It’s a quiet week at the end of the first half of Stage 2. Most matches went as predicted, save one glaring exception that I’ll get to later. And this week wasn’t too terribly exciting either, with six of the 12 matches this week being 4-0 sweeps. But score doesn’t always convey skill or lack thereof. Some of those teams on the zero end of the 4-0 played really well, just not well enough to win. Here’s what was worth paying attention to during Stage 2 Week 2.
Week 2 Day 1
Match of the Day
Dallas Fuel vs. Seoul Dynasty
Seoul and Dallas met with perfect 2-0 Stage 2 records and both were looking to keep the streak going. Seoul played extremely aggressive, hunting down player kills for maximum carnage. This unexpected aggression unbalanced the Dallas defense enough to secure them the win but the Fuel didn’t just gutter out. They were able to exploit the strategic weaknesses Seoul exposed in their playstyle, splitting the team up for easy picks and easy points. And if Dallas can do that, London and New York definitely will. If Seoul wants to reestablish the Dynasty they need to clean up their plays and exercise a little patience.
Week 2 Day 2
Match of the Day
Philadelphia Fusion vs. Houston Outlaws
If London is the only team that can beat New York, Philadelphia is the only team (sorta) who can beat Houston. Yes, London also beat Houston in a heart breaking 3-1 match during the Stage 1 finals, but that rivalry is a little more balanced. Houston will beat London, London will beat Houston and the cycle begins anew. However, every time Philadelphia meets Houston, Philadelphia wins. They have an incredible defense that was able to lock down Houston in full holds or near full holds (check out Hollywood and Route 66). And ShaDowBurn has the patience of a monk on Genji, saving his Dragonblade to the exact moment when unleashing it will cause havoc in the Outlaws’ back line. The Fusion is a perfectly middling team, literally, they’re six out of 12. Occasionally, however, they do have strokes of Overwatch genius. This match against Houston is one of those genius moments.
Week 2 Day 3
Match of the Day
??? vs. ???
It was really tough trying to choose a match to highlight for today. You’d think I would save this designation for tomorrow with its complete sweep, every match going 4-0. But there’s always that one day in the Stage that’s just ho-hum and that’s today. Every team performed as expected with too little deviation to warrant special attention. Dallas didn’t get frozen out by the Valiant and, surprisingly, the Gladiators didn’t get frozen out by Seoul. But even looking at the individual map scores (remember, overall scores paint a poor picture of the match) I still can’t see anything that jumps out.
Week 2 Day 4
Match of the Day
Houston Outlaws vs. New York Excelsior
Come for the promise of an exciting five map-match, stay to have that promise broken. Houston took some well earned revenge against London last week, but a true test of their might and mettle would come against the New York Excelsior. This was hard to watch, as Houston struggled against New York. And while ArK’s still recovering from injury, his Ana plays, sleeping enemies before they could kill him, were more than enough to just shut Houston out completely. I don’t like highlighting 4-0 matches. After all, watching shutouts are never fun. But sometimes there’s an odd elegance to watching a good beatdown. With Houston, it wasn’t that they played poorly, New York just played that much better.
Final Thoughts
I was really looking forward to the Houston/New York match. I wanted to see how well the best team in the League fared against the best team that’s not Seoul or London. I was dissapointed. I was shocked to see Overwatch’s middle child completely stun that self-same best team that’s not New York, Seoul, or London. The Houston Outlaws had a bad week. They’re obviously and statistically not the best team, but they are the team that has the biggest chance of upsetting the London/New York/Seoul Triumvirate. If every map matters, this week was their stumbling block. Next week they face the Valiant who are the highest ranking ‘Western’ team, making it the match to watch for the week.
It’ll be some time before new hotfixes including everybody’s favorite child Brigitte hits the Overwatch League, but if you just can’t wait, check out our Overwatch Wiki for more information.
Ashley Parrish
Ash is a part-time writer/full-time gamer and has managed to successfully combine the two hobbies into one profession. She enjoys RPGs of all stripes and dreams of being a competitive Triple Triad player.