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sportsDallas Fuel

Video review: 3 critical fights that lead to the Dallas Fuel’s reverse sweep against the Houston Outlaws

The Fuel turned their weekend around with clutch moments and big plays from the support line.

“Oh no,” was all Lucas “NotE” Meissner could type in the game chat after the Houston Outlaws failed to touch the objective on Friday in the fifth and decisive map during the battle for Texas.

The Dallas Fuel’s tank player and his team had officially pulled off the first reverse sweep in team history through a series of close fights and intense competition through the five-map thriller.

Dallas had been on the other side of five-map matches plenty of times, especially against the better teams in the Overwatch League.

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This time was different, though, and here are the critical moments that led to the Fuel’s unlikely comeback in a 3-2 win over the Outlaws.

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On the brink

The comeback had no legs if the Fuel didn’t take the first step and win a map. Claiming Route 66 couldn’t haven been any more stressful for the Fuel, either.

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Dallas barely finished the map to force an overtime round against Houston, then had 57 seconds fewer to work with in pushing the cart farther than the Outlaws.

Ultimately it came down to one last fight with both teams having ultimates online. Houston made the first move, utilizing its Zenyatta ultimate early in the fight. Dallas was able to wait it out, nullifying the impact.

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Then Fuel damage player Kim “DoHa” Dongha went in for the defining play at 1:54:20, but it didn’t pan out the way he intended.

DoHa’s Sombra ultimate failed — Outlaws damage star Dante “Danteh” Cruz read the play and hacked DoHa, preventing him from finishing the EMP.

That should’ve been the opening the Outlaws needed to seal a sweep, but Nolan “Paintbrush” Edwards and Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand were there for the bailout.

Onigod, filling in for Fuel damage superstar Jang “Decay” Gui-un on the map, won his duel with the opposing Genji, giving the Fuel a man advantage. Paintbrush, who had his best match since joining the Fuel on June 7, popped his Lucio ultimate shortly after, giving the Fuel a hefty health advantage.

Then it was all cleanup. Dallas wiped Houston and forced an improbable fourth map, opening the door for a comeback.

Stall tactics

Eichenwalde was the Fuel’s most decisive map of the series, and their ability to complete the map put pressure on the Outlaws to match. Houston never captured the second of three objectives, but that didn’t make the Fuel’s final fight on offense impressive.

They didn’t have the ultimates and needed to stall the payload long enough to have the right amount of resources.

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The Outlaws made the first mistakes, using both of their support ultimates before the final fight, and then weren’t able to wipe the Fuel completely.

The bottom line is the Fuel were able to win the ensuing fight because the Outlaws couldn’t finish the fight prior.

Onigod and the Fuel support players had the biggest roles, with Onigod needing to touch the payload every few seconds to buy time for Paintbrush and William “Crimzo” Hernandez to build sound barrier and coalescence. NotE and tank costar Noh “Gamsu” Youngjin actually died early in the fight making it more difficult for the Fuel to control space. But that detail is important to remember.

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Onigod was able to stall because Danteh and the Outlaws were fixed on Paintbrush and Crimzo, who were elusive and charging their ultimates from healing each other.

Once Crimzo got coalescence with Moira at 2:10:14, and Danteh missed his EMP, the Fuel support player started pocketing Onigod on the payload.

That gave Onigod a few seconds to be more effective with his damage. That bought the Fuel enough time for NotE to return from the fight on Wreckingball, with Gamsu trailing with a Reinhardt ultimate.

Paintbrush timed his Lucio ult with the arrival of the Fuel tank players as Dallas steamrolled through the final point and sealed a complete attack.

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In a pinch

After four maps, the match seemed all but destined to go the distance with three rounds and one fight to decide the winner.

Dallas had a 78% advantage before Houston stormed back and took advantage, securing the objective, high ground and forcing the Fuel to make the big play.

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Decay and DoHa got it done.

Houston jumped off the high ground to engage Dallas at the choke at 2:39:32, looking to prevent the Fuel from fighting on the objective.

What the Outlaws didn’t realize was the Fuel DPS tandem had them pinched from both sides.

Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang, the Outlaws’ Doomfist player, paid the price when DoHa hacked him while NotE and Decay finished the elimination. The Outlaws were instantly without their initiator and strong source of damage.

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Gamsu made the next play, colliding charges with Outlaws Reinhardt João Pedro “Hydration” Goes Telles. That allowed Decay to get the easy elimination on Hydration and give Dallas a clear man advantage.

Most importantly, the Fuel charged their ultimates in this fight and didn’t have to use any of them to secure the point.

While NotE made his “oh no” joke and the OWL casters got on the Outlaws for not touching the objective at the end of the match, Dallas was able to apply pressure with NotE’s gravitic flux and Crimzo’s coalescence to make life harder for Houston.

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Find more Fuel stories from The Dallas Morning News here.