It was an exciting night [Friday] as was got to see the best of the best play!  We got to see all 3 Top Teams compete.  But for this blog I will be covering the marque match up of the night: Boston Uprising vs Los Angeles Gladiators.  Boston was poised to go 10-0 with their Win against the Gladiators, something unheard of OWL.  A perfect Stage was something only New York Excelsior came close to doing.  The Gladiators on the other hand were fighting for Stage 3 Playoffs on Sunday.

If you haven’t heard yet, there were changes made to the Playoff Brackets.  The Stage 3 Playoffs now have 4 Teams, instead of just 3.  And now that the number 1 Team doesn’t have a Bye, they added to the rules that they can pick which Team they go up against in the Semi Finals.  Also there is a Tiebreaker Game should the Teams with the same record finish in Playoff Contention.  Whoa, talk about a real game changer!  The Prize Pools remain the same: $100,000 to 1st Place and $25,000 to 2nd Place..  Now let’s jump right into the action:

Los Angeles Gladiators vs Boston Uprising: Map 1

It was all Boston on Volskaya.  They came in undefeated on this Map and left that way.  With their type of “Dive” composition they played great on Defense and aggressive on Offense.  It was a Widow vs Widow match up, with Mistakes on Widowmaker for Boston and Surefour on Widowmaker for LA Gladiators.  Mistakes isn’t the best at Widow, he is more of a Sombra Player.  But last night on Volskaya he recovered after a few early “picks” and helped Boston Secure the Map Win.

Los Angeles Gladiators vs Boston Uprising: Map 2

Right here we saw the best Defense by the Boston Team, maybe ever.  They dominated on Numbani!  Ok so, the Gladiators went first on this Hybrid Map.  What they needed to do was “Unlock” the payload, but Boston would have none of that.  They took control of the high ground and punished the Gladiators out of spawn.  It was in a word a “clinic”.  I mean seriously, they held the Point Zone all Game.  The Gladiators couldn’t even break through their Defenses just to get one tick!  Striker also was unbelievably good and I got to give a shout out to Note for his play.  The communication that this Team has is just stellar.  Boston took the Map Win easily.

Los Angeles Gladiators vs Boston Uprising: Map 3

After the half, the Gladiators pulled themselves together on Nepal.  They took every opportunity to gain control of the Point.  I mean they played well and this was one of their best Maps to Win on.  They went Pharah at times and Boston didn’t have an answer for it.  Mistakes doesn’t play Pharah and neither does Striker.  Suffice to say it was a tough Map for them to win, and they had their troubles organizing their Team.  It seemed that every time they had a 6 v 6 someone would die early.  It was a tough pill to swallow.  They were so close in Map Wins to taking the series here, but really it looked like it would be decided on Map 4.  The Gladiators would take the Map Win.

Los Angeles Gladiators vs Boston Uprising: Map 4

On Route 66 Boston had to come from behind to win it.  They didn’t play great during the first round.  It would seem like once again they had staggered re-spawns and a tough time contesting the payload.  And let’s face it, it not their best Map!  After the first round it was tied 3-3 on the Map.  Which meant Overtime.  On the second go around the Uprising once again got zoned out off of the “cart”.  The Gladiators had just 1 Minute on the Clock to move it as far as they could.  And let me tell you that nearly got it half way through Route 66.  Then it was Boston’s turn with 1 Minute 30 Seconds to push the “cart”.  And they played extremely aggressive to get the payload all the way to the Point Zone.  It was remarkable!  It was a real nail biter!  But you know what?  They did it and won the Map and the Series [3-1]. GG!

Wow what a finish, and here I was thinking that it would go to another Map 5.  With the Win the Uprising have the top spot in Stage 3 Playoffs on Sunday and tonight after the Games, they get to pick who they go up against on Sunday.  We gotta keep this Perfect Win Streak going!  Overwatch League continues today at 4pm EST on Twitch.tv and MLG.com.  The big match to watch for is the LA Valiant vs the Philadelphia Fusion, both Teams have a chance at the number 4 spot… and also a Tiebreaker Game may be needed.  How awesome would that be!  GL HF!

