Preview: UCLA Overwatch Premiere vs. Powerhouse UCI Anteaters
- Sunny Yen
- Jul 20, 2017
- 2 min read
Edit: Justin "Justin" Ching was incorrectly listed as a tank/flex player for UCLA. He is actually a Zenyatta and Ana player for the UCLA Overwatch team. The article has been updated to reflect this
The UCLA Overwatch Premiere team comes into tomorrow’s match against the University of California, Irvine on a 2 game skid from losses against the University of California, Riverside, and San Jose State University. UCI will not make breaking the skid any easier. In order to actually have a chance against the Anteaters, UCLA will have to shore up some key deficiencies in their gameplay from positioning to team coordination. While historically UCLA’s DPS players have never been known for their dive play (Kabosui is a Soldier: 76 main while raxa is well known for his McCree and Widowmaker play), Harsha and Leon have shown a willingness to jump on Genji/Tracer and Winston respectively.
Bottom line: the Bruins need to be able to abate dive attempts from the enemy team by taking the initiative and playing a strong defense with a good, synergized offense. In the current Overwatch meta where Winston is king, the team that dives first and eliminates the key targets first wins the fight.
UCLA’s Starting 6:
Brad “raxa” Jiang - DPS
Justin “Justin” Ching - Support
Leon “PikaChief” Chang - Flex
Harsha “Harsha” Bandi - DPS/Flex
Jordan “DemFiends” Roessle - Flex
Erick “CAPTAINROLF” Corona - Support
Key Player:
Brad “raxa” Jiang: After a solid showing against SJSU, raxa sat out UCLA’s 2nd game against UCR due to timing conflicts. UCLA sorely felt the loss of their star player, falling 0-2 to a revitalized UCR team. With his return, look for raxa to make an impact on his pocket McCree as he tries to lead UCLA to a victory over the powerhouse UCI Anteaters.
Bruins Key to Victory:
Go on the offensive: a good defense is a strong offense in the current Overwatch meta, and if UCLA can pull together strong dives, they can force the Anteaters onto the back foot while providing much-needed protection to their healers.
Author's Notes: UCI has agreed to allow Esports @UCLA to stream the match on Saturday. The stream will be live on Esports @UCLA at 12 PM PST THIS SATURDAY.
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