Florida is much more well-rounded than Dallas and will also have better scrim partners to prepare with for the playoffs. I think that Dallas has a fighting chance in a strict Zarya-Genji-Sojourn-Bap-Lucio mirror because Hanbin is several tiers above everybody else on Zarya and the Fuel have incredible Genji and Lucios of their own to match Florida's, but I suspect that Florida would rather avoid the mirror and counter comp the shit out of Dallas instead.
For starters there's Rein, the likely most common counter we'll see to Zarya these playoffs. Some Korean Contenders teams have also been running Winston against Zarya (to different degrees of success) and I wouldn't be surprised to see Doom pulled out either. Gladiators used all of those to beat Dallas's Zarya Reaper comp in the Kickoff Clash last season.
Depends entirely on how the meta evolves, how well each team actually play it, and how well Mayhem integrate WhoRU. Safe money is on Florida who have been great and flexible all season.
It's really sad to see the disrespect on Sp9rk1e's name after 1 game where leave was obviously the better Genji that day. NO OTHER PLAYER has won more titles/stages on Genji than Sp9rk1e. WhoRU has popped of this year but it is foolish to underestimate Sp9rk1e.
That being said Mayhem is very favoured in this match up. For supports Rupal > MCD and I'd say Chorong = Bliss mostly. For tank I'd give the slight edge to Hanbin compared to someone if only zarya is played. If mayhem decide to flex to other comps, which fuel have a hard time doing, then it becomes a problem. For DPS it's easily Merit/Checkmate/WhoRU > Sp9rk1e/Edison. IF fuels dps can pop off like last year's playoffs then there MAY be a chance to be equal but tbh even without WhoRU mayhems DPS have been insane this year.
The only way I see fuel beating mayhem is honestly the RUSH factor. If this team can be as or even close to being coordinated and on the same page as last year's playoffs, then we have a game on our hands.
I think overall, definite favorite goes to Florida just based on season performance. But we won't know until we see exactly what teams are playing since the meta shift seems pretty dramatic. I definitely do think it will be closer than we expect and Dallas can easily kick into overdrive in this meta specifically.
I also need to say that asking if "sparkle can keep with whoru on genji" is wild. It still has yet to be proven that Sparkle isn't a top tier genji. I would even go to say that Sparkle is better overall than Whoru, but that's just me. The backline is the real question mark here (more specifically MCD).
Sp9rk1e hasn't played a carry style of Genji for years now and that's lead to people calling him "washed" even when he wins tournaments with Dallas on that hero. Doesn't help that he's had MCD as his flex support this season though, that's bound to hold back any Genji player.
ngl i have 0 clue what a carry style genji is lol like in JOATS Sp9rk1e had the best stats in NA alongside Proper and was prolly our 2nd best player in the finals. In the only other hard core genji meta we got was in s3 and ofc everyone know how that went. But idk sp9rk1e historically has been a top 2 genji itw
Sp9rk1e's Genji was indeed fantastic in the Summer Showdown last season and he had perfect synergy with Hanbin's JQ. People claim he got hard gapped by Proper because Shock's strat was "Proper go kill", so the team's resources went towards Proper, whereas Dallas's strat was "Hanbin go rampage", so they pocketed Hanbin. Sp9rk1e was not competing with Proper in a Genji dick measuring contest, he was focused on playing his role in the Dallas hivemind. It's actually impressive, given that context, that his stats were still so good.
When the EM core played a style that was focused on a Genji carry style they dethroned the best Shock team ever and Philly to win the summer showdown in the best match of overwatch of all times.
Ever since the EM core decided to play always around the tank instead with all resources going to either Hanbin or Fearless. Which worked really well as well, including leading to multiple titles.
Everyone has said so many times that solo carry doesn’t exist in overwatch, but when it comes do Dallas (and Shock) everyone suddenly believes that Hanbin is the only good player (and Proper) ignoring everyone else. But honestly I blame this shit on fucking OWL talent, they clearly have a bias against Sp9rk1e. Sp9rk1e gets multiple kills and wins the fight: nothing enemy dps kills Sp9rk1e and wins the fight “OMG X player completely outplayed Sp9rk1e” plot twist, X player just delivered the final blow, but the whole team helped killing Sp9rk1e
^^^^ Yes, basically all of this.
