In this series, I’ll be looking in-depth at the conditions, tactics, prior-influence, and individual habits that affect — and ultimately decide — pivotal fights in Overwatch Contenders. In doing so, I hope to help the community better understand and appreciate the tactical and mental side of semi-professional Overwatch, a side that is often overlooked in favor of highlighting mechanical skill. In particular, I want to explore the steps taken by teams that are reflective of preparing for their opponents’ tendencies and strategic habits, to highlight and show appreciation for the coaches and analysts that dedicate so much of their time and energy towards advancing the level of play in this wonderful game.

Episode 3: GOAT Boxing

Contenders Korea 2018 S3 Finals, Runaway v Element Mystic (with excerpts from other matches)

Today’s topic is Doomfist-based GOATS, and more specifically how it works and how it doesn’t work. These theories are best exemplified in the most recent finals of Contenders Korea, where Runaway used the tools available in a traditional GOATS composition to adapt to, and ultimately defeat, the “Doomgoats” composition pioneered in the region by Element Mystic and spearheaded by Doomfist (and Zarya) standout Yeong-han “Sp9rk1e” Kim. How Doomgoats operates, what differentiates it from traditional GOATS, and why we are talking about farm animals in a team-based FPS all require more than a little bit of background. So let’s get started with that.

A (Brief) History of GOATS in Overwatch

An understanding of how Doomfist works both in, and against GOATS, begins with understanding GOATS itself. The composition initially began as an anti-meta composition itself, entering a dive-centric meta and dominating through sheer unkillability. Instead of attempting to innovate on dive and trying to beat it at its own game, GOATS served as an evolution of traditional “deathball comps” which controlled space through extensive healing and damage mitigation, and showed an incredibly propensity for winning long, drawn-out, and scrappy fights. It is this final advantage that separated the composition from the “Slambulance” composition, which contained Reinhardt, Zarya, D.va, Roadhog, Lucio, and Moira. That composition similarly controlled space, and relied on quick ult generation from the Moira for sustain, however, the purpose of the composition overall was not to chain ultimates and out-heal the opponent as in GOATS, but rather to have a sufficiently beefy frontline in order to try to out-pick a dive or bunker (Orisa-based) composition. However, playing in this way meant that the comp was played almost exclusively on attack, and due to the prevalence of Widowmaker and Tracer, the composition was still vulnerable to falling apart due to the loss of a healer. We saw this vulnerability exploited on multiple occasions in the Overwatch League before (and even after) the beginning of stage 4, as a lucky Tracer one-clip, Widowmaker headshot, or stray Junkrat mine would lead to the “Slambulance” composition falling apart at the seams with the loss of either the Lucio or Moira. Despite the health and shield presence of the tankline, there was not consistent enough healing to overcome extreme burst, and at later stages of maps, the lack of sufficient damage mitigation for so much health would lead to the composition being lapped in ultimate tempo by opposing compositions. Junkrat, in particular, was a problem, as his ability to collect picks, exhaust damage mitigation options (Zarya projected barrier and D.va Defense matrix, as well as Reinhardt shield) upon entry, and quickly charge rip-tires in the midfight made him a surefire counter to the composition, as we saw happen more than once on Horizon Lunar Colony first point, one of the more popular maps for the “slambulance” to make an appearance on attack.

With the introduction of Brigitte into the Overwatch professional scene, the free-reign of certain heroes was curbed slightly. Tracer, long a staple of most compositions and strategies, suddenly had a near-perfectly designed counter who was not only capable of dealing with her, but also had a kit that allowed for the rest of the team to be harder to kill as well. Genji, similarly, was stumped by the emergence of the younger Lindholm, as stuns and team-wide extra armor threw another wrench into the execution of a multi-kill dragonblade. With the temporary renaissance of “Mickie” of the Dallas Fuel, the world was introduced to Brigitte as a plug-and-play character that just simply made certain compositions better against Dive, with many coaches and players not yet realizing the effects that she would have on the place of deathball compositions in the professional scene.

Then came the GOATS.

Don’t watch this whole video. Don’t do that to yourself. It’s the birth of a monster.

A relatively unknown Open Division team (called, obviously, “GOATS”) shows up in the Overwatch BEAT Invitational Season 4, and absolutely steamrolls their way to the top of the tournament, not dropping a single map after their demotion to the loser’s bracket. Their composition was identical to “Slambulance” in all aspects except one: by swapping out the Roadhog for a Brigitte, they added anti-dive properties, damage mitigation, extra armor, and another Area of Effect (AOE) heal to their team all on one character. It is this tournament that contributed to the perception of the GOATS composition as “braindead”, as their style of play here was…not very calculated. The understanding of just exactly how to play the composition ideally was primitive at best, and they still attempted to go for picks as individuals, rather than taking advantage of the ability of the composition to endlessly reposition and take away space without being punished. However, by establishing just how sound the tactical philosophy of an unkillable deathball was, GOATS piqued the interest and notice of teams around the Overwatch world, and within weeks, every major professional team worth their salt had adopted, practiced, or at the very least talked about the composition known as “GOATS.” The metagame of Overwatch, locked into variants of Dive for well over a year, was on the verge of changing.

Welcome to the GOATS meta.

The Face of Overwatch, May 29th 2018-Present

Within a month or so, professional teams had adapted the GOATS composition to better work in mirror matches, swapping out the Moira for a Zenyatta, partially for the addition of a support ult that was more capable of helping survive graviton surge combos, but mostly for the added utility of discord orb, which was key to quickly eliminating the opposing Reinhardt through the composition’s enormous amounts of healing. The main tank role, long central to much of the play in Overwatch, took on an added importance in GOATS mirrors, where losing your main tank would allow the other team to press aggressively, and outlast and outdamage your team. In GOATS, Zarya players are often at extremely high charge, making them essentially the primary DPS of the team (an idea partially evidenced by the fact that many DPS players are forced onto Zarya for the composition). Losing your main tank could allow the opposing Zarya free reign to melt your team, and quickly win fights and generate graviton surges at a rate unheard of before the current meta. Losing your main tank could also open your team up to being destroyed by D.va self destructs, with the Zarya projected barriers and Brigitte shields often inadequate for protecting the team. The roles of other members were similarly dependent upon the presence of a main tank, which was and is traditionally a Reinhardt. An unprotected Zenyatta is a dead Zenyatta.

Lucio players had to be able to stay close to the fight in order to provide healing and speed aura support to as many players as possible. Brigitte, unkillable in many situations, was a sitting duck without her relatively weak shield active, especially at only 250 base health and no bash available without the shield. With so much of the composition riding on the main tank, it became common practice to pour resources, such as armor packs, projected bubbles, healing amps, and both of Zen’s orbs, in order to ensure that your team came out on top in the battle between Reinhardts. The composition also saw the development of its ultimate combo and counterplay philosophy, with conventions developing on the usage of sound barrier (beat), transcendance, and most importantly graviton surge. The last of those three found a combo with the D.va bomb, first implemented as a regular and expected part of a team’s tactics with the “Gigantti Bomb,” perfected and cemented as a staple of GOATS tactics by the European Contenders team that it was named after. As D.va and Zarya had not been seen together often before the development of the GOATS comp, the combo was seen as a waste before it was recognized as one of the most reliable ways to get any value at all out of either of the two ultimates.

