Another quick rundown of this week’s Overwatch League action from both the east and west regions. Let’s go:
LA Valiant 3-2 Philly Fusion (Match of the Week)
Fusion looked absolutely dominant for 2 maps and then somehow Ezhan took over and Valiant pulled off an unlikely comeback. Marve1 seems to be an amazing addition to the Valiant roster. Belosrea played Hog at one point. Don’t play Hog.
Seoul Dynasty 3-2 Chengdu Hunters
A back-and-forth affair featured a few painful c9s from Chengdu that ultimately led to Seoul taking the series. Mmonk and Nisha look very comfortable playing Zen-Ana and Leave’s Sojourn is a strong factor for this Chengdu team. Still, Profit is unmatched on Tracer in the East region and Seoul leaned on him to secure the win.
London Spitfire 3-0 NYXL
It appears NYXL is still a very bad team. They had no answer for either the Hadi-Backbone or Poko-Shax lineups that London threw at them, and Spitfire continued to use their strong team play to overwhelm a weaker opponent.
Dallas Fuel 3-0 Florida Mayhem
After a tough week 7, Dallas seems to have found the composition and lineup they want to play. With Guriyo on Sojourn and Fearless on Winston and Ball, Dallas was able to comfortably handle Florida’s dive and rush compositions and cruise to a 3-0 sweep.
Atlanta Reign 3-1 Vancouver Titans
On map 1, Aspire looked like prime Striker on Tracer, absolutely carving up the Reign backline and landing pulse bomb after pulse bomb. Then, he started to play like a normal human and the talent differential between the two teams swung the game back in Reign’s favor as Kai continued to play well on Sojourn.
Hangzhou Spark 3-0 Guangzhou Charge
Charge is the worst team in the east region by a pretty wide margin, it seems. Develop continues to struggle and the rest of the team just looks uninspiring. Rio and Crong have had some nice moments but overall the Charge has a long way to go before they become relevant.
Seoul Dynasty 3-0 Shanghai Dragons
As I predicted, playing double flex-support makes Dragons worse. I did not, however, think it would get this bad. Without Leejaegon Shanghai seems to be missing something crucial, as Bebe and Izayaki were unable to prevent Profit from running all over the Dragons, leading to a clean 3-0 for Seoul.
Chengdu Hunters 3-1 Philly Fusion
Philly seems completely lost. Belosrea once again picked Hog. Hog never works. Chengdu being able to let Ga9a loose on Winston and Ball has given Jinmu and Leave the space they need to rack up kills and follow up on Mmonk’s discord orbs.
Toronto Defiant 3-1 Washington Justice
The good news for Justice is that they realized they can just play Happy-Decay on every map and DPS diff every other team in the league. The bad news is that the tank play of Kalios and Mag still needs work and Krillin and Opener are nothing special. Muze dominated this match and if he continues to play this well Defiant should be able to compete with the better teams in the region.
SF Shock 3-1 Atlanta Reign
Ojee is not a flex support player. Viol2t is one of the best flex support players to ever play the game. Atlanta trying to mirror double flex support against Shock did not work out, as Atlanta was only able to compete when they could put Ojee on Brig. On Ana and Bap, Atlanta simply could not match Shock’s impact.
Dallas Fuel 3-0 Vancouver Titans
Aspire played quite well once again, but there’s not much he could’ve done to overcome the massive talent and coordination advantage Dallas held in this match. Titans have looked better this stage, but that’s up from being absolutely awful early on.
LA Valiant 3-1 Guangzhou Charge
Marve1 continues to be a huge boost to the Valiant roster, playing well enough against Rio and Crong to allow Ezhan to dominate the DPS matchup. Farway1987 hasn’t looked quite as good on Zen as last year, but that may have something to do with him being on a worse team.
Hangzhou Spark 3-0 Shanghai Dragons
Without Lip and Fleta both playing at an MVP level, Dragons need someone else to step up. So far, they haven’t found anyone to fill that hole. Lip, unable to play his best heroes on most maps, has not been the absolute superstar he was last season.
SF Shock 3-1 Florida Mayhem
Florida tried to counter Proper by putting Xzi in on Sojourn, but this was not enough as the support players on Shock continued to show that they are a major strength for the team. SirMajed has been an interesting player to watch so far, but he’s not quite on the level of Viol2t or Finn, and it showed in this match.
LA Gladiators 3-0 Houston Outlaws
Houston Outlaws committed 2 of the worst C9s in OWL history on the first two maps before their mentals shattered and they got full held on Eichenwalde. Other than that, Houston seemed to understand the meta and their own strengths and weaknesses pretty well, in particular doing a great job playing around ANS’ Widowmaker on Gibraltar.
Boston Uprising 3-0 Paris Eternal
After showing some life in last week’s win over NYXL, Paris fell flat in this brutal sweep at the hands of a competent, if not spectacular, Boston Uprising. Wub and Dove are the worst DPS duo in the west region by a wide margin. Boston seemed to have found their preferred lineup going forward, which should help bring some consistency to this team.
Team of the Week (West): Dallas Fuel
Player of the Week (West): FiNN (Flex Support, SFS)
Team of the Week (East): Seoul Dynasty
Player of the Week (East): Ezhan (Damage, LAV)
Power Rankings
West
- LA Gladiators (+0)
- SF Shock (+0)
- Dallas Fuel (+1)
- Atlanta Reign (-1)
- Houston Outlaws (+0)
- London Spitfire (+0)
- Florida Mayhem (+1)
- Toronto Defiant (+1)
- Washington Justice (-2)
- Boston Uprising (+0)
- Vancouver Titans (+2)
- Paris Eternal (-1)
- NYXL (-1)
East
- Seoul Dynasty (+0)
- Hangzhou Spark (+2)
- Chengdu Hunters (+3)
- Shanghai Dragons (-2)
- LA Valiant (+0)
- Philly Fusion (-3)
- Guangzhou Charge (+0)
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