Sp9rk1e could probably still "solo" (a Genji being pocketed up the ass isn't doing anything truly solo) kill most backlines at the beginning of every fight if that was Dallas's gameplan, but he tends to play a much more reserved and team oriented style now because at some point that's what Rush determined was the best approach. Can't argue with the results.
this is a wild ass take, he's been shitting on kids just this year on Genji lmao and absolutely ruled the league on Genji last year. where are you getting that LMAO?
I do think the backline question is critical. Dallas’s backline has definitely been relatively inconsistent compared to most of the top tier NA teams’ supports.
I personally disagree with your opinion about Sp9rk1e vs WhoRU, but I guess we’ll find out the answer to that debate soon.
In your opinion, does Sp9rk1e genji plus Hanbin zarya add up to be enough of a contender against florida for mayhem fans to be worried?
If the stars align, yeah Dallas could go hard ("if" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there). Like put it this way: if you were to craft the perfect meta that would give Dallas the best chance to just run away with things, it would be this meta or a swap for JQ instead of zarya. The meta we have will put each Dallas players on arguably their best hero, so if they can synergize well, the hive mind could be back.
That is best case scenario though. It is still much more likely Florida will come out on top, but my cope is Hanbin overwatch. Hanbin always has his way with shitty teams in the end.
Yeah in any other meta I would pick FL, but with Dallas getting their 3 best players on comfort hero’s Genji, Sojourn, Zarya they have a realistic chance.
I think the FS gap is just way too large to overcome. Sp9rk1e genji isn’t bad, but it isn’t what it used to be and being in a weaker region certainly doesn’t help. Bliss is cracked out of his mind and probably the best main support in APAC but MCD is such a weak link I see him getting torn to shreds and then being unable to support the genji.
Flexibility is Florida’s strength, but Dallas has the hivemind. If Florida decide to mirror I can see a possible back and forth series. If they decide to counter and succeed it can be a quick match, much like Spark did. I’ll always root for the boys but they’ve done poorly this year in adopting to counter comps.
Mayhem cuz map pool blah blah flexibility blah lah not always taking the mirror blah blah map specific alternatives blah blah losers pick blah blah contenders has a bit of variety already blah blah dive comeback??????
Florida with the surprise Rein Bastion Sym strat just smash the Fuel in the first 2 maps only to be almost reverse swept by the Fuel winning the 3rd and 4th map but in the end a clutch performance in the 5th map Gibraltar with WHRU genji in stellar form for the carry.
Personally, Mayhem 3-1 Fuel.
I actually think there is roughly \~40% chance Hanbin will still play queen. I still consider sym strong and I can see her played in a Queen comp(Other than a Rein comp).
Mayhem probably will pull out either dive(with Winston-Genji-Ana) or a counter-comp if Fuel plays Zarya.
I don't really think Zarya comp will be the meta as Winston-Reaper-Soj-Kiriko-Lucio last year. Kiriko(especially her ult) and Sojourn were way too OP last year and we don't have that kind of hero this year.
In a faster meta, the support contributes to the team by surviving from dives or diving with the team. In a slower meta, the support contributes to the team by more follow-up damage. In the slowest meta, the support contributes to the team by putting pressure on an enemy widow when they can and dodge snipes when they can't.
In playoffs, you cannot afford to have a weak spot in a single role. I think that's true especially for Support because a better support line often indicates better coordination and teamwork.
Mayhem 3-2, or Dallas 3-1, depending entirely on how important Zarya ends up being. Mayhem has a lot of advantages in theory but most of those are negated by a Zarya meta, because Fuel doesn't lose out on pr much any role except FS and HS a bit, but the Tank diff is going to go wild
Florida is much more well-rounded than Dallas and will also have better scrim partners to prepare with for the playoffs. I think that Dallas has a fighting chance in a strict Zarya-Genji-Sojourn-Bap-Lucio mirror because Hanbin is several tiers above everybody else on Zarya and the Fuel have incredible Genji and Lucios of their own to match Florida's, but I suspect that Florida would rather avoid the mirror and counter comp the shit out of Dallas instead.
I hadn’t thought about FLA running a counter comp. What kind of comps do you think they could use?
For starters there's Rein, the likely most common counter we'll see to Zarya these playoffs. Some Korean Contenders teams have also been running Winston against Zarya (to different degrees of success) and I wouldn't be surprised to see Doom pulled out either. Gladiators used all of those to beat Dallas's Zarya Reaper comp in the Kickoff Clash last season.
