Originally posted at http://www.omnicpost.com/2018/03/02/stage-2-week-2-day-2-recap/
Today featured the dominating London Spitfire vs Florida Mayhem, possibly the best match in Stage 2 with the Philadelphia Fusion vs Houston Outlaws, and the New York Excelsior looking to recover from their loss against the Boston Uprising. In case you missed it, here is the rundown.
Florida Mayhem (1) vs. London Spitfire (3)
The juggernaut London Spitfire looks to continue their dominance in the Overwatch League against the Florida Mayhem.
In Volskaya, the Florida Mayhem surprised many people by pressuring the Spitfire on attack and defence. Andreas “Logix” Berghmans and Kevyn “TviQ” Lindström carried the Mayhem with Soldier: 76 and Tracer. The Spitfire played as expected on the attack, almost tying the game on the final point. Aleksi “Zuppeh” Kuntsi countered the Spitfire’s gameplan with Sombra’s EMP to stall the Spitfire’s push, with the rest of Florida causing mayhem and winning Game 1.
Lijiang Tower was a return to form for London Spitfire. Joon-yeong “Profit” Park’s Tracer was on point with precise Pulse Bombs, leaving the Mayhem incapable of pushing into the point. Resulting in a Game 2 win for the Spitfire.
In King’s Row, the Stage 1 Champions showed the audience why they should be the Stage 2 Champions. The Spitfire did not have a breakout player on this map. The entire team communicated as one to set up plays and Dong-eun “Hooreg” Lee contributed a majority of the damage with Widowmaker. The Mayhem had a difficult time defending against the Spitfire’s aggressive style, and the Spitfire won Game 3.
The Florida Mayhem seeks another map win on the final map of the match, Route 66. However, Hooreg continued to be a nuisance with Widowmaker, helping London Spitfire clinch the match, as they continue to be the best team in the Overwatch League.
Philadelphia Fusion (3) vs. Houston Outlaws (2)
The surging Philadelphia Fusion went against the second best team in the Overwatch League, Houston Outlaws. Prior to this match, the Fusion beat the likes of Boston Uprising and Florida Mayhem. They will need to prove whether their previous wins are flukes or if they are a team to be taken seriously.
On the other side, Houston Outlaws came off a win against the Stage 1 Champions, London Spitfire. The Outlaws are seeking to feed off the momentum and further prove they are the best team in the Overwatch League.
Right off the gates, the Outlaws took control in Volskaya. They captured Point A with 7 minutes remaining. Without hesitation, they pushed Point B. The Fusion had no answer to the quick push and the Outlaws won with 2 points. A fun fact pointed out by the broadcast team, was that Shadowburn was the only Fusion player to get a kill on the Outlaws. The Philadelphia Fusion tried to mimic what the Outlaws had done but to no avail. Nevertheless, the Fusion still captured both points of Hanamura to tie Game 1 with 2 points each. On the tiebreaker, the Fusion stayed on offense. They tried to run the same plan but the Outlaws read the situation and adapted to the plan with Jiri “LiNkzr” Masalin going off as Widowmaker, preventing the Fusion from taking Point A in Hanamura. Thus, Houston Outlaws clinched Game 1.
In Nepal, the Houston Outlaws had an obscure plan with Jake playing as Bastion. The team had a plan revolving protecting the Bastion and it worked. The Fusion tried to come in from all angles to dive in on Bastion, but the Outlaws had a strong defense to protect and got the first stage in Nepal. On the second stage, the Fusion fought back with George “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha as Pharah. He managed to use Pharah’s Barrage to clean the Outlaws from the point. Alas, it did not last long. The Outlaws countered with an ultimate of their own from LiNkzr as Soldier: 76. He cleared the Fusion off the point and the Outlaws won game 2.
