The shields went up, then the ladder, and the Los Angeles Gladiators successfully laid siege to the Overwatch League behind their braggadocious recruit Fissure, landing at #3 in the Stage 2 standings. Meanwhile, xQc’s time with the Dallas Fuel ended, the Shanghai Dragons finally won a map, and America’s darling Houston Outlaws woke up a little with a reverse-sweep against the Florida Mayhem. Last week was an insightful, messy peak to Stage 2’s drama and its ensuing data and storylines set a shaky stage for this week’s rankings. Week 9 should feature some very telling and exciting matchups, particularly with regards to the top teams, as the Seoul Dynasty face the New York Excelsior and London Spitfire.

* All statistics courtesy of Winston’s Lab unless otherwise noted. *

12. Shanghai Dragons

All of twitch chat’s energy finally helped the Dragons to a map win! Unfortunately, until Diya returns and the new recruits (Geguri, Fearless, and Ado) arrive — Shanghai’s spot at #12 is virtually guaranteed. Technically, the team had its best week yet, going 1-7 on maps against a hungry Uprising and red-hot Dynasty, but the latter only fielded their B-Team and the Dragons only won 28.5% of their fights in Week 8. FiveKing finally played well on Lucio though, so that should be a little encouraging ahead of this week’s brutal matchups: the Fusion and Excelsior.

11. Dallas Fuel

The team’s best Winston player (and self-proclaimed “walking twitch-chat”) xQc is now a full-time streamer, their historically consistent main tank Cocco is mysteriously absent, and their new main tank Taimou had this to say about playing the large scientist: “I fucking hate playing Winston.” Against the Mayhem and Shock, two of the league’s lowest ranked teams, the Fuel went 0-2, a combined 2-6 on maps, and only their star Tracer EFFECT finished the week with a positive K/D. While Seagull reportedly practices D.Va in secret, Dallas is losing games while messing around with strats like a Roadhog/D.Va double off-tank defense on Volskaya Industries and a Bastion/Mei attack strat on King’s Row. Rascal and aKm are playing pretty well, EFFECT is eating (was the only played besides Florida’s Logix with a 2+ K/D in their match), but the team struggles to keep its supports alive (against San Francisco, Chipshajen and HarryHook died a combined 35 more times than the Shock’s supports) and its tank play has looked inconsistent at best. As Custa explained: “You can’t build around a player, especially a main tank player who is very important to the roster, who has the potential to get suspended at any given notice.” xQc could never properly integrate with the team as suspensions denied his practice time so hopefully the Fuel are ready to move on and start actually building something substantial.

10. Florida Mayhem

In a very rowdy week, the Mayhem celebrated the arrival of their new off-tank Zappis by following up their reverse-sweep loss to the Houston Outlaws with a reverse-sweep of their own against the nebulous Dallas Fuel. 1-1 with 5-5 on maps looks absolutely neutral, as does winning an average of 49.5% of fights, but their TviQ and Logix DPS duo had their first legitimately nasty week alongside some impressive Manneten D.Va play. In their loss against the Outlaws, those three were the only Floridians to post a positive K/D as TviQ popped off for a nutty 66 eliminations (tied with LiNkzr for the game-high, but on 9 less deaths). Then, to beat the Fuel, TviQ and Logix combined for 120 eliminations (on 70 deaths), as Manneten chipped in 51 (on 28 deaths). They should struggle against both Los Angeles teams this week, but the more experience the better as they await their Korean reinforcements.

9. San Francisco Shock

The Shock had a weird week, 3-0’ing the sloppy Fuel and getting swept by the steady Excelsior for a 1-1 in the win/loss column and a 3-4-1 on maps. The Fuel matchup was a stomp, with San Francisco winning 64% of the game’s fights and notching 13% more eliminations. The team has some interesting lineup choices to make moving forward as X6-Gaming’s Genji-extraordinaire Architect, Toronto eSports support Moth, and the 17-year-old Sinatraa all approach eligibility — especially since starting Tracer Danteh has been on a tear recently. Against Dallas, Danteh went 66-18 for an absurd 3.7 K/D, and although the stats for the NYXL matchup were messed up (only recorded one map), of the stats that are available: Danteh had the game’s second-highest K/D behind New York’s Saebyeolbe.

8. Boston Uprising

Just like the Shock, the Uprising faced both a bottom-tier and top-tier team last week and performed accordingly going 1-1, 4-4 on maps, in sweeps of the Dragons and at the hands of the Spitfire. Unlike the Shock, the team’s main tank (Gamsu) is still taking time off in Korea. The Shanghai matchup was ugly, as Boston won 79% of the game’s fights and DreamKazper tried to deal with the team’s Widowmaker woes (as I prefaced last week) by playing the hero himself and notching 15 eliminations with only 4 deaths. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of Boston’s Top-5 Tracer Striker and intriguing DPS sub Mistakes, the team and particularly its tanks tumbled to earth in a stomp by the Spitfire. DreamKazper posted a 13-14 K/D on Widowmaker against London as his counterpart Birdring notched 16-5, just a nudge away from the 15-4 Kazper had against Shanghai — and thus Boston went from competing with top-tier teams in Stage 1 to feeling like the Diya-less Dragons against them.

7. Philadelphia Fusion

They had the worst schedule of any team last week, facing the Dynasty (3-1 loss) and Excelsior (3-1 loss), but this week they should right the ship against the struggling Dragons and Fuel. Philadelphia put up a good fight in each match, winning 42.5% of fights on average, but the team’s former issues reemerged as Fragi returned to feeding (40 eliminations, 68 deaths) despite the Carpe/Eqo DPS duo posting a positive K/D in each matchup. The team did show some interesting promise with Fragi on Reinhardt and Boombox on Moira in a King’s Row win against the Dynasty, but they really need to use this week to find some legitimate cohesion with their Scandinavian Winston.

