The next set of games in the Overwatch League is here and it may be one of the closest matches to date. Tonight it’s Dallas Fuel against the Los Angeles Valiant, both sporting some truly impressive players. Currently, Valiant is on a win streak as they went 4-0 against San Francisco Shock earlier in the week. Sporting a highly aggressive style, Valiant was able to easily overwhelm their opponent’s passive playstyle.
In contrast, Dallas Fuel lost their first game against Seoul Dynasty but put up an incredibly impressive fight. Their sheer creativity and adaptability will be an important factor during tonight’s match. The maps for this evening are Junkertown, Horizon Lunar Colony, Ilios, and Numbani in that order. If there is a stalemate, then the tiebreaker map will be Lijang Tower.
We will update this piece after each round so make sure to check back with us.
Game One – Junkertown
Round One
Valiant started on the attack with a very typical “pirate ship” line up featuring Bastion, Orisa, and Roadhog. In contrast, Dallas Fuel decided to run Effect on the Widowmaker who’s complimented by a Junkrat, Roadhog, and Orisa. The round started with Valiant offering a strong push that dropped four members of Fuel. Setting Bastion up on the Payload, Valiant was able to quickly dispatch the Dallas counterattack, despite Effect taking out Valiant’s Widowmaker.
Moving to the second point, Valiant actually moved the Bastion onto the high ground ahead of the payload. This was overtaken and forced L.A. to move back to the payload for their attack. However, Fuel’s Roadhog and Junkrat used both their ults and killed off the Valiant push. Fuel’s Taimou landed two big hooks on the Valiant Roadhog and Orisa. However, he wasn’t able to secure the kill on the latter and needed to be resurrected. A team fight ensued that Valiant won and allowed them to capture to the second point.
Moving to point three, Fuel was scattered and lost their Roadhog who was deep in Los Angeles’ spawn. Thanks to a RIP Tire from Seagull, Dallas was able to hold the point briefly before being overtaken again. Taimou was picked off once again by the Valiant’s Roadhog, Envy. Despite having an opening, L.A. was outgunned and needed to regroup. Agilities destroyed Seagulls RIP Tire, giving them some needed breathing room so they could capture the third point with some time left on the clock.
Round Two
Now on the attack, Dallas Fuel sported an Orisa, Bastion, Widowmaker, and Hanzo. Valiant ran their own Bastion to counter along with an Orisa, Roadhog, D.Va, and Widowmaker. Fuel opened with a quick kill thanks to Seagull’s Hanzo which let them take control of the payload and wipe out Valiant. The Bastion on L.A. was swapped to a Junkrat and the D.Va was dropped as well for a Zenyatta. Fuel’s Hanzo landed a solid ultimate that let them once again wipe Valiant with little issue.
Fuel’s Harryhook absolutely dominated Valiant as they left the spawn allowing Dallas to take the second point with, once again, a quick team fight. Moving to the third point, Taimou landed a big hook dragging in Valiant’s Mercy for the kill. Winning the team fight they moved the point close to the third where Effect and Seagull simply picked apart Valiant’s defense. This was more than enough for Dallas Fuel to capture the point with an impressive 3:42 seconds left on the clock.
Round Three
Valiant started the attack with 1:06 on the clock, so they decided to use their standard pirate ship set up. Dallas countered with their usual Junkrat /Orisa combo, but they lost their Orisa early on. Sadly, Dallas Fuel was beaten back, but they decided to try and stop Valiant from taking the first point – which resulted in them being team killed. Valiant’s Soon moved his Bastion to the high ground to support his team. Again, Fuel appeared scattered and was picked apart by the solid teamwork on the side of Valiant. Taking the second point in Overtime, Valiant used a fantastic Orisa Halt, Roadhog Hook combo to pick Fuel’s tanks. They were able to continue their momentum and take the third point all in Overtime.
Round Four
Fuel’s attacking team was exactly the same from their first run with the double snipers backing up the Bastion. In contrast, Valiant decided to run both Orisa and Reinhardt to make their Bastion hard to kill. But it wasn’t enough as Effect picked up both Valiant’s Bastion and their Mercy when she tried to resurrect the robot. Seagull landed some great shots that killed or weakened a lot of Valiant’s line up letting them take the second point with two minutes on the clock.
Moving to the second point, Taimou hooked Los Angeles’ Roadhog and killed him. The Valiant quickly brought their Roadhog back and managed to turn the fight around in their favor. Forced to regroup, Seagull swapped from the Hanzo to the Junkrat but was killed quickly. Regrouping again, Dallas Fuel managed to fight off Valiant even though they were pushed into Overtime. Taking the second point, Fuel had a great push and gave Valiant a taste of their own medicine via Roadhog /Orisa combo. The final fight was incredibly scrappy with both Roadhog’s dying, but Fuel managed to salvage the fight thanks to their Orisa’s Supercharger. Fuel took the third point and tied the score up.
