Photo courtesy of Activision/Blizzard
In the past two weeks since the start of the 2021 Overwatch League season, we’ve been treated to some of the best matches in OWL history. We’ve seen teams rise to the top at a meteoric pace, we’ve had rookies impressing fans and analysts alike, and one of those rookies and their team sit atop the eastern power rankings with pride.
That team is, of course, the Houston Outlaws and their rookie tank from Talon Esports, the Shatter King, The Godfather of the Fatty Shatty, The Reigning Reinhardt, Hammer of the Gods, The Sheriff of Shatter Town, first of his name, Myung-heum "JJANGGU" Cho. Since the Outlaws debut and win against the Dallas Fuel, they’ve been nigh unstoppable behind the tank line duo of JJANGGU and his off-tank partner, Min-jun "PIGGY " Shin, also from Talon Esports.
Besides sitting at the top of the Power Rankings as the two best tanks in the league according to IBM Wattson, one of the standout strengths of JJANGGU the Houston Hammer is his ability to land absolutely devastating Earth Shatters. Below, are the top five Earth Shatters of the
#5: Nailing The Introduction
In the Outlaws' first round against the two-time defending champions, the San Francisco Shock, JJANGGU the Obliterator set the tone very quickly. Face to face with one of the best players in the entire league, Matthew “Super” DeLisi, JJANGGU lays a shatter right into their front line despite staring down an Amplification Matrix. The result, with an Amp Matrix of their own, is a brutal message that this is not the Outlaws of years past.
#4: Respect the Shatter
In their match-up against the Paris Eternal, the Outlaws had a commanding grasp on the first map in Nepal going 100 to 0 in round one and the moment the Eternal thought they finally had control of the point JJANGGU brought the mallet down. Even with a Symmetra wall splitting the point, nothing could stop the MT JJANGGU’s hammer time as he cleaned up and saved the re-take.
#3: Hammer Back
When the Houston Outlaws met the London Spitfire in battle, the boys in green were already on a tear. But on point A of Hanamura, the Spitfire started to hold their ground and peeled quite a bit of time off the clock. A last-minute clutch take on Point A led to this moment in the Spitfire’s point B defense.
After surviving a Blizzard Ultimate and an Earth Shatter from London’s Hadi Daniel "Hadi" Bleinagel, JJANGGU the People’s Hammer, countered with a Shatter of his own that snowballed into a quick map completion.
#2: Hop and Hammer
But that wasn’t enough for Hammer Hungry JJANGGU and on the Outlaws Point B defense, he waited patiently on the high ground with a Fatty Shatty in the barrel. Using his third-person point of view with the shield out he pounced at just the right time as all of London was coming up the stairs. Landing just behind Hadi’s shield the hammer dropped the entire Spitfire team and the Outlaws easily cleaned them up.
#1 King Slayers
By far, the fattest of JJANGGU’s shatters was against the two-time defending champs, the San Francisco Shock, in Havana. After the Outlaws took two decisive map wins, putting them in match point territory the Shock ran back to a game 6 setting up an incredible reverse sweep.
With an epic first point hold, the Outlaws had to fuller hold the Shock, and at the overtime wick burnt down, two Mei walls went up simultaneously blocking line of sight for both sides. JJANGU the H-Town Hammer moved to flank the backline of the Shock with the Shatter to end all Shatters.
Was there a JJANGGU played you thought should be in the top 5? What other plays from weeks 1 and 2 of the Overwatch League will live rent-free in your head for days to come? Share them with us on Twitter at CheckpointXP!
Photo courtesy of Activision/Blizzard
Note: CheckpointXP and the Houston Outlaws are owned by the same parent company, The Beasley Media Group.
