Image courtesy of Flash Wolves

Flash Wolves entered into the Overwatch Pacific Championship with great expectations, heralded as Taiwan's top team alongside AHQ Esports. Star DPS players Zonda and BaconJack, surrounded by some of the countries best Tank and support players, delivered on this reputation in the first three weeks of play. The Wolves feasted on non-Australian teams, looking every bit equal to their reputation as top dogs of Taiwan.

This early performance contrasts heavily to Flash Wolves abysmal week 4. They entered as favorites in their first rematches against Machi and AHQ, looking to maintain their second place ranking on the ladder. Despite this the Wolves dropped both matches, losing to Machi 3–2 and falling to AHQ 3–1. Problems in the teams play became clearly evident over these two games, as Zonda and co. disappointed their large fan-base. A week-long break will give the inured Wolves time to lick their wounds and attempt to address the problems listed below.

A Shallow Hero Pool and the Genji Dilemma:

Hero pool flexibility is one of the most important factors in a professional teams success in Overwatch, we saw this with the falling of EnVyUs due to their lack of a projectile player in Apex Season 2. Lack of flexibility can be the death sentence for even the most talented roster of players.

This was a prominent problem in Flash Wolves poor performance in week 4. Zonda and Baconjack are some of the most talented hitscan players in the tournament, wielding impressive Soldier 76 and Tracer play respectively. Zonda has also showcased a formidable Pharah, predominantly on control maps.

Things start to fall apart in situations where a Genji is required, the hero being an integral part of dive compositions in the current meta. Zonda is the teams designated Genji in triple DPS and 2/2/2 compositions.

Example of Flash Wolves Triple DPS with Genji

Example of Flash Wolves 2/2/2 with Genji

Unfortunately for the Wolves, Zonda’s Genji play hasn’t been up to the standard set by players such as Blank Esports’ Aetar and as such the team has often at times looked hesitant to run the hero. Opposing teams have capitalized on this by running D.va, using her Defense Matrix to shut down Flash Wolves hitscan only DPS lineups. This places the Wolves in an awkward situation when a Genji is required. They can have Zonda run Genji, despite it not being one of his strongest heroes, and hope for the best or they can risk running hitscan only DPS heroes against opposing D.va players.

If a Genji is run, KMoMo shuffles over to Soldier 76 in triple DPS lineups. So far the flex player hasn’t impressed when being called upon to display his skills outside of Tank heroes against top teams, with a clear skill difference between KMoMo’s and Zonda’s Soldier 76. This further weakens the team as two players are forced to run heroes that are not their strongest.

Things get no better for the team in triple Tank compositions. Zonda stays on a hitscan DPS while Baconjack moves over to a tank. This can feel like a waste of talent, with Baconjack’s star ability on tracer going unused while he plays Tanks such as D.va. Again, Flash Wolves’ lack of flexibility limits the ability of their stars to impact games.

Example of Flash Wolves Triple Tank

This shallow hero pool has been a noticeable problem behind their losses to Blank, AHQ and Machi, these opposing teams looking much more comfortable running dive compositions involving Genji.

Poor In-game Decision-Making and Strategy:

Committing to losing fights has been another hindrance on Flash Wolves efforts. Overwatch features a huge potential for teams to snowball forwards after winning a team figh,t if the opposition staggers players and feeds ultimate charge. Successful teams know when to commit and when to regroup to prevent a snowball, especially on Escort and Assault maps. In their losses, Flash Wolves have struggled with this concept. This allows arguably less skilled teams to capitalize on won team fights. Take for example the differences between how AHQ and Flash Wolves conceded the first point of Gibraltar in their match-up.

After conceding the first point AHQ takes high-ground with their heroes and saves a nano visor to repel the first push. This wins them the first team fight in the hangar phase, despite an ultimate disadvantage, shaving precious time off the clock.

In comparison, Flash Wolves commit a Mercy and Soldier ultimate despite the first point being captured. This staggers the deaths of Flash Wolves and allows AHQ to take position on high ground before the Wolves can return to set up a full defense. This played a huge part in AHQ’s victory on the map, allowing them to snowball forward to a full capture with four minutes and 32 seconds left on the time bank.

This has been a common theme in many of Flash Wolves lost maps. High level teams in the championship, such as Blank and AHQ, have capitalized on these errors in decision-making. Maps that could have otherwise been much closer have been blowouts due to over-commitment by the Wolves.

Questionable strategic decisions have also cost the team winnable maps. Flash Wolves were in prime position to win Numbani against AHQ, after full-holding AHQ on defense. With only around 50% capture needed on the first point to win, Flash Wolves could have run a more traditional lineup to take the point. Instead they attempted an Orisa strategy to break open the difficult chokes of Numbani first point.

Their first Orisa push through the high-ground failed, with KMoMo being picked off on Zarya before the team could fully break through the choke.

They then attempted a re-push, which also failed to gain any significant advantage for the team as AHQ picked off players from high-ground. The Orisa strategy had clearly failed, with the sensible option for the team being to cut their losses and switch off the hero. Instead the team attempted one more Orisa push, again failing to achieve any significant capture time on the point.

This strategy was doomed from the start due to KMoMo being picked off early. With the Orisa revealed, AHQ had time to adapt their positioning and prepare for the lack of a Reinheart or dive composition. This nullified the surprise advantage of bringing the little used hero out and allowed AHQ to shave valuable minutes off the Wolves’ time bank.

Poor implementation of strategy, such as this Orisa strategy on the first point of Numani, alongside questionable in-game decision-making further doomed Flash Wolves’ chances of victory in Week 4. In combination with the teams shallow hero pool, there are evidently serious problems for the roster heading forward.

However, this is by no means a death sentence for the team in the Pacific Championship. The roster is loaded with talented players backed by a coaching staff who will have an opportunity to make adjustments to combat these problems over the lengthy regular season. These adjustments will have to be sound if Flash Wolves want to make a serious splash in the tournament, as Blank Esports currently loom over the rest of the competition, while teams such as Machi and AHQ improve their play week by week.

Week 5 kicks off on the 5th of May and will be broadcast in English on FullCircle, a schedule for the tournament can be found here. Follow me on Twitter here for further articles on the Pacific Championship and competitive Overwatch.