Best Bets: what to expect from Overwatch League Stage 2 Week 1

The Overwatch League’s first stage taught us several lessons about which teams we can depend on and which teams are risky business depending on the week. This last playoff weekend also shown a significant light on a few teams that have flown under the radar. Seoul Dynasty and San Francisco Shock’s stock grew exponentially after their showing, but that doesn’t mean things are subject to change in this new meta.

Boston Uprising vs Atlanta Reign – Day 1

In our first day into Stage Two, both Boston and Atlanta have plenty to prove in these next few weeks after their playoff ambitions were cut short. In this match up, both teams have made trades in the transition period after Dafran parted ways with Atlanta Reign, and Lucas “NotE” Meissner was traded to the Dallas Fuel in exchange for Richard “rCk” Kanerva.

In Dafran’s absence, Atlanta Reign wasted little time in resupplying the hype for their fan base as they picked up Andrej “babybay” Francisty and Nathan “frd” Goebel at Flex Support. Babybay enjoyed a fruitful spell at SF Shock last year but has seen little playing time in Season Two with Shock’s stacked lineup. In this new setting, the American DPS main can finally spread his wings on a team that needs his consistency. Reign have also penned down Daniel “FunnyAstro” Hathaway as a Two-way player for the rest of the season.

When it comes down to this head-to-Head, the collective strength of Atlanta Reign should put them just barely ahead over their counterparts. Yes, Boston Uprising did well to retain the services of their best player Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth, but they will need much more than just his consistent play to get a win over a refocused Atlanta Reign roster that is looking for some legitimacy in this post-Dafran era.

Los Angeles Gladiators vs Seoul Dynasty – Day 3

Day Three of Overwatch League this coming week may have our juiciest match up of the entire week as Los Angeles Gladiators square off against the Korean juggernauts themselves. Seoul Dynasty made a splash lay last Stage taking away a series from NYXL while barely letting them compete. This time around Los Angeles Gladiators have much more confidence in their roster and coaching staff.

The first few weeks of LAG’s season were plagued by communication issues because people simply weren’t on the same page. After Week 4, something started to click for this team and suddenly their stock grew exponentially heading into Stage Two. Either way, confidence often times isn’t a valuable virtue in the Overwatch League.

Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek still holds an outstanding record in the Overwatch League of never losing to his former teams. In this scenario, Fissure lives out his own fantasy as the bane of all his old teams existence. Look for that trend to continue this weekend as Seoul Dynasty look to legitimize their playoff push with some valuable wins this Stage.

Chengdu Hunters vs Paris Eternal – Day 3

At the beginning of Stage One, this match up would probably be 10 times easier to call, but given Chengdu’s recent run of form, the coin flip remains strong with this featured bout.

Paris Eternal came into this season with so much hype, but their prospects have waned a little bit now that the meta has established itself. This game remains a toss up because of Stage Two’s meta yet to be established and basically any route to victory becomes a plausible one.

At the end of it all, Paris Eternal are still the more solid team from top to bottom. Chengdu Hunters are a resilient group that know how to make series difficult for their opponent, but at this moment, Paris have too much quality for the Chinese roster to overcome. Look for Paris to get acquainted early on with the new hero, Baptiste, as this game will surely be a contentious one.