Bruins Overwatch Eliminated from PACG playoffs by rival USC
- Vincent Tay
- Apr 13, 2018
- 3 min read
UCLA was defeated by USC in the the quarterfinals of PACG Playoffs on Tuesday with a final score of 3-1. This loss came after UCLA was victorious against their rivals at a LAN PACG event last Saturday.
Overwatch A Team was surprised by USC’s adaptability on the first map, Ilios Ruins. Ilios is a map that usually allows UCLA’s Brad “raxa” Jiang to carry games on Widowmaker, but USC prepared to counter Jiang’s pick potential.
USC ran a tank heavy composition with Orisa, Reinhardt, Roadhog and Reaper that was designed to brawl on the objective and force UCLA to come to the point. Jiang’s Widowmaker was shutdown as he was unable to kill such high health pool targets and because USC gave him no ideal sightlines. The Bruins attempted to counter USC’s brawley composition by putting Brian “Pip” Sou on Reaper and Jiang on Junkrat, but UCLA was not comfortable on these heros.
“The biggest change for us is just that Widowmaker isn’t as strong and many teams are opting to run tank and Reaper setups,” said Jiang. “Individual impact in general is devalued in this meta while teamwork and communication becomes more important. We cannot reliably utilize triple tank Reaper compositions and only certain maps allow for Band-Aid fixes like Pharah,” he added.
Jiang also said UCLA’s loss was because of the shift in the meta toward brawling, as heros, such as Reaper and Mei, were buffed and Brigitte was introduced into competitive matches. However, King’s Row was one of the maps on which Sou’s Junkrat and Jiang’s Pharah DPS combination shined. The Bruins managed to take the map with the time advantage of one minute and 17 seconds that they had over USC.
UCLA stuck with the slow team composition with Orisa as main tank on Hanamura because that won them King’s Row. “Orisa’s damage is higher and more reliable than that of Reinhardt. This composition, despite taking up more time on each push, gives a higher rate of success,” said UCLA’s tank player, Jasper “Juggernaut” Mok.
Orisa and Roadhog pushed the front lines while Sou’s Junkrat spammed damage from a distance. The strategy gave UCLA strong defensive holds and offensive pushes, USC’s superior ultimate usage allowed them to take the map with 6 points compared to UCLA’s.
Jiang attempted a final push through USC’s defenses with Brigitte, but this was unsuccessful with A Team’s playstyle. “Brigitte takes a DPS slot and will usually be used in triple tank compositions,” said Jiang. “UCLA’s strength does not lie in heavy tank and coordination,” he added.
Mok said he remains optimistic that the team will be able to take advantage of the meta and improve. “Our tank players are more familiar with death-ball compositions with heroes such as Zarya, Orisa and Roadhog,” he said.
USC’s victory on Watchpoint Gibraltar won them the series and eliminated UCLA from the PACG Overwatch Tournament. Though Sou tried to flex onto Reaper, UCLA was unable to adapt from their losses on earlier maps.
Although the tournament has come to an end, UCLA Overwatch Team A will return in the fall. “Everyone can definitely expect an even higher level of coordination due to more practices as well as a bunch of (victories) because our team can be so much better with this meta,” said Mok. “Raxa’s McCree fits very well into the meta and can take the team to completely new heights,” he added.
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