Overwatch League: Philly goes nearly Perfect, LA Valiant and NY XL also Dominate

It was a night of PWNing in the Blizzard Arena in LA.  All three matches were a show of force by the top Teams.  Yes, even the London Spitfire vs NY XL game was decidedly one-sided!  It was great to see that the top Teams are still, well, tops!  I was thinking that with the new “Patch” that some Teams might backslide, like… eh hem… Boston.  But no, that wasn’t the case on [Saturday] Night.  All the Top Teams played fabulous and it was a night where you “bet on” the “Stats”.  What I mean to say is you “bet on” the “sure thing”.  And well, both Philly and LA Valiant were the “sure thing.”  New York Excelsior, what with their “All-Star” Team, was also a “sure bet.”  So the question was: did you ever think the Under Dogs had a chance?  I feel as though London might have given the reigning champs some trouble but at the end of the night it was obvious that nothing will stop this Offensive Juggernaut!

Philadelphia Fusion vs Florida Mayhem

It all started with this Match.  The Fusion are a solid Team, with the DPS duo of Carpe and EQO.  The Mayhem are on the bottom of the rankings, and they have struggled on getting Map Wins.  That being said no one could have predicted their almost perfect game against Florida.  Now a Perfect Game in OWL is when you don’t give up a single Map Point in an entire 4 Map Set.  Yeah, that’s so difficult… If you get the Perfect Game then you’re pretty much OP.  And they were so close to doing that too.  They gave up 1 Point on the very last Map of the Series.  But I think, and I’m pretty sure I am right about this, that they did an even more outstanding feat last night.  They had a Perfect Map on Oasis!  Now a Perfect Map in OWL is when you don’t die, not even once, on a Map and claim all Map Points.  And that is just what they did!  It was 40 Eliminations verses 0.  Yep a big goose egg!  Whoa, I never thought that that was even possible on this level.  If you haven’t seen a Perfect Map before, go watch the VOD on the OWL App.  It was a clinic, oh so “Over Powering”!

Shanghai Dragons vs Los Angeles Valiant

This was more PWNage.  The Valiant gave up 3 Map Points on King’s Row but came back to Win the Map on the second go around.  After that, they totally owned the Dragons.  It was so much so that the Valiant sent in their whole B-Team on Gibraltar, the last Map.  Now, this is a Team that is in it for the Playoff hunt.  Meanwhile, the Dragons haven’t won a single Match all year.  Yeah, it’s getting to a point where, with their strength of schedule, that they most likely won’t Win a single Series.  That’s 0-40 folks!  Ouch!  Yeah, feels bad man…  But unlike with what happened with the Mayhem, they actually do score Map Points…  Right now the Valiant are looking good heading Stage 4 Week 2 and their B-Team has had their first taste of the Live Stage Yipps…

London Spitfire vs New York Excelsior

What we saw in this Match Series was a lot of “Sniping”.  No, seriously!  Saebyeolbe can play Widow, so he isn’t hindered by being a Tracer Player coming off the “Patch”, and Pine, the Big Boss, can hit headshots all day long.  And that’s pretty much what we saw.  Plus they have Jjonak on Zenyatta, who is an “Omni-God”.  And don’t forget about Libero on Junkrat and Hanzo.  The double Sniper is a real thing and NYXL wasn’t afraid of going for it.  They also played Brigitte to her full extent and with this kind of DMG dealing starting line up you just know they can get the “Kills”.  I’m sure that there are so many other storylines to talk about but I’m just going to say: Widow, AntiDive, then Dive.  Rinse and repeat!  That’s how New York played, basically whatever they could to get a Tactical Advantage.  They weren’t afraid of the “Dive” but they knew their Hero Compositions well enough to rotate around with these three different styles of play.  London would get a sweep “ending” Map Win on LiJiang Tower but other than that the Excelsior is just too good!  New York would capture the Win.  Feels john good man…  GG!

So that was the end of Week 1 Stage 4 of Overwatch League.  New York is still in 1st and Boston is still in 2nd, overall.  London, Philly, and Valiant are tied for 3rd!  It’s looking like it will come down to Map Differentials and you know I’m all for that!  This is the best of the best folks and there is nothing better than a close finish…  Week 2 starts on Wednesday at 7 pm EST on Twitch.tv and MLG.com.  And I can’t wait.  Cheers!

Overwatch League: Boston Uprising Loses To Houston In A High Noon Showdown

It was a marquee matchup on [Friday] with Boston Uprising vs Houston Outlaws.  Boston was coming off their 1st Loss in 14 Games.  Houston was coming off their epic beatdown against London Spitfire.  This H2H match was destined to be a good one.  And you just gotta say that someone was going to step up and be Player of the Game.  Last night’s Player of the Game had to be Linkzr.  He was Sniping with precision.  Something that we saw on Thursday against London.  He was just so good with multiple Map deciding “Kill Streaks”.  It all started on King’s Row where we saw the Outlaws dominate in the new Meta.

