It’s the big week.  The biggest week in Overwatch League!  Now that we know Philadelphia Fusion are playing London Spitfire in the Grand Finals, everyone is catching wind of any kind of OWL News.  It’s the same for me.  I got an e-mail today.  No it wasn’t about a possible release date of the MMO Crowfall!  Nor was it something to do with the latest Emulator released by Nintendo, ah hem…the N64..ah hem!  No in fact it was from a contact within the Dallas Fuel Public Relations Office.  In fact it was very good news for the OWL Dallas Fuel Team.  They will be adding two new Coaches to their Team this year.  If you can recall, Dallas Fuel made significant head way in Stage 4 of Overwatch League.  They even made it to Stage 4 Playoffs.  They have a good Team and it is no surprise that they are taking things seriously for the future of the Team.  Here is the press release on it:

“DALLAS (July 25, 2018) – Dallas-based esports organization, Envy Gaming Inc., announced additions to its coaching staffs in competitive Overwatch. The Dallas Fuel signed Justin “Jayne” Conroy and Louis “Tikatee” Lebel-Wong as assistant coaches for the Overwatch League franchise, with each coach joining the staff full-time in September. Team Envy recently signed Ash “Chu” Long as the new Envy Overwatch coach in Overwatch Contenders.

Fueled by the mid-season addition of head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins”, the Dallas Fuel finished Season 1 of the Overwatch League with an impressive resurgence to the group’s winning ways, earning a Stage 4 playoff berth. Envy Gaming Inc. is one of the largest esports organizations in the world managing competitive teams and popular streaming personalities spanning multiple gaming titles while owning and operating the Dallas Fuel franchise in the Overwatch League.

Jayne is the current coach for Team Canada in the 2018 Overwatch World Cup, and has a background in content creation, aeronautics and gaming education. Tikatee most recently served as an assistant coach and analyst for FNRGFE, where he worked under then-FNRGFE and now-Dallas Fuel and Team USA Overwatch World Cup head coach Aaron Atkins.”

It goes on to quote the Head Coach of the Dallas Fuel:

“As we continue to build our confidence among the players on our roster and look to capitalize on our dynamic end-of-season success, Jayne and Tikatee will be tremendous help in rounding out the skills and focus needed on our coaching staff. We look forward to the both of them joining us in Los Angeles,” said Aaron “Aero” Atkins, Head Coach of the Dallas Fuel. “Both bring a remarkable aptitude for quickly analyzing gameplay and leave no stone unturned in breaking down footage and helping us create a culture and philosophy that will help our players improve and assist the team in reaching its goals.”

More of the press release talks about the changes within the Dallas Fuel Organization:

“The internationally diverse Envy and Dallas Fuel rosters consist of the best talent from around the globe, with players, coaches and staff from eight different countries. The Dallas Fuel are led by head coach Aaron Atkins (@Aero_OW) and general manager Mat Taylor (@TazMo). In other Fuel coaching changes, the team announced analyst and assistant coach Emanuel “Peak” Uzoni will not return for Season 2.”

“I want to thank Peak for all he gave to this team this year. He stepped in at a pivotal moment to fill a void for the Fuel coaching staff and we wish him the best as he pursues other opportunities in professional gaming,” said Mat Taylor.

Here is a little bit more about Envy Gaming, the eSports Organization behind the Team:

“Envy Gaming, Inc. is the owner and operator of popular esports franchise Team Envy and Overwatch League franchise the Dallas Fuel. Founded as a professional Call of Duty team in 2007, owner Mike Rufail has grown the Dallas-based organization into one of the largest and most-winning esports groups in the world. Today, Envy Gaming competes, streams and produces content across nine different titles including Overwatch, Call of Duty, PUBG, Street Fighter V, Paladins, FIFA and Fortnite. Envy was named the 2016 Esports Team of the Year.”

So now with the Dallas Fuel News there seems to be significant Hype around the newly formed OWL.  Season 1 hasn’t Officially wrapped up yet and there are already moves being made for Season 2.  And so the questions now begin?  What other Teams will be making significant moves during the Grand Finals Week?  Will Boston Uprising make any changes to their Roster or Coaching Staff?  Or will there be significant news from Blizzard about OWL Season 2, during Grand Finals Week?!  Surely this is one of North America’s biggest eSports Venue… I would think that more news will be imminent…  On another note I’d like to give a shout out to my contact Greg Miller, from Envy Gaming Public Relations.  Thank you man!  Wow I’ve got contacts!  Cheers!

