We got to see Monster Matches on [Sunday] Stage 2 Title Day.  It was the best of the best playing for the Title.  There were moments when we held our breath.  There were moments when we cheered.  And there were moments when we jeered.  Philadelphia Fusion went on a roll in a best of 5 against London Spitfire.  What a great match that was.  Fragi, Poko, Carpe, Eq0, Boombox, and Snillo played out of their minds.  They clawed their way to the final against New York Excelsior.  Which also turned out to be a nail biter.  I mean, we really got to see everything OWL has to offer and in a word it was “Epic.”

Philadelphia Fusion vs London Spitfire

This right here is why we watch Overwatch League!  Players raise their level of play when facing adversity.  And these guys ratcheted it up to a whole other level.  The Spitfire are no push overs, they’ve got a lot of talent.  With Gesture, Birdring, Bdosin, Fury, and Profit filling their starting roster.  You know that they can play.  They were actually favorites to win it.  But the Fusion played fantastic.  They contested every point and made good risk/reward moves.

When playing Overwatch, “Ultimate” Skills are everything.  Teams have to “farm” Skill percentage, in order to unlock their Hero’s “Ultimate”.  Suffice to say that each “ULT” has huge impacts on fight engagements.  Hoarding or Managing a Teams “ULTs” for specific uses is what we call risk/reward game play.  What you want to do is save your “ULTs” for specific times.  If you use an “ULT” too early then you may be vulnerable to attack or “Dives”.  It all comes down to careful planing by the Team.  You definitely want to use your “ULTs” when you have them but if you get nothing out of it, then it is a huge waste of effort.  The risk is greater than the reward!  The Fusion managed their “ULTs” perfectly against London.  Which lead directly to their Map score wins.  Something which they struggled with during the last time they played them.

Carpe was incredible on Widowmaker on Route 66, Escort.  He was getting Snipe after Snipe.  Also Snillo had a huge impact on his Tracer.  He was all over the place.  On the front lines, one the back lines, and even just hiding from sight waiting to pounce.  He missed several “Pulse Bombs” but he made up for them with shear aggression.  He was hitting them fast and hard.  I think that was some of the best Tracer play I’ve ever seen.  Just so good!  If you want to see some great action in the series but don’t have the time to watch all 5 Maps, then I suggest that you watch this one.  Route 66 Tracer is like a “bat outta hell”!  Fusion would take the series [3-2] and move on to NY Excelsior for the Title match.

Philadelphia Fusion vs New York Excelsior

This one was a shocker!  The Fusion came out once again with some kind of adrenaline rush.  They played Route 66, Escort, again.  And once again they had Snillo in for EQ0 on Tracer.  He just did his thing!  Mad Tracer “Blitz” with “Dash” and “Pulse Bombs”.  NY EXL saw the previous match but had no real answer to this ball of aggression.  Yep this is another must watch Map!  Also Carpe was Sniping from long range with his Widowmaker.  So if you survive the Tracer you’re looking down the barrel of a Sniping Scope….scary.  Fusion would take that Map and in fact take the first 2 Maps.

Yeah, so they were leading by 2 Map Wins by halftime and NY Excelsior had to come up with the reverse sweep.  That’s 3 Map Wins in a row against one of the best “Dive” composition Teams.  It was a tall order.  If any Team could do it, it was Excelsior.  And you know what?  They did it!  It was masterful how they adjusted.  They kept tabs on Carpe all game long, taking him out when they could.  Then they started with the Supports.  They managed their “ULTs” and used them in tight situations.  What they did was so clinical that you gotta wonder if fatigue got the better of the Fusion.  I mean really back to back 5 Map Series?  You gotta be kidding me!

I think that Carpse was just out of position sometimes, or he was just off with his shots.  I definitely think that if he had made at least one of those early Snipes then momentum would have shifted in the Fusion’s favor.  Maybe he got his mouse sensitivity settings a little off?  The match was really so close.  Saebyeolbe was all over the place for NY.  He, Ark, and Libero carried the Team to victory.  I mean on Volskaya, Libero was untouchable.  He had like 4 Snipes in less than a minute!  They shut Philly out and that was the real turning point in the match.

In the end NY Excelsior was just the better Team, in a League of top tier talent.  They made the adjustments in game to beat Philly and that is what makes them so good.  They can play “Dive”, “anti Dive”, and “Pick”.  They can play several Heroes and aren’t afraid to switch things up mid game.  They are all about Strategy as well as Skill.  For instance they noticed Carpe on Widowmaker and they “picked” him.  They just took him out of the equation.  And Fusion couldn’t find an answer to that… its just that simple!  Congratz NY Excelsior on the Win!  Thanks also goes to Philadelphia on giving us the best series we could ever have hoped for, you came in 2nd but gave us a great show!  Cheers!

Okay so they had to win all Maps.  They had to sweep Boston Uprising.  A tall task for any Team.  Especially with Volskaya in the Map pool.  Of course I’m talking about Overwatch League.  More importantly I’m talking about the LA Gladiators and their quest of 3rd Place.  They are a good Team but I think Boston is better.  And they showed their skills last night. It was the most important match on [Saturday].  Which is why I’m covering the whole series.  I mean really, everyone was watching it.  The whole Philadelphia Fusion Team was watching it from the crowded bleachers.  They needed to know if they got into 3rd Place and into the Stage 2 Playoffs on Sunday.  Here’s the break down:

Boston Uprising vs Los Angeles Gladiators

It was Dreamkazper and Striker vs Agilities and Soon.  It was all or nothing.  The Head to Head match started with Assault, on Volskaya.  Boston has been undefeated on this Map.  Now that is saying something!  Especially half way through the Season.  That’s Two Oh, 20 games now for each Team.  So let me just say that in Stage 2 action the Boston Uprising were the under dogs playing in this match.  But really they are right in the mix for overall record.  I wouldn’t call them under dogs.

