Blizzard’s official Overwatch League officially launched Wednesday, January 10, to a Twitch audience of over 350,000 viewers. The night saw both Los Angeles-based teams – the L.A. Valiant and the L.A. Dragons – sweep their opponents, the San Francisco Shock and the Shanghai Dragons respectively, while South Korea’s Seoul Dynasty defeated fan favorite Dallas Fuel in a hard-fought match.
Match 1
Los Angeles Valiant: 4
San Francisco Shock: 0
The first match of the night featured games played on the Dorado, Temple of Anubis, Ilios, and Numbani maps, with both teams fighting hard to score points. Valiant ultimately won each round, and the 4-0 score indicates how tough it was for the Shock to bounce back mentally after their first loss.
Match 2
Los Angeles Gladiators: 4
Shanghai Dragons 0
Although the second match of the night had the same result as the first, the narrative was much different. The Dragons failed to get any momentum going and only managed to score one point against the Gladiators on Temple of Anubis. Jonas Samuel “Shaz” Suovaara was the star of the match with his dominating performance as Zenyatta.
Match 3
Seoul Dynasty: 2
Dallas Fuel: 1
This was the kind of match fans hoped for! Dallas Fuel came out really strong with a win on Junkertown and kept that momentum going into game two on Temple of Anubis. Dallas didn’t let go of the gas, as they stomped the Dynasty in the first round of the game by capturing both points on the map with 6:14 left on the clock (that’s insane!). Seoul had some work to do to catch up and rallied back to take the victory on the map 6-5, tying the series at 1 to 1. In game three, Seoul seemed to find their zone as they took the Ilios victory 2-0. In the final game of the night, the Dallas Fuel had to take home the win if they wanted to end the series in a tie. Unfortunately for them, the Seoul Dynasty continued to fight hard, forcing the final game to a draw and leading them to the 2-1 victory.
Watch Game 2 DAL @ SEO | Stage 1 Week 1 from OverwatchLeague on www.twitch.tv
You can check out the Overwatch League Wednesday through Saturday every week on twitch.tv/OverwatchLeague, or you can watch the VOD’s on the Overwatch League website.
Did you watch the Overwatch League? Which plays stood out to you, and what do you want to see as the season continues? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to stick to GameSkinny for your Overwatch League news!
In a surprise, Nintendo had a Direct Mini today, and with that came several game announcements. Even more surprising, Nintendo revealed a brand-new Mario Tennis game for the Nintendo Switch called Mario Tennis Aces, coming to the hybrid console this Spring.
Mario Tennis Aces promises to offer a new level of skill and competitive gameplay to the series, as well as a brand-new story, which we haven’t seen in a Mario Tennis game since Power Tour on the Gameboy Advance. The game will include a variety of missions and boss battles – with even more to be announced at a later date. The game developers over at Camelot, responsible for the Mario Tennis games since the days of the Nintendo 64, are behind the upcoming release.
Mario Tennis was first released on the Virtual Boy as a pack-in game for North America. The reviews were mixed at the time; however, that didn’t stop it from becoming a spin-off franchise for Nintendo, and it even helped usher in a new era of Nintendo sports games in general.
Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more news and information on Mario Tennis Aces as it develops.
