EnVyUs came out of the gates with a very standard composition, much different to the Symmetra+Double Zenyatta that seemed dominant on attack. Twitch chat noted that their composition was unlikely to be able to beat Mixup's time. Talespin had something to say about that. “Go HAM or go home” is reportedly his personal motto, and this performance was true to that philosophy.
The round started out slowly, with both teams opting for standard compositions with the Pharah+Mercy combo, feeling each other out. The first kill of the game was actually Talespin losing an early aerial duel to two direct hits from Harbleu’s Pharah. Coolmatt69’s Widowmaker wasn’t able to find any pick-offs, and it looked like they would struggle to set a good time. Talespin finally broke the stalemate, finding his way to Mixup’s backline, where he took out Seagull’s Junkrat and his former teammate, Esper, on Mercy. He then used his ultimate to kill Milo’s Reinhardt. Just like that, EnVy had managed to capture point one, but they still had a ways to go.
After some posturing, Mixup managed to get some picks, pushing the remaining EnVy players back to their spawn. The payload was still close to the first capture point, and EnVy only had 5 minutes of time left. The next fight went a bit better for EnVy – Milo went for a risky but crafty charge on the opposing Reinhardt, Stoop, jumping down from the high ground in an effort to catch him by surprise. He missed, however, and EnVy made him pay for the mistake. While Esper used his ult solely to res Milo, Talespin picked Pierow’s Lucio off in the backline, and Buds, on Widowmaker, got a pick on Harbleu, who at this point had swapped from Pharah to Winston. Talespin took advantage of the opening by going HAM with his ultimate and picking up a triple kill.
In the next battle, the deciding one for point two, Talespin did some decent work, but was gracious enough not to take all the glory for himself. Instead, he chose to steal it all soon after.
With 3 minutes left on the clock, EnVy looked to be in a great position to close out the game. After a short time trading some pokes while the payload pushed up, Talespin decided it was time to go SSJ3. Peaking over the dividing wall at the third and final point, he took out Pierow and Seagull within a second of each other with Mercy-boosted rockets, then unleashed his ultimate, taking out Enigma’s Reaper and Harbleu. 4 kills in 4 seconds, and Talespin did practically all of the damage himself.
Mixup made a desperate attempt to stall with double Mei, but EnVyUs held them off and managed to push the payload the short distance that remained to complete the map with 90 seconds to spare.
Talespin showed up big and was the deciding factor in a number of decisive teamfights, turning a game that started out slowly around in short order. His final four kill Pharah ultimate deservedly got him Play of the Game, and his scorecard at the end of the match told the tale – 13,523 damage done in a 5 minute 43 second win. That’s 2500 damage per minute. He ended up with 39% of his teams total damage in the round, when the rest of his team combined had managed to dish out a still respectable 21,151.
Credit must also be given to Ras, who was the other half of the winning Pharah+Mercy combo in this match. He showed that he has had no problem whatsoever with making the transition to a less damage-oriented support hero. In addition, while it wasn't shown well in the VoD, Talespin also used Pharah's knockback to knock Milo out of position numerous times pre-fight, which had a substantial influence on the outcome of the match.
I’ve watched a lot of tournament matches, and I struggle to think of a round between two closely matched teams where a single player had such an overt influence on the result. It was a momentous performance from Talespin - a fine example of the way that an individual can potentially carry Overwatch games, and a must watch for anyone interested in competitive Overwatch.
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