Overwatch League 2019 Grand Finals in Philadelphia end with a shocking San Francisco victory

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In a hyped-up Grand Finals, the two best teams throughout all of Season 2 faced off in the Vancouver Titans and the San Francisco Shock. With the team's previous matchups split evenly, this match would decide the victor once and for all. Despite all the hype that went into the match, the victor was decided fairly quickly as the Shock dominated the Titans on their way to a 4-0 victory and the title. What does this victory mean for the two teams heading into the next season? Let’s take a look and start off with the champions themselves. 

The San Francisco Shock: Golden run completed

(Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)

The Shock entered the Grand Finals after an amazing run through the loser’s bracket, going undefeated against the likes of the Hangzhou Spark and the New York Excelsior. With all the momentum in the world, the Shock completed their run with their 4-0 victory over the Titans, cementing their spot as the best team in the Overwatch League. 

Through the entire match, the shock showed a lot of versatility as they were able to continuously adapt to whatever the situation needed. A great example of the Shock’s ability to adjust and adapt on the fly was when DPS player Dong-jun "Rascal" Kim’s switched to Pharah on Eichenwalde, which turned around the map for the Shock, leading to their win. Considering the importance of that map in terms of momentum, this could have been one of the key moments that decided the series as had the Shock not won Eichenwalde, the Grand Finals could’ve gone another way with momentum shifting back to the Titans.

Overall, the Grand Finals showed the world how strong of a team the Shock truly are, but one aspect of the team that hasn’t received enough praise for their dominant run is their coaching staff. Head coach Dae-hee "Crusty" Park through the entire season was able to help the Shock remain one of the best teams in the league with two different starting rosters depending on the meta. It’s hard to imagine any other coach being able to do the same thing and as such, Crusty deserves a huge payday for his next contract.

The Vancouver Titans: Forever the underdogs and forever runner-ups

Apex Season 2, Apex Season 4, and now The Season 2 Grand Finals of the Overwatch League. While the Runaway core that forms the Vancouver Titans is used to being the underdogs in big matches, they’re unfortunately also used to being the runner-ups. 

Despite a strong run into the Grand Finals through the Winner Finals, the Titans were simply outmatched by a stronger team in the Shock. Key players that needed to have great performances simply couldn’t keep up as tank player Hyeon-Woo "JJANU" Choi was outclassed on Sigma, and DPS player Min-soo "SeoMinSoo" Seo was simply unable to make a big enough impact to affect the team’s chances to win. Overall, the Titans struggled against the Shock and were unable to show the same level of versatility. This was most evident as the team was mowed down by the Shock’s Bastion composition on multiple occasions without an answer. 

Despite all the negatives, the Titans will still head into the next season as one of the best teams in the Overwatch League. Along with that, if history has shown fans of the Runaway core anything, it’s that after a heartbreak, victory will follow. 

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