However, as teams developed the playstyle and philosophy of GOATS compositions (a topic that could take several articles by itself), they naturally sought a way to get an advantage over their opponents by iterating on the composition, trying to get value out of different heroes without suffering too many drawbacks from losing the utility of any of the “core” GOATS heroes, which at this point were Reinhardt, D.va, Zarya, Lucio, Brigitte, and Zenyatta.

First Letter Changes: Understanding Common GOATS Variants

Before moving onto Element Mystic’s “Doomgoats”, it would help to get an incredibly short introduction to some other common GOATS variants, and attempt to understand what each is trying to achieve with their variation. It should be clear to any discerning eye that Overwatch tactics are built by iterating on previous attempts at innovation, taking what works and what is lacking, and attempting to keep the former while mitigating — or eliminating — the latter. As such, here are some common GOATS variants seen at the highest levels of competitive play:

Variant A: Winston-Based GOATS, or “FLOATS” (Flying Goats)

Heroes: Winston, Zarya, D.va, Lucio, Brigitte, Zenyatta

The philosophy behind this one is pretty simple. More mobility in your tankline allows you to contest more mobile heroes, and makes your engage timing and pathing less predictable. You disrupt the enemy team, instead of trying to win long, drawn out engages. A highly skilled Winston player can also get picks in the backline as well as environmental kills on certain maps, as we saw in the World Cup with Guxue and Team China. The philosophy of this comp, with its endless aggression and full commitment of resources to the entry of the Winston resembles very closely the “Doomfist as a main tank” compositions from China, which is both expected and incredibly important to understanding Element Mystic’s composition later on. This composition loses value in low-ceiling or enclosed spaces, and also struggles to outplay traditional GOATS if both teams are adhering to the same tactics and positioning conventions. As such, it should still be considered a situational variant rather than the “new standard.”

Variant B: Frozen GOATS, or “MOATS” (Mei GOATS)

Heroes: Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei, Lucio, Brigitte, Zenyatta

This one is requires some understanding of traditional hero roles. Although Mei is an incredibly strong pure DPS hero in certain situations, and can be massively tilting to go against on ladder, traditionally Mei had a niche on certain defenses purely for her ice wall, which could be used split teams attempting to come through a chokepoint, allowing Mei’s teammates to eliminate the split-off threats. Functionally, a Reinhardt that is split from their team is no different than a Reinhardt that charges into the enemy team, pins no one, and leaves his team behind him while he feeds ultimate charge to the opponent. Although Reinhardt is the primary target for separation from his team via ice wall, other heroes being caught out are just as vulnerable to being eliminated before the wall drops. However, the utility of Mei is greatly reduced in situations where it is difficult or impossible to get a perfect seal with the wall, and in those situations it becomes increasingly difficult to justify leaving out the utility of D.va, another concept that will become important later on.

Here we see Sharyk and Kensi of Team Winstrike, who are known for playing Mei GOATS, and the isolated Leaf of Samsung Morning Stars, who is about to die.

Variant C: “Protect the McCree”

Heroes: Winston, D.va, McCree, Lucio, Brigitte, Zenyatta

This is about as far as I’m willing to stretch the bounds of counting something as a “GOATS” variant of deathball, as it still maintains the same support setup and general philosophy. However, this composition focuses much more strongly on creating space for the McCree to be effective, and has been seen as a deterrent to Pharah-based compositions on maps such as Lijiang Garden. This composition differs enough from traditional GOATS that many would not consider it a variant, but it begs mention anyway. This composition has a number of weaknesses that result from having a much more fluid and delicate frontline than other variants, and if adequate space cannot be created for the McCree the composition falls apart. This composition is among the weakest against other GOATS variants, and as such it is rarely seen, and those times are mostly against Pharah-based dive variants on KOTH maps where the routes for heroes with and without vertical mobility differ significantly in length. Although this is defined as having a Winston/D.va tankline, it is nearly as common to find teams running this with a Rein/Zarya tankline instead, which allows for different strengths and weaknesses.

Element Mystic’s Variation: Doomfist Enters the Ring

And now, it is time to begin dissecting in earnest the most interesting, and by far the most misunderstood, variant on the traditional GOATS setup, one that utilizes disruption, one-shot capability, extensive map knowledge, and an overall blend of main tank philosophies. The Element Mystic Doomfist GOATS composition allowed for the ability to run multiple heroes with main tank-like utility, as well as the ability to function as a DPS in the same lineup, and this composition was the one that allowed them to climb all the way to the finals of Overwatch Contenders Korea Season 3. The composition was confounding and infuriating for opponents, seemingly plucked from nothing to be indomitable and impossible to recreate, both due to the immense skill of Sp9rk1e, and the tactical misunderstandings of how the comp functioned, themselves a result of the composition’s stark counter-intuitiveness to both traditional Doomfist and traditional Reinhardt play.

Variant D: Doomfist GOATS, or “DoomGOATS”

Heroes: Reinhardt, Zarya, Doomfist, Lucio, Brigitte, Zenyatta

The composition was first seen from Element Mystic in their match against GC Busan in week 4 (listed as week 5 on the online schedule) of Overwatch Contenders Korea Season 3. The composition utterly devastated GCB, at the time thought to be a close match for Element Mystic. In a quick and decisive 4–0, Element Mystic used Sp9rk1e’s Doomfist to dismantle both the team and the confidence of GC Busan. The composition had been teased by the coach of Meta Athena, then scrim partners for Element Mystic, when he said that Element Mystic had found the composition to counter GOATS. But how does this composition work? And why was GCB unable to replicate its effectiveness in the same match, despite Edison being a stellar Doomfist player in his own right? It is possibly because the Element Mystic Doomfist-based GOATS composition draws from Chinese engage philosophy, most importantly in the idea that in certain compositions, even this one with Reinhardt, Doomfist is not a DPS.

He’s a main tank.

Now, before I am jumped on by proponents of the Overwatch hero sorting system, I should clarify that I believe that roles in Overwatch are more fluid and specific than simply “tank”, “damage”, and “healer.” Although Mei and Tracer are both DPS heroes, they fulfill drastically different roles within a team, and are expected to do different things. Although the same thing could be said for Winston, Orisa, Reinhardt, and Wrecking Ball, these tanks all share a similarity in that they define the engage philosophy of their team. Any composition revolves around its main tank, as the tank sets the pace for how their team will approach and enter fights, how they will position themselves, and what sort of protection they can expect to prevent damage coming in from the enemy team. In niche compositions like the Rein/Winston combinations we have seen from time to time, Rein serves as the “standard” main tank, as he is the one that dictates his teams positioning and pace of play. The team operates around the Reinhardt, while the Winston is able to operate more or less independently from the general flow of the fight, rather than dictating it. It is this dictation that defines a main tank, not a menu location or classification. Roles and compositions in Overwatch are defined by what each hero does, rather than who those heroes are. If there was a new ability that allowed Reinhardt to fly, he could very well become a dive tank, and a terrifying one at that. However, it is not always a commonly-known main tank that can take on the role of dictating the flow of the fight, as we have seen with the use of Doomfist-enabling compositions in China. This idea of a tank as the center of a team’s engage philosophy is also seen in the emergence of Hammond, a tank without a team shield, as a main tank both in certain dive compositions, as well as in the 4dps composition I covered in my last piece.

