyone could figure out what he was doing, casters included.

With San Francisco tying things up, the map moved into time bank rounds with the Shock on attack first. Perhaps capitalizing on the good feelings brought about by their surprise, the Shock aggressively pushed through the first section of the map to grab the first checkpoint. They made it halfway through the section portion before Seoul took control of the situation.

The Dynasty, of course, had much more time to work with on their second attack. The Shock were able to rebuff the Dynasty’s first attack, burning a minute off the clock, but were forced to give around after Seoul took down Babybay on their next push. As the payload bore down on the goal line, the teams clashed in a furious battle that ended with Seoul on top.

Map Score: Dynasty 5, Shock 4

Final Match Score: Dynasty 4, Shock 0