Now that Stage 3 Week 3 of the Overwatch League is behind us, it’s getting a little easier to see who’s going to make the cut for the Stage playoffs this time around. For now, we’re putting our money on the New York Excelsior, the Boston Uprising, and the Los Angeles Valiant. With the western teams starting to step up their game, the top three teams of the Overwatch League have changed.
Cracking the Top 3
As of this week, the London Spitfire and Seoul Dynasty are no longer in the top 2 and 3 spots of the overall Overwatch League standings. The Boston Uprising has sneaked its way to the top with a dominant performance in Stage 3, and they’ve yet to lose a game.
London just hasn’t looked great since the beginning of Stage 2, and the cracks are starting to show. As for Seoul Dynasty, it’s becoming more and more apparent that they just aren’t able to improve enough to keep up with their competition.
For now, New York is still looking pretty strong despite taking a loss to the Boston Uprising this stage, but they need to be careful. Their past three victories have all been pretty close, and their number 1 spot in the Overwatch League could be in jeopardy.
Unstoppable Boston
As mentioned earlier, Boston has yet to take a loss in Stage 3, and it’s very possible that they could go flawless this time around. The hardest part of their schedule is behind them now, and they’ve already trounced all three Korean rosters, including the mighty Excelsior. Striker, in particular, has had an exceptional performance as Tracer, and he helped to clutch out the close victory against the Spitfire in a game five on Oasis this past week.
In week 4, Boston will be going up against Shanghai and Florida – two of the weakest teams in the Overwatch League. If they can keep up their flawless run, they might even secure the top seed in the playoffs.
The (Third) Battle for Los Angeles
Last week, the Valiant and Gladiators went head to head for the third time this season. The Valiant won during their first match-up in Stage 1, but the Gladiators got their revenge when Fissure joined the lineup in Stage 2. This time, however, the win went to the Valiant once more.
Ever since they readjusted the roster and got Space, Custa, and Agilities more playtime on the starting lineup, the Valiant has been looking great. They were flawless up until their first loss against a very angry Spitfire last week, but despite that, they’ve been consistent. Unfortunately for the Gladiators, it doesn’t look like the acquisition of Fissure is going to be enough to propel them into the stage playoffs this time either.
Dallas Continues to Flounder
Poor Dallas Fuel. Nothing ever seems to go right for the team that was once regarded as the best western roster in the Overwatch pro scene.
Let’s recap. They released xQc, and then had Taimou and Mickie assume tank roles. When Taimou didn’t work out as their main Winston player, they moved Mickie to main tank, then had Seagull play D.Va. This seemed like a pretty good move, but then there was an issue with who was going to play the flex DPS role next to Effect’s Tracer. Do you go with aKm, who’s a great Soldier but not so good on other heroes? Or do you go with Rascal, who’s pretty much competent on every DPS hero, but has a Soldier that’s slightly weaker than aKm’s?
Well, that’s not really an issue anymore because Dallas released Rascal and main coach KyKy last week, and they also acquired uNKOE from the Valiant as a new support player. Oh, and they also signed OGE as their main tank player. It looks like Dallas finally has their starting lineup sorted out.
But no. They’re still losing games. Even when it looked like they were playing Houston really closely last week, they were unable to seal the deal. Things are still looking bad for Dallas, and it looks like they’ll spend the remainder of the season at the bottom of the standings.
Our Favorite Play of the Week
The New York Excelsior has been keeping us on the edge of our seats with all their incredibly close games in the past two weeks. This week, they went up against the Philadelphia Fusion in an epic rematch, and the Excelsior had their backs against the wall. They were down 2-1, and they needed a win on Junkertown to bring the series to a map five.
The end of Junkertown was a nail-biter until @NYXL wins & takes it to a MAP 5! #OWL2018
Live: https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/HscoMGD64P
— Overwatch Esports (@OW_Esports) April 20, 2018
However, all hope seemed lost when Eqo grabbed two kills with a Rip-Tire near the end of the round. And yet, New York was able to bring it back with incredible tank play from Mano and Meko (with the help of Pine on Widowmaker, of course) as they took turns stalling on the payload while waiting for the team to return. Thankfully, New York had the respawn advantage on that point, and they were able to eke out a close victory on Junkertown, despite trading kills with the Fusion.
There were a couple of other plays from this past week that we really enjoyed, such as this clip of BigGoose popping Valkyrie on the last point of Junkertown and flying towards Pine to get the kill on him.
Armed with his Blaster, @BigGooseOW is COMING FOR YOU! #OWL2018
Live: https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/jyDeGiNStD
— Overwatch Esports (@OW_Esports) April 21, 2018
We’re suckers for the disrespect Mercy play.
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