TL;DW: A Week Of Firsts - Nuggets From Post-Matches With Shu And Hadi

It was a week of firsts for many. For the Los Angeles Gladiators, it was the first time qualifying for Hawai’i and for their flex support Jin-seo "Shu" Kim, it was the first time being shortlisted for the season MVP title. More humble firsts happened to the Spitfire and their main tank Hadi Daniel "Hadi" Bleinagel, who won their first and only match against the Vancouver Titans. We sat down with both players who were both still experiencing the high of those unique moments. Here are the key takeaways from those post-match interviews.

Hadi After His Team’s 3-2 Victory against the Vancouver Titans

“I’m really happy. It’s the first win in OWL. But I’m also kinda sad because it was the last game of the season. It’s a bittersweet ending”

• Hadi says he’s really sad that it was the last game but happy about the win
• Hadi shares that he gave it his all this season, scrimming six days a week at least two blocks, doing VOD review, and grinding ranked after
• Hadi thinks the ping was a considerable disadvantage on some but not all heroes. Especially Reinhardt is really hard in terms of blocking shatters and counter-charging
• The Spitfire still went into every game believing that they are going to win
• Hadi thinks Shax really stepped up and he’s also proud of SparkR who had just been put in this week after having played with blasé before
• Hadi has enjoyed the playstyle of the Dallas Fuel the most because they are somehow able to play aggressive and force their compositions with great success because they are a great team with mechanically gifted players
• Hadi will take a small break, will watch the Overwatch League post-season, and will get back to the grind soonish

Shu After Their Clean Sweep Against The Outlaws

• Shu was surprised that the match against the Outlaws was as easy as it was
• Shu liked that Dallas made it into the playoffs because he wanted to take revenge if possible
• Shu feels like that both Skewed and Moth were the best main supports that he had ever played with in his career
• Playing with Brigitte feels more comfortable for the Gladiators which is why they prefer it over Lucio, explaining the win rate differences between Skewed and Moth
• Shu is a tad disappointed by their season because he thinks they could’ve gone undefeated throughout the season
• In the pre-season, Gladiators had scrim winrates of about 70-80% across all teams. Their scrim dominance is a reason why Shu is disappointed about their season
• Dallas Fuel performed way better in matches than in scrims
• Shu didn’t expect the MVP nomination at all
• When asked who on his team deserved an MVP nomination, Shu immediately responded “Kevster” and also shared that he thinks Fearless would be his MVP choice outside of his team