Round Five
Fuel decided to play their defense differently and ran Orisa, Moira, D.Va, and Lucio so they could dive right on Valiant. This blindsided Valiant and caused them to quickly lose before they even touched the payload. The second fight didn’t go as well as they were ripped apart by Los Angeles’ Bastion. Dallas swapped to a full-on dive, bringing out the Tracer and Genji to combat the Bastion. However, Los Angeles was expecting this and obliterated them with a Bastion ult.
Moving to the second point, Soon killed Effect early on, causing another team fight to trigger. Fuel lost, again, and was able to secure the second point all while in Overtime. Seagull’s Dragonblade let him secure some kills, that let Fuel dislodged Valiant bringing the Junkertown score to 8-6.
Round Six
Is it possible to go more than Whole Hog because @DF_Taimou just did. #OWL2018
Right as the matched started, Fuel managed to instantly kill Valiant’s Mercy letting them take the payload. Pushing the payload forward, Fuel went into Overtime and reset their defense right outside of the first point. Another team fight ensued that Taimou dominated with his Roadhog, letting him obliterate Valiant’s tanks. Fuel took the first point and went into a big ultimate team fight. However, before a winner was decided, Dallas’ Bastion died on the point and could not be resurrected in time to reset the Overtime clock. Valiant won Junkertown with a score of 8 to 7.
Los Angeles Valiant – 1, Dallas Fuel – 0
Game Two – Horizon Lunar Colony
Round One
Starting our game out, Valiant was on the attack with a typical dive set up with Genji and Widowmaker as their DPS. Fuel decided to run a Lucio / Moira combo and set up on the low ground to deny Valiant being able to take the high ground on either side. Valiant’s Genji picked off Fuel’s Lucio which let Los Angeles gain the momentum needed to take the first point with 2:50 on the clock. Fuel dropped the Moira and brought out Mercy for the second point.
Los Angeles on the second point with very little resistance thanks to a big Dragonblade, supported by a dive. Wiping out Fuel, L.A. took the second point with over six minutes on their clock and only two team fights in the entire round.
Round Two
Listen in to the @LAValiant comms during the second map of their match against the @DallasFuel. #OWL2018
Watch Game 3: t.co/U6dIipgQGs
Dallas ran a quad tank set up with Moira and Lucio once again, while Valiant ran a typical dive. Dallas moved to the left and quickly moved to the point, using their large health pool to overtake Valiant. Moving to the second point, they ran into a Pharah, who traded with Fuel’s D.Va. Their battering ram style lets them take the second point with ease. Being able to absolutely smash through the defenses of Valiant they took the second point with over six minutes on the clock as well.
Round Three
Running the quad tank on defense again, Fuel ran right towards Valiant’s spawn to meet them head-on. This was to delay the timer and it succeeds allowing Dallas to out power and out heal Valiant forcing them back. L.A. decided to run a full dive and were met with a Graviton Surge, which Valiant countered with a Zenyatta ult’d. Los Angeles won the team fight and captured the first point with a little more than four minutes on their clock.
The first push onto the second point was unsuccessful thanks to a surprise Helix Rocket from Fuel’s Soldier: 76. Regrouping, the majority of Valiant’s forced pushed on the left, while their Genji attacked from the right with his Dragonblade. However, the Genji was quickly killed, but it offered a good distraction for Valiant to push in. Winning the team fight, Fuel resulted in stalling the capture of the point with a Mei and D.Va. This helped them deny Valiant a little less than a minute before they were able to take both of the control points.
Round Four
Fuel opened with a quad tank and Valiant ran a very traditional dive set up on defense. Dallas once again muscled their way to the point thanks to the high health pool that four of their heroes sported. Taking the first point, Fuel moved to take the second point but were stopped by Valiant’s Dragonblade which cut down both of their supports ending the push. Sticking with their tank focused set up, Fuel attacked again with a promising start but were out damaged by Valiant.
Keep @silkthread away from your backline. #OWL2018
This forced Fuel to swap into a dive competition and their Widowmaker allowed them to land some critical picks. Taking two ticks from Valiant’s control point, Dallas Fuel backed off and regrouped for a second attack. Opening with a Self Destruct, Fuel didn’t kill anyone and was met with a dive by Valiant from all sides. Dallas lost again and during their third push, they were met with a Dragonblade from Los Angeles who cut them apart again. With only a minute on the clock, Valiant dove everyone on the high ground, but they forgot to defend the point, letting Fuel’s Tracer secure the second point right under Valiant’s nose.
