The San Francisco Shock’s 3-0 win over the Dallas Fuel on Sunday afternoon was more of a blip at the end of the regular season than a tournament match.
Dallas coaches preached that the Fuel were in playoff mode the moment the team secured a postseason position, and the Overwatch that followed was unlike anything seen out of Dallas this season.
“Obviously we did not perform as well and I would say that we actually performed pretty badly,” Fuel head coach Yun “RUSH” Hee-Won said. “We have to do a lot better. We will definitely try to finish strong by practicing even harder.”
actually dismal c9, worst we've seen in a while
Lack of practice doesn't explain this
— Brennon Hook (@BrenCasts) August 15, 2021
Apart from a few clutch moments, the Fuel were out of sorts against a Shock team playing desperately for a playoff seed with a bye in the first week. Dallas didn’t need the Countdown Cup, or Hawaii, but the Fuel could’ve debuted newcomer Kim “Pine” Do-hyeon had they made it deeper into the match.
This doesn’t mean the panic button should be smashed with red-alert sirens flashing through the halls of the Envy Gaming headquarters. But even the Fuel haven’t been pleased with their 2-3 stretch through the final tournament of the regular season.
“It’s definitely not a meta problem,” Yun said. “Our loss today was not about a problem. In fact, for the entire tournament as well. So, we did expect that this was something that we’ll see. But, I think it’s just a problem of proficiency.”
Yun had the Fuel trying new things through most of the Countdown Cup, which in turn sacrificed consistency. The recent hero bans, specifically on Lucio and Echo, forced the Fuel to play with a different support composition than the one that took them to two tournament finals.
Dallas didn’t get to try anything new on Sunday. They had plans, but didn’t make it deep enough into the series to execute them.
“I did really want [Pine] to play today, but it hasn’t been long since he joined the team in person,” Yun said. “We did pick out a few maps that he could play in. With the limited time, we had not been able to prepare a lot for him and that’s a shame.”
Has Dallas Fuel actually said that they do not want to go to Hawaii? Feels like a lot of people are saying so but "less practice for player health ≠ not wanting to go to Hawaii".
If that's a quote then fair play, but if not I feel like it disrespects their competitiveness.
— Jonathan Larsson (@Reinforce) August 15, 2021
Where the Fuel go from here decides the season. It’s already the most successful year in franchise history, but it won’t mean as much to the Fuel without a world title.
Dallas has transitioned from playing sub-par Overwatch to the best in the world already this season. A 2-2 run in the May Melee exploded into a sweep of the Shock, Houston Outlaws, Chengdu Hunters and Shanghai Dragons for Hawaii victory.
Can Dallas do that again?
“We didn’t have a good start in the beginning, but we were able to quickly solve that and go to two finals in Hawaii after that,” Yun said. “After that, we might have gotten too relaxed, and that probably brought us unwanted results. We definitely have to fix that quickly so that we are back in form.”
While RUSH did signal that the Fuel let off the gas, he doubled down that a fourth Hawaii trip wouldn’t have been good for the Fuel. Dallas gets a true break now, and can practice toward its greater goal.
The Overwatch League playoffs begin Sept. 16 at Esports Stadium Arlington. The Fuel’s postseason ticket has been punched for weeks, but their pathway to a championship is crowded.
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