written by Colin ‘Howl’ Kenitz (2.18.2018)

Point A.

Team Compositions

Houston: Mercy, Zenyatta, Soldier 76, Junk Rat, Orisa, D.Va

This is a control the high ground and poke from a defensive position composition. In general the idea is your Mercy damage boosts Junkrat bombs into the enemy team and you have concussive mines for peel from dive and high burst damage. This composition also has Soldier 76 for reliable hit scan damage and sustain with his heal station. Basically, just have the team sit safely behind Orisa shields where enemies can’t pick you off. This team comp is generally going to lose against a dive composition if the dive is well executed, but it can be hard to crack the shell and find that first pick. Using this composition on defense results in the defense milking time off the clock while the offense is forced to build up ultimates to break the formation and get that one key pick. For Houston this is the first time that Linkzr has used Soldier 76 on Anubis, as he’s usually on the Widowmaker which is generally a much better hero for proactive defense compositions because 1 pick can stall an entire push.

Also, generally it would be preferable with this comp or with a Widowmaker composition to boost the Orisa (and in this case, Soldier) onto the highest roof overlooking Point A with a Mei wall. This gives a better vantage point in general, and keeps heroes with weak mobility abilities away. Houston instead sets up on the second story high ground which is much lower and much more far forward.

This position is beneficial because it can collapse into the room behind it which can be extremely dangerous for dive against Junk Rat (he does insane damage if he’s just popping bombs around in that little space), and is also fairly close to the Mega health pack in the room above and a small health pack at the top of the stairs. It’s downside is that it’s more exposed, can easily be surrounded by flankers, and is more accessible to heroes with limited movement skills that can’t reach the higher roof as easily. Also, if there are poke stand offs from either side of the bridge the enemy also has easy access to a mega health pack right behind them, though that wasn’t the case here.

Boston: Mercy, Zenyatta, Genji, Tracer, Winston, D.Va

This is Boston’s Bread and Butter. Uprising bring Winston, D.Va, Genji, and Mercy through the protected corridor to challenge Houston on the bridge leaving Zenyatta and Tracer to make a delayed approach. This allows Tracer to make her way around the other way and flank from the stair case. Also, Genji breaks off from the group and sneaks through to the back side of Houston, accomplishing two things: a distracting, flanking position, and clearer vision of Houston’s defensive position and team composition. Leaving Zenyatta behind is an interesting choice, since he’s slightly exposed, but if Houston thinks he’s with the rest of the team this gives Zenyatta a chance for getting alternate fire picks while still having good sigh lines for using both of his orbs and without being too far from his team, which I highlight with the red lines in the graphic above.

How it Plays Out in Game:

In deep blue, the Movement Boston took on their first Approach. In the Green Box is where they see Houston Situated. In reaction to this, Boston changes their movement to the lighter blue lines. The red Zone is the ‘no man’s land’ between the two teams, which is extremely dangerous because it’s the most exposed position and furthest from health packs.

Boston actually back their Winston, Mercy and D.Va back to regroup with Tracer and Zenyatta. They see Houston’s composition and position and see they’d lose a poke war/stand off from across the bridge. Dreamkazper on Genji draws Houston’s attention behind them with shurikens. In the moment of the screen cap below we see that most of Houston has already collapsed back into the room behind them to avoid his poke on Genji. Muma’s got the Orisa shield protecting his team from poke, however, Boston isn’t going to poke them, they’re going to dive.

Jake is so far overextended here for no reason and Boston capitalizes. Neko on Zenyatta, damage boosted by Kellex’s Mercy, picks Jake on Junk Rat immediately after this moment. Worst of all, he’s in a completely unsafe place for getting resurrected. Coolmatt is also down alone on the low ground where his Mercy and Zenyatta can’t really support him easily. This isn’t a big deal, however, as we see in the next screen shot, a few seconds later after Jake’s been picked he uses his boost movement ability into Boston’s stacked team by himself. Since he has no dive partner and this team composition is designed to be defensive he should preferably stay back and protect his back line from the Genji, Tracer, Winston, and D.Va in the cramped room.