With Sp9rk1e’s Doomfist in play, Element Mystic used the punch-based DPS as the centerpiece and defining feature of their engages, pouring resources into ensuring his success as well as using him to target and disrupt the enemy tankline early in fights, enabling the ability of Element Mystic’s Reinhardt to operate as a psuedo-DPS while being unworried about winning a clear Rein v Rein battle. Doomfist also does enormous amounts of cleave damage at the start of each fight, weakening the entirety of the opposing team and allowing the rest of Element Mystic to flood in and clean up the disoriented and damaged team. Finally, by being so threatening, Sp9rk1e’s Doomfist forces the opposing team to burn at least some of their defensive cooldowns on him, rather than dedicating them to winning a battle between Reinhardts. By dictating the play of both his own team and the opponents, down to micropositoning before fights, Sp9rk1e’s Doomfist dictates the tactical nature of the fight itself in the same way that a Winston or Reinhardt would, thus fulfilling the role of a main tank.

This is the VOD of the first on-stream appearance of Doomfist GOATS from Element Mystic. Ilios Lighthouse will be used as the primary source of examples of Doomgoats operations.

With this basic understanding, it is crucial to look at the way that Element Mystic engages with Sp9rk1e on Doomfist in order to understand why they are able to be successful in a way that has been so incredibly difficult to counter and to replicate. For this, we will be looking at the very first map and point of the series between the two teams, taking place on Ilios Lighthouse.

Exhibit A: High Ground

In the upper center of the shot is Sp9rk1e (in white), primed for a Seismic Slam into the whole of GC Busan Wave (in green).

The value of Doomgoats comes early in teamfights, and more precisely, with how the composition is able to direct and control the beginnings of those teamfights. As with other compositions, GOATS variants want to be able to dictate when and where engagements take place, both for the ability to utilize some degree of surprise, and also to obtain value out of advantageous map geometry. In the case of the engage pictured above, Element Mystic places Sp9rk1e on a high ground area that allows him access to each of the 4 possible low-ground entry routes, as well as giving him the ability scout the path to his own high-ground position. Let’s break this down into several basic routes with a horrendous drawing.

This image gets the job done.

The positioning that Sp9rk1e takes is on the high ground to the upper left of point, where the “C” and “E” routes overlap each other (with the “C” route going underneath). As opposed to dive compositions where the tankline can ignore many vertical terrain differences and take unpredictable or hybrid entry paths, traditional GOATS is more or less confined to travelling along existing ground routes, taking stairs, ramps and the like to reach high-ground spaces. Doomgoats abuses this predictability in much the way a Pharah would, by positioning the Doomfist (the primary engagement piece) in a place where he is able to both scout, and engage from above, the enemy team’s movement along the predicted paths. In this case, Element Mystic correctly assume that GC Busan would be afraid of both environmental kills (reducing the likelyhood of the “D” route and reducing the likelihood of the “C” route) and would also be hesitant to take fights in spaces where their team is prone to getting split vertically without peel (“E” route) or trapped in tight places with a Doomfist (“C” route), which in turn rules out the “C” route almost entirely. Thus, the most likely GOATS entry paths are through the “A” and the “B” routes, which GOATS traditionally takes anyways. GC Busan travel down the “A” route, leaving them vulnerable to Sp9rk1e entering with a seismic slam and beginning the engagement precisely how, and when, Element Mystic wants to.

Exhibit B: Cleave, Disruption, and DPS Reinhardt

The next basic function of the composition is its ability to consistently force either positional errors or misplays out of the opposing tankline, by using the combo-focused nature of Doomfist to both displace the enemy Reinhardt and allow the Doomfist’s Reinhardt-playing teammate to operate free of tankline interplay concerns, chasing kills and damage as if he was a DPS. The way that this is achieved is through a particular combo, one that is not immediately obvious looking at the Doomfist specifically but is more clear when looking at the way that Doomgoats operates through their first defensive fight here.

Sp9rk1e, in the frame before seismic slam fully connects.

Sp9rk1e seems to enter many engagements with a particular combo, in which he aims a seismic slam past the opposing Reinhardt, aiming to land either next to, or very closely behind the opposing tank. Notice how the damage done is at the very low end of the ability’s slider; the purpose of this is not to do as much damage as possible to the opposing Rein, but rather to enter cleanly and build shield, as well as set Doomfist up for the next portion of the combo.

Sp9rk1e after using rising uppercut on the Reinhardt, and shortly before punching him away from the corridor containing his team.

This part of the combo is where Doomfist’s passive becomes extremely useful. The extra shields built up allow Sp9rk1e to survive when focus is directed onto him, as evidenced here by Ritz (the D.va for GC Busan) flying into the frame and expending matrix to attempt to deal with any follow up damage while the rest of the team begins to aim and shoot at Sp9rk1e. Furthermore, now both Ritz and Ion (GC Busan’s Rein) are out of position, and it is this disruption that allows Doomfist to wear the mantle of main tank for his team here, as he is dictating the operations of the tankline for his own team, as well as the operations for his opponent. But wait, how is he defining the engage for his own team?

Takoyaki, EM’s Reinhardt, enters the fray and cleans up the kill on the displaced Ion.

As Ion lands, we see that the rest of Element Mystic has come surging in, with Takoyaki (Element Mystic’s Rein) playing with virtually no regard for tank interplay. Instead, he rushes at Ion, now displaced from much of his team by Sp9rk1e’s Doomfist. Notice how all of GC Busan is now looking at Takoyaki despite Sp9rk1e being the one with damage on him. Because Sp9rk1e spearheaded the engage, the attention was initially focused on him, allowing his own Reinhardt to enter aggressively and begin swinging. Ion dies, unable to be fully protected by his team, and Takoyaki is barely under threat until the moment that he is hammering his counterpart into the local architecture. Element Mystic does not engage around their Reinhardt, and subsequently said Rein enters with only the purpose of killing on his mind. Because the tank interplay is decided entirely by Element Mystic, and more specifically Sp9rk1e’s entry and displacement, GC Busan inefficiently splits their resources (bubble, stuns, matrix, etc.) between dealing with the Doomfist and dealing with the Reinhardt. For this reason, the sheer innovation of the Doomgoats composition is an added advantage, as their opponent has no idea how it works, and thus how to play against it.

Exhibit C: Role Switch and Pick-focused Doomfist

The final key aspect of the Doomgoats composition is the ability to shift the engage philosophy back to something resembling traditional GOATS, with the team operating around the Reinhardt and using that to inform their engages. However, this comes with the added benefit of allowing your Doomfist to roam freely, chasing picks in the (normally disrupted) backline of the opponent. In the midfight of any GOATS v GOATS variant matchup, chaos reigns supreme, especially with Doomfist-led engages. It is in this chaos that Sp9rk1e shines, picking up kills on the enemy support line and constantly using his abilities on the grouped-up enemy team to generate enough shields to make an ulting Lucio jealous. However, it will later become evident that a team that can retain composure and disciplined target focus into the midfight will have an advantage with the traditional GOATS composition.

Even though this is a cleanup, you can still see the team shifting to playing around their Rein while Sp9rk1e charges up to chase kills past the opponent’s “front line.” This is the way the comp operates mid-fight.