6. Houston Outlaws

Houston’s problems are real. They got fully rolled and swept by the Valiant, winning just 36% of the game’s fights as all three DPS (LiNkzr: 24-39, Jake: 23-26, and Clockwork: 2-5) posted negative K/D and their main tank Muma went 15-29 while his counterpart Fate comfortably put up 25-17. Against the bottom-tier Mayhem, the team struggled to win 3-2 and only won 6% more fights despite a strong performance by Rawkus (Winston’s Lab Player of the Match for his Zenyatta play). Tracer is the most important hero in Overwatch right now, and the Outlaws cannot figure her out: Jake has the second-lowest damage per 10 minutes as Tracer in the league, Clockwork has the lowest, and DPS sub Mendokusaii has been grinding the hero but hasn’t seen the stage yet. Houston definitely needs to start figuring things out before Stage 1 phenom LiNkzr gives in to the tilt: “Everything goes kind of south for me when I personally don’t play well and I start shutting down … It’s like a ticking time bomb ready to explode on the team.”

5. Los Angeles Valiant

The Valiant have a winning formula for the Stage 2 meta: cohesive dive-tanks and a top-tier Tracer. The team was punched in the mouth and swept by the rival, Fissure-led Gladiators — but the Valiant only won 7% less fights and notched 5% less kills as off-tank Envy, support-turned-DPS Kariv, and the league’s craftiest Tracer SoOn posted positive K/D. Los Angeles then swept Houston, winning 64% of the match’s fights as the same big three all popped off. Envy was the highest-ranked Winston’s Lab player in each match, Unkoe is a top-tier Zenyatta and Ana, and Kariv is starting to prove that his DPS is legit. The Valiant seem to be for real, but they cannot slip up this week against the Mayhem and Uprising.

4. Los Angeles Gladiators

The hottest team in Overwatch is helmed by the self-proclaimed most handsome and best main tank: Fissure. The Gladiators had an ugly Week 8 schedule, facing the Valiant and Spitfire — but they came out 2-0, 7-1 on maps, and won 11% more fights than their opponents despite only getting 5% more eliminations. The disparity between their fight- and kill-rates corroborates the impact of a new main tank: the team’s coordination is their advantage, not their DPS output. With the space and cohesion created by Fissure’s leadership and mechanics, Asher has started to pop off (94-47 on the week), Shaz and BigGoose have room to breathe, and the team can compensate for its off-DPS Hydration and Surefour’s inconsistencies. In the grudge match against the London Spitfire, Stage 1 champions and Fissure’s former team, the confident tank went 29-21 while opposing main tank Gesture put up 27-36. It’s no wonder that the spicy Winston thinks London wants him back. Off-tank Bischu is playing well, but the Gladiators might get even scarier if the rumored signing of Fissure’s former Kongdoo Panthera teammate, off-tank Void, comes true.

3. London Spitfire

As is tradition, the Spitfire are in their mid-Stage rut, playing around with different lineups while losing some maps and games. As is not tradition, their two best subs (Fissure and Rascal) and their head coach Bishop (reportedly for “interpersonal disconnect”) are gone. They still stomped the Uprising, winning 67% of the match’s fights as Birdring dominated with a match-leading 68 eliminations (on 30 deaths). But the Gladiators grudge match against their former tank sub Fissure was ugly, as they lost 1-3 and gave their entire roster (ten different players) minutes. That lineup inconsistency showed in their play as London won 15% less fights despite only getting 5% less kills than Los Angeles. The Spitfire have about three of their starting lineup figured out (Birdring, Profit, and Gesture), but will start losing ground in the ranks if they don’t iron the rest out soon.

2. Seoul Dynasty

Undefeated in Stage 2, the new meta has revitalized the Dynasty and they are back to looking like one of the league’s best. In Week 8, their B-Team stomped the Diya-less Dragons 3-1, winning 64% of the game’s fights on the back of Tracer-sub Bunny’s obnoxious 4.5 K/D before their A-Team comfortably beat the Fusion 3-1, winning 56% of the game’s fights as Fleta returned to form (2.2 K/D) while Munchkin and Zunba continued their impressive stage. Zunba is on fire this stage, but Seoul surprisingly lost the only time he returned to his trademark Zarya on King’s Row. Nevertheless, Seoul has hit their stride and has an opportunity to prove their worth against some ridiculous matchups this week: the Excelsior and Spitfire.

1. New York Excelsior

New York would probably also be undefeated if ArK hadn’t been hurt. The team’s roster size is a double-edged sword: they are Overwatch’s most consistent team, but also one of the most susceptible to injury issues. Fortunately, their Academy team XL2 has impressed and might prove to be a good source for substitute players. Currently, the Excelsior boast Overwatch’s best support duo (ArK and JJoNak) and most flexible DPS (Libero) as well as arguably its best Tracer (Saebyeolbe) and top tank duo (Mano and Meko). Meanwhile, main-tank sub Janus is finally looking comfortable and DPS sub Pine is the wildest x-factor in esports. The team went 2-0 last week, 7-1 on maps, and won 61.5% of its fights. Until JJoNak stops posting absolutely absurd stats on Zenyatta (against the Shock he went 89-20 for a 4.5 K/D with 32k damage, 33k healing, and 23 final blows on the Shock’s DPS), the Excelsior will continue to seem like they’re fielding 7 players each match and continue sitting at #1.

* Words by Théo Salaun aka Tepojama, who can be reached for questions and criticisms alike on twitter *

* Featured image courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment *