Here is my analysis on NA vs EU's third map played on King's Row. Let me preface saying that I have TONS of hours played on KR in high level scrims. I believe I know the ins and outs of this map more than any other.
Kings is a very simplistic and narrow map. This is why many players favorite this map, and it is seen a lot in pro play. I figured both teams would be quite excited to play KR. It is always a spectacle.
We started off very standard for defense, Tracer Genji Winston D.va Lucio and the Mercy comfort pick. The idea was to put tracer in alley so that if EU decided to take the long route to point, we would dive up there with her and attack them in an engagement which would not favor them. Then we had a panic pause over ping and changed out the tracer for a reaper. My distaste was reluctantly reserved. It could work, but having a reaper on first point defense is a crutch. He is very slow and in-your-face, but we were forced to pick him because it worked with ping better. Tracer is zippy and can maneuver the map more easily, and avoiding defense matrix is simpler for her. What we could have done is have the same strategy but put reaper in alley instead, so he would not be left behind on the dive. It would have worked just as well, but in psychology, there is a term called fixed-functionality. Essentially, it describes not being able to see a solution to a new problem because one views a scenario at a base level. For example, a textbook is for learning, but you could also knock someone out if you hit someone over the head with it. If one is experiencing fixed-functionality, one could only see that textbook for what it is, just a book. The same applied here.
Alright, first push. EU went alley. Let me tell you the reasons for an alley push.
1. To push a soldier, zen, or ana off clock.
2. To set up range to shoot at the point.
3. To avoid spam at the choke.
Really, EU did not need to push alley. We had no ranged heroes, we were holding point/hotel, and there was no incoming spam. We should have analyzed this misplay, because it should have just been a time waster for them. Their only advantage to gaining height would be to set up zen to shoot at the point, but I will tell you why this would have been bad if we had played it properly.
We jumped at them early. This was a mistake. I was so fixated on our original plan that I simply wanted to execute it without the tracer. This led to our reaper being left behind and putting us in a 5v6 in alley. What we should have done is this:
1. Allow EU control of alley.
2. Allow EU to dive us.
3. Counter Dive Zen.
Had they left Zen on alley, he would have been easy picking. Had he dropped, we could still single him out by closet/statue. Mercy could dash to us as we amped in, keeping her safe. Reaper could fend off the diving tanks for the time being. We would be ahead in the fight by some margin. Instead, we went in too deep and got shredded.
Morosho switched to soldier. This was his comfort pick and another hero he could work with under intense ping.
Alright, next is where I call for something that would have caught them off guard, but in my opinion, NA started losing focus. I called for a retreat backward toward the staircase that leads to brew. I kept calling and calling, but they failed to mobilize. By the time we started moving, EU's tanks were already splitting us and starting a devastating snowball. Had we moved quickly enough, we would have been able to rush the upper hallway and dive the defenseless players on cart. Remember, the tanks used their mobility to push up passed bookshop. I read the play in advance, but there was a lack of synergy here. They end up getting cart to bookshop, but Xex came in with a quad dragon blade to wipe EU. Absolutely great individual play, but teamwork should have been better.
On this defense, I tried calling for it again, but we were too slow and got split. It was quite unfortunate because it could have really taken EU by surprise and maybe forced a panic ult. We had a few people picked, and I really should not have dropped beat when I did because it was a tad late. I should have saved it for final contest or third point. Then Lukas came in and rezzed which puts us in a 5v6. We probably should have just saved that too because our soldier had already respawned. After that, PT ulted as D.Va and picked up a kill to make it even, but this left us with no ultimates remaining while EU had four coming up on five. After we wiped, EU got to go into third with only a visor to oppose them.
It was only downhill from there. A very simple yet clever play was initiated by EU. Spenen dove in on our D.Va and pulsed him. The dive then finished off the mech, allowing fire to pop a rocket barrage. Now they had no more DPS ults, and we did. However, they had support ults to match. Great economy by them. Oddly enough, no support ults came in response to our DPS popping both at the same time. It was serious misplay for pharah to be caught in our visor. He should have been in a safe spot because they should have known we had it. They could have easily taken the point there with a trans or a rez. Instead they gave us a fighting chance, but it was not much because of their ult advantage.
In their next push, they zoned us out with a D.Va ult, and end up killing two of us which forced out a rez. EU's Zen transed after it, so I was forced to drop beat in response. Getting that rez out was crucial. They were able to use ults and cap the point with ease because we had no support to counter it.
As a side note, the casters may have seen an "ultimate fiesta," but as you can see, all of these are very crucial elements that are thought out. We were not all just pressing Q at the same time. EU dictated the pace of the ultimates being thrown about, and they were thrown in a very sequential and precise order. Very good play by them to finish it off.
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For offense, I made the call to run a triple DPS lineup. Not too far from the norm, but definitely not seen all the time. We ran Widowmaker Pharah Tracer Winston Lucio Mercy. The Widow could put heavy pressure on the enemy pharmercy, our pharmercy could dish out damage virtually uncontested, and our tracer could harass the backline with Winston and Lucio. This was a comp we could control the pace of the game with.
Our original plan was to go around statue and dive, however, I noticed soldier and zen were sitting on clock. We end up losing the fight (we should have disengaged). I change the plan to go through theater into alley, just as EU did, but then we would jump to clock and push them off or kill them if they stayed. Also, we switched from Widow to soldier. The casters said it was not a good pick, but they failed to differentiate a bad pick from a bad execution. Widow was a good pick, but we executed poorly. Had we gone alley and created space for our widow as soon as we saw their defensive setup, Widow could have thrived. We swapped anyway because widow does become obsolete after some time on her. Plus, soldier has a much better ultimate.
We perform the plan, but instead of soldier and company retreating to point/hotel, which is the standard thing to do, the entire team met us on clock. This definitely took me by surprise. We ended up going even on trades however, but it worked in our favor because we rezzed and killed their Mercy before she could counter rez. This led to us maintaining and overwhelming presence on the point. EU should not have wasted anymore time contesting because they absolutely fed our mercy.
Going into second, EU threw a really good D.Va ult only to be matched by yet another rez. This put us two men ahead, but their rez came in as I dropped beat. Here, we were on even turf. Equality was lost because EU's mercy got himself killed after the rez. This was devastating to their defense because they could not sustain the rest of the fight.
As we turned in toward the checkpoint, we absolutely positively played like doo doo heads. First off, we get out-mechanic-ed. They nearly team wiped us just by shooting. Then we go in for a rez. We really should not have done this for two reasons:
1. They had superior positioning.
2. We were not trading anything for it.
They ended up using a pharah ult, so if we backed out there, we could have at least gotten something out of it. However, Xex tried to go in with a blade, but his hero play attempt did not pay off as he easily got burst down. Luckily enough, he got to keep the ultimate, but now everyone in the lobby knew what was coming.
Next, I make the call to go through brew and on to point. This would allow us to get it without actually having to jump and take entry damage. It would also take EU by surprise. A very odd D.Va ult was sent at us through brew. I am not quite sure what it was supposed to accomplish, so I just marked it in my head as a misplay because we immediately picked off baby D.Va. We dove in well, picked up a kill to be rezzed by mercy. Then we bladed. Trans came out, but EU was too split to all be a part of it, so we were able to get value out of it and take second.
Going in to third, we had an ultimate advantage and a lot of ground. We should have won the point right here. However, our crucial mistake was playing on our back foot. In Overwatch, you want to be the team taking control of the action. You do not want to allow the enemy to initiate on to you. You must initiate on to them, especially in this heavy dive meta. Had we taken control and dived them, we could have used our ults and wiped them right there. Instead, we let them come to us, and we were displaced and wiped. We also ended up wasting rez.
Next push, we should have played our focuses better. They had a great plan for their support ultimates. What they did was they played on point, drew the dragonblade out as we took the easy target, zen. We saw zen as an open pick playing so close to us, that we failed to recognize the play at hand. Mercy was waiting for rez. That is why Zen did not trans at the sound of blade. However, he did trans after the rez, which I felt to be totally unnecessary as EU was already ahead in the fight in multiple ways. Luckily for them, we had no offensive ultimates. We were running triple DPS, so it was poor management on our part that we did not have an ult ready. We could have capped here if we did. Instead, we lost the map.
This map was incredibly close, but EU had the upper hand in the end.
I paint my pictures with words and construct my buildings from thought.