It is important to conclude this section by mentioning that in this match, GC Busan briefly attempted to run the Doomgoats composition themselves, only to discover that it was an even poorer result than running normal GOATS. On Hanamura in particular (later in the same series), Edison attempts to run Doomfist only to find it incredibly difficult to get picks or effective disruption, and in the end mostly serves to feed ultimate charge and leave his team in a 5v6 situation. I believe that this is due to both a lack of understanding of what Doomfist does in this composition, namely leading engages and setting up plays for a damage-focused Reinhardt, as well as a lack of coordination between the members of GC Busan, leading to situations where Edison engaged when his team was unprepared to (or incapable of) quickly following up, an element of tactical unity that is essential to the functioning of this composition. As fun as it would be to break down specifically just how poorly this composition could be run, now is the time to reach the true focus of this piece: how a team prepared for the composition, modified their playstyle to adapt to it, and defeated it over the course of a single match.

Runaway v Element Mystic: The Main Event

Busan Downtown

For this specifically, we will be looking at Busan Downtown

Coming into the Grand Finals of Overwatch Contenders Korea Season 3, Element Mystic were picked as unanimous favorites in a poll of Korean casters and professionals with key elements of their likely success being their unwavering discipline, their excellent coaching, their incredible individual talent throughout the lineup, and (most commonly mentioned) the immense skill of Sp9rk1e, particularly on Doomfist. Although both teams had a shaky start, adapting to each other and scrapping out fights and a win each on Sanctuary and MEKA Base, on Downtown Element Mystic appear to be by far the superior team, consistently dominating Runaway in clean fight wins and stuffing them at chokepoints. However, even during this domination we can see the beginnings of Runaway’s adaptation to Sp9rk1e’s Doomfist, both in how they focus on tank interplay, and in their consistent early picks on the punching DPS character even as he picks up kill after kill. Terminology used to describe pathing will be based on the following image:

Witness the unrestrained power of Microsoft Paint.

Displayed here are the possible entry routes for Runaway once Element Mystic are able to capture the point. This map lacks an easily available overhead view, as the kind internet citizens who were making the overhead map views finished and left their project prior to the release of Busan as a playable map in Overwatch. As such, a cursory map knowledge would be useful to understanding where each point comes from, the linked pathing, and in particular the usefulness of the room connected to several overlooks, the visible entrance of which is labelled here as “C”. It is this room that is key to Doomfist’s usefulness on a retake by Element Mystic, even if it is a poor choice for Runaway to engage through due to the possibility of a vertical team split, similar to the “E” route on Ilios Lighthouse. Also in a comparison to Lighthouse, the “D” route here is similar to the cliff-side routes on Ilios Lighthouse (The “D” and to a lesser extent “C” routes) in that such a route is longer, and at higher risk of making a team victims of environmental kills at the hands of Lucio, Brigitte, and of course Doomfist. Furthermore, the paths from spawn to the “D” route here have the disadvantage of being scoutable by a team positioned at the choke around the exit of the “A” route, known colloquially as “main” by most players. With this scouting advantage, a team is able to position at the exit from “A” and cover all possible routes, with the threat of each possible angle of attack respectively covered through scouting and time to reposition (“D” route), disadvantageous engage-point height difference (“C” route), primary defensive positioning (“A” route), or a combination of multiple other weaknesses (“B” route).

The “B” route is interesting, in that it is, on the surface, the strongest route. It is not as easily scouted as other routes, it doesn’t make sense for the defense to position at its exit due to it not being central on the map, and it allows multiple different options upon exiting the narrow choke that makes up much of the route, one of which leads to a room with strong defensive capability and a mega health pack for extra team sustain. However, the “B” route also suffers from being easily covered by a team positioned at the “A” route, as well as the aforementioned narrow choke being vulnerable to strong crowd control abilities like those possessed by Mei, Wrecking Ball, and of course Doomfist. Additionally, the route is also one of the longest paths to point, meaning that it is not useful for a team wishing to create chaotic fights on the control point or attempting to touch quickly to force or extend overtime. The route, although appealing as it is not the “A” route and is thus counted as a “flank”, is a tactical mirage, far less useful against well-positioned teams in a GOATS v GOATS matchup than it first appears. Nevertheless, Runaway are able to be somewhat effective utilizing this route, so it is not without its merit as an effective tactical choice.

With the lengthy breakdown of the basics of each entry route over, let’s delve into the gameplay itself, fight by fight, using the point capture percentage at the start of the fights to define them.

Fight 1: Runaway 0, Element Mystic 0.

King of the Hill, or “Control Point”, is a unique game mode for professional Overwatch in that each point begins with a true “neutral fight” where each team starts with identical focus, positioning possibilities, and ultimate charge. However, oftentimes the team able to win the first fight is able to gain greater ultimate charge and take strong defensive positioning, leading to the first fight winner taking the point overall far more often than not. With the ability of GOATS to draw fights out for so long, this tendency of KOTH is driven to extreme levels, so winning the first fight is not only relevant towards a team’s success, it is paramount.

It is thus unsurprising to see Element Mystic and Runaway take aggressive stances here, with both teams committing fully to an engagement at the center of the point and each unit unwilling to allow any possibility of ceding strong positional advantage to the other. It is similarly expected that the aggression of Sp9rk1e shows early, as he and Alpha (Element Mystic’s Reinhardt player here) engage in tandem. The style of engage is interesting here, as Sp9rk1e seems to be using Doomfist more for the possibility of getting picks earlier in the fight as opposed to focusing on disrupting the tank engage, but this is likely due to a combination of factors. The first being that in the neutral fight there is a lack of the time and positional preparation that allow Element Mystic to set up their combo and their finely-timed Doomfist engage play, and the second being that Runaway had shown an unusual adeptness at recognizing and responding to the engagement/role switch style that Element Mystic had used previously on Busan. It is this ability to recognize which of the Doomfist or Rein was serving as the functional main tank, and thus required focus, that would prove to be the foundation of Runaway’s eventual victory in the series. Here, however, the prepped counterplay is not working as Sp9rk1e picks up several key frags en route to helping EM win the first team fight.

Element Mystic (in white) are engaging into Runaway (in green.) Sparkle is mid-slam in the center of the screen.

Here we see a situation in which Sp9rk1e is unable to take the preferred approach of playing from a prepared high ground. As a result, his slam into Runaway is both predicted, and responded to. Sp9rk1e takes a significant amount of damage early on, and he is also unable to fully disrupt Runaway’s Reinhardt by turning mid-slam. However, Sp9rk1e is still able to effectively finish the engage and get value by forcing cooldowns. Despite the engage not being ideal, he still achieves the purpose of defining the engage philosophy of both teams.

Sp9rk1e slams into the middle of Runaway.

Here we can see Runaway responding to Sp9rk1e’s entry, with Heesu (Runaway’s Zarya) and Hanbin (Element Mystic’s Zarya) burning their personal and projected barriers respectively in response to the actions of the Doomfist. Mag (Runaway’s Reinhardt) does an excellent job of sidestepping and avoiding the Doomfist combo, but the immediate uppercut by Sp9rk1e catches Schwi, the Brigitte for Runaway. With a quick follow up punch, Schwi is painted on the side of a wall, and the engage is successful if not ideal. However, the focus from Runaway eliminates Sp9rk1e before he can escape, a type of effective target focus not seen from GC Busan earlier in the season. In the chaos, however, Mag (the Reinhardt for Runaway) attempts to lead an engage into the repositioning Element Mystic without the resources of his team committed to said engage, and he dies. What could have been a relatively equal tradeoff from Sp9rk1e’s hubris instead becomes a severe disadvantage for Runway, and the rest of the fight becomes easy cleanup for the remaining members of Element Mystic. Said cleanup also leads to a huge advantage in ultimate charge for EM, especially in the Zarya matchup as pointed out by Wolf in the broadcast. In short, Runaway take the ideal counterplay steps to deal with Sp9rk1e’s engages and show that they recognize him as the primary engage leader for his team, but the aggression of Mag leads to a lost fight and the beginning of a snowball. It is the gradual dialing back of Mag’s aggression and impatience that would serve as the primary catalyst for Runaway’s growing dominance as the series went on.

