What We Learned: OWL Week 1 Day 2

Observations from a fan new to profressional Overwatch

Adjustments made easy. The Spitfire faltered a bit in their regular season debut as they gave a game away to the Mayhem who were thought of as a weak team coming into the season based on their preseason performance, or lack thereof. But things quickly turned around for the Spitfire as the series went on as they showed their ability to read comps and react well enough to let them overcome some moments when they appeared stuck. The Spitfire chose to field a roster mixing their two core squads and it proved effective enough, although some on the analyst desk said they thought the squad they fielded in the preseason was stronger. Profit and Birdring, the DPS for the spitfire performed extremely well on a variety of champions and landed crucial ultimates, particularly Profit’s performance on Genji on Anubis and Birdring showing his flexibility causing chaos on Roadhog. It’s hard for me, someone new, to really recognize the impact of tanks and healers in some cases but Bdosin made some great picks with Zenyata and Gesture single handedly allowed the Spitfire to hold A on Oasis with a 5 man Earthshatter flank as Mayhem attempted to take back the point. London, like fellow favorite Seoul, started a bit slow but ramped up to an impressive performance taking the series 3–1.

McDonalds stock rises. The Mayhem came into the season being trashed by many commentators as their preseason performance was lackluster. The Mayhem exceeded expectations immediately as they took the first map, Dorado, off of London. Cwoosh played Winston perfectly disrupting their backline time and time again allowing Logix, Tviq, and Manneten on D.va to shred the backline and progress the payload to take the round. The Mayhem lost every other map but played much better then expected although it appeared as if they went into a map with a strategy and then had trouble adjusting once London reacted. Mayhem looked like they could surprise down the stretch against less than top-tier competition and looked considerably better than their preseason performance. The lack of depth for the Mayhem, fielding only 6 members on the roster is a concern and will likely cost them a few games throughout the split. Their performance against top-table London Spitfire showed that they could push for a playoff spot.

Brotherly love bonds quickly. The Philadelphia Fusion were a large unknown coming into the season due to their absence at preseason and as a result were ranked pretty low coming into the match. Stangely enough, it could be said that the Fusion played with more chemistry than any other team thus far in the first week. Making no substitutions and employing a consistent strategy across all maps, the Fusion found ways to win and took down the favored Outlaws. Fusion looked most impressive on Oasis and Tower, control maps that showcase individual mechanical skill more so than some of the other types of maps. Carpe played an incredible Tracer which was impactful every match especially when paired with Shadowburn’s superb Genji and Pharah. Poko played the most obnoxious D.Va landing over a dozen kills with his ultimate including a crucial triple kill. Fragi’s Reinhart faltered a bit mainly due to meta but his Winston was consistently getting to the back line and protecting the supports as Poko plays a more aggressive D.va. It felt as if the Philly supports, Boombox and Neptuno, outplayed the Outlaws supports as a whole. Boombox was pressuring with Zenyatta and Neptuno kept the team health bars full as well as pulling of a battle mercy triple kill much to the chagrin of the Outlaws. The Fusion looked pretty solid, exceeding expectations of the community, although it could be said that if the fifth map wasn’t a control map it could have gone the other way. Philly look to challenge for a playoff spot as they start the season 1–0 by beating the Outlaws 3–2.

No Control. The Houston Outlaws are a fan favorite and were the favorite coming into this match and despite a good showing, bringing the match to overtime, they ultimately couldn’t keep up with Philadelphia on the control maps. They gave up the third map, Oasis, without putting a single point on the board. Pretty boy and the apple of Blizzards eye, Jake, performed consistently well on Junkrat, Pharah, and Soldier 76, though I would say he was still the third best DPS player in the server. Linkzr could only seem to get going on McCree where he was regularly bringing people down. Coolmatt plays a more passive D.va and Poko was dominating most of the maps so it was hard to get a read on him, but the Fusion repeatedly found their way to the support line of the Outlaws time and time again. Houston looked like a good team that will be fighting for a playoff spot as well. It appears that the middle table of this league is going to be stacked with possibilities which should make for a very fun late season.

Uprising stunted. The Boston Uprising are a team that has completely accepted the underdog role and have chosen to play with a chip on their shoulder. While perhaps exceeding expectations by taking a map off of New York, the revolution burnt out fairly quickly. The uprising chose to employ a dive comp focused strategy that was spotted out by the Excelsior time and time again and as a result, couldn’t get past the Excelsior. Striker performed well on Tracer as expected and Dreamkazper had some impressive moments on Genji, but as a whole the Excelsior outplayed the Uprising at every position. One thing noted by the commentators at times was that Boston would play a bit sloppy and die in poor positions, not allowing Kellex on the Mercy to rez them consistently. It is still noteworthy that a western team took a map off one of the three Korean giants, but the Uprising still seem to have a lot of room to grow. Looking as if they will not be a serious contender for a playoff spot at this time but with lots of upside they could surprise.

A taste of Pine. The Excelsior are a favorite to make the play offs and place top-table and are one of the aforementioned Korean giants. Saebyeolbe, a DPS player, is a favorite for MVP heading into the season and he showed why. Impressive performances on the holy trinity of DPS currently of Widowmaker, Tracer, and McCree made him a thorn in the side of the Uprising through every map. But even he had to step aside as the spotlight shined on Pine during his only playtime on Ilios. Pine employed a completely dominant McCree that shut down DreamKazpers Pharah and stunted any push by Boston on the points. One has to ask why Pine wasn’t played more as he clearly dominated. Where they just that confident in the match-up and wanted Libero to cause chaos on Junkrat and get some playtime, or did they not measure the impact of Pine properly? I’d expect to see Pine really shine in some marque match-ups featuring the Excelsior. JJonak also played an impressive Zenyatta, making some clutch picks and proper ult management. The Excelsior took the series 3–1 and appeared to outplay the Uprising at every position. New York confirmed the hype surrounding them as they should be expected to place top-table and secure a playoff spot fairly early.