Before going into the Match they were asked what their thoughts were about the new “Patch”.  They responded by saying, “this really fits our playstyle.  [I’m] hoping that Brigitte stays in the Meta because if that happens then Tracer is not going to be played…. [I] don’t want to say that we don’t like Tracer but I don’t think anyone on our Team wants to play Tracer!  In Stage 4 the Map Pool is the biggest, like an advantage for us…”  The new “Patch” really changes Tracer play.  With that being said they seem to have a lot of confidence going into Stage 4.  And with what they showed last night they really limited the opposing Team’s Tracer.  With Brigitte now in the mix Tracers can’t really poke around and “Assassinate” squishy targets, like Support Heroes.  Her ability to boost Armor and Health really makes things challenging for opposing Teams.  Now let’s just jump right into the action.

Boston Uprising vs Houston Outlaws: King’s Row

This was statistically one of Boston’s Best Maps before the “Patch”.  But man, oh man, was Houston ready to rumble.  Both Teams went for the Widow duel and even the double Sniper in Hanso.  But Linkzr was ready for this.  He Sniped them out of Spawn and took the initiative to hunt down the opposing Widow Player, Mistakes.  Once he got him out of the way he had free range on the entire Map, plus he charged his “ULT” with “Infrared Sights”.  This ability basically allows your entire Team to see through walls and clearly see the opposing Team’s Heroes.  Once you have this it gives you so much leverage over the entire Map.  Linkzr used this well and got 13 Final Blows before the Uprising’s final push, to unlock the payload.  It was as if it were over before it ever began.  Houston would take the Point on their turn and Win the Map 1-0.

Boston Uprising vs Houston Outlaws: Hanamura

Boston’s worst Map was Map 2, Hanamura.  They came into it 0-6 on Map Wins.  Yikees!  Yeah, it’s no cakewalk for them.  It’s no Volskaya…  Where they really have trouble is where the choke points are.  Boston has trouble getting their Supports through the door.  And in OWL Supports are everything.  Last night we saw the same stumbling blocks.  They played a Tracer, with Striker, and moved their Supports down the side area.  But the problem with that is the Supports are cornered.  They just have nowhere to go once they lose a Tank or DPS.  And that right there is exactly what happened!  The Outlaws played Brigitte and stacked up their Armor for the fight.  Once they saw the Uprising was out of position they stomped on them.  It was textbook flanking…  Boston would get a Map Point out of it but that was all.  Brigitte is just too OP!  I mean really, she is the single most important Hero on the battlefield.  If she is being played, you might want to play her for your own Team.  Houston took their time to get the 2 Map Points.  Winning the Map 2-1.

Boston Uprising vs Houston Outlaws: Oasis

Right here we saw Pharah vs Pharah action.  It was the 1st time that we saw Striker on Pharah, he usually plays Tracer or Junkrat.  This was a hard-fought battle and Boston has, in the past, had good play on this Map.  In the end, the Pharah play was a good call as they took the Map.  I feel as though the Uprising need to play more Heroes.  I mean we saw Jake, for the Outlaws, play something like 8 different Heroes against them.  That Flex, flexibility, is exactly what the Uprising need.  They need to expand their Hero Pool and not just that but play them on a high level.  We know they like to play Tracer but it’s just not going to be viable in the coming Weeks.  Boston played an Orisa and it worked out well.  They Won the Map 2-1.

Boston Uprising vs Houston Outlaws: Gibraltar

This was the second weakest Map for the Uprising.  It’s a hard Map and I’m not going to lie, it’s not my favorite.  I feel like it’s a Widow happy type Map but it’s also an Escort Map.  Which means you constantly need to push the payload.  I don’t like how you have to push the “Cart” through a tunnel and then around and up to high ground.  It just makes it so easy for Widows, sight lines, and for the defensive Team in general.  Boston played their typical “Dive” composition.  It helped them capture Map Point A.  But they stalled out in the area before Map Point B.  I’m just going to say it, they got stuffed!  It was so disappointing… I was watching it and hoping for a Map 5.  But that all disintegrated once Brigitte got a “Rally ULT”.  Houston Outlaws “just had all the right moves,” as one of the caster’s, Ubershouts, said.  And that pretty much wrapped up the Series, Houston Won [3-1].

There is a much bigger story here, I’m sure, as Aimgod was one of Boston’s Starters.  It will be interesting to see what he brings to the Starting Team.  Last night he wasn’t too bad, it’s just that Houston had all the answers.  They played great and unlike other Teams, they are prepared to play the New Meta.  We all get “up in arms” when our Team loses but it’s only been 2 losses out of 16 games.  I’m sure that Boston will figure things out nest Week and play much better.  They are a really good Team.  They have good Management.  The way I see it, is that they just needed these 2 tough matches to see how to approach the game.

Overwatch League continues on Twitch.tv and MLG.com today at 4 pm EST.  First up it’s Philadelphia Fusion against Florida Mayhem.  Then at 6 pm EST it’s Shanghai Dragons against LA Valiant.  In Primetime at 8 pm EST we’ve got London Spitfire against New York Excelsior, which will be the best match of the day.  I expect to see some solid action out of the reigning Champs.  Perhaps they have this “Brigitte thing” figured out!  Good Luck out there guys!  Have Fun!

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