Rogue was recently crowned the Atlantic Showdown champions, taking home a sizeable portion of the $100,000 prize pool in what was essentially the first major international Overwatch tournament. Given their recent form it was especially interesting for me to note the performance of Faze as a relative newcomer and a team that the community is yet to agree on as a potential top contender.
Faze ended up taking the win 2-1 over Rogue with some spectacular aggression in the team fights. However, more than just pure aggression, it is important to single out how Faze was able to create opportunity through early picks that they then instantly capitalized on, a few of which we look at below.
Full VOD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr4njxozd48
Map 1: Kings Row - Faze attack point 1
Note how the commentators mention Twoeasy's death as one that will stagger the next attack. However his Mccree was in fact sacrificed to pick off the Reaper, meaning that the DPS output of Rogue would be much more limited given the longer time of the defenders to rejoin the fight - this reminds us of the high risk, high reward play that attackers sometimes need to go for. Rogue were perhaps at this time feeling somewhat too comfortable, as Faze knew that the next push forward by Winz on the Zarya could be immediately punished without a Reaper in their faces to contest it, leaving Rogue with just 4 members on the point and an easy take for Faze. Smart play by Twoeasy to open this section of play up.
Map 1: Kings Row - Faze defend in Streets phase
Another interesting team fight set up which relies primarily on speed boost into a Mccree and Genji ulti. Normally this sort of ulti combination is not that rare but what is different is that Genji engages from a very elevated position right above the Rogue team, meaning that Rogue needs to shift their vision almost 90 degrees upwards and have to choose between two different fights to take. Shadowburn's position on Genji immediately prioritizes the opposing Mccree as he knows that during the split fight this is the only hero who can stop him getting off a full duration blade. Use of elevation in these sorts of areas can really add another dimension to your standard team fights.
Faze did not end up winning Kings Row, but the point is to highlight the type of gameplay required to go toe to toe with experienced team on a well rehearsed map. I won't single out any clips from Hollywood as I feel like it was more a case of Rogue never having enough ultimates at the same time and their DPS players getting a bit singled out by the deathball play of Faze. However, there are certainly some good ones to pick out from Anubis...
Map 3: Temple of Anubis - Faze defend final point
With Rogue's first attack round looking like it will be wrapped up, with 5 men on point and 4 members of Faze dead, this proves to be a great hold for Faze as work closely together to ensure maximum possible contesting time. It opens with a Winston ult followed soon after by Zarya and Mei entering into the arena with their natural tankiness and stalling ability respectively. Twoeasy on Tracer takes advantage of this stalling by entering in on the backside and only really being taken notice of after Zarya and Mei fall. Note how Winston then only hard commits to the edge of the point as his fellow Genji is about to die. Each use their ability to stall for a few seconds which then builds into a gradual accumulation of spawns and slow whittling down of Rogue's health. Of course it was also critical that Shadowburn's Genji managed 2 kills before going down, as a lack of kills in the stalling phase of the final defence will make it very difficult to pull this sort of tactic off successfully. A similar team fight can be found immediately after this one in the VOD.
Map 3: Temple of Anubis - Faze attack point 1
This next clip is slightly more straight forward in its strategical depth, but nevertheless acts as an important reminder around avoiding ult stacking. The first point of Anubis can be very tough to break, and it's clear that Faze struggled with this before having enough ults. Once you're in a position of holding onto multiple ults, you cannot afford to waste this opportunity. Sound Barrier is first used to block the initial spam thrown their way, then Transcendence to effectively walk through to the point, giving significant time for the DPS players of Faze to do what they need to do. This is all wrapped off nicely by a Zarya ult which could have been thrown out earlier on the bridge, but Zombs showing us the power of self-control to make sure the fight is all but won as they step up to the point.
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Final words
Faze is certainly a team to keep our eyes on. The Overwatch meta is still in its early stages and there is no guarantee on any team retaining their position at present. With this in mind it's important that we dig a little deeper into some of the more exciting games to find out where we can improve in team fights over and above the comments you'll hear at the time of the game.
Sunday 28 August 2016
Friday 26 August 2016
A South African gamer venturing into the competitive Overwatch scene
For some time now the idea of where to try position myself in the esports scene has bugged me. After having competed in a multitude of online leagues and LAN tournaments since 2006, and having been disappointed with the trajectory of my last played title, the time came for me to weigh up my strengths vs. time and location constraints and how to best apply myself in such a dynamic environment.
