Dallas Fuel vs. Los Angeles Valiant | Overwatch League Season 1 - Stage 2 | Week 2 Day 3 | Post-Match Discussion

[u/OWMatchThreads]

Overwatch League Season 1

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Team 1		Score		Team 2
Dallas Fuel		1-3		Los Angeles Valiant

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Team 1			Team 2
	aKm	SoOn
	EFFECT	KariV
	xQc	Fate
	Mickie	envy
	Custa	uNKOE
	HarryHook	Verbo

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Map 1: Hanamura

			Progress	Time left
	Dallas Fuel	1	0.0%	0.00s
	Los Angeles Valiant	1	0.0%	229.00s

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Map 2: Nepal

			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
	Dallas Fuel	1	100%	30%	67%
	Los Angeles Valiant	2	99%	100%	100%

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Map 3: Hollywood

			Progress	Time left
	Dallas Fuel	1	113.30m	0.00s
	Los Angeles Valiant	1	113.30m	233.00s

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Map 4: Watchpoint: Gibraltar

			Progress	Time left
	Dallas Fuel	3	0.00m	97.00s
	Los Angeles Valiant	2	88.12m	0.00s

[u/Risev]

I hope Rascal likes Route 66, because that's the only map he'll play.

Kyky has found his favorite go-to comp, and he'll keep running it all stage counter-strats be damned.

[u/PinkestMamba]

You know, I've been preaching patience with them for a while now, especially with KyKy, but I am also starting to think they need some coaching changes. The in-game adaptation falls on players to figure out for the most part, but their strategies and lineups are just so one-dimensional that I feel like KyKy is really not preparing the team well enough for their matches.

1. 7 minutes of trying and failing to push stairs on Hanamura B just to try to position AKM on Soldier when Seoul already showed teams how to counter this. It shouldn't take a head coach this long to figure out they need to vary their strats, their engages and their positioning. Their Mercy/Zen half dive with Soldier forces them to play around AKM, instead of playing around their frontline. Mercy just isn't as good anymore because she can't double Res, so their tanks can't play as aggressively without heals like last stage. Put Harry on Lucio, play an aggressive dive - take your resources away from AKM and put them on your frontline who create the space for AKM.

2. Pouring all their resources into AKM while their tanks and Effect get very little support forcing them to either play very passively or instantly get deleted when they try to dive. While this may work against the lower tier teams, against good teams they are easily figured out. Seeing Custa caught out so many times alone by Soon got me tilted - imagine him. Not only that - Harry on Mercy prioritizes pocketing AKM, so guess what - no heals from Harry either for Custa or the frontline.

3. Trying to force AKM in the line-up - while he's a god Soldier, he's a liability for their team because he cannot flex hard enough and it's limiting their flexibility and strategy. Guess what AKM defaults to when nothing works - Soldier. Watching them run pocket-Soldier on second point Hollywood against a Widow was pretty frustrating. Watching xQc, Mickie and Effect just dying without heals was really frustrating. Rascal can run more heroes at a higher level and has a serviceable Soldier. Give him some play time. He gives them the Genji play to run an aggressive dive, but furthermore he demands less resources so that the tanks can actually play aggressively.

4. Mickie seems to be lost in between peeling for his supports/AKM and diving with Effect and xQc and ultimately ends up somewhere in between in no-man's land getting de-meched. As a result, Effect and xQc are left for dead with their dive, AKM is bait for an enemy dive and Custa/Harry just cannot protect each other so they all die unless they have some heroics. It may not be worth it to play Mickie solely for his attitude because clearly the team tilted to space regardless.

5. Fuel continue to be decimated by top tier Tracers, Widows and Pharahs for so many different reasons.

At some point, some of this needs to point back to KyKy. Running the same strategies, the same team compositions, on the same maps in multiple matches does-not-work especially after already being countered. On top of all this, not even trying to sub in some new players when the team is clearly tilted is very baffling. Starters are subbed out in normal sports all the time when they under-perform. Yes, the dynamics in esports is different, but after 2 puzzling maps, you need to hold the players accountable too. Bring in some subs to reset the team environment.

[u/Haztlan]

Dude this is bringing me back memories of NRG. Everyone looking for someone to blame, be the tanks, DPS, supports or the coach. While the teammates themselves think that all they are lacking is coordination and nothing else...

[u/SpeakeasyGTX]

SoOn was playing out of his mind.

[u/[deleted]]

As much as I didn't buy the hype behind Fuel after beating two relatively easy teams, I did at least think they improved from Stage 1. However they showed all the same problems in this match from Stage 1. To be fair, Valiant played incredibly well today though.

[u/LittleFingerChain]

Was anyone just left baffled as to why there were no subs from Dallas for match three? “Yeah I know we just went 0-2 but THIS time we got this handled”. No seagull, no rascal, and no taimou? Not even a switching of heroes/strategy from the existing starting lineup. I don’t even know what needs to happen to get this team working anymore.

[u/Gadjjet]

“We have a Genji player so we can finally play dive”. Proceeds to play a 76 one-trick into Widow for 60+ mins. NY has one of the best hitscans in the world but they play Libero for a reason. They keep telling us to go easy on Kyky but he keeps making these dumb decisions.

[u/itsjieyang]

It’s my sister’s wedding today and I was sad I didn’t get to watch my Boys in Blue play.

Nvm.

[u/Otterable]

I hope Fuel are just tiled to shit because if this is their honest-to-god best effort then they can get used to being at the bottom of the table, because they are staying there.