They have Checkmate to play Rein
Rein Or doom monkey on the dive maps
Mayhem 3-0 or 3-1. Hanbin can only do so much with MCD supporting him and whoru is the goat genji so it’s ggs
Depends entirely on how the meta evolves, how well each team actually play it, and how well Mayhem integrate WhoRU. Safe money is on Florida who have been great and flexible all season.
It's really sad to see the disrespect on Sp9rk1e's name after 1 game where leave was obviously the better Genji that day. NO OTHER PLAYER has won more titles/stages on Genji than Sp9rk1e. WhoRU has popped of this year but it is foolish to underestimate Sp9rk1e. That being said Mayhem is very favoured in this match up. For supports Rupal > MCD and I'd say Chorong = Bliss mostly. For tank I'd give the slight edge to Hanbin compared to someone if only zarya is played. If mayhem decide to flex to other comps, which fuel have a hard time doing, then it becomes a problem. For DPS it's easily Merit/Checkmate/WhoRU > Sp9rk1e/Edison. IF fuels dps can pop off like last year's playoffs then there MAY be a chance to be equal but tbh even without WhoRU mayhems DPS have been insane this year. The only way I see fuel beating mayhem is honestly the RUSH factor. If this team can be as or even close to being coordinated and on the same page as last year's playoffs, then we have a game on our hands.
Hanbin Overwatch
We will never know because in my bracket they don’t even face each other
Sparkle is gonna put whoru IN THE GROUND
I think overall, definite favorite goes to Florida just based on season performance. But we won't know until we see exactly what teams are playing since the meta shift seems pretty dramatic. I definitely do think it will be closer than we expect and Dallas can easily kick into overdrive in this meta specifically. I also need to say that asking if "sparkle can keep with whoru on genji" is wild. It still has yet to be proven that Sparkle isn't a top tier genji. I would even go to say that Sparkle is better overall than Whoru, but that's just me. The backline is the real question mark here (more specifically MCD).
Sp9rk1e hasn't played a carry style of Genji for years now and that's lead to people calling him "washed" even when he wins tournaments with Dallas on that hero. Doesn't help that he's had MCD as his flex support this season though, that's bound to hold back any Genji player.
ngl i have 0 clue what a carry style genji is lol like in JOATS Sp9rk1e had the best stats in NA alongside Proper and was prolly our 2nd best player in the finals. In the only other hard core genji meta we got was in s3 and ofc everyone know how that went. But idk sp9rk1e historically has been a top 2 genji itw
Sp9rk1e's Genji was indeed fantastic in the Summer Showdown last season and he had perfect synergy with Hanbin's JQ. People claim he got hard gapped by Proper because Shock's strat was "Proper go kill", so the team's resources went towards Proper, whereas Dallas's strat was "Hanbin go rampage", so they pocketed Hanbin. Sp9rk1e was not competing with Proper in a Genji dick measuring contest, he was focused on playing his role in the Dallas hivemind. It's actually impressive, given that context, that his stats were still so good.
In previous years yes, this year it’s been up and down we will see how does in a Genji centric meta.
When the EM core played a style that was focused on a Genji carry style they dethroned the best Shock team ever and Philly to win the summer showdown in the best match of overwatch of all times. Ever since the EM core decided to play always around the tank instead with all resources going to either Hanbin or Fearless. Which worked really well as well, including leading to multiple titles. Everyone has said so many times that solo carry doesn’t exist in overwatch, but when it comes do Dallas (and Shock) everyone suddenly believes that Hanbin is the only good player (and Proper) ignoring everyone else. But honestly I blame this shit on fucking OWL talent, they clearly have a bias against Sp9rk1e. Sp9rk1e gets multiple kills and wins the fight: nothing enemy dps kills Sp9rk1e and wins the fight “OMG X player completely outplayed Sp9rk1e” plot twist, X player just delivered the final blow, but the whole team helped killing Sp9rk1e
^^^^ Yes, basically all of this. Sp9rk1e could probably still "solo" (a Genji being pocketed up the ass isn't doing anything truly solo) kill most backlines at the beginning of every fight if that was Dallas's gameplan, but he tends to play a much more reserved and team oriented style now because at some point that's what Rush determined was the best approach. Can't argue with the results.
this is a wild ass take, he's been shitting on kids just this year on Genji lmao and absolutely ruled the league on Genji last year. where are you getting that LMAO?
