📝 Weibo Gaming vs. Spacestation Gaming Full Match Recap

Both teams came into this game with victory firmly in their sights.

On paper, this is a winnable matchup for both teams; Weibo have taken the likes of Falcons, the most successful brawl team in the world, all the way, for the past 2 LAN events, and have shown massive improvement on their own brawl compositions too.

SSG, on the other hand, saw Weibo struggle against Al Qadsiah and saw an opportunity to get themselves back in the win column. Although not known for their Symmetra play, SSG would’ve recognised the weaknesses Al Qadsiah exploited and hoped to leverage them to their advantage.

With everything on the line, though, when the lights were brightest, Weibo Gaming levelled up their game and outplayed SSG to keep themselves in the tournament.

Map 1: Ilios (Weibo Gaming pick) Weibo Gaming ban D.Va, Spacestation Gaming ban Ashe

Weibo open up with their strongest map, and ban out Xander “Hawk” Domenq’s D.Va. Not only does this limit SSG to the Zarya, but it also protects Guxue’s Winston.

Needless to say, Weibo have the advantage here. The first map is Well, and Guxue and the squad start strong. They’re playing their classic Winston, Freja, Tracer, Kiriko and Lucio composition. SSG roll out on Zarya, Echo, Freja, Kiriko, and Lucio, as expected. Kamden “Sugarfree” Hijada has been leaning on the Echo throughout the tournament and has found decent success with it since the Tracer nerfs in the Midseason patch, and the rest of the squad settled on their comfort heroes.

Huang “Leave” Xin breaks the deadlock that formed before the first engagement with a pick onto Sugarfree, and from there Hawk falls, and Weibo are able to convert it into a point capture.

SSG do manage a pick into a brief point flip, but the beat push back in for Weibo is more than enough for the retake, and they re-establish control. SSG struggle to find an opening with Sugarfree’s Duplicate, and a Graviton Surge onto Xi “guxue” Qiulin doesn’t convert any kills either.

Joseph “Lep” Cambriani’s eventual kill onto Li “Mew” Xianyao does let SSG back in for a moment while Weibo reset. Leave’s Pulse Bomb secures the opening pick onto Rocco “Kronik” Lacobacci for Weibo’s retake, but a trade from Sugarfree and excellent peel from the SSG backline keep Weibo from gaining too much of an advantage. Things look good for a miraculous SSG clutch, as Sugarfree copies the Lucio and threatens the Sound Barrier, but the two Lucios alive step off the point for a moment, and Weibo take the 1-0 lead on Ilios.

Round 2 took the teams to Ruins, where SSG should have had an easier time against guxue’s Winston. Unfortunately, Sugarfree is the first to fall, and despite Kronik's response to Leave, the first capture goes Weibo’s way.

SSG’s slow style allows Weibo to rack up a lot of percentage points on the objective, but eventually Christopher “Cjay” Smith’s first-tempo Kitsune Rush nets a kill onto Zhou “Mmonk” Xiang. Weibo begin to fall, and Mew’s beat is unfortunately 2v5 and gets almost no value. The silver lining, however, is that Lep mirrors this beat in what is arguably an even bigger misplay.

With SSG’s ultimate advantage diminished, Weibo re-engage with guxue’s Primal Rage and Leave’s Pulse Bomb, both of which find crucial kills.

SSG have one more chance to retake with Hawk’s Graviton Surge, and for a moment it looks good, killing both Weibo backliners, but trades from their DPS give Weibo enough of an advantage to convert the map win.

Map 2: Shambali Monastery (SSG pick), Weibo Gaming ban Symmetra, SSG ban Brigitte

In an odd drafting decision, Weibo give Spacestation Gaming exactly what they want - banning Symmetra doesn’t really change anything for SSG, as they are very unlikely to play it. Instead, they roll out a more predictable D.Va, Tracer, Freja, Kiriko, and Lucio, with no Brigitte available for Weibo to use in response.

Weibo start on defence with Ramattra, Venture, Freja, Kiriko, and Wuyang. Shambali is one of the better maps for the double flex support compositions, but it does leave you vulnerable to the Sound Barrier engages if the other team is playing Lucio.

Weibo don’t need to worry about that to begin with, though, as Lep gets picked first and SSG are forced to take a step back. Cjay manages to produce two trades out of thin air, though, and SSG can take some space right back. Lep has respawned and is being chased around the area of the first checkpoint, buying SSG even more map control. Unfortunately, when the two teams square up once again, Lep is the first to fall. Sugarfree sticks a Pulse Bomb on Zheng “Shy” Yangjie, but he is saved by the Tidal Blast in a 1-for-1 ultimate trade.