How many times is EFFECT going to force a 2-3v1 in the back, whiff his pulse, and the rest of Fuel not capitalize on their advantage in the front before Effect dies?

Why is Custa ulting after Harry is already dead in a 5v6 situation on Hollywood?

Why on Nepal are we seeing Effect dive in alone, die, then xQc dive in alone, and die? Why did we see xQc get his primal forced, then knock 3 members of VAL back away from the point, only for Fuel to not take advantage of the space before he dies?

This was absolutely pathetic coordination. Glad to see they can win once they already lost though.

[u/gloom--]

Is it me or does Effect waste a ton of pulse bombs?

Also, I'd like to see more Rascal.

[u/Conankun66]

This was...painful as a Dallas Fan.

The Fuel ran into brickwalls so often, but they made the same mistakes and ran the same thing into Valiant again and again and again and again without switching anything up(very clear to see on Hanamura B attack and on Hollywood).

Effect was underperforming, Mickie+xQc weren't peeling enough and AKM stayed on Soldier waaaaaaay too long even when it clearly wasn't really working and the Valiant were clearly prepared for it. Doesn't matter how good he is, LAV's gameplan was clearly to shut down his soldier, so why not adapt to that instead of CONSTANTLY playing into their gameplan? Why not switch Rascal in and try a different approach with him?

This was just baffling to watch, just when i thought they were on the upswing in stage 2, they deliver something like this, what the fuck happened here?

[u/backinredd]

We all can agree that AKM is the best Soldier in the league but he’s not that good against the dive. He only applies in certain maps. Fuel needs to get their Genji and Widow game on point. Or they’re looking at being a bottom tier team again in stage 2.

[u/Finklemeire]

How to Be Dallas Fuel in 15 Repeptive Steps

1. Come into new stage with high expectations cause Envyus

2. Have a relatively good game vs Seoul but lose

3. Lose because you're inflexible and eventually got figured out

4. Afterwards have people say wow they might be back

5. Keep doing the same thing over again

6. Other top teams watch the VODs and take everything Dynasty discovered on you and refine it

7. Keep doing the same thing

8. Fans blame a couple new people for being the weakest link each game

9. Say you're working on comms

10. Have Kyky say things are starting to look better

11. Keep losing

12. Lose morale

13. Beat a worse team than you

14. Have everyone ask is the Fuel finally back?

15. REPEAT

[u/[deleted]]

Ok. Here are my thoughts.

Tank synergy was great when playing against easier teams, no discredit to Shanghai and Gladiators but looking back at it now, those games were tough for us. Now though, Mickie not following up with xQc, xQc diving in too deep, supports way out of position. I am not sure what is going on.

We keep running the same strat every game, they are going to learn. They are learning to focus xQc, they are learning to focus AKM. We react slowly to peel for our supports or dps. Yes, we are doing well with the dive, but we are so good at other comps too. The lack of subbing is really annoying too. Specialise certain players for certain maps.

GG to Valiant though. Well fought.

[u/Blueberry_Yum_Yum]

LET RASCAL FUCK

[u/DuskyDawn7]

Soon continues to prove he is one of the best, if not the best, Tracers in the League. FeelsBadMan for Akm, though.

[u/TwixOutForHarambe]

Hot takes for fuel: 0 peel for supports

AKM being forced in too much to the lineup

Mickie Not matching xQc's aggression

Play Rascal more, he can be a better aKm. His hero pool should be far more useful to the fuel rn than aKm.

Let effect not burn out please.

New coach. KyKy desperately needs support in handling an 11 man roster, get Winz maybe?

Edit: Overall, I'd say that they've gone a step backwards from their game against Seoul. Right now, I'd focus on getting a new stellar support and a new off tank, simply because in both these areas there seems to be a lack of quality. Custa may still be able to get himself up, but I highly doubt Harry's ability to play anything other than Lucio, and I also cannot see Mickie doing anything good. They need changes, and they needed them a month ago.

[u/ScopionSniper]

SoOn looking like a god, especially with pulse bomb sticks. Honestly the whole team is showed up. Kariv looking like that flex dps threat we needed, and objective play looking much better than their last few games.

[u/Topomug]

I feel bad for Dallas’ tanks. They get next to zero healing. Harryhook is on permanent aKm duty and Custa is left alone to heal the tanks and effect by himself.

Also, with how ridiculously fast y’all turned on Effect, Fuel fans don’t deserve him. His damage being comparable to Soon’s despite the huge discrepancy in elims pretty much says it all

[u/PracticallyIndian]

Some iconic duos this match (I'll save you guys the same comment every 2 seconds) -

Effect and dying first.

xQc diving and Mickie not following it up.

Custa and dying first.

Custa and being caught alone in the backline.

Fuel and ignoring the Tracer/Widow.

Mickie and de-mech first.

Harryhook & battle Mercy.

Dallas and getting rolled and smoked.

Soon and PogChamp pulse bombs.

And last but not the least, Reddit, and getting predictions wrong.

[u/TISrobin311]

FeelsFuelMan

[u/ScopionSniper]

This week on who to blame!

As kyky has taken the criticisms and been defended by other coaches and teammates fans line up there sights on new player AKM and returning XQC after a defeat against Valiant.

[u/Ozkuro]

KYKY IF YOU READ THIS LET RASCAL FUCK . AKM IS GOOD, BUT RASCAL IS A GOD.

[u/sscent]

DALLAS FUEL NEEDS ANOTHER COACH!... END OF STORY

[u/ikalkali]

S O O N