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Overwatch League 2020 Week 29: San Francisco Shock's Top Plays, Prize Money
August 24, 2020
The final weekend of the Overwatch League's 2020 season is complete and teams are kicking into postseason form. While most of the league's other top teams finished their seasons last weekend, the San Francisco Shock capped theirs off with two wins and clear momentum heading into the postseason.
The Shock won the 2019 OWL Championship, thanks in large part to performances from two of their DPS, the 2019 MVP Sinatraa and the versatile Architect. But, midseason, Sinatraa left Overwatch to pursue a career in Valorant and Architect was released to join the Hangzhou Spark.
Still, San Francisco has proved to be one of the league's most balanced teams and consistent performers. After 28 matches played in 2020, they sit at 25-3 with high expectations to come away with a large cut of the postseason's $4 million prize pool.
Friday, August 21
Vancouver Titans 3-0 Boston Uprising
Los Angeles Gladiators 1-3 Florida Mayhem
Saturday, August 22
Hangzhou Spark 3-0 Seoul Dynasty
London Spitfire 1-3 New York Excelsior
Washington Justice 0-3 San Francisco Shock
Dallas Fuel 3-1 Toronto Defiant
Los Angeles Gladiators 3-1 Atlanta Reign
Los Angeles Valiant 3-0 Vancouver Titans
Sunday, August 23
Seoul Dynasty 3-2 London Spitfire
Dallas Fuel 1-3 Paris Eternal
San Francisco Shock 3-2 Atlanta Reign
Los Angeles Valiant 2-3 Los Angeles Gladiators
Full schedule and standings available here.
Against a struggling, albeit improved Justice team on Saturday, the Shock employed a substitution strategy that has paved their success thus far this year. With Smurf and ChoiHyoBin at tank, ANS at DPS and Moth at main support, San Francisco rotated in Striker and Rascal for the remaining DPS slot while Viol2t and Twilight took turns at flex support.
That flexibility, once again, proved potent as Rascal's mastery of projectile damage-dealers resulted in one particular instance of ingenuity where he surprised the Justice with a fat RIP-Tire for a triple.
Following that Saturday sweep, the Shock faced a streaky Reign roster on Sunday in a match that went the distance. Once again, they rotated players around with the same four staying consistent. This time, it was ANS who popped off, demonstrating why he plays every map and has a strong case for Rookie of the Year.
Dissatisfied with his hitscan counterpart getting all of the highlights, Rascal showed off some aerial superiority on 2020's newest hero, Echo.
A close match with Atlanta may be concerning for Shock fans, who have grown to expect excellence from the 2019 champs. Thus far in 2020, San Francisco has won the May Melee and Countdown Cup midseason tournaments, bookending a surprising semifinals defeat in the Summer Showdown.
The playoffs start September 3, at which point the Shock will have one of the largest targets on their backs as they look to repeat in the season's highly anticipated return to international play.