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Welcome to Team Fight Tuesday! In this segment we revisit team fights from the past weekend and dive into why this fight is worth watching. While this weekend was a particularly rough one to watch, I went back through the mess because there are still some good takeaways from lost fights. The London game was interesting as we saw the introduction of both Persia and Alemao, but it’s the Paris game that we are going to look at today.
The Surprise Early Fight
In a shocking turn of events Boston found themselves down 2 maps to 1, with only one last defense to go on Gibraltar. To add to the trouble, Paris finished their first push with almost four minutes in the time bank. Both teams have been running GOATs on this map, and it’s not surprising to see both default to it again. With so much time left, and momentum thoroughly in Paris’ favor, Boston was forced to shake up their defensive strategy.
Rather than attempt to hold high ground as many teams do, Boston elected to bring the fight to Paris early. Hiding in the staircase close to point, Boston hits the Eternal with a surprise attack leading to a pick on Nicogdh. A fight like this is one of the best fights for Boston to take. It is a low risk high reward strategy because if Boston were to lose the first fight, they would still have the chance to fight again but closer to the point. Instead of winning just one fight, Paris now has to win multiple fights.
Killing Nicogdh very early forces Paris to back off into their own spawn, thus preventing them from pushing the cart forward. Without Brig, Paris doesn’t have the sustain to continue the brawl for the cart.
Following the first fight, Boston wants to set up around either stairs ,where they started, or by cart. Setting up by stairs denies Paris access to the high ground and allows Boston an easy escape route. Setting up on cart gives Boston access to the mega health pack and natural cover from poke damage. Both are valid points of defense in this situation, but the important thing is to pick one. For GOATs, teamwork is key and staying as a unit means success.
The Unsettled Follow-up Fight
Boston decides to pick both at the same time, and the result is less than ideal.
A couple things don’t look right here. We have Blase and Alemao setting up near the stairs while rCk and Colourhex position themselves by the cart and left room. Fusions is left alone holding a weird off angle where he isn’t receiving heals from Alemao. The spread thin Boston defense can’t sustain themselves at this point and have to fall back, but rCk losing his mech mid-retreat is what costs the Uprising valuable resources. As Blase dies shortly after, Boston’s plan went from highly successful to terribly bad.
The last hope for the Uprising is holding the corner after the underpass. It’s this spot where Boston would have high ground that overlooks the point, as well as a tight choke point to contest Paris.
The Ult Bonanza
Having to wait for the dead members on their team, Boston retreats far off of point to avoid any more casualties. Then just as soon as both teams have six players, the ults start flying. Rally, shatter, transcendence, beat, and bomb, are all used in this fight by both teams. Result? Zero deaths on either side. Honestly both teams played this fight well, with Aimgod having an insane reaction time to trans Benbest’s shatter. It was this moment where Boston had the most hope for a hold.
The Game Ending Fight
With just under two minutes left after the fight, Boston looked poised to bring it to overtime. Seeing that Danye has the most ult charge, Paris’ win condition is his graviton surge. Everyone on Gibraltar knows this, so the focus becomes the mind-game between Danye and rCk. rCk has already eaten a few of Danye’s gravs, and serves as the best and truly only line of defense for Boston. Positioning for rCk is key, but unfortunately the worst happens. Boston’s DVA is focused and killed.
He appears to be taking a flank angle which would allow him to have sight on Danye to eat his ult, as well as pressure Paris’ back line. However, it looks as though Finnsi pushes rCk out of a safe position, forcing him to fly to the health pack under the bridge. Knowing the only thing stopping him from ulting is half a map away, Danye is free to press “Q”.
In the viewers seat, it’s tough to really know what went on in comms that caused this mental lapse. Could be something simple as “No armor pack” or “No bubble” that meant that the only way rCk was going to live was if he flew to the mega health pack.
I personally think after the previous fight, Boston just couldn’t keep track of the opposing Zarya ult-charge. Since Danye had started the fight with grav, he was able to build the next one during the entire fight. Since no one died, he was able to just continually deal damage to unkillable targets.
With such a promising start to this defense (and really the entire match) it’s heartbreaking to see it end in a loss. The best news about as loss is that it creates many learning opportunities. The mistakes in these fights were few but very costly. If there’s one thing I know about this Boston, I know they will bounce back stronger and they will come out on top of these fights next weekend.
That’s it for Team Fight Tuesday! Next weekend we have Houston and Philly, hopefully we can discuss a winning fight from our boys in blue!
All clips featured in this article are courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
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