Aaron “Aero” Atkins knew what it was like to go against the grain in the Overwatch League, perhaps better than anyone else. That’s why the Dallas Fuel head coach reached out to Houston head coach Harsha “Harsha” Bandi right after his team defeated the Outlaws 3-2 Sunday night.

Always fun to face @Outlaws GG!



Didn't get much opportunity to practice vs that style. It took us a while to adapt, but we did - good job team. Shout out to Houston for sticking to a comp you excel in, you guys are nuts on that.@ggHarsha ggs 😘#BurnBlue #playwithfire — Aaron Atkins (@Aero_OW) April 26, 2020

Aero had the Fuel pushing their style against every team they’ve met in the 2020 season, no matter the meta, hero pools or caliber of opponent.

The Outlaws (4-7) came at the Fuel (3-4) in their battle for Texas with that same energy.

“I tried to give Harsha and the Outlaws some praise because I think it’s a bit courageous to go against the meta and play something that you have players excel at,” Aero told The Dallas Morning News.

“It’s not always easy to force comps or styles. Some people will call it ‘cheese,’ but I think finding your own style instead of copying other teams takes courage.”

Houston fielded some unexpected compositions and play style revolving around their Doomfist play, which was a bit of a surprise to Dallas. The Fuel didn’t have much experience in practice against that style, so they had to learn on the fly.

That’s something teams have normally had to do against the Fuel this season.

Dallas took the first map off Houston, and even had a 2-1 lead in the series, but their backs were against the wall on the final map, Oasis. Houston handily won the first round and was having its way with the Fuel in the second round. The Outlaws secured 99% of their needed capture time before the Fuel controlled the objective. They were winning the unusual composition battle, but Aero wasn’t worried.

We were not ready for the comp they ran but I'm happy that we were able to adapt mid-match and were able to squeak out a win at the end. GGs @Outlaws, crazy fucking match #BurnBlue(also @blaseOW fk you 😫) — Crimzo (@Crimzo) April 26, 2020

“We are actually pretty good in those situations where we have to cycle our ults correctly and have to pull off fights at a disadvantage,” Aero said. “I think we do that a lot better than Fuel rosters in the past. The moment we flipped that point on Oasis, the second point, in my mind I wasn’t even concerned that we were going to lose the map.”

The Fuel head coach jumped straight to pondering how his team could close out the match in the final round of Oasis. It would take a concerted effort and some adjustments. There were players on his team that couldn’t find a way to be effective at the start, but their experience with adapting, which they’ve developed over the course of the season, served as guidance.

“I was playing really badly but we figured out how to play against it and I was able to come back and play well,” Fuel tank player Noh “Gamsu” YoungJin said. “We struggled against Houston because we didn’t really play against their play style and composition but at the end we figured out how to play against it.”

This was positive reinforcement for Aero. He was happy to get a win against their biggest OWL rival, but how it was done was difficult. Coaching changed in the move from live to online format. Aero doesn’t have the ability to see the whole map when he spectates the match now. He can only see the perspective of one player, he said.

Matches are also different from practice in that he can’t stop play. The Fuel have to figure out how to adjust on their own, and they showed Aero once again that they can do so in a crunch.

“It was a stressful match for us but knowing our players have great minds for the game and can talk about stylistic things and adaptations is a big relief for me,” Aero said. “When it is in the middle of the map I can’t pause it and be like ‘hey, guys do this and this.’ I have to rely that they can do that on their own. We put a lot of emphasis on our ability to do that by the way we have our scrims.”

Houston definitely had its way in forcing its style at moments in the match, but that was the Fuel’s bread and butter. Dallas did that more. Lucas “NotE” Meissner, the Fuel’s stable tank player, put time on three different heroes in the match. That’s a rare occurrence for him.

The Fuel’s damage superstar, Jang “Decay” Gui-un played Ashe, a hero he never played in OWL this season.

Dallas was prepared with different looks and different styles. Its gameplay was sloppy at times, but their adaptation remained in top form during an intense match.

The match was so intense that NotE admitted his palms were “actually sweating” on the OWL YouTube broadcast after the match.

“I think that our team showed great mental fortitude today and that was important for us,” Aero said.

Mental fortitude put Dallas back in the win column.

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