Aaron “Aero” Atkins will be thinking about the Dallas Fuel’s Hanamura loss to the San Francisco Shock throughout the upcoming week. The Fuel’s head coach said he felt like that was a defining moment as his group fell one map short of a win over the defending champions in a 3-2 loss Friday evening.

“That was a map we felt confident we could take because we had success when we practiced those pushes,” Aero said. “We made a few errors with some of our strategies and the Shock were there to punish them, but I think if we adjusted a little better that’s a map I know we would win.”

A loss has never felt good for the Fuel, and they have had their fair share of them in their three years of Overwatch League play. Dropping a close one to the Shock, even if it went the distance, didn’t feel good either. But Aero knew the moment still meant the Fuel had come so far.

“It was disappointing for everyone but I kept on pressing the same point to the guys after the match,” Aero said. “I was really proud of the way our whole team played tonight and if we adjust some of the things we know we can fix then we won’t lose matches like that.”

God DAMN what a series. We tried our absolute best and gave 110% but it just wasn't enough. We have improved so much recently and I'm excited for our future. We came in as the underdogs and were 54% from beating the team nobody thought we could beat. GGs @SFShock 😭 — Crimzo (@Crimzo) April 18, 2020

Dallas’ attack on Hanamura was a dud. They attempted a strategy with damage star Jang “Decay” Gui-un on Symmetra, who teleported his team to optimal positioning before each engagement.

They had opportunities to take the first objective, but the Shock were ready. San Francisco’s elite support player Grant “Moth” Espe was able to nullify any Fuel momentum on Lucio.

The most disappointing part of the map loss for Dallas was that it entered it with a 2-1 lead, needing just one map to clinch its biggest win of the young season.

“I think our Hanamura attack was really a moment that put us off. We had a lot of success in scrims on that kind of comp with that kind of strategy and I don’t think we fully knew how to play against what the Shock were playing,” Fuel tank player Lucas “NotE” Meissner said. “Nobody else was that disciplined with how they reacted to our comp and it threw us off a lot. Not even being able to get a tick on that point was a heartbreak.”

NotE shined for the Fuel, representing the development of a team that’s only had four and a half months to mesh together. Dallas has been a team that looked to its damage stars for the biggest plays. Decay and Kim “DoHa” Dongha certainly showed up against the Shock, but Dallas received masterful performances from tank and support players when they most needed it.

NotE came up huge in a turning point for Dallas. He didn’t consider himself the best Sigma player, but he forced the Shock into wasting crucial ultimates and turned fights with his playmaking ability, giving Dallas a 2-1 lead and a shot at a huge win.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time watching much better players than me on Sigma and I’ve been learning a lot just from taking things that I think are good from their playstyles and try to work around the opponent’s compositions,” NotE said. “I’ve put a ton of time into that style. I think I made some ground but I’m still a lot behind some of the best in the league.”

Heartbreaking.

But what an amazing match! GG's to the @SFShock.

Show love to our boys in their hard fought battle! pic.twitter.com/GKqyxuPuQW — Dallas Fuel (@DallasFuel) April 18, 2020

It was when NotE and the Fuel clutched their second map victory on Numbani that prompted one of the matches’ casters, Josh “Sideshow” Wilkinson to commend the Fuel.

“This is the Dallas Fuel as we’ve always wanted them to be,” Sideshow said on the YouTube broadcast, “contesting the top teams at their own game.”

Despite a “good showing” from Dallas, as NotE described it, the Shock were in peak form. Moth and San Francisco remained composed, even when their backs were pinned to a corner. The Fuel came out the gates and punched them in a mouth to take the first map, but the Shock responded firmly. When the Fuel were on the brink of victory, the Shock had the answer.

“The Shock are one of those teams that just have an incredible reserve of stamina and it doesn’t matter what the scenario is,” NotE said. “They play very stoically and have maximum effort. It’s a rough one to lose, but it stings a little bit less knowing it was against the best, but it was still really sad.”

That being said, the Shock were impressed with the Fuel. Moth told The News on Thursday that they knew they couldn’t take the Fuel lightly, but their opponent still surprised them with their high-caliber play.

“That was really impressive from the Dallas Fuel,” Moth told OWL host Soe Gschwind on the broadcast. “You could see how well they adapted through the series and that’s something you’d only expect from a top-tier team. They came out really strong.”

Aero was proud of his team’s performance, despite the loss. He said their progress just within the past month has proved that they aren’t the same team they used to be. But they don’t want to settle for close calls with the best OWL teams.

They want to beat them, and often.

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