Week two of Overwatch League saw the London Spitfire go up against one of the toughest teams from North America—The Los Angeles Valiant. London was favored going into the match, with their players from C9 KongDoo and GC Busan starting to become more confident and familiar with each other. They started off strong, taking the first two maps of the set before the Valiant responded with two maps of their own. It all came down to Lijiang Tower, where London's spectacular holds proved to be too much for Los Angeles to handle.
First up was Control Center, one of the maps where triple and quad-tank compositions are making a comeback. The Valiant came out strong, pushing London off the point for a decisive capture. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, this would be the only time they looked dominant for the entirety of Lijiang.
Jun-Young "Profit" Park, better known for his Genji, played a mean Zarya this time around. He stayed fully charged for most of the fight, dealing gobs of damage to the struggling Valiant. With time running out for LA and Coalescence to combo with, Profit landed one of the most demoralizing Gravitons of the week and effectively ended the round:
London wasn't quite finished, however. The next map was Garden, where the Spitfire continued their dominance over Los Angeles. Opening with a standard Pharmercy dive composition was the Valiant's first mistake. The Spitfire were ready for it, putting Ji-Hyeok "Birdring" Kim on Widowmaker to swat the flies. This decision caused all sorts of confusion for Los Angeles, as every change they made was met with the same result—headshots.
One of the most questionable moves by the Valiant was forcing Orisa on a map that she's simply not that great on. Her inability to push into the pagoda makes it so that the DPS have to take risks that likely won't pay off. It also forces you into an immobile composition—not exactly what you're looking for when time isn't on your side. None of this really mattered to Birdring, though. Shields weren't going to get in the way of his kills:
This is what happens when you aren't able to pressure an expert Widowmaker. Brady "Agilities" Girardi tries jumping off a mine, but he pays for it with his life. That's fine, because Benjamin "Unkoe" Chevasson comes in for the rez off a Valkyrie... until he takes one between the eyes as well. For whatever reason, Agilities comes back out to see if Birdring is still there and finds out the hard way.
By defeating the Los Angeles Valiant, London joins Seoul and New York at the top of the standings with a 4-0 record. It is still early, but it isn't looking like the Korean rosters are going to be losing too much ground in the foreseeable future. Next Friday, January 26, the Seoul Dynasty will take on the New York Excelsior in the first all-Korean matchup of the season. We'll see if New York lets Do-Hyeon "Pine" Kim play more than one map this time around.
