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Overwatch League 2020 Week 13: Guangzhou Charge's Top Plays, Prize Money
May 4, 2020
The Seoul Dynasty only had one loss across four games this season, but it came against the 9-1 Shanghai Dragons. Then, the Guangzhou Charge came along in Week 13 and broke those cracks wide open.
Before this weekend, the Charge sat in the middle of the table at 4-6 and with more question marks than map wins. Against Seoul, though, they came out with a decisive, set lineup and absolutely rolled: 3-0, with the Dynasty unable to cap a single point.
Happy has long been known as one of the OWL's premier hitscans, but Guangzhou replaced him with Eileen definitively this weekend—running a lineup of Eileen, Nero, Rio, Crong, Chara and Shu.
With the game's latest hero, Echo, finally eligible for play, the Charge ended the Dynasty as we know them, forcing Seoul to do some soul-searching. In the Dynasty's second game of the weekend, they changed their lineup for the first time all year, replacing Marve1 with Michelle.
Here's how the weekend shook out and why Guangzhou may have a stronger chance to dip into the league's $5 million prize pool than we earlier anticipated.
Saturday, May 2
Guangzhou Charge 3-0 Seoul Dynasty
New York excelsior 2-3 Shanghai Dragons
Dallas Fuel 3-0 Washington Justice
Los Angeles Valiant 3-2 Atlanta Reign
Houston Outlaws 0-3 San Francisco Shock
Sunday, May 3
Seoul Dynasty 0-3 Hangzhou Spark
Chengdu Hunters 1-3 New York Excelsior
Philadelphia Fusion 3-2 Paris Eternal
Florida Mayhem 3-0 Boston Uprising
Toronto Defiant 1-3 Los Angeles Gladiators
Full schedule and standings available here.
Guangzhou's DPS Duo Snatches Seoul's
Nero isn't the most mechanically dominant DPS in the league, but he has a quality that is specifically unique and vital to Overwatch: flexibility.
The projectile specialist was an easy bet to make his mark on Echo, whose flight, hitscan and projectile abilities are a complex combination to become comfortable with. That quickly proved true as, with hitscans McCree and Widowmaker banned, Nero's Echo lived in the skies and provided viewers with some pre-hero-pool nostalgia: four Winstons jumping around at the same time.
Since Happy's two best heroes were banned, Eileen was sure to get more playing time than usual. But he showed out, specifically on Ashe, and could now continue being Nero's complement—at least until the Charge hit Widow's best maps.
It's not entirely clear whether Guangzhou has leveled up or the Dynasty have simply regressed, a notion alluded to in Nero's postgame tweet: "people are giving me way too much credit for the match vs seoul XD nobody in specific really carried we just played as a team and seoul kinda poo'd the bed."
But differing analyses will soon clear up, as the Charge face the 8-2 New York Excelsior and 3-2 London Spitfire next week.