Fight 2: Runaway 0, Element Mystic 7

Here we see the advantage of hidden high grounds and defensive positioning on Busan Downtown. Element Mystic position at “main”, or the “A” route, pushing into the choke itself to be able to scout Runaway’s movements as they decide to flank around to the “B” route. Sp9rk1e is able to come in from above and slam into Runaway. Initially it seems as though the engage path that Sp9rk1e takes is from behind, however, a frame-by-frame check reveals a hiding place in the upper reaches of the mid-map terrain.

Hiding behind a tree is an effective wartime tactic.

From here, Sp9rk1e engages with a seismic slam, however his team is not yet close enough to follow up effectively. He gets the uppercut onto LeeJaeGon, Runaway’s Lucio player, however a couple of key tactics are again used to mitigate his effectiveness. Firstly, we see Mag turn his barrier to face the landing spot of Sp9rk1e, preventing the partial stun from the landing to begin executing the combo. Secondly, we see the more mobile and self-sufficient members of Runaway turn to address Sp9rk1e, as he is apparently faced with a myriad of boops and stuns that serve to isolate him from his team, much in the same way Sp9rk1e is attempting to isolate the opposing main tank. Finally, we see Runaway’s tankline allow the time to deal with Sp9rk1e following the isolation, before turning their attention back to the headlong and fearless engage from the rest of Element Mystic as soon as the Doomfist is dead. They commit cooldowns and healing resources to keeping their QoQ, their D.va, in mech as D.va’s utility of damage prevention and sustained damage becomes more and more valuable as fights go on. Element Mystic’s follow up with the “DPS Reinhardt” style proves to be their undoing here, as Runaway is able to regain composure and target focus quickly enough to collapse on and kill Alpha. Runaway has now killed “both” main tanks of Element Mystic without losing any of their own members, and yet they still end up losing this fight. How?

Firstly, Schwi (Runaway’s Brig) makes the mistake of thinking that if the enemy main tank is eliminated, you can simply ignore the value of your own. He pushes out chasing a kill on Doha (EM’s Brig) and is undone by the combination of an opposing Zenyatta’s discord orb, a Zarya projected barrier onto Doha, and a hail of damage coming from the rest of Element Mystic. The damage capabilities of an unmitigated Zenyatta are not to be underestimated, as we will see throughout this series. Both teams burn transcendence in order to try and win out the fight, but Runaway is ultimately undone by cheese, and the map itself. They follow Element Mystic onto, and then off of the point, intent on cleanly killing the remaining members before Sp9rk1e or Alpha can fully regain the fight. Element Mystic takes a clever switch back, and, well…

Don’t stand near the edge of the map, kids.

Fight 3: Runaway 0, Element Mystic 51

There isn’t a ton to talk about with this one, as the engage is very similar to the previous fight. However, Runaway do an excellent job moving their backline around and safely into the central theatre lobby. Although Sp9rk1e is able to get a seismic slam into Runaway, he is quickly dealt with via damage focus and Brigitte stun and is forced to retreat. Both sides use sound barrier, and through the usage and quick follow up on Heesu’s graviton surge Runaway wipe Element Mystic and are able to take the point. However, there are some tactical choices that are important to note here. Firstly, Runaway choose to take the same entry path as they did before, knowing that it was ideal for now. This is because it gives them the ability to position in a space (the cover of the theatre) where it is difficult to use Doomfist to displace the Reinhardt. Additionally, in choosing the same route they already know and anticipate the entry from Sp9rk1e, which means they are furthermore able to predict the timing and angles of his entire team. Sp9rk1e will find it increasingly difficult throughout the series to cleanly engage from high ground in later teamfights, simply because Runaway are quickly internalizing the types of angles and entries he is likely to take, as well as the exact timing of follow up from the rest of his team. In this way, Element Mystic’s attempts to introduce chaos and confusion become predictable, and thus punishable, by the whole of Runaway. If you use the same punch too many times, your opponent will learn to block, and to counterpunch.

Second in importance in this particular fight, but arguably more important overall, is the fact that Element Mystic are not running a D.va in their composition. Not only does this hurt their ability to mitigate damage in longer fights, but it also removes their own ability to punish or deal with counterplays by their opponents. Case in point: in this fight, Element Mystic use the exact same engage as they did the previous fight, and with that predictability in mind Heesu is able to launch a graviton surge that captures four members of Element Mystic. The graviton is excellently managed, with Mag carefully controlling his hammer swings versus his shield, as well as his distance from the melee range of the heroes inside, before following up with a charge that eliminates Doha and all but secures the fight.

Although Mag is able to use earthshatter to stun and eliminate Hanbin (Element Mystic’s Zarya) while Alpha gets no value for his own earthshatter, this is a micro play that is more specific to the luck and semi-random elements in the game than it is to overall strategy. Although you can tip the flow of these events in the favor of a team by having more skilled and quicker-minded players, these types of microplays are random enough that you should not hedge your expectations of victory on always coming out on top of such events, for the same reason that a Widow duel 1v1 is far less preferable than a Widow duel where your friendly Winston is also flying into the face of the opposing Widowmaker. This fight is primarily won with tactics, not a skill play, and it is this approach that will increasingly set apart good teams from teams with good players.

Fight 4: Runaway 13, Element Mystic 70

Coming into this fight, Runaway is aware that they will have to win several consecutive fights in order to have a chance to bring back the map. Additionally, they are aware of a slight disadvantage in ultimates, that being that Hanbin is far closer to a graviton surge than Heesu, who used it the previous fight. As a result, they decide to take an aggressive fight, pushing into the opposite “A” route (main) before retreating and taking defensive positions around…what?

Not the ideal GOATS grouping.

Mag appears to push as if to meet Element Mystic at the “B” route choke, which would deny Sp9rk1e the ability to engage from there without being tracked easily. The rest of Runaway, however, fan out and pull back, some in the direction of point, and some towards the middle of the map. Crucially, LeeJaeGon is not with Mag, and the focus of the team is split when Sp9rk1e makes an abrupt dive toward’s Runaway’s backline. Due to the lack of cohesive positioning, Element Mystic are able to drop onto Mag and commit all their resources into killing him as you would in a traditional GOATS v GOATS matchup. This lost fight is not to blame on any excellent tactical choices by Element Mystic, but rather due to a momentary loss of cohesion and proper positioning by Runaway. Even if Element Mystic had not engaged through the “C” route (which turned out to be ideal for Sp9rk1e’s engages, a fact that was likely noted and remembered by Runaway’s coaches) they still would have been able to punish the poor positioning by Runaway. Element Mystic did not win this fight, Runaway lost it by setting themselves up poorly and failing to play the GOATS v GOATS matchup in the understood ideal way.