Gamsu and Muma clash on the bridge. Gamsu steals Houston’s attention from Genji while Muma is positioned far enough forward where Boston’s DPS see a clear path to dive in. From Kazper’s point we watch him dive in and kill Linkzr’s Soldier 76. Kazper gives up his life for this, however Houston now have zero DPS.

Striker’s Tracer moves onto the point. This move either gives Boston free progress or forces Houston to break formation to contest. He stays only a moment, however, noticing that he’s better off simply diving Houston’s back line with Dreamkazper’s Genji.

Bani ends up going for the resurrect on Jake and gets it off safely. The fight continues to look somewhat favorable for Houston for a few seconds to follow. Muma de-mechs Note’s D.Va and Coolmatt actually manages to kill Neko, since he had little protection as D.Va and Winston dove forward. Despite this, as I pointed out earlier, Coolmatt’s dive leaves his back line completely unprotected. At first, it seems that the teams should be at status quo here: Both back lines undefended, both with five versus five players. The critical difference is Boston’s dive composition, and the fact that their DPS have been doing more work this whole time while Houston’s have been dead.

The result of this is that Gamsu’s Winston kills Bani on Mercy and Note’s D.Va kills Rawkus on Zenyatta. With no supports and only an exposed Junkrat for DPS on Houston, Boston find themselves much more healthy overall, despite seemingly equal numbers, and with a resurrect still to spend. In the next few seconds Kellex Rezzes Neko’s Zenyatta while Gamsu and Striker Clean up Houston’s tanks and Jake, cleaning up their Point A offense.

Above is a diagram in which the blue line represent’s Dreamkazper on Genji flanking and scouting Houston’s position, which is in green. In the space of the red cross hatched zone Genji gains easy sight lines on the defending Houston and scouts their whole composition.

Boston’s dive on Houston here is expertly played. Clean early movements and positioning, which result in a scouting advantage that results in an early pick on Jake’s Junk Rat. Even in the Mercy meta, a pick like this is game changing. A resurrect in this position is dangerous for Mercy to channel, and it also means that the other team has a resurrect advantage. Following pick Coolmatt played too aggressive considering his team composition and the circumstances, and a team that runs a clean, efficient dive, such as Boston, will be able to clean this up every time. On Assault maps point A only takes one clean push to take since the defense has such a long run from spawn it’s too dangerous to contest due to risk of having their point B snowball capped against them .

Point B.

Once Boston regroups Point B is an easy matter. Houston Swaps Linkzr to Genji from Soldier 76 as the only character swap. Muma positions himself forward on top of the pillar overlooking the archway choke point leading to Point B. The rest of Houston is taking a conservative position back on point. However, Jake, who is sitting up on the pillar back by the point is picked again by Neko’s Zenyatta. Bani Crucially is only at 96% ultimate charge, and can’t yet use the valkerie for a quick resurrect.

Again, we see from Kazper’s perspective that the pick is made and Boston Uprising make no hesitation in diving onto the Mercy’s known position. Gamsu leaps in on Winston and pops his primal rage while being damage boosted and healed by Kellex. Every player from both teams collapse into the fray with both D.Va’s popping their ultimates. However, it seems that Houston forgot that they made no progress on Point B during their offense, and Kazper quietly caps the point with no contest.

This swift cap of Point B was the result of an ultimate efficient Boston on Defense that masterfully kept tabs on the players of Houston. For me, Neko and Gamsu were clear MVPs of Defense, making clutch picks, saves, and displaying excellent ultimate usage and timing compared to their counterparts on Houston. That being said, Boston’s overall understanding of movement on assault maps, as well as a strong understanding of their weapons as a team and their victory conditions is displayed excellently here. Houston has been a strong team in stage one and would go on to win the series, however Boston are true masters of Assault maps. Houston is no slouch either, at 7 – 3 overall, however on this map type over stage 1 Boston Uprising were 9 – 1 overall with a perfect 5 – 0 on Temple of Anubis. Boston was an unexpected surprise in stage one of OWL and quickly became one of my favorite teams to watch. Their players and coaching staff have a high level understanding of the game and they compliment one another very well. I look forward to seeing what they can do in the rest of Season 1.