The Dallas Fuel and main tank Fearless swept the Seoul Dynasty, 3-0, to move onto a Winners Finals matchup with rival the Houston Outlaws
The Dallas Fuel are on an unbelievable heater going all the way back to the Summer Showdown. In their last 18 games, the Fuel have a 17-1 record, with an astounding +37 in map differential. It’s been an incredible streak, matching dominant teams of yesteryear (Shock 2019 & 2020, Dragons 2021) and obliterating opponents.
For the first time all season, the Fuel faced off with the Eastern Region best Seoul Dynasty. The much anticipated match up ended in a completely one-sided affair, 3-0. The Dynasty, a team fielding the greatest player of all-time in Park "Profit" Joon-yeong and two years removed from a Granf Finals appearance, were considerably outplayed. Dallas showed proficiency in the Kiriko-dive meta and overwhelmed the Dynasty.
The Fuel win 64% of team fights vs Seoul Dynasty
For starters, the team fight-winning percentage heavily favored the Fuel (64.3%). Head coach Yun “RUSH” Hee-won threw out a variety of different aggressive approaches to control the pacing and it worked wonders. The Dynasty could never establish any semblance of spacing throughout the series.
The combination of strong team play and individual skill makes this Fuel team look unbeatable. Main tank Euiseok “Fearless” Lee flashes memories of his Shanghai Dragons 2020 season. A season remembered by his sheer dominance in the Winston-dive meta and unrelenting aggression. His willingness to take fights and engage while staying in synch with his teammates opens every avenue for the Fuel to play fast.
“I can’t really get into the details because there are so many different strategies we had planned out for this match. But, we carried out our plan perfectly and played how we played in scrims."
For example, Fuel’s star DPS Kim “Sp9rk1e” Yeong-han, the player of the Dallas Fuel vs Seoul Dynasty match, found all his opportunities off Fearless creating space by forcing out cooldowns. Plus, Flex Support Kwon “Fielder” Joon’s, controlled the game using Kiriko’s Kitsune Rushes. The ultimate consistently let Sp9rk1e get deep onto the Dynasty backline through his excellent timing. Sp9rk1e and Fearless attracted tons of attention and bought Kim ”Edison” Tae-Hoon on Sojourn space for easy right-clicks.
Huge assist numbers for Fuel
Moreover, the assist numbers across the board for the Fuel were absurd. Fielder ended Nepal with 57 assists solely off Kitsune Rush. The Fuel were moving as a singular unit and no kill was without multiple players assisting. The discipline in their executions and ability to win any team fight out of neutral or with a massive ultimate bank proved dominant.
The Fuel primarily limited the damage potential from Dongeon “FITS” Kim, Myeonghwan “smurf” Yoo, and Profit. With rapid pacing, the Fuel never let the Dynasty get set up and the Dynasty stars sruggled. The Fuel constantly utilize Sp9rk1e teleporting on Reaper toward dangerous flank spots.
In fact, the Fuel defense was swarming and kept the powerful, methodical Dynasty attack sidelined. In three quick maps, the Dynasty only managed to accrue four points in total. The Fuel were masterful in the streets phases on the final two maps, shutting down any attempts to gain momentum.
The battle for Texas - Houston Outlaws vs Dallas Fuel
As for the Battle of Texas Winners Finals, both teams enter inexperienced. However, the last Dallas Fuel loss came at the hands of the Houston Outlaws during the Countdown Cup Qualifier. Nonetheless, Fielder answered confidently when asked if any team threatened him.
“Personally, I don’t think any team will put a stop to the Dallas Fuel in the playoffs”
With a spot in the Grand Finals on the line, the biggest Battle for Texas in Overwatch League history will be played at 5:30 pm PST. Thursday, November 3rd.
Meanwhile, in the other upper bracket match of the day, Houston Outlaws had a clean 3-0 versus London Spitfire, sending them down to the lower bracket.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Overwatch 2 news and updates.