Everything subsequently occurring in this fight, from the elimination of Sp9rk1e, to the multi-man shatter to finish off Runaway and flip the point, were moment-specific tactical decisions made after a fight was already lost. Although in the dive meta, you often saw heroic comebacks by teams outskilling and outscrapping their opponents (the heroics of Carpe on Lijaing against the Boston Uprising come to mind), GOATS matchups have far fewer opportunities for such plays. You cannot make the types of egregious mistakes that Runaway made at the start of this fight, because you will be punished for them, and harshly. And not just in this fight — Hanbin is able to use the staggered eliminations and cleanup to generate another graviton surge, which will prove instrumental in the next fight with GangnamJin lacking his transcendence. In the moment at the start of the fight where Runaway positioned themselves poorly and opened up to being aggressively engaged upon, they threw away the fight, the stage, and ultimately the map.

Fight 5: Runaway 37, Element Mystic 80

There isn’t much to say about this fight besides one, small, tactical error made by Runaway, that leads to their undoing and is a direct result of the engage pressure from Sp9rk1e. Runaway push through the “A” path, both in the interest of time as the point ticks up, and also because the “A” path gives them a far lower chance of being snuck up upon by Hanbin with the graviton surge. It is mentioned in the broadcast that it is a tactical necessity for QoQ to eat the grav with defense matrix, and as the fight commences that intent is clear to see, with QoQ staring down Hanbin. However, one thing goes crucially wrong. A forced error, if you will.

QoQ (D.va, center screen) stares down his foe.

It is often said that main tanks create space and opportunities for their team. Well, watching the match frame by frame from about 13:59.5 onward should give a clear indication of just how Sp9rk1e achieves this key objective of a main tank.

Terrible screenshot. Blame YouTube.

QoQ turns to face Sp9rk1e, both to use matrix and to help burn him down. Sp9rk1e, in this moment, decides entirely what each team is doing and about to do, just by his mere presence. Between the uppercut, the positional stuns, and the threat of obscene damage, Sp9rk1e draws the attention and tactical focus of his foes, and opens up space for his teammates to operate freely. Sp9rk1e kills both LeeJaeGon, and GangnamJin, and the graviton from Hanbin seals the deal. Even though QoQ turns back to face Hanbin prior to the graviton being thrown, his attention was diverted enough that he is unable to eat the grav. Sp9rk1e dies for his play, but he is the only death for Element Mystic in this fight. Runaway is dismantled and cleaned up, and they never even reach the point to contest for overtime. Despite Runaway having all of the pieces of the plan to beat Element Mystic and Sp9rk1e specifically, they seem unable to put them all together. But to recap: what are those pieces?

Runaway v Element Mystic: The Counterpunch

Runaway seem to have many of the right tactical approaches to defeat Doomgoats, but what are those? A quick breakdown.

1) Effective Focus

Runaway have to be able to recognize when Sp9rk1e is acting as the spearhead, and is thus vulnerable, and when Element Mystic shifts their focus back onto enabling their Reinhardt. If Runaway can consistently do that, they will be able to take advantage of the lower damage mitigation of Element Mystic’s D.va-less composition and outlast their opponents.

2) Scout

Knowing where the Doomfist will be coming from is essential to responding to him both before, and immediately after he lands. If done right, it should be possible to kill Sp9rk1e and turn around to face the rest of his team before they can engage effectively. Although I won’t be going in-depth, it would be beneficial to look at Element Mystic vs Meta Athena on Hollywood, to see how effective scouting using a D.va, or even just knowing where a Doomfist is likely to come from, can hugely limit his effectiveness.

3) Outflank

In Lijiang, we will see how Runaway used their knowledge of where Doomfist would be hiding to inform their rotations, taking long and often covered entry routes to allow them to begin the engagement without Sp9rk1e deciding the timing or location. Furthermore, their movements make the jumps in for Sp9rk1e longer in both time and distance, allowing Runaway more time to respond and limiting the Doomfist’s options as far as landing locations. Starting the engagements when they choose also allows Runaway to exhaust Element Mystic’s more limited damage mitigation cooldowns before slow-playing the fight and outlasting them.

4) Minimize Mistakes

Throughout the series we see Runaway becoming more and more disciplined, using their team-first mentality and level-headedness to simply overwhelm the more emotional and individualistic Element Mystic. In particular, Mag strongly dials back his own aggression throughout the series, and instead of trying to force hero plays, he waits for Element Mystic to make their own errors and then punishes them. This goes as a whole for all of Runaway, who are apparently unfazed by their loss on Busan before they proceed to out-think and out-plan Element Mystic throughout the series.

5) Stay Calm, Stay Focused

It is this resolute will and dedication to perfect team play that allow Runaway such heroics as their defensive stand on Horizon Lunar Colony, as well as their incredibly clutch play throughout Dorado. By the time the series proceeds to Lijiang Tower, Runaway have rattled off three straight wins, and still their players remain focused, relaxed, and locked-in to continuing with the plan. In contrast, the players of Element Mystic seem tilted, with some in tears and others making mistakes in game, sacrificing ultimates or tactical advantage in attempts to make hero plays. Sp9rk1e, in particular, shows in his play that he is frustrated and confused at the ability of Runaway to get knocked down, and keep getting back up. By the time the series heads to Lijiang Night Market, Element Mystic have their backs against the wall and, having exhausted all other options, turn to Sp9rk1e’s Doomfist to save them.

Runaway v Element Mystic: Knockout

Lijiang Night Market

If the link is bugged, Night Market starts at about 44:12.

At this point, Runaway have mastered their counterplay options and fully adapted to the specific pressures of Element Mystic’s playstyle. All that’s left to do is break down how exactly each fight goes, and look at how they finally put Element Mystic’s Doomgoats composition to rest.

Fight 1: Runaway 0, Element Mystic 0

Here we are again, in the neutral fight. The camerawork in this fight in particular is excellent, as it shows the engage from above, clearly highlighting the steps that make up the Doomgoats engage.

Sp9rk1e sets himself up on the high ground of the lion statue. Both Alpha and Doha used their shields to allow him to position there, a consequence of not having defense matrix.

Sp9rk1e engages in, aiming to land next to the Runaway tankline as his own tanks stand ready to follow up. Notably, Sp9rk1e is taking significant damage upon entry.

Both teams commit Zarya barriers, with Element Mystic using their projected and Runaway using their personal. These resource commitments show that the fight is operating around Sp9rk1e.

Sp9rk1e gets the uppercut on Mag, opening up the window for his team to follow in and do damage. However, we see the beginnings of a partial slow play from Runaway.

The follow up. Element Mystic are in on Runaway, who attempt to defend themselves from the onslaught. Important to note is that Element Mystic are forced to spend Brigitte’s armor pack on the Doomfist due to the extensive damage he takes during this engage.

QoQ follows Sp9rk1e out as he disengages, before…

QoQ, and Runaway as a whole, recognize that the role switch has happened, and with Mag healed nearly to full and their projected barrier still available, they shift focus back to Element Mystic’s Reinhardt.

Beyond those opening couple of seconds, the rest of the fight proceeds in an interesting mix of scrappy outplay from Runaway, and Element Mystic suffering due to the cooldown requirements of their engagements. In just these opening few seconds, Runaway show a surprising responsiveness to the role switch, indicating that they are were prepared well for this composition in particular, and a strong discipline in how they approach winning the fight as a group rather than individuals. This displays that their fundamentals are strong and well-coached.

What Sp9rk1e sees as QoQ turns around.

