‘Aero,’ Dallas Fuel overcome ‘frustrating’ finish in 3-1 win over Boston Uprising - The Dallas Morning News

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Aaron “Aero” Atkins felt relief, but also frustration after watching his Dallas Fuel pick up a 3-1 win over the Boston Uprising Saturday evening.

The Fuel’s head coach was happy to see his team pick up a much-needed win before the schedule ramped up in difficulty, but it wasn’t the sweep he would’ve liked to have seen.

He didn’t have disappointment in his players. Aero was quick to shoulder the blame on Twitter following the win over an Uprising team that currently sits at the bottom of the Overwatch League standings.

“We messed up some pushes there a bit with some timing things, but getting the win right now was the important thing,” Aero told The Dallas Morning News in a phone interview. “We were relieved, but frustrated that we got the win without being as clean as we wanted.”

Dallas was commanding in taking a 2-0 lead over Boston to start the evening. It looked like the makings of a quick evening with the Fuel pulling out the brooms.

But the Uprising spooked the Fuel when the third map landed on Temple of Anubis. Fuel support player William “Crimzo” Hernandez said assault maps aren’t as comfortable for even some of the elite teams in OWL.

Dallas didn’t maintain its synergy on Anubis, and Boston took advantage of that with its Zarya comp style. The Fuel practiced for that sort of composition, but Aero felt he didn’t prepare them the right way.

“We could’ve had better answers for what Boston was doing,” Aero said. “Their style was something we could’ve had a better answer for, and that’s why I took blame for that one. Our Mercy comp style wasn’t bad, but we didn’t play it the best way possible.”

While it wasn’t pretty, this was still an improvement from Dallas’ recent string of seeding matches before a tournament.

Realistically, it couldn’t have gone worse than the last time the Fuel were in a scenario against a bottom-of-the-league team with tournament seeding on the line.

Yeah, the Vancouver Titans picked up a clean sweep of the Fuel on June 20.

That was damage player Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand’s first match with the Fuel, and the second match for support shot-caller Nolan “Paintbrush” Edwards.

Dallas looked broken and stagnant. Even a 3-0 win over Toronto the following weekend on June 27 wasn’t enough to undo the damage and get a better seed in the Summer Showdown.

As frustrating as the 3-1 win over the Uprising may have been, the Fuel are in a far different position than they were a month ago.

Even Aero felt that many things have changed.

“A few weeks ago we talked about how we were changing some structural things and I think that really contributes to these kinds of results,” Aero said. “I don’t think as if we have the strongest back line in the league or best tanks or best DPS. I just like to focus on improving regardless of where we stand.”

Onto the upcoming gauntlet for the Fuel. A win over Boston was necessary because Dallas opposes both the Philadelphia Fusion (17-2) and Atlanta Reign (9-7) next weekend.

The Fuel can’t afford a sloppy match against either, Aero said. But the additions of Onigod and Paintbrush have put the Fuel in a more unique position than they were at any point during the season before the two arrived in Dallas.

“Adding Paintbrush was definitely a big deal for us,” Crimzo said. “I don’t think anybody will understand how important for us it was to add another really vocal player on our roster. It massively improves our potential in teams of daily game play.”

Aero added that playing Onigod in all four maps this week over damage superstar Jang “Decay” Gui-un was about “putting the best foot forward” and setting them up for the future.

Dallas figured out the fundamentals so when the time line arrived, with elite OWL teams on the horizon, it could focus on the gritty details.

Roles have changed for the Fuel because of the additions. Main tank player Noh “Gamsu” Youngjin, who was a problem for the Uprising on Wrecking Ball all evening, doesn’t have as much on his plate now because of his new shot-caller.

“Gamsu can focus on his setups and his plays a little more,” Aero said. “Giving him the opportunity to not have to be an emotional leader and the big voice on the team is the big deal.”

Strong opponents loom -- Dallas has yet to defeat a top team in OWL this season -- but the Fuel won’t look the same to their opponents.

Find more Fuel stories from The Dallas Morning News here.

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‘Aero,’ Dallas Fuel overcome ‘frustrating’ finish in 3-1 win over Boston Uprising - The Dallas Morning News
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