An Elite Elevated Above The Rest

The San Francisco Shock are the greatest team in Overwatch history. It felt like this was already a fact last year, but it’s a testament to the incredible talent of the Shock’s players, coaching staff, and upper management, that they’ve crafted the greatest team ever to touch the game. Complete domination of the entirety of the Overwatch League, the great back-to-back champions. It’s hard to believe it’ll be a feat to ever be repeated again, and after their performance in the Grand Final, there are a lot of players who just took the title of best in their role in the whole world. Three of those players were Nam-joo "Striker" Kwon, Minki "Viol2t" Park, and Grant "moth" Espe, the absolute standout performers on the Shock, and the keys to victory for them. All three deserve praise for being the team’s best performers in this match. 

With Striker winning the Grand Finals MVP Award, it’s only fitting that the two supports left have a chance to earn the recognition for an elite. A tough decision between the both of them for multiple reasons and both players have put in legendary performances throughout the entire playoffs bracket. Every other matchup played in the finals was closer, but the Shock’s supports’ impact eclipsed whatever Young-wan "Creative" Kim and Jin-mo "tobi" Yang had to offer. Pound for pound we saw the damage and tank duo’s fight for their lives, be able to one-up each other, but it’s the support disparity that stiff-armed the Dynasty from a win today. 

Yesterday for Day 2, moth made the case for being the Shock’s most valuable player. His Mercy play was unparalleled in the winner’s finals, and that remained the case today against the Seoul Dynasty. His play wasn’t as crisp as yesterday, but the support diff for the Shock is the reason for their victory today. From Moth, his Mercy resurrections and elusiveness played a big role in keeping the Shock in the series. He was punished a few times, Seoul tried to keep him in check, but moth ultimately outperformed tobi throughout the entire series, and throughout the entire playoffs, showcased that he is the best main support in the world at the moment.

If Mercy isn’t enough flavour for you, Viol2t’s Zenyatta was a freak of nature this game. Devastating volleys onto the Seoul snipers, 1v1 challenges that he would constantly win, the craziest transcendences to force San Francisco into continuing a seemingly lost team fight, and more damage than his teammates in some maps, Viol2t gave Seoul the mackerel-smacking. It was a performance worthy of being called the best flex support in the world. In 2019, he upstaged former rival-turned-teammate, Joo-seok "Twilight" Lee in the head-to-head matchup, and in 2020 proved that the gap between him and Dynasty’s rookie Creative wasn’t even close. Viol2t stands above all as the best flex support in the world, and with this performance, he made sure no one would forget it. 

The decision between these two players, it’s almost too hard to make. Moth has been largely overlooked for how impactful he has been for the San Francisco Shock, but Viol2t put in the Zenyatta performance not seen since perhaps Sung-hyeon "JJoNak" Bang in the 2018 season. He was dominant, precise, and an oppressive factor against the Seoul Dynasty’s ability to execute what they wanted to do.    

All things considered, who can say if the Shock would have won today without the performance from Viol2t’s Zenyatta. His discords were key in punishing the Roadhog from Seoul, making their signature strategy and playstyle, almost null and void most times in the game. He would continue fights with the most inconceivable Transcendences, zooming across the map to make sure his team wasn’t going to give up any ground they couldn’t retake. Legendary fights he would take on his own to completely style on the Dynasty, showcasing his mastery of one of Overwatch’s hardest heroes. Viol2t most certainly is the most elite player from Day 3 of the Overwatch League Grand Finals, and the key to victory for the greatest Overwatch team in the history of the esport.

Congratulations to the Shock on their back-to-back victory, and for Viol2t for truly being the best flex support in the world. 
 

If you want to catch up with what you missed at the OWL Grand Finals, check out our hub for recaps, results, post-match interviews and more.

Images via Blizzard Entertainment