Former two-time Overwatch League champions San Francisco Shock just suffered an upset defeat in the first day of the OWL Pro-AM event, a 1-2 loss to surprise Contenders underdogs Trick Room.
San Francisco Shock’s pedigree of trophies is arguably the most impressive in all of OWL. 2x OWL champions, a plethora of West division trophies, and star players almost always in the running for Season MVP with each passing year.
The SF Shock are certified kings of OWL. So it was a massive surprise to the thousands tuned in on March 23 when they lost 1-2 to an up-and-coming NA Contenders team, Trick Room. While the BO3 series was very close, with two out of the three maps going into overtime, the amateur squad managed to secure its biggest win by a mile.
Trick Room, formerly known as Rizz Academy, was not only able to hold off the sheer power of the Shock, they were able to go toe-to-toe against them.
Heckin' mischief indeed 😲@TrickRoom_OW gets the first Contenders' victory of the #OWL2023 Pro-AM! pic.twitter.com/1nBosw0FAz
— Overwatch Esports (@OW_Esports) March 23, 2023
An example of the skill Trick Room showed was a moment in map two at Hollywood. Boat, the DPS role star for Trick Room, managed to stick a pulse bomb onto Proper, the 2022 OWL MVP, in a Tracer 1v1. An incredibly hard feat to do to against any good Tracer player, let alone an OWL MVP-caliber talent.
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The snapshot of the kill feed was immediately turned into a meme by OWL s***poster and YouTuber, Bad Pachimari.
BOAT IS MY GOAT pic.twitter.com/lK5eOTjq5t
— Bad Pachimari (@BadPachimari) March 23, 2023
Trick Room’s win was soon celebrated by Contenders fans and supporters both, with countless community members chiming in to congratulate them on the monumental upset. It seems even the players of Trick Room were unable to comprehend their win, with Boat tweeting out a simple, “holy f***” right after the match.
The series was not the Shock’s first game of the year though. Just before the match against Trick Room, they lost a 1-2 game against the Florida Mayhem. This one, another minor upset as many commentators predicted the Shock to win it out.
Needless to say, this underdog showing win was a huge win for the Contenders scene as it showed Overwatch’s Tier 2 scene can go blow-to-blow with the very best OWL squads. And the loss means SF Shock is now sitting at the bottom of the group in the Pro-Am event with two losses.
