This article is brought to you by StatBanana, the best Overwatch strategy tool.
The San Francisco Shock did what many deemed impossible. They took down the undefeated Vancouver Titans in today’s stage two finals, besting their opponents 4-2 to win the stage title and a hefty chunk of the stage’s $500,000 prize pool.
In the first map of the series, Lijiang Tower, San Francisco denied the Titans the chance to secure a single point. With the Californian team in the lead, King’s Row quickly followed, and both teams escorted the payload throughout the map in over three minutes each, pointing to a back-and-forth series. The Titans took control of the map in overtime and prevented the Shock from reaching the map’s second checkpoint to tie up the series.
As decided by the Shock, the series then traveled to Paris, where the two teams faced off in a classic GOATS mirror-matchup. The San Francisco-based team failed to capture the first point, however, and the Titans pulled out a four-DPS composition for their turn of attack. With Park “Bumper” Sang-beom on Hanzo and Kim “Haksal” Hyo-jongon on Pharah, the Canadian team capped the first point in seconds to secure map three.
San Francisco managed to bounce back on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, however, ending their initial attack with over a minute left on the clock. The map entered overtime after the Titans completed their own attack, but their second push was cut short when San Francisco picked off the Titans’ main tank Bumper before team-wiping their opponents, tying the series 2-2.
The Californian team carried their control over the series into map five, Oasis, once again denying their opponents the chance to secure a single point on the Control map. With a 3-2 lead over Vancouver, San Francisco faced the challenge of closing out the series—the challenge that ultimately led the team to choke in the stage one finals, where the Shock fell 4-3 to the Titans.
The Titans chose Blizzard World as the next map of the series. During the first attack, Matthew “super” DeLisi landed a massive shatter on the back of Jay “sinatraa” Won’s Graviton Surge, allowing his team to follow up with a six-man team wipe. When the teams swapped sides, the Shock prevented their opponents from reaching the second point of the map to win the series, handing their opponents their first loss of the season.
In a post-match interview following the team’s win, the Shock’s main tank super promised his fans more wins and took the time on stage, surrounded by orange and yellow confetti, to wish his mom a happy Mother’s Day.
The Overwatch League returns for this year’s All-Star event on May 15.