The Outlaws were one game away from claiming the title of “Best Western Team” in the Overwatch League. However, the Fusion had other thoughts going into Hollywood. On defense, the Fusion was able to hold thanks to Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee’s Tracer. After a push to the payload, Carpe cleared out the point with a Pulse Bomb while Gael “Poko” Gouzerch used D.Va’s self-destruct to blow the Outlaws away, with the Outlaws unable to get back to the point. Switching roles, Alberto “neptuNo” González showed great awareness of the whereabouts of his team. Thanks to neptuNo, the Fusion captured the payload due to Lucio’s Sound Barrier. During the payload push, the Fusion had good reads on where the Outlaws might have their ultimate charges at. When the Fusion was about to proceed past where the Outlaws stopped their payload, they knew Daniel “Boink” Pence had ultimate with his Lucio. To counter, ShaDowBurn denied the ultimate to go off after he slashed and dashed, killing Boink. The Fusion proceeded to win Game 3.
Route 66 was the next map where ShaDowBurn continued to carry the game for the Philadelphia Fusion. He went with an unconventional pick with Sombra and proved to be effective. The Fusion had a sole target on Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty and ShaDowBurn was the player to assassinate him. With timed EMPs, Rawkus was denied to play effectively for the Outlaws, leaving them unable to capture the first point on Route 66. On attack, the Fusion had an identical gameplan to assassinate Rawkus and it worked. Philadelphia Fusion won Game 4 and was one game away from pulling a reverse sweep.
Ilios was a close map for both teams. However, the Fusion managed to calm their nerves and play as one cohesive unit. They combined their ultimate abilities together, zoned out the Outlaws, and finished the reverse sweep on the Houston Outlaws.
New York Excelsior (3) vs. Boston Uprising (0)
Prior to Stage 2, Boston was on a run towards playoffs, defeating top teams in the Overwatch League. However, lately they’re having difficulties finding their stride with losses last week to the Philadelphia Fusion and Houston Outlaws.
Despite their loss last week to the London Spitfire, the New York Excelsior showed they are still a team to fear in the Overwatch League. With the triple threat of Jong-yeol “Saebyeolbe” Park, Do-hyeon “Pine” Kim, and Hye-sung “Libero” Kim, they are out to show Boston that there are no weaknesses in their core.
On Hanamura, Libero went berzerk on the Hanzo, picking up 4 kills and cleaned house for the Excelsior to take Point A. Jonathan “DreamKazper” Sanchez answered back on Point B with his Genji and Doomfist to prevent the Excelsior from advancing. Dreamkazper attempted to copy the same success on attack. However, Libero’s Soldier: 76 denied the Uprising from controlling the map. The Excelsior held off the Uprising and won Game 1.
The Excelsior turned up the difficulty heading into Nepal, with Saebyeolbe proving time and time again that he is the best Tracer in the Overwatch League. He harassed the Uprising by continuously poking the DPS players of the Uprising with shots. Whenever a push from the Uprising occurred, Saebyeolbe would put a halt to the push with a Pulse Bomb, allowing for the Excelsior to come in and win the stage. Lucas “NotE” Meissner of the Boston Uprising tried to push momentum in his team’s favor with D.Va, even getting 3 kills on Dong-gyu “Mano” Kim, Saebyeolbe, and Tae-hong “MekO” Kim. However, even those kills did not put any dent in the Excelsior’s defense as they won Game 2.
In King’s Row, the Uprising changed their plan by utilizing the triple tank strategy. Saebyeolbe switched to Widowmaker on this map and countered the triple tank by wiping out Noh “Gamsu” Yeong-jin trying to get the point on the payload. After capturing the payload, the Excelsior was on cruise control as they pushed the payload all the way to the final point. The Uprising had a similar push on attack after they captured the payload. Nam-joo “Striker” Kwon had 3 kills on 3 Excelsior members, but the Excelsior continued to hold. At the final point, Libero activated Genji’s Dragonblade to get the Uprising off the payload and clinched the match.
This wraps up today’s recap. See you for tomorrow’s games!
