Here are the three key take-aways from the first three pre-season games of the inaugural season of the Overwatch League which saw some sick Genji blades, ridiculous Pharah air-shots and tons of angry Gorillas;

No Sinatraa? No problem

San Francisco Shock filled in for the absent Philadelphia Fusion played twice on day-one and they made the most of it by convincingly defeating the Florida Mayhem before running out of gas and losing to Valiant in their second match of the day . The absence of ‘Mr 150k’ Sinatraa wasn’t felt as Danteh and BABYBAY led the line to defeat the out-of-sorts Mayhem 3-1 in the opening match of the day. All things considered, despite losing to Valiant in their second match, San Francisco Shock performed well in the nine maps they played in total and are surely one of teams leaving day one with their heads held high.

Agilities 2.0 Found

Valiant’s main DPS for the day, Silkthread who was coincidentally playing in his first ever LAN tournament performed waaaaaay above expectations as he pulled off several brilliant plays including a 4-elimination Dragon Blade which made Agilities’ absence hardly felt.  En route to Valiant’s win against the fatigued Shock, the rest of the team performed as expected and the team chemistry was apparent in one of the two Los Angeles ‘home teams’ at the inaugural Overwatch League season. However, the over-reliance on their DPS players to keep the fight going may be their downfall once they come to face with teams with a more solid Support roster.

Dynasty Dominate in Battle of the Double Ds 

On paper, the Shanghai Dragons looked formidable enough to challenge the Korean dominance with top Chinese players in their lineup including Undead and Roshan. While they did give a good fight to the Korean favorites at the start, the Seoul Dynasty team showed everyone why they are still the team to beat at the Overwatch League. Even when Fleta was being out-played by Diya, the rest of the Dynasty crew stood their ground en route to a very convincing 4-0 overall win over the Dragons. DPS Wekeed pulled off some sick air-shots as Pharah and Kuki also performed very well filling in for the Tank role. The Dragons attempted several character swaps throughout the four maps but were still unable to out-smart the Koreans who pretty much steamrolled their way to win the final two maps comfortably.

Day-2 of the Overwatch League pre-season continues tomorrow as three more matches take place involving the remaining six teams that did not play today. To many, the pick of the lot is easily the Texas Derby as Dallas Fuel take on Houston Outlaws but for us, it’s the Los Angeles GLAdiators vs London Spitfire, as we finally get to see the hybrid team comprising of OGN APEX Season 3 Runners-Up and Season 4 winners take the floor for the first time.

The first match starts a bit earlier tomorrow, as the Gladiators square off against Spitfire at 6AM local time. Stay tuned to Kakuchopurei.com as we bring you all the coverage, analysis and news from the Overwatch League.