All Harrisburg needed to do was move the payload further than Utah to walk away as champions.

In the final moments of a long season, Harrisburg readied for one last teamfight to seal their fate. One by one, Utah falls. The payload arrives. Harrisburg pops up in collective jubilation before collapsing into a central embrace. Utah lingers at their PCs a little longer before delivering the obligatory “good games.”

The series finished 3-1, but the scoreline alone doesn’t do it justice.

When any championship is on the line, dreams come true while hearts are broken. Both teams came so far and left it all on the stage.

Coming in as the underdog, no one was sure how Utah would show up in the finals, but show up they did.

Gaining a reputation for “cheese” – playing unorthodox compositions – some observers downplayed the Utes’ ability to go toe-to-toe with an established, conventional, team. Throughout the tournament, Utah displayed a mastery of their signature style, leading one commentator to remark, “it’s only cheese until you can’t beat it.” Their success left many questioning the prevailing wisdom and established meta.

Utah wasn’t the only team with a story. Harrisburg overcame the Maryville University juggernaut in the semifinals, a feat that not everyone was convinced they could achieve.

These two tales – the underdog versus the rising star – set the stage for this year’s Overwatch finals matchup.

Harrisburg is a powerhouse, with experienced players competing in Overwatch Contenders, the game’s professional developmental level. Under the leadership of ex-professional-turned-coach Joe “Joemeister” Gramano, they’re a force to be reckoned with.

Regarding his approach to this match, Joemeister said, “Utah certainly wasn’t a team we could afford to underestimate . . . we knew they were going to run completely unconventional compositions that could catch us off guard.”

But Harrisburg brainstormed and theorycrafted potential matchups the night before the finals, in an attempt to “crack Utah’s code.”

What’s their key? Flexibility, for one.

“I think the biggest factor in us finishing so strong was that we were able to change and adapt,” Joemeister said of his team.

“We knew Harrisburg was an incredibly flexible team,” Utah coach David “cxdave” Abueg told CESN.

But this match wasn’t a blowout. While Harrisburg won comfortably, the series was – at least initially – defined at the margins.

Both teams went down the rabbit hole with comps and counter picks, as they fought and fed off each other. It was fresh, fun, and most importantly, different. We saw an exciting match between two collegiate teams with talent, drive, and a willingness to innovate. There’s no doubt that collegiate Overwatch added more than just a few more fans after this weekend.

A best-of-five competition, it wasn’t until the series reached the third map, Hanamura, that a noticeable gap opened. And it wasn’t until Round 1 finished that a Harrisburg victory seemed inevitable. In other words, it wasn’t over ‘til it was over.

Harrisburg had a feeling they’d already locked it down.

Utah relied heavily on their signature bunker composition, which uses Orisa to shield a strong DPS, like Bastion. While primarily seen as a defensive comp, the Utes used it on offense as well, with some unorthodox swaps. We saw that with Torbjorn, as Utah attempted to counter Harrisburg’s strategies. It was part of their plan and practice as they tried to make hard reads on what Harrisburg might run.

“A large part of what would win us the match was being able to appropriately modify our team comps without completely switching things up,” cxdave said.

What Utah saw as a strength, Harrisburg saw as a detriment. “They hadn’t changed a single part of their play from the first map all the way to the last,” explained Joemeister. “It was just over the course of an hour or so that we were able to figure everything out.”

Utah’s fundamentally a defensive team. Nightmare (Orisa) set up point control and created space for the backline to work with. Coolabc (Roadhog) delivered multiple devastating Chain Hook combos, delivering crucial peel to further protect the backline. We saw Coolabc go back to Roadhog later on when they were looking for that pick value. And they protected Nightmare (Orisa) and Enspyr (Bastion) by focusing down Retnuh (Reinhardt) on Control Center.

Another side of their defensive ability was shown through the use of Mei’s Ice Wall, especially on Control Center. Coolabc boxed out Harrisburg time and time again, preventing them from engaging, forcing rotations, keeping them off the point, and giving themselves time to set up.

Bunker comps are even stronger on Hybrid or Escort maps, like King’s Row and Watchpoint Gibraltar. You can place Bastion on the payload, protect with Orisa, and now Baptiste’s Immortality Field can give needed breathing room.

But Utah’s defense wasn’t impenetrable. On King’s Row, as Utah moved toward Point C, they left gaps in their frontline, and Swish (Hanzo) and Hobbs (Pharah) picked them apart. They left themselves open to multiple rear flanks from Hobbs (Pharah) on Hanamura, which completely shifted the momentum of the series.

Utah showed the power of getting ahead early, coming out aggressively on Lijiang Tower and King’s Row, and gaining an upper hand in the initial poke war. Harrisburg had a tough time breaking Utah’s shield presence, allowing the Utes to establish a formidable lead. Even some wild plays from Retnuh and Swish couldn’t turn the tide.

After losing Map 1, Harrisburg knew something had to change.

“We had to completely reset and look at the situation a little differently.”

So what did they do? They mirrored Utah with a bunker comp of their own.

And it worked.

“I don’t think they were expecting us to mirror them,” Joemeister said. “Our bunker comps are the strongest style we’ve played in the last couple months.”