SSG step back and play for Lep’s Sound Barrier engage, which looks good at first, but they aren’t able to convert enough kills, and the survivability of guxue’s Ramattra on the objective is enough to stall for time while Shy and Mew respawn. Weibo got it done in the end, thanks to a brilliant clutch from guxue and Mmonk, and SSG are stopped just shy of the first checkpoint.

Weibo’s attack starts off poorly, as Leave and guxueare picked off early on.This inspires an ambitious Winston swap, which is confusing for some, but if there’s one man who can get it done on Winston, it’s guxue.

And get it done he does. The first ultimate exchange of the round favours Weibo, with trades going either way, but SSG still have enough bodies for a decent recontest before all is lost. Sugarfree has his way with Weibo in what will be the penultimate fight, taking four scalps and giving his team a lifeline.

SSG do everything right in the final turn, going fast and taking Shy out early, but guxue can stall the point for long enough to get Shy back in the fight, and his Overclock finds Cjay’s head, and that’s all she wrote for SSG.

Map 3: King’s Row (SSG pick), Weibo Gaming ban Zarya, Spacestation Gaming ban Wuyang

In the minds of a lot of viewers, Spacestation have lost their best chance of beating Weibo and getting crucial momentum going in this series. However, they still have a chance on a map where they should hold an advantage.

Things start well for the American team, as Shy falls early. Hawk is traded, but Kronik crucially frags both of the Weibo backline, and SSG can take space.

SSG are patiently waiting for their respawns to come back while guxue anchors the point on Ramattra, but Kronik finds two more and SSG get a fairly swift cap.

In the next scene, Sugarfree gets massive value copying guxue’s Ramattra, but Lep squanders the massive ultimate advantage that they would’ve had by yet again dropping the Sound Barrier in a won fight.

Approaching the second checkpoint, SSG take an aggressive approach with Sugarfree’s Echo and Hawk’s D.Va. Unfortunately, Hawk gets stuck in a tough spot and loses his mech, but is bailed out by the ensuing Self-Destruct, finding two miracle picks onto guxue and Leave.

As the only one left on the point, Lep boops an Overclocked Shy away from the payload, preventing the touch and securing the second checkpoint for SSG, in a fight that they otherwise would’ve lost.

This is where the SSG push grinds to a halt - ult trades are going even or favouring Weibo, and SSG can’t find an opening in the neutral. That is, until they play the slow fight, establish position and put Sugarfree in a good spot to find the crucial entry pick onto Mew at the start of Overtime.

Lep drops a perfect Sound Barrier to seal the deal, but in a 5v3 situation, SSG commit one of the most egregious C9s in recent memory, stopping their push short of the final checkpoint.

They have one more chance to contain Weibo and stay in this series, and for a good stretch of the first point, things look good for SSG. They start with a couple of early picks that slow Weibo down, but an eventual trade onto Lep force SSG back, and they end up conceding two ticks on the point.

A heroic recontest from Hawk and Cjay is just enough time for SSG to regroup, and the Duplicated Ramattra and Kitsune Rush from Lenny and Cjay, respectively, complete a masterful clutch to keep them in the game.

Sadly, Hawk falls and is eliminated before he can get his re-mech off, and that is enough to seal the deal with guxue’s Annihilation.

This is where SSG start to come undone. Their clutch on the 1st point leaves them with no good ultimates to work with on the 2nd point defence. Hawk once again loses his mech early, and with no Self-Destruct to work with, he falls, and the rest of SSG follow. They aren’t able to get a strong recontest before the 2nd checkpoint.

The nail in the coffin was an early pick onto Lep, with the rest of his team dropping like flies behind him. The few ultimates they have built up over their 2nd point defence aren’t enough to get anything done, and they wave goodbye to their international hopes as Weibo get it over the line without much resistance.

This loss is a tough one for Spacestation Gaming, as there were points in this match where they certainly looked like the dominant team. There were great individual moments, as well as some strong teamplay, but ultimately, they weren’t able to put it together consistently enough to threaten a well-drilled, established team like Weibo.

Speaking of which, they will be happy to have claimed this win in such convincing fashion, especially when they primarily played brawl mirrors rather than their signature dive. SSG are a good litmus test, but things will only get more difficult from here, as they play either Twisted Minds or Team Falcons in the next round. Whatever SSG brought to the table, Team Falcons and Twisted Minds will bring twofold. Both teams are undefeated, and have beaten some scary opposition on their way to the Weibo matchup. In any case, it will be a tough test, but Weibo can go in with confidence now that they’ve got this win under their belt.