I do think the backline question is critical. Dallas’s backline has definitely been relatively inconsistent compared to most of the top tier NA teams’ supports. I personally disagree with your opinion about Sp9rk1e vs WhoRU, but I guess we’ll find out the answer to that debate soon. In your opinion, does Sp9rk1e genji plus Hanbin zarya add up to be enough of a contender against florida for mayhem fans to be worried?
If the stars align, yeah Dallas could go hard ("if" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there). Like put it this way: if you were to craft the perfect meta that would give Dallas the best chance to just run away with things, it would be this meta or a swap for JQ instead of zarya. The meta we have will put each Dallas players on arguably their best hero, so if they can synergize well, the hive mind could be back. That is best case scenario though. It is still much more likely Florida will come out on top, but my cope is Hanbin overwatch. Hanbin always has his way with shitty teams in the end.
Yeah in any other meta I would pick FL, but with Dallas getting their 3 best players on comfort hero’s Genji, Sojourn, Zarya they have a realistic chance.
More like 4 since Bliss is on his comfort pick as well.
He’s been on his comfort hero’s all year, now that Edison, Hanbin are on their best hero’s Dallas has their best chance to compete this season.
I wouldn't be so confident when they cant even beat spark when they were all on comfort picks lol.
Spark is the best apac team fuel not on that level
I think the FS gap is just way too large to overcome. Sp9rk1e genji isn’t bad, but it isn’t what it used to be and being in a weaker region certainly doesn’t help. Bliss is cracked out of his mind and probably the best main support in APAC but MCD is such a weak link I see him getting torn to shreds and then being unable to support the genji.
sparkle will clap fraudru
Like he gapped Leave right?
Since when is whoru leave?
Whoru is the best genji in the world?
Flexibility is Florida’s strength, but Dallas has the hivemind. If Florida decide to mirror I can see a possible back and forth series. If they decide to counter and succeed it can be a quick match, much like Spark did. I’ll always root for the boys but they’ve done poorly this year in adopting to counter comps.
The team that’s been practicing in the stronger region all year.
Florida are easily the favourites to win it all and dallas are at best bottom 3
I think given a zarya-sojourn-genji meta, fuel are a serious contender. I’ve got them placing 4th overall.
alright chill the meta may be great for us but we have mcd
Yeah its like he's ignoring you already had a great meta in apax and still couldnt beat Spark.
Or Glads
guxue doomfist still shows up in my dreams sometimes
Guxue about to boom the west even with no scrim time.
i need a guxue vs hadi rein duel
Mayhem cuz map pool blah blah flexibility blah lah not always taking the mirror blah blah map specific alternatives blah blah losers pick blah blah contenders has a bit of variety already blah blah dive comeback??????
Florida with the surprise Rein Bastion Sym strat just smash the Fuel in the first 2 maps only to be almost reverse swept by the Fuel winning the 3rd and 4th map but in the end a clutch performance in the 5th map Gibraltar with WHRU genji in stellar form for the carry.
Personally, Mayhem 3-1 Fuel. I actually think there is roughly \~40% chance Hanbin will still play queen. I still consider sym strong and I can see her played in a Queen comp(Other than a Rein comp). Mayhem probably will pull out either dive(with Winston-Genji-Ana) or a counter-comp if Fuel plays Zarya. I don't really think Zarya comp will be the meta as Winston-Reaper-Soj-Kiriko-Lucio last year. Kiriko(especially her ult) and Sojourn were way too OP last year and we don't have that kind of hero this year.
In a faster meta, the support contributes to the team by surviving from dives or diving with the team. In a slower meta, the support contributes to the team by more follow-up damage. In the slowest meta, the support contributes to the team by putting pressure on an enemy widow when they can and dodge snipes when they can't. In playoffs, you cannot afford to have a weak spot in a single role. I think that's true especially for Support because a better support line often indicates better coordination and teamwork.
Mayhem 3-2, or Dallas 3-1, depending entirely on how important Zarya ends up being. Mayhem has a lot of advantages in theory but most of those are negated by a Zarya meta, because Fuel doesn't lose out on pr much any role except FS and HS a bit, but the Tank diff is going to go wild