Prior to the game, my Facebook predicted a Shock win, with either Moth or ChoiHyoBin taking home the MVP trophy. (When I reiterated this quickly prior to the match, I accidentally said Sinatraa or Moth, but the sleeper OT was the one I had my money on. From one OT to another.) For a long time, it was predicted that the Titans and the Shock would face off in the Grand Finals for a match to make all other matches look underwhelming.

…Except the only thing underwhelming was the Titans. In what should have been a nail-biter, a close match that should have gone the extra mile to a map 8, ended with a 4-0 win by the Shock. It wasn’t a battle for the times; it was a slaughterhouse. It was destruction. Just when the Titans figured it out, it turns out they didn’t. This isn’t a knock to the Titans, who made some spectacular plays. It was just that they really couldn’t stop the Shock’s total annihilation of their team. If you thought Sinatraa and Striker were a dangerous DPS duo, then you sorely underestimated the power of Rascal and Architect. These DPS duos couldn’t lose. And Moth? I think if there was any doubt that he was the best western support, no one is doubting that anymore. He’s flexible and talented and such a huge asset to this team. Maybe this is a sign that the USA Overwatch World Cup team won’t suck.

It seems that there was a difference that ended up paying off in the end. The Shock was relentlessly mocked for their willingness to drop so much money on the underaged-at-the-time Sinatraa before he could even play. And when he got on the stage last season, he was criticized for being overpriced for his skill. Turns out, with a good coach to hone those skills, Sinatraa became such a force to reckon with. As someone who had a distaste for his arrogance in the past, I appreciate the newly humbled DPS starter who has learn to balance that arrogance and humility. Then they were mocked for stacking their DPS ahead of the GOATs meta, while other teams either focused entirely on GOATs or tried to balance. This is where the Titans may have made their mistake.

The Vancouver Titans seemed to center around their tank Bumper, who was seemingly unstoppable in GOATs. They had some DPS stars in Haskal and Seominsoo, but they didn’t seem as strong as other DPS stars particularly on the Shock. They were good, but ultimately they just weren’t good enough. They didn’t lose the match because they played poorly though; it was just that the Shock utterly dominated them and the Titans didn’t have an answer for it. The closest map seemed to be Anubis, where the second attempt at capturing the points seemed a bit slower for the Shock. Aside from that, there was really no competition who the better team was.

This week, you can expect the onslaught of trades or cuts from teams. I suspect this is particularly true for us Uprising fans. Aimgod will likely be the first announcement of players who have been let go. I’d love Axxiom stay in place of Fusions because I still believe he’s a more well-rounded and talented tank. But for the love of whatever entity, can we please keep blasé and Colourhex. Maybe even Stellar. I don’t care if you dump the rest of the team but I would really love these 3 players to stick around. It will be an exciting off season to match the awesome season. I think the league will be even better with the addition of traveling.