The San Francisco Shock don’t necessarily have the Dallas Fuel’s number. There may not even be a concerning difference in talent. But Dallas has fallen to San Francisco three times now in the Overwatch League’s third season, including a 3-1 drop on Saturday in the May Melee tournament.
Grant “Moth” Espe, the Shock’s star support player, said he thought his team’s strategies were sound on the OWL YouTube broadcast, but that wasn’t the difference. The match very well could’ve gone the Fuel’s way with a outcome in a few crucial fights.
But that’s where San Francisco truly has Dallas right now.
“Experience. That’s the major difference between us and them right now,” Fuel tank player Lucas “NotE” Meissner said. “I think we have enough talent to beat them, but right now our chemistry and experience with how we play and practice is just below them.”
Lost our composure by the end but otherwise we were matching @SFShock well throughout that series. I KNOW we can be a top-level team and once we finish ironing out these little things nothing is going to stop us. GGs#BurnBlue #PlayWithFire
— Louis Lebel-Wong (@TikateeOW) May 23, 2020
This was a bit of déjà vu for the Fuel. Dallas has played up to the top competition in the league, most notably the Shock and Philadelphia Fusion, but couldn’t make enough plays to crack into the upper echelon of OWL.
“We are always very strong in those high pressure situations so we did what we always did and used what we did in scrims,” Moth told the OWL casters.
Just be clutch. That’s the answer to all the Fuel’s problems. Maybe they have close to double-digit wins instead of sitting at a 5-7 record before a mid-season break.
That’s not how building a clutch team works, though. The Shock are that way because their main core has been together for years now. They won an OWL championship in 2019 as a unit and built that chemistry.
Clutch time is a comfort zone for the Shock now, not something they are searching for.
That’s not to say the Fuel can’t be clutch. They’ve closed out tight fights against other opponents, most recently against the Houston Outlaws on Friday, but they haven’t done it to a true championship contender yet.
That’s the hill the Fuel have to climb. The peak is within reach, which made a loss to San Francisco with a tight grip on every map at some point in time all the more frustrating.
“I think this one was particularly frustrating because of how winnable it was,” NotE said. “I think others in the past have been close, but none of them were as close as this one was. I think every single map went to one or two fights. It was super close and it’s frustrating to lose something like that.”
Dallas’ core, which now includes NotE, Jang “Decay” Gui-un, Kim “DoHa” Dongha, Noh “Gamsu” Youngjin, Jung “Closer” Wonsik and William “Crimzo” Hernandez has only been complete since the start of February.
Fuel head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins, while also not happy about losing another nail-biter, likes to keep that perspective.
“It’s a little frustrating that we couldn’t close it out but at the same time the Shock have gotten better and better recently and they are a super good team,” Aero said “I think a lot of people didn’t expect it to be as close as it was, but we knew if we could tighten the nuts and bolts and keep everything clean we could come out with a win.”
Aero just wants to see his team improve. That’s happened, especially in the past week, he said. The Fuel had a season-low point with official matches after getting swept by Paris last Sunday. That was supposed to be another chance to show what the Fuel were made of against a tough opponent. The Fuel fell flat, and that was the first time they really looked like that all season.
A win and a strong showing against the reigning champs wasn’t the worst showing for a single-elimination tournament.
Even Aero himself has needed to fight off doubts about how good his team is. The stacked matches of close fights not going the Fuel’s way would sneak into his head. But those thoughts weren’t long-standing, as his confidence in his team has never been higher.
“The close matches made me feel like we aren’t as good as I think we are, but I always try to keep a good perspective with where we actually are,” Aero said. “Ultimately, I think we are a pretty strong team and we are on the right path.”
Dallas has their core, they have reps against OWL’s best and have reason to believe they can join them eventually.
Now they have to find their own comfort in those pivotal moments. How fast they do that could define their season.
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Clutch experience separates Dallas and San Francisco as Shock eliminate Fuel from May Melee tourney with 3-1 loss - The Dallas Morning News
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