OWL 2019 Grand Finals Preview: Titans vs Shock, One Last Time

Rivalries are one of if not the most powerful tropes in narratives. It encapsulates the most compelling elements of human drama: high-stakes competition, emotional character-driven drama, and a constant sense of rising tension born from the push-and-pull of uncertainty.

It is fortunate, then, that rivalry will be remembered as the year-long, through-running theme of the 2019 Overwatch League season, courtesy of the San Francisco Shock and the Vancouver Titans.

In a game that often sees teams rise and fall at the whims of metagames fickle as the seas, the Shock and the Titans remained stalwart beacons of strength amidst the churning tides of patches. With that kind of fortitude, it almost seems inevitable that it is these two teams that stand tall at the end, in the kind of cinematic climax that script writers can only dream of.

The Shock and the Titans are perfect rivals in that their clashes embody more than just a match win-loss. Perfect foils against each other, each represents ideas, beliefs and philosophies on competitive Overwatch with similarities that only highlight the differences.

The Shock features a roster that is diverse in every way possible. The orange-clad members of San Francisco were assembled piecemeal over two years by carefully scouting players, coaches and staff from all over the world to build a superteam. All to fit the championship-winning vision of esports industry veteran Andy Miller and venture-capital-backed NRG Esports.

It is this vision that binds together the Shock, who otherwise have little to no former teams in common. Brought together with a fiery spirit to win above all else, the Shock don't care about a player's nationality or past teams or public favor: if they're good and they fit the system, they're in.

The Shock epitomizes the traditional sports-flavored future that the Overwatch League aspires towards. A lackluster 2018 formed the building blocks upon which its 2019 dominance was built, and while both the season and post-season began slowly with losses and setbacks, the San Francisco Shock quickly gained momentum to stampede into an unstoppable force.

The Titans had a uniform look long before they donned the green-and-blue. Vancouver's ranks are filled by a South Korean roster that sported the hot pink outfits of RunAway, the organization founded and operated by streamer couple Dae-hoon "Runner" Yoon and Hyun-ah "Flowervin" Lee.

For these players, their 2018 victories in Overwatch Contenders Korea was needed to secure a place in the Overwatch League after missing the inaugural season out of dedication to remain as a band of brothers. Their opportunity came in the form of esports newcomers Aquilini Group, owners of the NFL's Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, who brought the RunAway players and staff as a collective.

Now as the new franchise Vancouver Titans, the players proved themselves very much on and beyond the level expected of the Overwatch League. From day one, the team was near-indomitable, with only three losses in the regular season, two in stage playoffs, and undefeated thus far through the post-season. Only towards the end do they show signs of budging as mounting pressure from improving teams pushes against them, but through it all Vancouver has been immovable from the number one spot.

Over the course of the 2019 season, the Shock and the Titans have clashed four times. First was in week two of Stage 1, with the Titans felling the Shock 3-1 as the Shock struggled to find their footing. Second was in the Grand Finals of Stage 1, wherein the Shock were pushed to the very brink before collapsing before a monstrous Titans onslaught on Rialto that saw Vancouver win 4-3.

Next they met was in the Stage 2 Finals, wherein the Shock bounced back to overcome the Titans and dealt them their first loss of the year, in a hard-earned 4-2 victory on Blizzard World. Then, their fourth clash was on the penultimate day of the regular season in week five of Stage 4, with San Francisco equalizing their head-to-head at two apiece after a nail-biting 3-2 win.

Now it all rests here, with their overall decider coming in the form of the most important match of the year: the Overwatch League 2019 Grand Finals, hosted at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

The Vancouver Titans finished first in the regular season with a 25-3 record and a record-setting 19-match win-streak. The Titans secured their place at the Grand Finals with close matches through the post-season against the Seoul Dynasty, Los Angeles Gladiators and New York Excelsior through the Winner's Bracket to await their foe in Philadelphia.

The San Francisco Shock finished second in the regular season with a 23-5 record and the nigh-impossible Golden Stage under their belt. The Shock battled their way to the Grand Finals by smashing through the Loser's Bracket after a self-inflicted loss against the Atlanta Reign, cleanly sweeping 4-0 over the London Spitfire, Los Angeles Gladiators, Hangzhou Spark and New York Excelsior to reach the Wells Fargo Center.

It's fitting that to the very end, the Titans hold strong and firm at the top with the Shock doggedly chasing after them, obliterating all in their path. The regular season's first against the second. The long-standing brotherhood against the new age superteam. The immovable object against the unstoppable force. Vancouver against San Francisco.

One last match to decide it all.

Cover image courtesy of the San Francisco Shock