Boston came out first “guns a blazing”.  Dreamkazper was on Widowmaker and boy did he Snipe some Gladiators.  I’m talking about his first two “picks”.  It was just “Fleta-esq”.  Replay it in slow mo and you get to see perfect “head shots”.  Mind you he is on the building before the point zone.  It’s like a mile away from the enemy players!  During one of them the enemy player was inside a room on the building way on the other side of the point.  Yeah, even darkness won’t cover you up, “Snipe…Reload”.

Striker was all over the place on the “Dive”.  He is one of my favorite players to watch for Boston.  Yes, I’m a Boston fan.  I plan on getting a Dreamkazper or Striker Jersey.  Anyways where was I… Oh yeah so, Striker gave the Gladiators a lot of problems.  You could just see that the Gladiators ended up playing more passive on Defense.  They waited for the Uprising to come to them.  Which is obviously not the way you want to play Boston. After a few minutes Boston took the 2 Map points.

Now they had to play Defense while the Gladiators went on Assault.  And you know Boston has been working on their Defense all Stage 2.  They have gotten better at it with each Map that they play.  I think Gamsu, the Tank for Boston, has really taken to be “Mr. Reliable”.  He holds the line on Defense and works well with “Dive” and “anti Dive” compositions.

Boston held strong on Defense for something like 6 Minutes.  An eternity in “game play time.”  They played aggressive.  They took out Supports.  They disrupted the Gladiators’ players.  They held the line in the building just outside of the scoring point zone.  They really made some great plays, forcing out respawns and spamming DPS/DMG.  And as time ran out on the clock, you just knew that Boston was on fire.    The LA Gladiators would drop the Map, meaning that they were out of the Playoffs.  Philadelphia Fusion cheered knowing that they were now in 3rd in the Playoff Bracket.

The match would turn out to be a close one and one that was fun to watch.  Boston would take it in five Maps, winning the series [3-2].  Wow what a great finish!  I can’t wait to see more of the Uprising in April.  And you know that ill be rooting for them.

The Playoffs begin today at 4pm EST on Twitch.tv and MLG Network.  It’ll be Philadelphia Fusion vs London Spitfire.  Winner goes on to play New York Excelsior for $100,000 and Stage 2 bragging rights, at 6pm EST.  It’ll be some good Overwatch today, can’t wait!  Break out the hand warmers, it’s gunna be good!

It was a great night of gaming [Friday].  The Playoff hunt is very much alive for 3 Teams.  Philadelphia Fusion, Los Angeles Gladiators, and well Seoul Dynasty.  I thought that the Map Score differential would have knocked Seoul out of contention, but you know it gets tricky with everyone’s record being 6-3.  Philadelphia had to win last night for any chance at being in the top 3 Team Playoff.  But you can’t count the final tallies till the LA Gladiators play their last match against Boston Uprising.  The door is open but who will walk through it?

Seoul Dynasty vs Florida Mayhem

Florida gave Seoul quite a showing.  They even took a Map from them.  It was fun to see Cwoosh play, my second favorite Tank player in the OWL.  He just makes games exciting.  The Mayhem had nothing to lose so they worked hard on each Map.  One thing that they did try out was that “anti Dive” on Junkrat.  It worked out well for them and it gave Seoul problems.  Perhaps this is going to be a thing now, when facing the Dynasty.  Munchkin and Fleta played as usual, great.  Some Snipes were just perfect for Fleta on Widowmaker.  How does he do that?  The game speed is so fast that to really appreciate his accuracy, you have to watch it in slow mo.  Seoul needed a sweep but only got three Maps.  They won the match [3-1].  They need some “Math” to get into sole possession of 3rd Place.

Philadelphia Fusion vs Los Angeles Valiant

This was a close one.  The Fusion came out on stage hoping for the sweep to ensure sole possession of 3rd Place.  What they got was a handful of mad DPSing.  Soon and Envy for the Valiant really gave them trouble.  It was nice to see the Valiant play great against a top Team.  Fragi, Crape and EQ0 made sure to carry their Team on the final Tie breaker Map.  They would take the series [3-2].  Unfortunately by losing 2 Maps they aren’t ensured a Playoff spot.  Yes that’s just it!  It is mathematically possible for LA Gladiators or Seoul Dynasty to sneak in and take it.  Oh no not Math again!  Ah the Statisticians always get their way… The LA Gladiators need to sweep Boston Uprising to get in.  That’s 4 Map Wins.  Anything less and we will be counting on our hands what the Map Score needs to be for Seoul Dynasty.  If they lose to Boston then Philadelphia definitely has 3rd outright. Whoa, talk about a close ranking system!

London Spitfire vs Shanghai Dragons

London is one of the best Teams in OWL.  They weren’t going to lose to the Dragons.  They weren’t even going to give up a Map to them.  The Dragons are on the other side of the spectrum.  They are winless and frankly these games of theirs start to blur together.  Think Groundhog Day!  They just can’t seem to get out of this funk, losing streak.  Suffice to say London looked great and PWND them, with a score of [4-0].  Who knows maybe London can take over 1st with their Map Score?

The Overwatch League Stage 2 Week 5 games continue today on Twitch.tv and MLG Network.  At 4pm EST, cause they are playing in LA, its Dallas Fuel vs London Spitfire, at 6pm EST its the LA Valiant vs the NY Excelsior, and at 8pm EST its Boston Uprising vs the LA Gladiators.  High hopes and a $125,000 Prize Pool is up for grabs.  Who’s in?  We’ll just have to watch and see.  Good Luck everyone!  Have Fun!  Cheers!