Round Five
Dallas ran their typical four tank set up, but Valiant wisely countered with an Ana who was able to stop the first push from Fuel. However, this didn’t work during the second fight and Fuel muscled their way in and decided to bring as Widowmaker with them to deal with the Ana. Taking the first point, Valiant dropped the Ana for Zenyatta. On their last push, Dallas Fuel failed to gain any progress and was killed while in Overtime letting Valiant take the round.
Round Six.
Valiant was on their normal, aggressive dive set up but Fuel brought out a Junkrat, Soldier: 76, and Orisa to throw L.A. off. During Valiant’s first push they were met with a lot of outward damage and had to push back. However, they didn’t know Tracer went outside into space and initiated a dive on Dallas Fuel. That wasn’t enough and Fuel stopped the dive dead in its tracks forcing a reset from Los Angeles. Their third push let Valiant force them off the high ground, but this was expected and they were stopped again. Looking desperate, Los Angeles pushed onto the first point in Overtime opening up with a Dragonblade that did nothing.
Valiant won the team fight and had only thirty seconds to capture a single tick on the second control point. A Pulse Bomb from Valiant’s Tracer helped kill Fuel’s Orisa, but a Valkyrie from Fuel’s Mercy let them force a tie on Horizon Lunar Colony.
Los Angeles Valiant – 1, Dallas Fuel – 0, Draws – 1
Game Three – Ilios
Round One
The first map on Ilios was Lighthouse with both Valiant and Dallas Fuel sporting lightly different dive compositions. Fuel decided to bring Seagull on Pharah and Valiant’s Silkthread was on the same flying hero. Both teams met in the center with Valiant getting three big kills right away letting them gain control of the point. Regrouping, Fuel pushed in and were met with a Self Destruct that took out Dallas’ Tracer. Outgunned, Valiant won the fight again and pushed the percentage passed 50%.
A third team fight ensued with Seagull getting solo ult’d by Silkthread’s Pharah which gave them air superiority. Unable to flip the point, Valiant won this point with ease and moved onto the next round.
Round Two
Round two was on Ruins and the Pharahs were dropped for Widowmakers since there are a lot of great sightlines on this level. However, Dallas had a much better showing this time around and quickly took the point. Dallas’ Widowmaker – Effect – did a great job of weakening various Valiant heroes so the DPS could clean up the kills. Pushing the percentage beyond the 50% mark, Dallas was still firmly in control. Despite using their Dragonblade, Fuel was wiped and the point flipped in the favor of Valiant.
Some signature Genji play from @A_Seagull. #OWL2018
Regrouping, Fuel dove onto the point after Effect dropped Valiant’s Widowmaker. This was enough for Fuel and they overwhelmed Valiant on all sides, killing the players and retaking the point. Now in Overtime, Dallas Fuel backed off and Valiant was able to flip the point. Forcing another team fight, Seagull used Dragonblade once again, but could only secure a single kill. This wasn’t enough and Valiant pushed the point to 99% on their side. Los Angeles’ Tracer then ran circles around Fuel, killing the on their last push. Los Angeles secured the second map, winning Ilios and taking the match against Dallas.
Los Angeles Valiant – 2, Dallas Fuel – 0, Draws – 1
Game Four – Numbani
Round One
Dallas Fuel was on defense first with a Torbjorn and a Sombra to start out, while Valiant ran their normal aggressive dive. Effect managed to kill three people on Sombra, but which saved the point for Dallas who appeared to be losing control. The next push by Los Angeles was far better as they used their Pharah to rain death down on Fuel. Securing the payload, Dallas switched off Sombra dn Torbjorn for a Widowmaker and Soldier: 76 to counter the Pharah.
Valiant engaged Fuel quickly and chased them all over the map, disorientating Fuel’s defense. Once they reached the second point, Dallas came in to defend and attempt to stabilize. Using a mix of both support ultimates and a Primal Rage they appeared to secure the point. However, Fuel wasn’t paying attention and Los Angeles’ Tracer back-capped the payload. Using the momentum, Valiant quickly overwhelmed Dallas Fuel right by the third point. Los Angeles took the third point since Dallas wasted too many resources in the second point fight.
Round Two
Valiants decided to run their usual dive with a Soldier: 76 and Dallas mimicked the same team composition with the only change being a Lucio. Their opening was rough as the team was shut down quickly and forced Dallas to regroup. Dallas attacked the point a second time with both teams trading kills. An odd Sound Barrier was dropped when Dallas was already losing and Valiant won the next defense once against. Los Angeles’ Winston killed both of Dallas’ supports, which allowed Valiant to quickly wipe Fuel.
Dallas had one push left and Silkthread’s Tactical Visor allowed Valiant to obliterate Dallas’ defenses. Fuel was unable to take the point and get on the payload in any way. Los Angeles won another game and sent Dallas packing.