The battle for Texas within the Overwatch League ultimately went to the Dallas Fuel on Sunday, but they were tested on their ability to handle an unusual opponent -- much like themselves.

Must-win fights and traded blows defined the Fuel’s 3-2 win over the Outlaws, but there are some other big things to be learned about head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins and the Dallas Fuel.

Here are three lessons from their match:

No way of knowing

Hero pools changed just about everything in the Overwatch League. While it gives fans a fresh look at their favorite teams by forcing squads to evolve and play different compositions, it also made the jobs of head coaches and players more complicated.

One of the biggest adjustments was in preparation.

The Fuel have to find what works for them each week while preparing for a different opponent. Fuel tank player Lucas “NotE” Meissner said on the OWL YouTube broadcast after the Fuel’s win that he knew the Outlaws liked some heroes, but there were uncertainties.

“We didn’t actually have a super great idea of what they were going to play,” NotE said. “We knew they liked playing Doomfist compositions because they had success with it, but we didn’t know the extent.”

Houston was certainly attached to the Doomfist pick, but it was how they played it that was a bit surprising to Dallas. Just seeing Doomfist didn’t tell the Fuel what the Outlaws wanted to do. Dallas has run Kim “DoHa” Dongha on Doomfist many times themselves, but rarely paired with a Sombra.

“At first we were playing aggressive and our back line was dying to the Doomfist a lot, so we changed our play style a bit and tried to bait the enemy Doomfist to come in,” Fuel tank player Noh “Gamsu” YoungJin told The Dallas Morning News in a phone interview.

“Then we focused on him.”

OWL teams can put in as many hours as they want, but they may never be able to fully understand what their opponent will do because of hero pools. The good news for the Fuel was they could adapt.

Self-coached

Aero can guide the Fuel in practice and provide insight in-between maps during official matches to his players, but once they are in the game, it’s up to the players to make the adjustments.

Actually, online play has made it even harder for Aero to provide as much in-depth perspective as stage matches.

“When we were at the homestands or at the Blizzard Arena we always had the map to look at and see everyone at all times,” Aero said.

“Here online, the only thing I get to see is a player point-of-view. A lot of times you can’t rely on the coaching staff to identify everything because they can’t see everything at once like we could at live events.”

That information from Aero made some of the Fuel’s comebacks on maps against the Outlaws all the more impressive. Houston had a 99-0 capture percentage advantage twice against the Fuel on Sunday, once on the first map and again on the fifth.

Dallas was in a win-every-fight-or-lose scenario in the second round of Oasis. What the Outlaws were doing was working and the Fuel were in a bind. They had to adjust and make plays without Aero, and they did.

“There is that part of me in the back of my head that is like, ‘Crap, this idea fell apart,” Aero said. “How do I fix this?’ But the other part of me is thinking about what we have to do to win and how to be perfect in order to make these next fights happen and not give up the objective.”

Holy hell. That really was a battle for Texas. Map 5 Round 3. Couldn't have been closer. GGs @Outlaws. BIG WIN for the @DallasFuel!



It's been a great day for us so far at @Envy.



Now, @DallasEmpire in the Chicago Grand Final vs @ATLFaZe https://t.co/zexT1lf7rh — Mike Rufail (@hastr0) April 26, 2020

Embracing the curve

Aero and the Fuel could’ve forced the same style over and again, only adjusting what heroes they play. Some teams have done that during hero pools and it’s worked for them because that’s the kind of roster they’ve built.

But Dallas has embraced having something different up its sleeve. It could’ve failed in a match like the one against Houston. The Fuel could’ve lost in that fifth map and had to go back to the drawing board because the plan didn’t work.

But because they had multiple plans, and several styles they were practicing, Dallas made it so they were able to mount an unlikely comeback.

That wasn’t a result of a good couple of weeks, or even a month of practice. Adaptability started when the Fuel constructed this current roster in the offseason, and it has steadily improved since the Fuel’s opening-weekend losses to the Los Angeles Valiant and San Francisco Shock.

“Aero has been really resilient as a head coach and we put our trust in him to get the team performing well and so far this season he’s made the team super competitive,” Envy Gaming owner Mike Rufail said.

“We are aiming to be a really good team at the end of the season.”

Dallas has become a formidable opponent, and can reach a 4-4 record with a win over the Justice this Saturday at 2 p.m.

That’s only because they’ve embraced the new age of OWL.

Find more Fuel stories from The Dallas Morning News here.