Note: I am really sorry this went up so late. I accidentally posted this to my “main” Tumblr account, and only barely just noticed. Hope it’s still relevant!

The first day of Stage 2 found the winless Shanghai Dragons facing off against the once favorite, now underdog Dallas Fuel. My prediction for the game, as a disclosure, was for the Fuel to beat the Dragons, 3-2. I based my prediction off the two teams’ score from Week 5.



After halftime, Fuel was up 2-0. As the match headed into the third map, things were looking grim for Shanghai, but then, they came out on offense with a flashy quad tank composition. To everyone’s awe, the Dragons steamrolled the Fuel, tying on their first push and overturning a potential map draw on their second. This left the score at 2-1, giving the Dragons the opening they needed to shoot for their first ever win.



The fourth map was Route 66, with Fuel starting on offense. The Sombra counterplay between Fuel’s Rascal and the Dragons’ Undead proved the most interesting, with both players engaging in a deadly hack race as they picked off supports and dueled each other. In the end, Rascal’s Sombra proved the more powerful. His well-timed EMP ultimate helped Fuel cut down the Dragons, push around Big Earl’s, and reach the first point.



Shanghai’s defense solidified a bit more at that point, pushing the Fuel off the payload as it rounded the first turn. Shanghai’s Diya, playing Tracer, played particularly well, landing a pulse bomb that took out two of the Fuel’s players and destroying the push the Fuel had hoped for. At one point, Fuel’s Rascal, now switched to Genji, tried to pull off a Dragonblade to cut through the Dragons, but Diya shut him down before he even had the chance to finish saying his line.



Rascal wasn’t out, however. Within minutes, he’d again charged his ultimate, and when he popped it again, this time, it was deadly. Both of the Dragons’ supports went down in three strikes, and though his ultimate ended before all of the Dragons had been eliminated, he still managed to shuriken his way through the remainder of the Dragons’ team, nearly single-handedly. This allowed the Fuel to push to the second point and rapidly approach the final point.



The Dragons were desperate to shut the Fuel down, but the Fuel were even more desperate to cap. The result was an extended teamfight over the payload, with both teams piling in on each other as overtime flashed for minutes overhead. It was Fuel’s Taimou who ultimately won the fight, using his ultimate twice in the same team fight and securing his team some desperately needed picks. The Dragons, on the other hand, made some rookie mistakes, like when their Mei used their ice block prematurely. In the end, Fuel was able to push all the way onto the third point.



The Dragons’ push to the first point was a lot less impressive. They struggled to win any ground, pushing the payload inch by inch as picks on both sides gave each team minor, temporary advantages. Though the Dragons did manage to reach the first point, their clock looked a lot more starved than had the Fuel. Even worse, Shanghai ended up losing control of the payload just a few feet from the first point.



In a funny moment between team fights, Fuel’s Custa, playing Zenyatta, popped his ultimate when there wasn’t a soul around. Even despite this, the Fuel managed to keep up their defenses long into overtime, shutting down the Dragons’ last ditch attempt to push the payload to the second gate. After Fuel executed a cheeky Lucio Soundwave that knocked the Dragons’ own Lucio off the point, the game was over, with Fuel up 3-1.



Interestingly enough, I’m not sure there was a specific moment when the Dragons lost the match. In the end, Fuel’s defense simply proved more effective than the Dragons’ own defense. It is worth noting that the Dragons did not keep the Fuel from winning a single point on any of the maps. Fuel won both points on both Volskaya and on Nepal, and managed to push their payloads all the way through Hollywood and Route 66. While the Dragons’ offense was often weaker than the Fuel’s own, it was very easy to see that they are better at attacking than they are at defending. Had they done a better job shutting down the Fuel pushes, then their own attempts at offense would have been that much more devastating.



And that’s a lesson for every player, from both the professionals to the average players. If you’re only good at one type of gameplay, then you are going to seriously struggle overall.



OWLER out!