The Shanghai Dragons Win Overwatch League 2021 Grand Finals
It’s been an anime story-line from the very beginning for the Shanghai Dragons as they’re crowned the 2021 Champions at the Overwatch League Grand Finals. A team that in the inaugural season of the League had a meme-worthy, cursed record of zero wins and 40 straight losses. Obviously, since then the team has gone through an extensive team re-work, as well as multiple coaching changes.
In truth, while the meme may be they went from Zeros to Champions, Shanghai turned around their fortunes pretty quickly after that first season. They’ve been a contender for best team in the lead for two seasons now, having proved their superiority this year with a full 4 and 0 sweep over the Atlanta Reign.
But remember they also have 5 stage title wins under their belt as well. And while teams like the Atlanta Reign and the Dallas Fuel have had terrific seasons and more than proved themselves capable of standing at the top. The Shanghai Dragons are still a league above the rest.
In the 4 game final series against the Atlanta Reign, the Shanghai Dragons were constantly in control. They had a dominant 2-0 first map victory on Illios where the Reign spent a majority of their time trying to get from their spawn room to the point in order to even contest.
The second map on Hanamura started out even uglier than Ilios as the Dragons took a cheeky first pick on the Reign and nearly shut them out on point A. But the Reign were able to buckle down and with a key Echo ultimate by Pelican duplicating the enemy Orisa, they turned the tide and took point A. This was the moment the Atlanta Reign seemed to wake up, but it wasn’t going to be enough.
The Dragons eventually took the win on Hanamura and went on to King’s Row where the Reign had another impressive run and took the Dragons into overtime on round 2. But, the Dragons just had more fuel in their tank.
The final map on Havana saw the Dragons hold Atlanta just after point B and eventually take the series in a full sweep. The 4 and 0 scoreline doesn’t tell the full story of the Atlanta Reign, a team that has constantly been considered a gatekeeper for the bottom half of the league to get into the upper echelon. Atlanta has proven themselves capable and shown the world they deserve a shot at the top.
But the Shanghai Dragons are still a cut above the rest and while the Reign put on a good show, they were always playing catch up to the superior roster. Congratulations to the Overwatch League Grand Finals 2021 Champions, the Shanghai Dragons.
Feature Image, Screenshot of the Overwatch League Grand Finals, Shanghai Dragons v Atlanta Reign.