Stewart Volland For Blizzard Entertainment

New York stomped Boston to deafening chants of "Boston sucks!" from a sold-out crowd. Later, they loudly, proudly cheered "MVP" for their untouchable superstar and 2018 league MVP.

A commentator noted how new it was for New York sports fans to chant the latter and, of course, was met with thunderous boos—just as Boston was when introduced.

Most New York sports may have been in disarray for the past decade, but the city is rallying behind its first esports team: the Excelsior. After about four-and-a-half months of vacation, the Overwatch League is back for the 2020 season, its third, but its first (and esports' first) using a geo-located format.

The 2020 total prize purse is set at $5 million and, if Week 1 was any indication, that money will be explosively fought over by myriad dueling compositions.

Having spent what felt like eons in a rumbling GOATS meta, Week 1 delivered a variety of strats, highlight plays and pop-off performances—most notably from a retooled New York Excelsior team whose play was (nearly) as loud as its fans.

The most-played heroes seem to be Reinhardt, D.Va, Mei, McCree, Lucio and Ana, but 24 different heroes saw over a minute of playtime in the first day alone, and fans even got to delight in what would have felt impossible last season: 12 different heroes at one time in the same game.

Here's how it all shook out and how New York was able to bring the noise in 2020.

Saturday, February 8

Toronto Defiant 3 - 1 Paris Eternal

London Spitfire 1 - 3 New York Excelsior

Los Angeles Gladiators 2 - 3 Vancouver Titans

Los Angeles Valiant 3 - 1 Dallas Fuel

Sunday, February 9

London Spitfire 0 - 3 Paris Eternal

Boston Uprising 0 - 3 New York Excelsior

Los Angeles Valiant 0 - 3 Vancouver Titans

San Francisco Shock 3 - 1 Dallas Fuel

Full scores and standings available at the league's official site.





Saturday, February 8

Although Paris was shredded in the weekend's first match by Toronto's DPS rotation, helmed by Surefour and Logix (who had the snipe of the weekend), the Eternal's rookie DPS, Xzi, proved what would be a lasting truth: McCree is back.

New York then rolled London, but the latter's mechanically blessed, deadlifting rookie DPS, Glister, helped steal a map off NYXL through hitscan prowess on McCree and, in spots, Widowmaker.

NYXL's support and tank lines dominated, but the DPS contest was close. While new flex tank Hotba repeatedly dropped fat, momentum-shifting D.Va bombs and the support line outplayed London's (NYXL's support duo had 17 final blows on Horizon Lunar Colony; London's had zero)—Glister proved such a nuisance that the Excelsior's DPS, Nenne, had to swap away from the Widowmaker duel and pull out a filthy Tracer performance to keep the former in check.

When asked how comfortable he was in the Widowmaker duel prior to Nenne's swap, Glister's confidence was as clear as the sniper hero's ultimate makes her opponents: "I actually don't know how to lose Widow 1 v. 1's."

As attested to by recurring "Hotba" chants (yes, they chant...a lot), the fans are excited, too. And understandably so given the new Big Boss' big bombs.

Saturday's matches continued in Dallas, where the Gladiators put up a tremendous fight against the Titans. Former Spitfire star Birdring had an impressive debut for Los Angeles as his teammate, LhCloudy, dropped the weekend's fattest shatter. But ultimately, the Titans (and their nano-blading, wholesome Genji, Haksal) were too talented to lose.

Saturday finished with a literal bang as the Los Angeles Valiant blew up the Dallas Fuel and McGravy threw (with the help of his main tank, Gig) what may end up being the season's biggest D.Va bomb, a full 6K.

Sunday, February 9

Despite running two main tanks, the Eternal's best tanking performance during their Sunday sweep of the Spitfire may have come from their Mei, Nicodgh, as he cleverly used an ice block to save a sleeping Benbest from Bernar's D.Va bomb.

But the frags didn't stop there as New York returned to the stage against the rival Boston Uprising, who were met with an onslaught of boos before Jjonak's chants took over.

And that was followed by an absolute onslaught of nostalgia for New York fans as the fan-favorite Saebyeolbe fragged out on Tracer and former MVP JJoNak comfortably 1 v. 1'd everyone from Boston's Lucio to their Reaper.

Boston has two weeks to lick its wounds and regroup for its next match, and maybe it'll have a fresh DPS option by then. Jerry, the ultimate fan favorite and snow-shoe pioneer, may see his stage debut sooner rather than later.

When asked about Jerry, Boston's head coach, Mineral, stated that "we feel like he's very mechanically skilled. I wouldn't rule it out that he makes his stage debut very soon."

Finally, the Overwatch League 2020 season's debut weekend capped off in Dallas with drubbings by last season's two grand finalists: the Titans and Shock. Replacing star main tank Bumper with the formerly retired Fissure has not slowed Vancouver, as they 3-0'd the formerly impressive Valiant.

As for the Shock's game against the Fuel, Dallas' Decay maintained the weekend's trend of dominant McCree play, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Shock's talent and synergy—especially considering San Francisco's performance from Architect, who flexed from DPS onto Ana and outclassed lifelong supports along the way.

McCree is definitely back, across the board. Dive is sometimes back, like Toronto's day-one defense on Horizon Lunar Colony and NYXL's day-two attack on Temple of Anubis.

Genji, Ana, Symmetra, D.Va, Tracer—it is an expansive list of heroes that made their return to play after the dark, horned ages. And, considering the upcoming hero bans and aggressive patching by Blizzard, the list of heroes that define the meta should continue to fluctuate widely in 2020.

For New York fans, though, this season will be defined solely by their team.

Main support Anamo was asked if the team had benefited from playing weaker opponents to start the season and clapped that analysis all the way back to Boston: "There is definitely no easy team in the league. I want to show the fans that there is no strong teams; there is only the New York Excelsior team. … The word 'strong' is going to be erased; the word will be 'Excelsior.'"