Season four of the Overwatch League kicked off this weekend with new players, some fantastic surprises, and a perfect game-winning Reinhardt Earthshatter from Houston Outlaws player Myung-heum “Jjanggu” Cho.
Two-time Overwatch League champions, the San Francisco Shock, played against the Houston Overlaws on Sunday. Traditionally, this is a one-sided game. These teams’ last two encounters beat San Francisco Houston 3-0. But 2021 is a new year, and new squads, new coaches and a returning veteran have made the Outlaws one of the most exciting teams of the new season. Yes, I mean it.
The Outlaws and Shock were drawn 2-2 in Havana, the sixth and final card of the game (an early tie forced the teams to play past the five cards required). Havana is an escort card that requires teams to push a payload as far as possible within the time limit. Before the card began, it looked like the Shock were on their way to completing one of their famous runbacks. After losing 2-0 at the start of the game, they fought their way back to level the result and after Houston’s attack on Havana it seemed like the shock had ended that game. To win, they had to push the payload just a little further than the Outlaws – an easy task as their defense stopped Houston’s payload at just 85 meters, or just before the first point in Havana. That’s a short distance – if the shock had won a crucial team fight or two it would have been over for Houston, and it would almost have been over for Houston.
Then God’s most perfect earthbreak came.
Jjanggus earthsMad Hatter is the definition of perfection in terms of sneakiness, number of players trapped, and overall impact. Watch as Jjanggu crept into position and crept around to flank the shock while her attention was focused solely on the rest of the outlaws. His timing was impeccable when outlaws rookie and tank partner Min-jun “Piggy” Shin triggered the self-destruction of his D.Va at the same time as Jjanggus Earthshatter landed. Together, the earthshake and self-destruct teamed up at the perfect time to incapacitate and then kill, ruining the shock’s chance of victory. In no time everyone was dead in shock. The overtime wick was wiped out, and just like that, the Houston Outlaws flagged up as the team to watch out for in 2021.
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This is the kind of earthbreak that gives me goosebumps. Of all the great pieces that can be seen in the competition OverwatchThere is nothing more satisfying than a good earthbreak. Long ago, when the Overwatch League was the Apex tournament and all was well and nothing hurt, Sang-hoon “Emperor” Ryu, main armor of the legendary RunAway team, made a name for himself with these groundbreaking splinters.
Later, the Vancouver Titan (and Kaiser’s former RunAway teammate) Sang-beom “Bumper” park brought its signature “flanking shatter” in all its devastating glory to the league.
Now Jjanngu can take his place among such holy comrades and his “Hammer Down!” to the climax role of the gods.
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