To those of you who don't quite know me, or where I've been in esports, here's a brief run down of some of my prized achievements in Battlefield since 2012 as a co-captain:
Battlefield 3
Playing for Bravado Gaming (bvd)
South African National colors (Nations Cup – 2013)
1st – Do Gaming Championships (2012)
Top 8 – ClanBase NationsCup XVI (2013)
1st – Do Gaming Championships (2013)
Battlefield 4
1st – ESL Nations Cup 2014
1st – DGL BF4 Insta-Clash Cup (2013)
3rd – Do Gaming Championships (2014)
And here is my Overwatch profile after peaking at 76 in Season 1 of competitive:
https://masteroverwatch.com/profile/pc/eu/sZZ-21566
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Being a player from South Africa comes with one significant downfall - the inability to gain reasonable access to competitive communities that thrive in the major world hubs due to ping constraints. Overwatch has looked to diminish this downfall in its cleverly designed network optimisation, but the fact remains that it is not enough to compete at the highest level. Furthermore, the ultimate restriction of being far from the LAN destinations that matter remains. And this is what it's all about if we're going to put our lives into a competitive game. The window for achieving international success is a small one, and is preceded by a road paved with numerous risks, be it financial, emotional or otherwise. Nevertheless, in an increasingly interconnected world, there is more than enough opportunity to be involved through other avenues, a few of which I hope to tap into and offer some value to the community.
Through my student and working life I've tried to find the sweet spot in terms of my personality and where it fits into the productive world. Having previously held a job as a research analyst for over 5 years and competing at the highest levels locally in titles such as Dota and Battlefield, I've come to appreciate the often rigorous and attentive nature required to pull apart ideas into their smallest pieces and work step-by-step to analyse what's missing, what can be improved or quite simply appreciate what they all represent as a single entity.
This is the preface of what I hope to bring in my analysis articles/clips - clarity on trends, team strategies and gameplay in the Overwatch competitive scene. As a fledgling in the competitive gaming world, Overwatch strategies and metas are likely to be evolving quickly and as a fast-paced shooter often viewers can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of activity on-screen. The need to slice up this action into more digestable portions awaits.
Using any feedback I get, I'll adjust the course of the analysis depending on what is working and in demand.
Briefly summarised, we're looking at:
To those of you who don't quite know me, or where I've been in esports, here's a brief run down of some of my prized achievements in Battlefield since 2012 as a co-captain:
Battlefield 3
Playing for Bravado Gaming (bvd)
South African National colors (Nations Cup – 2013)
1st – Do Gaming Championships (2012)
Top 8 – ClanBase NationsCup XVI (2013)
1st – Do Gaming Championships (2013)
Battlefield 4
1st – ESL Nations Cup 2014
1st – DGL BF4 Insta-Clash Cup (2013)
3rd – Do Gaming Championships (2014)
And here is my Overwatch profile after peaking at 76 in Season 1 of competitive:
https://masteroverwatch.com/profile/pc/eu/sZZ-21566
---
Being a player from South Africa comes with one significant downfall - the inability to gain reasonable access to competitive communities that thrive in the major world hubs due to ping constraints. Overwatch has looked to diminish this downfall in its cleverly designed network optimisation, but the fact remains that it is not enough to compete at the highest level. Furthermore, the ultimate restriction of being far from the LAN destinations that matter remains. And this is what it's all about if we're going to put our lives into a competitive game. The window for achieving international success is a small one, and is preceded by a road paved with numerous risks, be it financial, emotional or otherwise. Nevertheless, in an increasingly interconnected world, there is more than enough opportunity to be involved through other avenues, a few of which I hope to tap into and offer some value to the community.
Through my student and working life I've tried to find the sweet spot in terms of my personality and where it fits into the productive world. Having previously held a job as a research analyst for over 5 years and competing at the highest levels locally in titles such as Dota and Battlefield, I've come to appreciate the often rigorous and attentive nature required to pull apart ideas into their smallest pieces and work step-by-step to analyse what's missing, what can be improved or quite simply appreciate what they all represent as a single entity.
This is the preface of what I hope to bring in my analysis articles/clips - clarity on trends, team strategies and gameplay in the Overwatch competitive scene. As a fledgling in the competitive gaming world, Overwatch strategies and metas are likely to be evolving quickly and as a fast-paced shooter often viewers can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of activity on-screen. The need to slice up this action into more digestable portions awaits.
Using any feedback I get, I'll adjust the course of the analysis depending on what is working and in demand.
Briefly summarised, we're looking at:
- Tiered segments of gameplay (tiering based on player numbers involved)
- The factors in place to secure a good team fight, or lose a bad one
- Performance analysis of hero picks at certain map stages
- Performance breakdowns of professional teams
- In time, colour casting on stream!
If you'd like heads up on when any new content is going live, make sure to follow me on my social media channels:
Expect the first article in this series within the week!
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