Much of the differentiation came at the macro level, when looking at things like ult utility, economy, and value. Utah committed to expensive fights at times, without converting enough to make it worthwhile, often just prompting Harrisburg to regroup.

Harrisburg appeared to get more ult value than Utah, even from a seemingly suboptimal position or situation. For example, on King’s Row Point B, Soames had Tranquility built, but didn’t need to use it. He was eliminated, Insomniaq (Mercy) used Resurrect, and Soames went on to pick two off of Utah.

It’s debatable whether this was a function of variance, instinct, intent, or ability. Regardless, it got Harrisburg where they needed to go.

Harrisburg parlayed those outcomes into an ult economy advantage, and when Utah re-contested with Supercharger and Nano Boost, Soames (Zenyatta) popped Transcendence and sustained Harrisburg through Enspyr’s (Bastion) damage. Swish (Hanzo) capitalized with a huge triple kill on Utah. Winning those team fights ate a significant chunk of time off the clock.

At no point was ult value more evident than on Hanamura when Hobbs (Pharah) delivered back-to-back Barrage flanks that decimated Utah. In both instances, Harrisburg’s flanks turned around the fights in their favor and negated any offensive momentum the Utes had. Utah could establish point presence, but not the point control they needed.

“Hobbs’ plays here single-handedly reset Utah’s ult economy entirely,” according to Joemeister.

Throughout the series, when both teams entered a fight with significant ult banks, Harrisburg had the upper hand. And Utah used their ults well – like Dog21’s (D.va) Self Destructs – but Harrisburg’s were stronger, had more utility, and in the end, more value.

Another defining point of the match came in Round 2 on King’s Row. With Harrisburg on offense, Utah let them push so far ahead that it became a one-fight point. By not forcing an earlier engagement, Harrisburg kept a significant amount of time on the clock and retained their banked ults, which they could use without worrying about a re-contest.

Utah had to defend Point C for a staggering 5:12, and their defense here was nothing short of exceptional. Coolabc (Roadhog) provided crucial peel, and with Enspyr on Widowmaker, Dog21 on D.va, and Hollow on Mercy, they held for over five minutes.

After Harrisburg failed to convert on an expensive fight with 1:00 left on the clock, it looked like Utah could pull it off. They staggered kills the way they needed to, and they understood position and timing. They almost made the miracle hold, but Harrisburg broke through and delivered the payload with eight seconds to spare.

Could a second engagement at Point B have changed the outcome? Maybe, but it could’ve had the opposite effect. It’s likely that Harrisburg would have moved to Point C with less time on the clock.

The momentum really shifted going into map three. Coolabc swapped to D.va in an attempt to answer Pharah, while Dog21 stayed on Roadhog. Coolabc had used Chain Hook to devastating effect in earlier rounds, but Dog21 couldn’t get the same value here.

This led color commentator Conner “Avast” Prince to remark “I’m surprised they . . . didn’t move Dog21 back to his D.va pick and Coolabc on to the [Roadhog].”

Asked about this by CESN, cxdave expressed confidence about the change and defended the swap.

“Coolabc is . . . an extremely skilled off-tank player, consistently reaching Top 500 playing [heroes] like Zarya and D.va.”

He noted that Utah has a flexible team, and that “the majority of them can off-role during a map at a high level.”

Even so, the back-to-back flanks by Hobbs were too much to recover from.

When Harrisburg went on offense, all they needed to do was make further progress on capturing Point A. But the Utes, still reeling from Hobbs’ assaults in Round 1, weren’t out of it yet.

Harrisburg, with eyes set firmly on their win condition, had a clear picture of how to play this round. Carried by their momentum, the Storm dialed the right level of aggression to comfortably meet that win condition. Through their focus and solid fundamentals, they played cleanly and stayed in control.

Overwatch often boils down to fundamental mastery, something Harrisburg has in spades. Utah knew their comp well and they used the tools in their toolbox. They successfully applied pressure and forced openings. That early pressure was key, but against a team like Harrisburg, you know they’re going to find an opening and abuse it.

Both teams made mistakes, but Utah’s mistakes proved more impactful. Both teams played to their strengths, but Harrisburg’s strengths proved more impactful. Was this match winnable for Utah? Probably. If they played again, would the result be the same? Not necessarily. While the margins initially defined this match, those small advantages accumulated and compounded into a resounding W for Harrisburg. This was evident going into Map 4, Watchpoint Gibraltar.

Hanamura left Utah demoralized, and Harrisburg could smell blood in the water. They started off aggressively, controlling the tempo more than at any other point in the series. The Storm was ready to end this. Joemeister knew they’d figured Utah out.

“[Utah] had no answers for what we were throwing at them. We overwhelmed them with our versatility.”

That was their X factor. The rest of the playoffs separated the great teams from the good ones. Gibraltar separated a champion.

After a Map 1 loss and a nail-biter Map 2, Harrisburg didn’t tilt. They stayed cool, made adjustments, and took Map 3. They knew their fundamentals were solid, and they were ready for a moment like this.

And they seized it.

Asked about the turning point in the series, cxdave was candid:

“Getting hit by [Barrage] multiple times and losing what should have been an easy capture is difficult to recover from mentally.”

“It pushes players to the brink.”

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