‘Chiu on This’ is a short and regular opinion blast

I was watching Korean Contenders in Overwatch as I’ve decided to start implementing my systems of analysis to the game. One of the games I watched was KongDoo Panthera and Gen.G. I was especially curious to see if I could see MMA’s style as a player come through as a coach.

In the end it was futile as I realized that I had no baseline idea of what the player’s individual style and team color was before him, so there was no good way to speculate. Though there was a particular defense that I find quite novel in its approach. On the second point of Numbani, Gen.G pulled out a unique defensive formation. Here is a Vod of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwy6cVzxG0A&feature=youtu.be

The time the 2nd point defense starts is at 31:00.

These were the comps each team played:

KDP

True – Rein

Clelstyn – D.Va

ChoiSehwan – Bridgitte

Selly – Zarya

Agatha – Zen

COSTOS – Lucio

Gen.G

LUKE – Winston

Shubil – D.Va

Stalk3r – Sombra

Agnes – Bridgitte

DNCE – Zen

LVLZ – Lucio

KDP were using GOATS to smash through the second point, whereas Gen.G decided to do a 1-2-3. The 1-2-3 notation I’m using is based around mobility. Sombra plays as a hard lurker in Overwatch, they go off by themselves, harass, get information and only come in when they have their ult. Winston and D.Va are fast mobile tanks that have a lot of versatility and speed because of their mobility. Bridgitte, Zen, and Lucio have to stick together as a group.

The way the Gen.G composition played out was strategically and tactically elegant. Strategically the plan is simple enough. If you have Sombra ult, you force a fight close to their spawn as that’s when they will be most bunched up and then you win the fight. If Sombra doesn’t have ult, the Sombra plays at the fringes gathering information. From there the team has to communicate well and adapt to the circumstances. The team theoretically can adapt faster than KDP’s comp because of their high mobility and this can equate to having a better positional battle or the ability to pick off players who wander too far away from the pack without support.

In one of the team fights, we see Gen.G and KDP trade positions in a sense. KDP are in the buildings around catwalk, while Gen.G are spread across the axiom. So long as Gen.G have a player on the payload, KDP cannot advance, so KDP have to contest. Typically what happens is you have a front liner go on the cart, in this case it’s TRUE. This is perfect for Gen.G as Shubil uses the D.Va ult that isolates him from the rest of the squad and he is forced to fight solo. This gets Gen.G a guaranteed kill and because of the positioning, one of the KDP players dies from the D.Va ult as well.

After winning the fight, Sombra then ults them as they come out and you see how the cycle continues. It’s a very comm heavy style of play that relies a lot on positioning and understanding where the safe positions are. It’s a bit of a tightrope and the reason Gen.G fall off this tight rope is because both of their tanks commit to trying to fighting off D.Va. That D.Va in turn commed that the tanks were on them and the supports were alone. All three were close enough to get shattered by the Rein and the team fight ensued this time in favorable position and timing for KDP.

Overall a fairly novel take from Gen.G on how to keep the GOATs at bay, at least on the second point of Numbani.

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