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The Paris Eternal set a new league-wide best on Junkertown attack last night, finishing with four minutes and 13 seconds left on the clock against the Philadelphia Fusion.
The French-Korean hybrid Overwatch League squad has been full of surprises this year, playing well above the level many predicted. Despite losses against both Toronto and Houston, the Eternal are playing remarkably consistent considering their off-tank recently turned 18 and also the language barrier between the players. But to set a map record against what was considered the league’s strongest team is an especially strong statement.
To start their offense, the Eternal came out on a half-bunker half dive composition. Historically such a Frankenstein composition wouldn’t have worked, but in hero pools where more meta hero picks are unavailable, players can bust out their comfort picks with relative confidence. Additionally, the limited practice time that comes along with a traveling league makes it hard to play more regimented compositions.
With this instinctual, free-formed team of heroes, Paris was able to let loose the dynamic DPS duo Jung “Xzi”Ki-hyo and Terence “SoOn” Tarlier on Hanzo and Tracer respectively.
In the first third of the map, it was initially quite back and forth. However in a moment of brilliance, under pressure by the opposing Winston, Xzi hit a 180-degree jumping headshot on the enemy Tracer. And what was crucial for Paris in their record-setting time was their excellent clean up after the initial pick. In a mere matter of seconds after the enemy Tracer went down, Choi “Hanbin” Han-been on the D.va combined with SoOn on the Tracer to swiftly dull any hope of a fightback. Paris found themselves pushing the payload comfortably forward with the Fusion back at spawn.
On the second point, it was SoOn with the early pick. He hit a beautiful double dash Pulse Bomb stick onto a Zenyatta, that quickly ended any hope of a straight-forward team fight for the Fusion. On the third point, it was Damien “HyP” Souville with the early pick-off. It was a long-range Zenyatta orb volley that again won them the fight quickly and efficiently. The third point of this map is notoriously hard to crack. But by this point the Eternal had four of their six ultimates up and ready and simply cruised home.
When they have looked good this year, the Paris Eternal have looked nigh unbeatable. Currently sitting in the top three in the standings, Paris have just one game this week against the Florida Mayhem before having a well earned two-week break from traveling.