It was shocking, to say the least.  The New York Excelsior have been dominant all year.  No one thought that it would go down this way.  Not the Casters, not the Announcers, not the Predictors, and especially not the Fans.  Listen we’ve seen a lot of Overwatch over the past 7 Months, and what we have seen from this New York Team is extreme Talent.  They have been the New York Yankees of eSports!  They have the best Team, they have the MVP, and they have the best Subs.  But what we saw yesterday [Saturday] was a Team that couldn’t stop the incredibly Aggressive Philadelphia Fusion!  Let’s break this one down Map by Map to see what everyone’s talking about:

Philadelphia Fusion vs New York Excelsior: Junkertown

Now this was where it all started…  The Fusion were up first and they were aggressive.  Which was something that we saw from their Boston Uprising Matches.  They played all the angles, going double Sniper at one point.  Also they went triple Tank.  They pulled out a new Strat that would be their overall defining play style: Adapt!  Play hard be aggressive, take the fight to them, get the first “Kill”, stagger them after you gain a player advantage, and above all else Adapt to the situation presented.

These short and sweet words must have been a real motivator for the Team because they would play the Point Zone so hard.  Now they would end up pushing the “Cart” all the way to Point Zone C, picking up 3 Points.  Now here is the shocker?  They got out gunned by the New York XL, in terms of Damage Dealt and Eliminations.  I mean Big Boss Pine was everywhere on this Map.  But the Fusion held together as a Team all through out the Map.  They simply played better than NYXL as a Team and with that they secured 3 Map Points to start it off, which is huge!

Now for New York Excelsior’s turn, they had Home Field Advantage so they play last.  Now this is something that I have noticed, Teams that go first have a much bigger Advantage because they know what to Defend against.  In my opinion Home Field Advantage should be flipped around next Season so that the Home Fielding Team goes first.

Anyway New York pushed the “Cart” all the way into the final U-Bend of the Map.  But they couldn’t hold on with the push and had to regroup.  Here’s where Philly Fusion got them.  They played Aggressive Defense.  They had a massive “Orisa” and “RoadHog” combo to Eliminate the first Player on New York’s side.  After that they bled New York out of “ULTs” and managed to stagger their “Kills”.  It was a clinic on how to play Defense on Junkertown.  They looked sooo good!  And managed to halt progress on the “Payload” at the U-Bend Choke Point.  As Time ran out Philly Fusion took the Map Win 3-1.  Yep that was impressive against the #! Team in OWL.

Philadelphia Fusion vs New York Excelsior: LiJiang Tower

Right here was where New York mounted a comeback.  They played to their strengths and used each of their “ULTs” wisely.  They were playing their hardest here.  And I think that they began to realize just how strong this Philly Fusion Team really is.  They Adapted their play styles and Mixed in a few different Hero Comps.  It took Philly by surprise as they too had Adapted and changed their Hero Comps.  I mean the Mind Games were everywhere on this Map.  I think though Pine vs Carpe was extremely fun to watch.  They went Widow v Widow but then went Tracer v Tracer.  It was Epic!  Each Team knew how big a 1st Pick was.  They both set up for 6 v 5 Player Advantage.  EQO was on Pharah raining down “Justice From Above”.  But New York would take the Map Win 2-1 in a nailbitter.

Philadelphia Fusion vs New York Excelsior: King’s Row

We got to see the same Philly Fusion Strat that worked against Boston Uprising.  Speed Point Capture!  Yep they rushed through this Map so quickly that New York didn’t know what hit them.  It seems as though after each HalfTime the Fusion get better, and a whole lot tougher!  New York’s mistake, if you could call it that, was playing Fusion Aggressively away from the Point.  Fusion just wanted one “Kill” to set up their Tanks on the Point Zone.  And Carpe and EQO were happy to comply.  They took the Man Advantage but what really stood out was that New York was so out of position on a “Flank” that went no where.  Once they “Unlocked” the Point they staggered New York’s Players.  And they quickly Rushed the “Payload” all the way to Point Zone C.  The Fusion would take the Map Win 3-0 after an Epic Defensive effort on NY XL’s turn.  Right here the frustration was mounting!

Philadelphia Fusion vs New York Excelsior: Hanamura

New York struck back against they opponents.  With an excellent Defense they found a good set of Hero Comps that worked in their favor.  We got to see Anna being played.  “Sleep Darts” and “Nano Boosts”.  It was smart!  And as we all can agree on New York always tries to play smart.  The Philly Fusion didn’t get one “Tick” on Point Zone B.  So when in was New York’s turn they Rushed into battle on Point Zone A, to take it as quickly as possible.  Once they got the Point they got Time added to their Time Bank.  It was something like 5 Minutes to take one “Tick” on Point Zone B.  And you just knew that that was more than enough time for the #1 Seeded Team.  New York took the Map Win 2-1, which meant that we had to go to Map 5 to decide if there was going to be a Tiebreaker Match #3.