In Day 2 of Week 4, Stage 3, the top contenders all played.  Well all of them except Boston Uprising, which had a much needed day off.  [Thursday] Night Matches were stacked.  We were treated to seeing the best of the best.  London Spitfire, New York Excelsior, and Seoul Dynasty all played on the same night.  Whoa, talk about thrilling!  All three Teams are vying for a Playoff spot in Stage 3 action.  Let’s jump right into the action:

Los Angeles Gladiators vs London Spitfire

The Gladiators took an early lead in the beginning of the Match after a real battle on the 1st Map, 4-3.  Then on the 2nd Map things got weird.  In fact things got weird in the other Matches too, but I’ll get to that!  Anyways Blizzard World was the 2nd Map and it seems to be the stumbling block for a lot of Teams.  For London this came to be true.  As they couldn’t score any Map Points.  The Gladiators took it 3-0, easily!  But after Halftime London came back in a big way and Tied the Series [2-2], on Route 66.  In fact Route 66 was their best Map.  Especially since they didn’t have Birdring in the Line up.  Profit was good and Gesture was good for London.  On the other side of things there was Surefour and Biggoose, both played well for the Gladiators.  It would end up coming down to a Map 5 on Oasis.  LA Gladiators just held on to the final Map Point for the victory, [3-2].  It was a tough one to swallow for the Spitfire as they just came up short.  Surefour ended up being the Player of the Game, and I would suggest you watch it if you haven’t yet.

San Fransisco Shock vs New York Excelsior

The game started out with a 7 Minute “hold” by New York on Map Point B.  It was incredible and a Text Book case of how to play Temple of Anubis.  But then came New York’s chance on Offense and wouldn’t you know, the Shock’s Defense was even better.  They would take the Map Win.  With plays from Architect, on Sombra and Genji, they had an “Ace in the Hole”.  Also Danteh’s played crazy good on Junkrat.  Some of the best I’ve seen.  They would end up splitting on Numbani and NY XL took it, [1-1] at the Half.  Nepal was back and forth and I’ll tell you what it was close!  NY Excelsior fought hard on this one and pulled out a “W”.  It was the same thing with Junkertown.  It was close and the Shock tried desperately to get a Map 5.  In fact it was the dreaded “U Bend” that had them stalled out.  New York remains in 2nd Place in Stage 3, with only a loss to Boston, after their Win [3-1].  The gap is closing between the Top Teams…

Seoul Dynasty vs Philadelphia Fusion

Now this was a strange one from beginning to end.  It was just something about last night.  Defenses were winning games and Offenses were in a Quagmire.  Seoul took Map 1 with a strong hold but then came Blizzard World.  Well, they chose to go Fleta on Pharah and it didn’t pan out.  Actually both Teams ran Pharah.  Which in my opinion was a bad move!  I mean really, she can fly all over the place but she can’t hold the Point Zone!  It’s a gambit any way you slice it.  Both Teams couldn’t “Unlock” the payload.  Which I guess I should remind you is the whole point of a Hybrid Map.  Philly took it in overtime on Point A, tying it [1-1] at Halftime.  Luckily Philly had Crape on their Team on Nepal.  He pretty much carried the Team to wining that Map.  His Tracer play was just superb!  On Route 66 Fragi and Snillo were working well together.  They play very aggressive and it usually works well for the Team.  On Defense it was great but on Offense they had trouble moving the payload.  They were so close to putting it away!  Seoul came back and Tied it up [2-2].  It would be another Map 5, on Oasis.  Fleta and Munchkin really shined on this Map.  I mean you just got to say that they played awesome.  Another good game to watch.  They would take it then and there [3-2] getting the reverse sweep.  GG!  Cheers!