QoQ presses into Alpha from the back, pinning him between a rock and a hard place as his team is spread out to try and take advantage of Sp9rk1e’s disruption from as many angles as possible. However, Runaway aren’t disrupted. On the contrary, they are already midway through pushing back into Element Mystic and putting immense pressure on Alpha before the armor pack and projected barrier cooldowns can come back online. These few seconds display, more completely than any other part of the match, that Runaway knew how to outplay and counter the Doomgoats composition with the tools present in traditional GOATS alone. Even though Element Mystic played this precisely how their tactics demanded it, they were still beaten in this moment. As the fight devolves, the superior sustain of Runaway combines with their better target focus to outlast and outwork Element Mystic.

As he re-enters the fray, Sp9rk1e generates the first kill, but Element Mystic lack the damage mitigation to deal with Heesu, now apparently the superior Zarya, as he burns down his counterpart in Hanbin before turning his attention to eliminating the overcommitted and discorded Sp9rk1e. Although Runaway lose Mag following these two picks, Element Mystic lack the damage capability to follow up with their Zarya and Doomfist dead. Furthermore, Alpha is reduced to a low enough health without a Zarya to protect him, that he is essentially forced to shield bot to keep himself alive for the next couple of seconds. Here, QoQ seizes the day and pushes in aggressively, in a way that only D.va can, eliminating Xzi (the Zenyatta for Element Mystic) and thus reducing the damage potential of the whole team to a level that makes it virtually impossible for Element Mystic to get easy picks. The fight is lost at this moment, and even though Alpha is able to charge and remove QoQ from the mech, the effort is ultimately futile in this fight. Runaway get the all-important first capture. QoQ, without mech, jumps off of the map to reset at spawn.

Following the fight, a huge mistake is made by Sp9rk1e as he attempts to re-engage on a lost fight, and is instead killed out of sync with his teammates, delaying their ability to start the next fight and giving QoQ the time he needs to rejoin his team after jumping off of the map as baby D.va.

Fight 2: Runaway 15, Element Mystic 0

The fight begins with a strong push from Element Mystic, eliminating Mag but losing Alpha in the process. Unable to properly lead the engage from the enclosed choke, and with his team deciding not to attempt to push from high ground, Sp9rk1e is relegated to more traditional Doomfist play, engaging with a punch from a different angle as the rest of his team and going for picks in the backline. Although he doesn’t get what he is looking for, he is nevertheless able to work with his team to finish (Schwi) or begin (Heesu) the process of eliminating the members of Runaway one by one. One thing that should be noted in this fight is the incredible transcendance charge rate of GangnamJin, who is able to use a trance at the start of one fight, and have another ready by the beginning of the following fight. This is due in part to the early loss of Alpha for Element Mystic, but just as critically is due to the lack of damage mitigation from the D.va. While many Zenyatta players have to do damage by firing shots one by one in GOATS v GOATS matchups, the lack of a D.va on the side of Element Mystic allows GangnamJin to charge up exceptionally aimed right click bursts, which give him quicker ultimate charge than normal as well as a higher potential of rapidly bursting down an opponent. Although Runaway come out of the fight with an incredible ultimate advantage, and display excellent stalling tactics, this fight is excellent at demonstrating the scrappiness of Element Mystic, as they win multiple different small-scale engagements to win the overall fight, while along the way failing to quickly and efficiently secure kills. As a result, Runaway is able to stall out a huge capture point percentage in this fight, and are also able to generate a massive ultimate advantage in a losing battle, which is contrary to the way GOATS operates most of the time.

Fight 3: Runaway 55, Element Mystic 12

Here is where the true tactical genius of Runaway’s coaching staff and players becomes apparent, as they take an entry path that allows them multiple choices of when and where to engage, without giving Element Mystic the opportunity to time their own engage around Sp9rk1e’s seismic slam and uppercut combo.

Runaway is in the covered room to the upper right of the image.

In this moment, Runaway see the positioning of Alpha and anticipate Sp9rk1e’s position, perfectly primed to jump on top of them with Alpha right there to follow up on damage. As a result, Runaway decide to go to the next doorway along their route, and push out knowing where Sp9rk1e is likely to come from. This positioning is not quickly responded to by Alpha, and as a result Sp9rk1e is unable to risk engaging here. If he does, he will likely be using uppercut in an enclosed, low-ceiling room, where the disruption will be minimal and his death swift. Instead, he drops off of his perch and tries to rotate to the statue for a similar engage with which he began the map, expecting Runaway to take the full rotation if anything. If they do, he will likely be able to seismic slam in off of the statue and lead the engage much as he did on Busan.

He never gets the chance.

Not having a D.va in 2019, Colorized.

Runaway instead push freely into the center of the open square, and without a D.va to worry about, Heesu throws his graviton right on the Reinhardt and Zarya. The value of this grav is incredible, since it not only locks the Reinhardt and Zarya in place right in front of the surging mass of Runaway, it also would serve as a defensive measure if Sp9rk1e had chosen to enter off of high ground, the grav locking him in place as he engaged and preventing the disruptive combo that defines Doomfist in this matchup. Now, I can’t tell exactly why, but for some reason Alpha drops his shield right before the D.va bomb explodes. He wasn’t stunned, he wasn’t moved out of position to die to it, his shield isn’t even low enough to think that putting the shield down is the right play. Perhaps he believes that more of his team is going to die as a result of the bomb, and as such he intentionally dies to it in order to prevent Runaway from getting more ultimate charge off of killing him. No matter what happens, Alpha makes an unforced error and throws the fight as a result.

Speaking of errors, Unique had made an untimely boop that led to Mag getting the game-winning earthshatter on Dorado, and here he makes yet another intelligent boop that goes horribly wrong. He displaces Mag, who is attempting to charge Alpha in the graviton surge to get as much value as possible out of the self destruct, a common play for Reinhardt players to make and a common counterplay for Lucio players. However, in doing so he places Mag in perfect position to catch and kill Sp9rk1e, who is attempting to line up a counterengage from within his own backline. The rest of the fight is quick and easy cleanup for Runaway, and they maintain possession of earthshatter and transcendence, as well as the excess rally armor on Zenyatta and Zarya, while being over halfway to another rally.

To summarize this whole fight in one word for Element Mystic: “Unlucky.”

Fight 4: Runaway 68, Element Mystic 32

This fight has my single favorite play in the entire series, one that made me yell aloud as it happened. No, it isn’t the incredible series-sealing bomb from QoQ.

It’s baiting Element Mystic into wasting the graviton/meteor strike combo.

To set this up, Element Mystic know that they must win this fight if they hope to have any chance of winning the series. Losing here would lead to Runaway being able to rebuild their ultimate bank while Element Mystic begins a final, desperate race to touch the point that would leave them spread thin and unable to overcome Runaway’s staunch defense. Ideal or not, this is a must-win fight for Element Mystic, and it needs to be won conclusively in order to minimize Runway’s chances of being able to clutch out a scrappy win. So, Element Mystic utilize the strongest ultimate in their arsenal; the graviton surge. QoQ is unable to eat it just as he was on Busan. Mag, Heesu and eventually QoQ himself are caught within, and recognizing the incredible opportunity this presents to his opponents, GangnamJin uses his transcendence and jumps within the graviton to keep his teammates alive. With four members of Runaway trapped within the grav, Sp9rk1e recognizes a chance to be the hero and targets the 300 max damage meteor strike right on the center of the trapped and (apparently) helpless members of Runaway. All four of them. Not six. Four. Take a look at who is in range for this enormous one-time 300 damage burst.

