Week 4 of Contenders China was the litmus test leading into the playoffs which could help determine the the future of Chinese Overwatch esports. With the hardest week of Chinese Contenders behind us, that leaves us with only one week remaining and now we know who and what to expect leading into Week 5. Before we begin to review, we’ve got to talk about one team that has consistently impressed me with their insane preparation and level of macro play.  

Jump Scare

  Moss Seven Club continued to renovate their imaginarium this week. This week we finally have enough actionable data points to prove that Moss Seven Club’s Mei on King’s Row Point C is actually a strategy outside of stalling the cart. It preys on low ground tank compositions like Reinhardt and Zarya. Whereas your normal dive tanks, Winston and D.Va, will try to posture on the high ground above the cart and use that as a staging ground. Not only did they break out their Mei against Lucky Future, they came out swinging with an amazing Bastion set play. Lucky Future must have done this either in practice a lot or someone tipped off Moss Seven Club that they were keen on doing this, because it was two blind compositions running into each other -- and it just so happened that one hard countered the other. Moss Seven Club continued to impress with multiple attempts at a Doomfist, but it never really found it’s own legs to stand on. That being said, you see exactly why this team is so fun to watch and so interesting to analyse. They can be a grab bag or rather a jump scare -- you just never know what to expect from Moss Seven Club.  

High Tempo

  One of my biggest criticisms positioned against Legend Young Beyond is there tanks -- and it’s not their skill that worries me. Legend Young Beyond works well with one core concept; Dive and outside of that the team looks lost and disorganized. This all stems from their tanks uncomfortability on slower tanks like Orissa, Reinhardt, and Zarya. They are a team that needs to quickly pounce on the enemy and cut them off at the pass -- and hand the flag to WATER as they do it. Now, this week we did see two substitute players step into the fray in the form of wellp1ay and Mag. Could this signal a changing of the guard type scenario? It’s definitely possible seeing how in Week 3 they were only playing slow tanks and they got outclassed by Hero Taciturn Panther. Yes, I would agree with the critique that this makes them fairly one-dimensional, but with only one week remaining, do you really want your players testing a lackluster strategy in official games? I don’t think so. Keep up the tempo, play that aggressive Dive style, and let WATER shine.  

Downward Spiral

  The Shanghai Dragons academy team, Team CC, is starting to resemble their brother team. What is strange is that they’ve got quite a seasoned roster, but they look like a team plagued with communication issues -- very similar to how I graded Lucky Future in Week 2. With names like Lateyoung and Jiqiren you expect a lot from this team, and at time they look solid -- but it very rarely comes together. Where their tanks look lost and completely on a different page from their support, their DPS does not seem consistent enough to really show their potential at all. So far, they’ve been incredibly quiet in the way of offensive threats and that burden as leaned on their flex tanks. Could this explain their hyper aggressive positioning at time? It could, but I don’t know if leaning on your tanks as your only way to create space and map pressure in the same way that Philadelphia Fusion did with Fraggi. They had a tendency early in Season 1 of the Overwatch League to have Fragi dive and pressure the map as much as he could -- and purposefully die in order to create all the space in the world for Carpe to work within. I think this is the same mantra that Team CC has been adopting to a degree. The only issue with that Team CC’s DPS are not Carpe.  

Week 4 Power Rankings

  1. Lucky Future Zenith = 2. T1w Esports Club = 3. LGD Gaming ↑1 4. LinGan e-Sports ↑1 5. Moss Seven Club ↑3 6. Hero Taciturn Panther = 7. Team CC ↓4 8. Legend Young Beyond ↑1 9. Flag Gaming ↑1 10. Lucky Future ↓3 11. Triple Six Legend ↑1 12. Future Group ↓1  

Upcoming Matches (Week 5)

  (Team/Match record/Map record)   July 29th   Legend Young Beyond (2-2) (7-0-9) vs Lucky Future (1-3) Lucky Future Zenith (4-0) (15-0-1) vs Triple Six Legend (1-3) (4-0-12) T1w E-Sports Club (1-3) (4-0-12) vs LinGan Esports 3-1 (10-0-6)   July 30th   Flag Gaming (1-3) (6-0-10) vs Future Group (0-4) (1-0-15) Moss Seven Club (2-2) (9-1-6) vs Hero Taciturn Panther (2-2) (9-0-8) LGD Gaming (3-1) (10-0-8) vs Team CC (2-2) (8-1-7)  

Week 5 Predictions

  Legend Young Beyond (3-1) Lucky Future Lucky Future Zenith (4-0) Triple Six Legend T1w E-Sports Club (3-2) LinGan Esports   Flag Gaming (4-0) Future Group Moss Seven Club (3-1) Hero Taciturn Panther LGD Gaming (3-1) Team CC _____ Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel. Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.