Philadelphia Fusion vs New York Excelsior: Dorado

This one came down to the wire!  The Fusion played strong on Offense and once again they played an Aggressive Rush style.  They pushed the “Payload” as quickly as possible to pick up 2 Map Points but they couldn’t finish it.  Then on New York’s turn they pushed the “Cart” into the Pyramid Complex.  Now here was the difference maker:  EQO played Pharah.  Yup, “Justice Rains from Above”, and you know what?  New York didn’t have an answer to this.  I mean really it was just so OP, Over Powering…  It felt like EQO played Pharah this whole Match!  He was getting all the Damage and really was the thorn in the XL’s side.  New York had a chance to score but just couldn’t do it.  Their final Rally was just off the mark.  And just like that they got Eliminated from the Grand Finals… GG!  Wow, this game is so brutal!

So this is what the Grand Finals looks like:  It’ll be #6 Philadelphia Fusion vs #5 London Spitfire in New York City at the Barclays Center on July 27th - July 28.  The 1st Match will start at 7pm EST on Friday.  It’ll be broadcast on ESPN and other Disney Networks as well as on Twitch.tv  If you like Skins and Sprays, Twitch is giving out Loot for how many hours that you watch.  1.5 Hours - 3 Hours for each Loot, on each Day of Matches…  I’m looking forward to getting me a Green Valiant Skin of Window, or maybe Orange or Light Blue, you know for the Grand Finals…  GL Everyone!  HF! Cheers!

Okay so it was 7:30 pm on Wednesday and I was checking out Twitch Streams on my RoKu Player… And then something undesirable happened.  My Twitch App froze and I was like… Noooo!  I can’t miss the Playoffs!  The Overwatch League Playoffs that is… So after several restarts and loading and such I still couldn’t get my Twitch.tv App to work, and it was 8 pm already.  So long story short, I watched the entire night on my Gaming Desktop using the Battle.net App.  Whew, that was a close one…

Now the first Match of Wednesday action was Philadelphia Fusion vs New York Excelsior.  And to everyone’s surprise the New York Excelsior played slow…  And I mean really slow…  The Philly Fusion just ran all over them, with Carpe and EQO, they could do no wrong.  The NY XL had Big Boss Pine in on Dorado but that didn’t matter much.  I mean he was getting “Kills” but still the Fusion we relentless!  No “if, and, or but” about it they are really really hungry for the Overwatch League Title.  They would go on to sweep the NY XL in the 1st Match [3-0].  Ouch!  New York really needs to step it up if they want to beat the Fusion.  This right here is a Team that defeated Boston by playing extremely Aggressive.  I expect that they will continue on this Aggressive Streak as they go against the #1 Seed New York on Saturday Night at 7pm.   They are the Under Dogs, but don’t tell them that!

The next Match was London Spitfire vs Los Angeles Valiant.  These two Teams played hard against each other.  London went out with a strong Lead by HalfTime.  Birdring and Profit were just spectacular, for the London Spitfire.  I mean, yes, London has been up and down a bit this Season but they have probably the most Talented Team in the League.  What with Gesture, Bdosin, Nus, and Fury (also Closer) they are stacked!  They might even go all the way!  On Wednesday they went the distance against the LA Valiant going 5 Maps.  Yes it looks on paper to be close, but if you were watching you could tell that LA Valiant was playing from behind all night long.  In fact that Draw on Hanamura was huge!  If they had won it they might have had gained the momentum back.  London would take the Match [3-1].  But I think that the Valiant will definitely give us a good show.  They have Agilities, they have Soon.  I mean come on, you just know that they will play strong…

What to watch for tonight?

Well we’ve got the London Spitfire vs LA Valiant playing best of 3 Matches at 7pm EST on Twitch.tv and even on the Disney Channel *check local listing*  This will definitely be one to watch!  If you want to see the Best play the Best than you have to watch this one.  I’m predicting London Wins the Best of 3 in 3 Matches… Yes that’s right there will most likely be a Tiebreaker Match at 9pm EST.  I really think London is Streaky and when they go on a roll, momentum wise, they become unstoppable.  I figure LA Valiant will take Match #2 (3-1) and then London goes (3-1) in a close one in Match #3.  Look for Birdring to play an excellent Widowmaker, getting behind the lines of the other Team.  Also look for Profit to have a huge game, I think he is one of the best DPSers in the League and will be part of the Team’s decisive victory Tonight [Friday].  So now we just have to watch and see how things unfold and hopefully my RoKu Player will work properly tonight.  Good Luck Everyone! Have Fun! Cheers!