When the Overwatch League began earlier this year, teams were free to choose any heroes they desired. But after three stages, that's changed. When stage four began on July 25, the OWL introduced a role lock system.

The role lock system forces players to adhere to a 2-2-2 structure in their team compositions: two damage-dealing heroes, two tank heroes, and two support heroes. The new structure impacts all of Overwatch, even in casual play. But in the OWL, it works the same way as player substitution does, according to the league. Players can only play the role they are assigned to during games, but teams can switch up who is playing those roles between maps.

Atlanta Reign, Washington Justice, and San Francisco Shock are leading the rankings at the start of the 2-2-2 meta's introductory stage, but others, like the Dallas Fuel, are struggling.

Before the 2-2-2 lock, the OWL's meta was dominated by triple tank, triple support -- commonly called GOATS. As the dominant strategy, teams mostly stuck to the meta, but the role lock makes that impossible. You can't choose three supports or three tanks. It's caused upheaval in the standings, and it feels like anything could happen. In the first week of stage four, OWL fans saw play from all 30 heroes, OWL caster Wolf Schröder said on Twitter. Heading into the third week of play, things have started to settle and teams are getting a handle on what works for them.

During the first week of stage four, Dallas went up against London Spitfire and lost 3-1. The Dallas-based team found the same fate in its match against Los Angeles Valiant in the second week. (Dallas didn't do particularly well in stage three, earning only a single win, either. They played much better toward the start of the season.) In week three, they'll play Los Angeles Gladiators and San Francisco Shock, both of which are quite higher in the rankings. San Francisco has been thriving in the 2-2-2 meta in stage four, but the Gladiators are a more winnable match: they've got a 2-2 record in the stage. (A fitting number for the meta.)

The biggest problem for Dallas is the team's lack of flexibility. While Zachary "ZachaREEE" Lombardo is thriving in the meta -- particularly with his top-tier Mei play -- the team hasn't been able to adapt to the newest styles of play.

In particular, the meta's reliance on team play based around Orisa; in week one, both Ash "Trill" Powell and Son "OGE" Min-seok were severely outclassed by Jae-hee "Gesture" Hong. Dallas' other tank player, Lucas "NotE" Meissner, struggled playing Roadhog alongside his team's Orisa, too. This was on top of a switched-up DPS line, as Dylan "aKm" Bignet was out for the past week. He'll be back in play this week, and the team expects to swap between Timo "Taimou" Kettunen and him.

If Dallas can get its tank line playing consistently and find a way to adapt to the role lock, the Fuel will have a chance to win a few of their next five matches. And these next matches are crucial. They can still make the play-in tournament even after a rough start, but only if they start to succeed in the meta.

Dallas Fuel fans are likely hoping that Widowmaker comes even more into favor--we all know Dallas Fuel has top-tier Widowmaker players in Taimou and aKm.

On Twitter: @sweetpotatoes

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