Overwatch League: San Francisco Shock vs Los Angeles Valiant Recap

The first week of the Overwatch League has officially begun and the first match is San Francisco Shock vs Los Angeles Valiant. This will certainly be a great match as both teams are quite balanced and performed well during the preseason. Speaking of, these two teams actually faced off earlier in December and Valiant nabbed a close victory with the game ending 3-2 in their favor.

Tonight is Shock’s chance to rebalance the scales and get their revenge against Valiant. The levels tonight are going to be Dorado, Anubis, Ilios, and Numbani in that order. We still see Valiant taking this match, but viewers shouldn’t count out Shock.

We are going to consistently update this post as the match continues so you don’t miss a single thing.

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Game One – Dorado

Round One

Round one saw San Francisco Shock on the attack with a typical dive composition with Valiant running the same team set up with the exception of Soon on the Tracer. Shock made a strong opening and quickly eliminated Valiant. However, before they could push the cart to the first checkpoint Valiant was able to stall thanks to a strong dive backed by Agilities use of Genji’s Dragonblade. San Francisco’s second push was just as powerful with Babybay’s McCree absolutely shredding through Valiant’s defense. Shock captured the first point and continued to push the payload.

Soon swapped off of Tracer and decided to go with the Widowmaker, however, this wasn’t enough and they lost the next team fight. Shock managed to push the payload to the second point and landed a Team Kill against Valiant thanks to Danteh’s strong Tracer players. Shock then hit a wall on the third point as Valiant managed their support ultimates effectively. Babybay continued to act as the backbone for Shock as his McCree continued to get solid picks on Valiant. On the last push, Valiant held strong against Shock, pinning them in the lower corridor so they couldn’t touch the payload.

Round Two

Valiant is on the attack now with a typical dive composition while Shock sported both a Junkrat and McCree for their DPS. Babybay continued to prove himself as Shock’s best player, helping stall the push from Valiant to the chokepoint.  This didn’t last too long as Agilities delivered another potent Dragonblade that cut through Shock’s defense, securing the first point for Valiant. Shock wisely secured the high ground over the second point and gave Valiant a lot of trouble on their push.

Agilities aimed for another Dragonblade, but was quickly shut down by Shock and forced Valiant to regroup. Their next push was far more successful as they took the third point on Dorado with nearly four minutes on the clock. Nevix landed a big ult on Valiant’s push blowing up both of LA’s support with a single self-destruct. Valiant regrouped and won their next team fight, forcing San Francisco to rush out and quickly defend. This wasn’t enough to LA as they dove anyone who came out of the spawn and quickly moved the payload to the final point securing the first win.

Los Angeles Valiant – 1, San Francisco Shock  – 0

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 Game Two – Temple of Anubis

Round One

Valiant started out on defense once again and ran a unique combination of Widowmaker, Orisa, Junkrat, and D.Va. Shock sported another traditional dive. Shock moved left once they passed through the chokepoint to ensure that the high ground Valiant had wouldn’t be useful. Once Shock dived, however, Valiant quickly collapsed on them and shut down their first push. Shock’s second push was much better, mainly due to how scattered Valiant’s forces were. Shock nabbed the first point but was stalled once more.

The battle for the second point was a bit scrappy as Shock didn’t have a really coordinated push. This resulted in Babybay’s Genji stranded and eventually killed. Shock regrouped and pushed through thanks to Nevix’s D.Va and Danteh on Tracer. They went largely uncontested thanks to Shock’s staggering of Valiant’s team members. Valiant failed to stall and Shock claimed the point with 4:10 on the clock.

Round Two

Shock stayed on dive while on defense, while Valiant ran a Widowmaker and Junkrat on the attack. Using Soon’s Widowmaker, they were able to quickly secure high ground. This wasn’t enough and Shock managed to fight Valiant back while staying out of the Widowmaker’s sightline. A Junkrat RIP Tire secured a kill against Shock’s Winston, but Valiant was hesitant to commit to an attack. After a few more seconds they finally dove in and secured the first point from Shock. Moving to the second point Valiant was forced back to their spawn by Shock, mainly due to their lack of ultimates.

Valiant went in for the second push and despite Shock having literally all of their ultimates they failed to hold. A lot of this was thanks to Valiant’s brilliant dive that cut Shock’s defense in half and allowed them to single out targets quickly. Agilities finished everything off with some strong Dashes through the enemies and secured the second point with 3:45 on the clock.

Round Three

Both teams sported a Widowmaker, but Soon’s sniping proved to be better than Babybay’s. Securing two critical picks on Windowmaker, Valiant easily took the first point on their first push. Moving to the second point, Valiant’s Zenyatta and Widow were cut down by Shock’s DPS before they could make an impact. LA was forced to regroup and attempt a second push which appeared to be another fail at first thanks to a whiffed D.Va bomb by Valiant. However, they managed to recover their shaky start and quickly cut through every member of Shock. The stall from San Francisco wasn’t enough and Valiant secured the point with 30 seconds on the clock.

