Originally posted at http://www.omnicpost.com/2018/07/19/philadelphia-fusions-neptuno-comments-on-series-win-against-boston-uprising/
The Philadelphia Fusion became the first team in the Overwatch League to advance in the playoffs. It was a battle between two teams — one who went under everyone’s radar and advanced to the stage finals, the other the only team to be undefeated in one stage and advanced to the stage finals. Now, these two teams meet in the playoffs.
The Matches
In the first match, Boston was favored to win because of winning records on map selection. On how the Fusion was able to defy the stats and win Match 1, the Fusion’s Alberto “neptuNo” González noted that they did not prepare. The Fusion was able to adapt to the meta via scrims. “We were never bad in the Match 1 maps. We analyzed each map, and thought what comps would be best,” NeptuNo remarked. After a highly competitive match, the Fusion was able to defeat the Uprising in 4 games.
The Boston Uprising sought to recover in the second match. To everyone’s surprise, they pressured the Fusion and tied the series. Stanislav “Mistakes” Danilov was an unstoppable force with Hanzo, getting picks off Fusion players with swift movements, precise arrow shots, and effective Dragonstrikes. NeptuNo explained that they weren’t punishing him because he was flanking a lot and weren’t aware of that. He added that he [NeptuNo] wasn’t playing in the first match on Friday since he was down with an illness. However, when he came back, he explained to the team what Boston was doing and composed a plan of attack. He emphasized that the Fusion needed to bait them into a comp that they would be able to counter.
In the last match of the series, Philadelphia recovered and won the series. They locked down Mistakes from getting in a groove and popping off. NeptuNo commented:
“We were lacking coordination and synergy. It was a mental again, but then again, it was a good thing. It gave us information when we were playing really bad and wrong comps. Going into Match 3, we used that information to our advantage. All we had to do is play as a team and have positive vibes.”
The Results
With this win against Boston, the Fusion was awarded to go against the best team in Overwatch League, the New York Excelsior. In regards to taking NYXL at their limit, NeptuNo disclosed:
“I think they [NYXL] are the most coordinated team in the league so if we don’t call how they’re playing and what they’re doing, it’s going to be hard. If we don’t make good plans, they’re always going to win. They’re super annoying to play against. But, I feel like we have a good chance since we have super good DPSs and communication between tanks improved a lot. We can run Su-min “SADO” Kim, Hong-joon “HOTBA” Choi, and Gael “Poko” Gouzerch and think we have a great understanding of this meta,” NeptuNo stated, “To be honest, we are one of the top 4 teams in the league and that’s more than enough. We don’t feel as much pressure as them since they are the best team in the league.”
After the Overwatch League is completed, NeptuNo will compete in the Overwatch World Cup for his home country, Spain. He will be playing alongside tank for the Dallas Fuel, Jonathan “HarryHook” Tejedor Rua and support for the San Francisco Shock, Daniel “dhaK” Martinez Paz. When asked what he has learned and will bring with him to Season 2 of the Overwatch League, NeptuNo stated that he wants to show that Spain is not a weak country. He wants to show he can lead Spain and if they make a deep run, he hopes that Overwatch League teams will see that and sign up more Spanish players. From this experience in the World Cup, NeptuNo hopes that being a leader for Spain will translate into the Overwatch League Season 2.
