OWL Power Rankings – Stage 2 Week 1
A new Stage has begun in the Overwatch League; nerfs have kicked in, player transfers have happened, and it’s like we’re in a whole new game now. Some teams are stepping it up, while others are showing signs of slowing down. Let’s rank the teams based on their recent performances.
1: Houston Outlaws
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 3
Match Record (W-L): 9-3
Map Differential: +22
Next Week’s Schedule: Philadelphia Fusion, New York Excelsior
Houston has most definitely proved that it’s not just a patch team that heavily relies on the Junkrat-Mercy meta. While most of their victories came from the exceptional Junkrat play on the part of Jake, the Houston Outlaws started Stage 2 with a bang by winning over the London Spitfire and Boston Uprising with a fantastic tank line from Coolmatt, Muma, and Spree. Incidentally, Jake was also looking very sharp with his Tracer play, too. Houston seems to have all the answers right now, and they’re definitely a scary contender to watch out for.
2: London Spitfire
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 1
Match Record (W-L): 8-4
Map Differential: +15
Next Week’s Schedule: Florida Mayhem, Philadelphia Fusion
London Spitfire might have been our Stage 1 champions, but they sputtered a little in their rematch against the Houston Outlaws. The match went to a game five on Ilios, where the Outlaws completely outclassed them and took two maps in one fell swoop. The Spitfire fared a little better in their next match against the Excelsior, though it was a close one that ended on a game five as well. The Spitfire has a slightly easier schedule this week against the Mayhem, though they’ll definitely need to be careful with the Fusion.
3: New York Excelsior
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 2
Match Record (W-L): 10-2
Map Differential: +22
Next Week’s Schedule: Boston Uprising, Houston Outlaws
Once hailed as the best team in the Overwatch League, the New York Excelsior is finally showing a few weaknesses as they suffered their second loss in the season to the London Spitfire, if we’re not counting the playoffs match. They’re still in a pretty good spot for now, but they’ve got a scary match-up against the Houston Outlaws coming next week.
4: Seoul Dynasty
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 4
Match Record (W-L): 9-3
Map Differential: +15
Next Week’s Schedule: Dallas Fuel, Los Angeles Gladiators
Seoul had a fantastic start to Stage 1, and they seemed unstoppable, but they were edged out of the playoffs after a few questionable substitution decisions. With the Mercy meta out of the way, however, Tobi is finally back on his Lucio comfort pick, and the Dynasty is looking stronger than ever. They trounced the Valiant with a convincing victory and picked apart the Shock in with a 3-1 score. They’ve recently signed on Gambler as a support player as well, so at least they’ll still have a good Mercy player for the maps where she is a little more useful.
5: Philadelphia Fusion
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 7
Match Record (W-L): 8-4
Map Differential: +4
Next Week’s Schedule: Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire
The Fusion was the most frustrating team to watch in Stage 1. They were shockingly inconsistent in matches they should’ve been winning, and it felt like their team coordination was just all over the place. However, the Fusion we saw in Stage 2 Week 1 seemed to be a completely different team from what we’d seen before. They’ve put Eqo into their lineup, and he’s proving to be every bit as capable as ShaDowBurn was. Their tank line looks a lot better as well, and they’ll get a proper chance to prove themselves against the Outlaws and Spitfire this week.
6: Los Angeles Valiant
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 6
Match Record (W-L): 8-4
Map Differential: +12
Next Week’s Schedule: San Francisco Shock, Dallas Fuel
The Los Angeles Valiant was widely considered to be the best western team back in Stage 1. How the mighty have fallen. They looked absolutely terrible in their match against the Seoul Dynasty and were swept in a 4-0 defeat. They went on to face off against the Shanghai Dragons, the weakest team in the Overwatch League at the moment and eked out a victory that looked shaky at times. We’re not really sure what to make of the Valiant at this point, but time is running out for them as the other teams are quickly catching up and overtaking them.
7: Boston Uprising
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 5
Match Record (W-L): 6-6
Map Differential: +2
Next Week’s Schedule: New York Excelsior, Florida Mayhem
The Boston Uprising had a very rough start to their Stage 2. They were swept 4-0 in both of their matches against Houston and Philadelphia, and they certainly looked nothing like the dark horse team we’d seen in Stage 1. They’re still very reliant on their dive comps, and something definitely needs to change if they hope to come up with new strategies to keep up with the competition.
8: Los Angeles Gladiators
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 8
Match Record (W-L): 5-7
Map Differential: -8
Next Week’s Schedule: Shanghai Dragons, Seoul Dynasty
The Los Angeles Gladiators are definitely looking a lot better than they did in Stage 1, but they’re going to need a bit more time to iron out their communication issues and work on team synergy with their new tank player, Fissure. Without a doubt, Fissure is bringing a lot of value to the Gladiators with his Winston play at the moment, but the team is still being held back by their DPS players. Asher and Hydration are rather streaky players, and while Surefour is pretty decent himself, he doesn’t seem to be able to keep up with the likes of Effect and aKm. We expect the Gladiators to rise up the rankings this Stage, but probably not by much.
9: Dallas Fuel
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 10
Match Record (W-L): 5-7
Map Differential: -7
Next Week’s Schedule: Seoul Dynasty, Los Angeles Valiant
The Dallas Fuel had an abysmal performance in Stage 1, but they’re looking to mount a big comeback in Stage 2. xQc is back in the lineup, which means they’ve got a great main tank to play with. aKm has been signed to the roster, which means they’ve got more versatility in terms of which DPS heroes they can run now. With the Mercy meta out of the way, Harryhook, Chips, and Custa can finally shine a bit more as well. They had an epic performance in this first week against the Gladiators and the Shanghai Dragons, but the real test comes this week when they go up against the Dynasty and the Valiant.
10: San Francisco Shock
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 9
Match Record (W-L): 3-9
Map Differential: -14
Next Week’s Schedule: Los Angeles Valiant, Shanghai Dragons
Poor San Francisco Shock. Even with Mercy exiting the meta, Dhak’s Lucio play still can’t bring the Shock out of the low rankings. In fact, they suffered two crushing defeats at the hands of the Gladiators and the Dynasty in the first week, and they’ve effectively been overtaken by the Fuel in terms of match and map wins. They’ll probably be able to snatch a victory in their match against Shanghai this week, but it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be able to stand up to the Valiant.
11: Florida Mayhem
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 11
Match Record (W-L): 1-11
Map Differential: -28
Next Week’s Schedule: London Spitfire, Boston Uprising
Florida Mayhem is already beginning to show signs of serious improvement in Stage 2, and we’re excited to see how they continue to develop as the season goes on. We don’t think the Mayhem is going to be able to snatch a Stage 2 playoffs spot, but they did perform admirably against the New York Excelsior by snatching a map from them and really pushing them to their limit on Hanamura. They could potentially pull off an upset against Boston this week, but they’ll need to bring in their newly signed players if they want to make a bigger impact this Stage.
12: Shanghai Dragons
OWL Power Rankings: Stage 2 Week 1
Last Week: 12
Match Record (W-L): 0-12
Map Differential: -35
Next Week’s Schedule: Los Angeles Gladiators, San Francisco Shock
Stage 2 has begun, and the Shanghai Dragons are continuing on their losing streak. To be fair, though, they had a pretty tough week against the Fuel and the Valiant. We’ve said this before, but the team can’t simply rely on their DPS hard carries to win matches for them. They need a new tank line and new support players, post-haste. Their new players can’t join the lineup soon enough, and we really think the Dragons have the potential to rise through the rankings once they’ve got a few more subs.
About the author