Round Four

Valiant once again attempted the Orisa / Widowmaker high ground defense and managed to force back Shock’s initial dive. Soon proved himself a potent Widowmaker as he suppressed any push that came from Shock and even baited Shock onto the high ground he was holding by the point. Shock’s third attempt took even longer thanks to Soon’s Widowmaker picking off San Francisco’s Zenyatta. Even after Zenyatta resurrected by Mercy, Soon shut down Shock’s Zen a second time, ending the third push.

With the timer getting dangerously low, Valiant shut down any push on the left thanks to their Junkrat. A big RIP Tire from Valiant killed both Shock’s Winston and Mercy forcing them to scramble together. Shock didn’t do down without a fight and Babybay’s Dragonblade quickly cutdown Valiant allowing them to take the first point. Shock rushed over to the second point with only 30 seconds left and a single Tracer ultimate. Valiant’s Winston died early giving Shock an opening for their last attack. This wasn’t enough and Valiant held the second point from Shock taking Temple of Anubis from Shock.

Los Angeles Valiant – 2, San Francisco Shock – 0

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Game Three – Ilios

Round One

Before the match began Valiant swapped out Agilities for Silkthread.

The first map on Ilios was Well and both teams sported a dive composition, but Shock decided to run a Pharah instead of Genji. Babybay on Pharah proved to be a smart choice as they used Valiant’s lack of hitscan characters to weaken Valiant’s push. Shock took the point and put Silkthread onto McCree so they could deal with Babybay. Shock continued to hold the point, forcing back Valiant once again and caused Silkthread to change once again – this time to Pharah.

Valiant’s third point was better as they managed to flip the point and secure 20% before Shock forced them back and retook control. Danteh’s Tracer managed to stall Shock on the point and stalled it until 99% before Valiant resecured the point. Shock regrouped and made a proper attempt to retake the point, but was caught out in the open by Soon’s Tracer. Babybay delivered an underwhelming barrage with Pharah, but it was enough of an opening for Shock to retake the control point. Now in Overtime, Shock managed to push Valiant off the point and secure the first round.

Round Two

Widowmaker made an appearance on both teams during the Ilios Ruin map. Soon quickly dropped Babybay forcing a resurrect from Shock. Valiant secured the point and Babybay got revenge, killing Soon before Shock fell back and regrouped. San Francisco dove in on the point and a scrappy fight ensued. Valiant’s D.Va bomb secured a kill, but Shock countered by using Tracer’s Pulse Bomb on Valiant’s Zenyatta. Los Angeles managed to hold the objective as San Francisco was stonewalled and ultimately failed to capture the point once. Valiant took the point evening the score up on Ilios.

Round Three

Shock performed better this time around thanks to Babybay’s McCree picking off key Valiant players. San Francisco gained control of the point and held it until they hit 65% mainly due to a wasted Mercy ultimate on Shock’s end. Valiant, now in control, managed to bottleneck and force out Shock’s ultimates early. This allowed them to hold the point, giving Shock no effective way to retake the point from Valiant. During the final push, Soon’s Tracer did a great job of hunting down Shock’s support players, allowing Valiant to take Ilios completely.

Los Angeles Valiant – 3, San Francisco Shock  – 0

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Game Four – Numbani

Round One

Shock was on the attack and ran their dive composition for the fourth map in a row. In contrast, Valiant decided to use a Soldier: 76 over Genji to protect their Zenyatta and Mercy. Shock went straight down the middle and dived onto Valiant, attacking aggressively in hopes of dislodging Valiant. This failed as Valiant cut down their supports and then mopped up the remaining members of Shock. The second push from San Francisco wasn’t any better as a Tactical Visor from Valiant forced the attackers back.

Their third attack was a bit better but Fate did a great job of focusing multiple characters with his Winston. Shock failed the third push and attempted one last attack with 40 seconds left on the clock and only one tick on the control point. Shock came right up the middle and Fate activated Primal Rage to disrupt their final push. Thankfully, Shock managed to claim the payload, but only had 2:30 on the clock to push the payload to the second point.

Valiant, somehow, managed to push Shock all the way back to their spawn and stall San Francisco from pushing the payload. San Francisco was completely unable to get back to the payload as Valiant literallt spawn camped Shock. However, a primal rage from Nomy allowed them to force Overtime, but it wasn’t enough. Shock only managed to secure the first point.

Round Two

Shock ran a mix of dive and a slower team composition with Ana and Soldier: 76 being their new picks. Valiant stuck to the same team they had on defense and quickly got a pick on Shock’s Soldier: 76 during the first push. Los Angeles managed to secure a single tick before being pushed back by Shock’s defensive. Silkthread’s Tactical Visor helped them secure the first point with some assistance from Fate’s Winston. Soon continued to stall Shock from reaching the point while Valiant pushed the cart closer and closer to the checkpoint. San Francisco was all over the place on their defense, allowing Valiant to regroup on the payload.

With only a meter away from the final point, Valiant brought out Envy on the Bastion and set up right in front of the payload. This was the power they needed and Los Angeles Valiant pushed the payload to the final point, sweeping San Francisco 4-0.

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Winner: Los Angeles Valiant – 4

San Francisco Shock – 0

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