Not pictured: heroes killable with meteor strike, being targeted by meteor strike.

Sp9rk1e is so consumed with the opportunity to execute the Doomgoats version of the grav-bomb combo that he is unable to recognize that, with the Zenyatta using trance, none of Runaway within the grav are able to be killed instantly, and those that take damage will be healed up nearly instantly by the Zenyatta. Furthermore, through the myriad of shields, bubbles, and invincible damage blocking Zenyatta in the grav, a quick glance at Sp9rk1e’s post-landing shields would show you that he isn’t even able to damage all of the trapped members of Runaway. While the Brigitte or Lucio could have possibly been killed by the meteor strike on a grav, I believe (perhaps naively) that Runaway intentionally baited and allowed this combo to happen in order to control the timing and location of those ultimates and prevent them from getting any value at all.

Not expecting the combo to fail so spectacularly, Element Mystic are not focused and disciplined enough to properly position and coordinate in the next couple of seconds. Sp9rk1e dives aimlessly into Runaway, failing to get picks, and a multi-man earthshatter by Alpha sees virtually no follow-up despite Element Mystic having their own transcendence active. Every member is trying to be a hero. They are no longer a team, they are six excellent players in a server trying desperately to not lose. Their Lucio is trying to make plays in the enemy backline, their Zarya is frequently switching targets at low energy, and the final facade of the challenger is falling apart.

This slam was followed up with a trancing Zenyatta, a nearly full-health Doomfist, and a full-health Reinhardt deciding to retreat and allow the opposing Rein and D.va back in.

Meanwhile, Runaway’s Rein goes in, gets burst to low, and they have a myriad of defensive cooldowns ready to help him before he can be killed.

Mag gets himself out of position in the counteraggression, and as a result goes low, showing off Runaway’s focus as they correctly layer defensive cooldowns to keep him alive and get him out of the danger posed by most of Element Mystic. However, with an uppercut and a punch, Sp9rk1e is able to be the hero, getting kills on Mag and Schwi to swing the fight in Element Mystic’s favor, but the retake was far more costly than it needed to be. The low value of the graviton surge and meteor strike combo in turn led to Element Mystic spending their transcendence and earthshatter on the fight, emptying their warchest as Runaway is able to stall to 99% capture. Despite Element Mystic’s ability to clutch out wins on individual skill, the superior tactical discipline of Runaway has put them in prime position going into the next fight, which will prove to be the final one of the series.

Between fights, Sp9rk1e takes an identical position to where he took on the last defensive hold, and in doing so it becomes clear to the audience that this is the set play. It is also clear that Runaway knows the set play, given their behavior in the next fight. You can see GangnamJin scout out the positioning of Sp9rk1e as he attempts to uppercut back to the same spot. Keep an eye on GangnamJin, as he is able to generate 23% of a transcendence essentially between fights through his right clicks. After all, who is going to punish him if he sits far back?

Pictured: GangnamJin laughing at not having a D.va in 2019.

Fight 5: Runaway 99, Element Mystic 48

The final blow, like the knockout punch in any great boxing match, seems predictable in hindsight, and is seemingly a hybrid of every hit that came before. After the fact it seems like it was almost scripted, almost routine. Like in fight 3, Runaway avoid the quick drop of Sp9rk1e, opting to rotate through the enclosed rooms, this time to the far side door in a full rotation. Also as in fight 3, Sp9rk1e drops down and positions himself on the statue for his entry, setting up the seismic slam engage that he has used dozens, if not hundreds, of times before. And like many of those times, he gets a pick straight away, this time by doing damage and disruption to Schwi, whom Alpha ultimately kills with a charge. And like many times past, Sp9rk1e executes his disruptive combo and immediately retreats, expecting (and this time hoping) that the damage follow up from his team is able to tear the enemy team apart.

But GangnamJin, in his fragging ability, unhindered by a D.va, has been able to generate another Transcendence, in under one fight, and a losing one at that. Runaway are not disrupted, they are not reeling from the Doomfist main tank entry, the DPS Rein follow up, or the fluid and disorienting role switch that had bewildered GC Busan and decimated Element Mystic’s previous playoff opponents.

Runaway hold fast, counterpunching and killing Alpha as he charges headlong into their lines. They drive forward, burning through the sound barrier from Unique and focusing targets down with deadly precision. Mike Tyson once said that “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” The implication, presumably, is that those plans fall apart once the mouth-punch lands. But what if you plan for that punch, that all-in, hyperaggressive, knock-you-out-in-one-hit punch. What if there was a way to plan for it, minimize its impact, and punish the user with the perfect, unstoppable counterpunch. Of course, this analogy falls apart when discussing Mike Tyson in particular, but in the case of Runaway, they appear to have mastered that plan. Don’t try and hide from the punch, but instead bait it to arrive when you choose, weather the storm, and hit back fast.

When the barrier fades and five members of Runaway remain standing, Element Mystic burns transcendence in an attempt to keep the fight alive, to allow their team that last measure of enabled aggression to win the fight. But Mag is dead, and as much as Doomfist plays pretend at being a main tank in this composition, he lacks something that is key to Reinhardt in these scrappy fights: a shield. Sp9rk1e, for all his disruption and engage control and ability to decide when and where and how and on what terms fights happen, is unable to block an earthshatter. He is unable to do as D.va would, and eat a graviton surge. And he is utterly powerless against an exploding mech, blowing to smithereens much of Element Mystic and with them the last hopes of winning the championship. For all his ability to carry and enable his team, Sp9rk1e is unable to save them from the trio of tank ultimates that Runaway were able to build up. His meteor strike is useless, a token showing of strength and will as Element Mystic’s world goes dark and they fall to the floor of the ring, their opponents still standing.

Somewhere, someone counts to ten as Runaway retake the point and overtime trickles down to nothing. A bell chimes.

Knockout.

Final Thoughts

At the end of this, where does the Doomgoats composition stand? Does it fit within the pantheon of usable variants, or was it just a brilliant gimmick that worked once upon a time before it was figured out by equally brilliant opponents? Does it even work when not played by an enormous talent such as Sp9rk1e? Does it still work following the myriad of nerfs and changes to the game since both its first appearance and its last? All of these questions and more can only truly be answered by more professional play. Perhaps there are adjustments that Doomgoats teams can make to be better prepared for the counterplay of Runaway, or perhaps D.va is indeed a hero too valuable to be left out of any composition. Perhaps Doomgoats turns out to be the next effective evolution of the core GOATS compositon, and allows it a better matchup against some as-of-yet undiscovered super meta comp. Even I won’t pretend to know the answers to these questions, but what I do know is this:

Element Mystic could have walked onto that stage and ripped apart nearly any Contenders team in the world without even trying, and yet they took a single map off of Runaway before being stonewalled, out-planned, out-maneuvered, and out-fought as the defending champions held on to their title. But that’s how it goes, right? Every challenger looks unbeatable, before they go against the true champion. Runaway made Element Mystic look like just any other team in this match, and proved that even if they lose their entire roster to the Overwatch League, the Runaway organization will still be able to find a way to build a team of champions. Not just a group of the best players. The best team. When it comes to Tier 2 Overwatch, that’s what makes them The Greatest.

Thanks for reading,

Graeme J.S. Blakely