This series of articles is going to cover story lines and takes from this season that have likely been forgotten as the season has progressed.
"As I always say sometimes behind is a little more fun than in front."
-Calder, 2019
The Shanghai Dragons were king slayers in the Stage 3 playoffs. They beat the Shock in the finals facing the New York Excelsior and Vancouver Titans along the way, probably the toughest 3 games in a row a team has ever played and swept in Overwatch League. Then, like a deep exhale after a pull from your friends' mango JUUL they were gone. Stage 4 has been rough for the Dragons, they almost fell out of the play-in tournament after being considered one of the top 3 teams in the league because their style was a casualty of 222. 3 DPS was their reason for living. They took what Chengdu was doing and turned it up to 11 with their world-class DPS line of Diem, Dding and Youngjin. They combined that with some of the most ballsy and flashy support play that the league has seen that somehow worked every single time. The Dragons were incredible for about 3 weeks and that is why sports are beloved. Any given day any team can win even if that team went winless 1 year ago and only play an off-meta composition. The Shanghai Dragons became one of the greatest stories in sports and rebuild their team until Stage 4 started. I think we can agree that expectations were not that they would be the number 1 team in the league but no one expected this especially because of how impressive Diem, Dding, Luffy and Coma were. This was the Dragons chance to prove that they were a top team in the league but they couldn't. In my opinion, the Dragons are struggling because of the fact that they don't have a good Mei or Off Tank that they can feel comfortable playing on both D.Va and Hog. The person that they would need to play on Mei is Dding but his best hero is Pharah so the Dragons try to push a square peg in a circle hole which in turn causes them to rely on Dding getting barrage or popping off which isn't a reliable way to win team fights. They play Envy on D.Va and Youngjin on Hog but that limits their flexibility. They have Geguri as well but they seem to want to use her on a situational basis. The Dragons are currently 1-5 in Stage 4 and playing the Spark this week, a game that I couldn't give you a solid prediction on if my life depended on it though I would lean towards the Spark because they are on a bit of a streak. The Dragons need to start figuring out the playoff meta if they want to make it through the play-in tournament but it will be tough. It looks like they'll be playing either Seoul or Atlanta depending on how the Kit Kat Rivalry week goes for the peach boys. If they are playing Atlanta they lose 90% of the time and Seoul is an enigma. The Dragons are in a rough place but they have the talent to pull it through.
- Calder
Co-Founder of The Broverwatch and Co-Host of The Broverwatch Podcast
Twitter @calder_100
Twitch twitch.tv/calder100
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