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Welcome back to Team Fight Tuesday! Even though the weekend as a whole was devastating for Boston, we finally got some winning team fights to discuss! For this week, we are going to talk about the Uprising’s use of the new-hotness going around both OWL and contenders – the comp known as “Hackfist”.
What is Hackfist?
The “Hackfist” team composition is based around the two characters Sombra and Doomfist. Popularized by the Korean Contenders team Element Mystic, this setup aims to create chaos against GOATs and capitalize on the disruption. The combination of Sombra’s hacks and Doomfist’s stuns create the opportunity for early fight picks. This is powerful against a 3-3 team, because 3-3 comps rely so heavily on coordinated group play. If a player in GOATs is unable to use abilities to save an ally, or is knocked away/stunned before they can ult, the rest of the squad is very vulnerable.
If things make more sense to you in video form, here’s a great video from Akshon Esports. They describe more of the intricacies and nuances of the comp.
Why Did Boston Run It?
One of the toughest aspects of a GOATs heavy meta is that talented DPS players are often pushed to the wayside or forced to play tanks. After a terrible string of losses playing with and against GOATs, Boston decided something needed to change. It was also at this time Boston remebered they have one of the premier Doomfist players in the league with blasé. With rCk’s Sombra on hand, it was only a matter of time that Boston would bust out their latest strat.
The comp also allows Fusions and Kellex to stay on their comfort picks in Reinhardt and Lucio respectively. Colourhex gets to gain more practice on Zarya for when the team needs to default back to GOATs, and finally Persia is given the duties of playing Ana.
Boston decides to run this on Illios most likely for a few reasons. First being Illios has plenty of high ground positions and natural cover. When blasé dives in he has the ability to get out safely, thanks to Doomfist’s highly mobile kit. His flanking routes can come from any of the tall buildings or alleyways behind Philadelphia. Second, Boston wants to punish the over-aggressive nature of Philadelphia’s main tank Sado. Catching out the Reinhardt in a GOATs comp is one of the best ways to win the fight. Using Doomfist’s Rocket Punch and Uppercut blasé should be able to displace Sado and create separation between him and his back line, leading to an easy kill.
The Final Fight on Illios
I love this fight because it demonstrates all the advantages Hackfist gives to Boston.
Starting from the start of the clip, we can already see blasé setting up on the high ground looking for a kill on a support. He uses Seismic Slam to jump into the Philly Team, and an Uppercut to shoot Sado into the air. Once Carpe bubbles the Reinhardt, blasé jumps right back out to the opposing high ground to safety.
These first five seconds are why Doomfist can be so obnoxious to deal with. Not only is he attacking from a unique angle, he has an amazing quickness that enables him to make riskier plays but come out alive. After his first engage, blasé has now set himself up for another high ground flank.
All while this is happening Sado is hacked by rCk, forcing Philadelphia to commit resources to keep him alive. Eqo uses Rally to keep their team alive, and Carpe uses both bubbles before the fight even starts. Expending these abilities so early in a fight leaves Philadelphia in a difficult situation. Because these cooldowns are used, they have to make a difficult choice. Philly can either back up and wait for more ults (which seems bad because no one is close to one), or push hard and be the aggressor.
Surviving the the GOATs Aggression
For a moment, the aggression pays off as Philly is able to take down Fusions. Normally this would be a lost fight for Boston, however they aren’t playing GOATs this time around. The hidden benefit of Hackfist is that Fusions is no longer the focal point of the team. Of course him being alive is better than dead, but a Reinhardt death in Hackfist does not immediately signal “lost fight”.
10 seconds into the clip, Sado pushes towards Fusions to clean up the kill. But if you notice, Philadelphia is completely surrounding the remaining Boston players. blasé jumps onto the Ana, and rCk lands a hack onto Sado to essentially trap him between Kellex, Colourhex and himself. You can see the moment Sado is hacked and Boombox is killed, the remaining Uprising members collapse onto him. Boston splits him from the rest of the team, leaving him in a position to receive no healing or support.
Once Sado dies, the fight devolves into a series of solo battles between players. Poko runs off to the side to kill Persia but is pressured by rCk. blasé charges in to focus down Eqo, pushing him towards Colourhex and Kellex. Then finally rCk EMPs one more time to secure the point for Boston. Even though Persia is the only one that dies in the prolonged engagement, Boston’s comp is much better suited for this chaotic moments.
Own This Comp and Perfect It
As Boston looks forward to Stage 4 and beyond, they really need to find their style. With 2 stages worth of evidence, I am confident to say that Boston is not a GOATs team. While they may have the ability to run it and beat worse teams, GOATs itself is constantly evolving, and Boston has reacted too slowly to grow with the league. However, something like this can set Boston apart from other mediocre GOATs teams. Sure enough, Philly is one of those meh GOATs teams that Boston can beat with Hackfist. Unfortunately, the moment they swapped back to 3-3, Philly took over the series.
To make a point short – Boston needs to swap back to a 2-2-2 set up, specifically specializing in the Hackfist composition. Teams have discovered that Boston is significantly reliant on Fusions, resulting in Fusions dying first in almost every fight. It’s time for Boston to remove the pressure from their main tank, and place a bit of it onto their DPS stars.
If its any indication from their twitter, it may seem like the Uprising already have the right idea.
That’s it for Team Fight Tuesday! Next weekend we have a tough one against San Francisco and a rematch against Paris. Maybe one punch is all we need to turn this stage around.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
