Need an account? Register Now.
?
Build of the Month
Recent Blue Posts
Hotfixes: October 8, 2024
Hotfixes: October 8, 2024
Recent Forum Posts
Fewer Tanks was 100% Predictable
The War Within Hotfixes - October 8, 2024
Overwatch
Published on 2018-04-23 03:00 PM
Gather your brooms because this is the week of the reverse sweep. It’s also the week where teams decided to test our patience and our nerves with some tense tiebreaker matches. Five games out of 12 this week went to a final map, giving us some of the best (and most stressful) Overwatch we’ve seen all Stage.
Week 3 Day 1
Match of the Day
Los Angeles Gladiators vs. Los Angeles Valiant
The Battle for Los Angeles has come to Stage 3 and this time, it’s personal. Player trades between the Gladiators and the Valiant saw Ted “Silkthread” Wang trading his wings for a shield and looking to enact a little good-natured revenge against his former teammates. Both hometown heroes have a win a piece in the series, but it’s the Valiant that prevailed this time thanks to some killer plays like this one.
But the Gladiators didn’t go down without a fight. Look at this play from Fissure "the most handsome, best main tank, greatest in the world" (his words not mine).
Who is better than Fissure? Nobody.
Week 3 Day 2
Match of the Day
Boston Uprising vs. London Spitfire
Boston’s on a meteoric rise up the Stage and playoff standings. They’re first in the Stage rankings, second overall, and a very likely candidate to win the Stage 3 Finals. London, meanwhile, is at an uncharacteristic 1-3, putting them near the bottom of the stage rankings and quite possibly out of the stage playoff race. A win here for the Spitfire would have restored some much-needed confidence and boosted them over other teams in the standings, putting them back in contention for a playoff berth.
These two teams are 1-1 against each other, but the last time these two teams faced each other, London shut out Boston 4-0. For the first half of this match, it looked like history was ready to repeat itself. But Boston came back with a blazing fast 2-0 sweep of Ilios.
Things looked grim for Boston on the next map, earning only one point on Junkertown. Only a full hold could keep them alive. So Boston, in their best imitation of the Los Angeles Gladiators, put their shields up, and held the line.
After that, it was Boston’s game to win. London is 1-7 on Oasis and aren't at their best on control maps in general. The Uprising finished the game with a 2-1 victory on Oasis, completing the reverse sweep to end all reverse sweeps.
Week 3 Day 3
Match of the Day
Boston Uprising vs. Seoul Dynasty
Boston is unstoppable and currently undefeated. Now, after this match, they have earned the distinction of being only the second team in the League to defeat every other team. After last week’s upset over the New York Excelsior, the Uprising’s schedule only got harder, pitting them against the Spitfire and the Dynasty in the same week, on consecutive days no less. (RIP Philadelphia Fusion, who had similar consecutive day bad luck. They had a less than 24 hours between their match against New York and their match against San Francisco — their fatigue was evident in their stunning 3-1 loss against the weaker but better prepared Shock.) Seoul, meanwhile, is still struggling to claw their way back into stage playoff contention, and looked to close out the week with a sorely needed second win.
Boston took Volskaya in grand fashion. Both teams were undefeated on this map, but through a combination of Mistakes on Genji and Striker on Tracer, the team held Seoul to a 2-1 victory. Then on Blizzardworld Seoul forced a draw, able to match but unable to overcome a dominant Boston.
Mistakes on Sombra shut Seoul down at critical moments with his EMP ultimate while his team, in perfect sync, collapsed on the crippled enemies, wiped them out, and went on to win the match.
Week 3 Day 4
Match of the Day
New York Excelsior vs. Los Angeles Gladiators
The Excelsior just like playing with our emotions. Earlier in the week, in a rematch of the Stage 2 finals against the Philadelphia Fusion, New York went down 0-2 at the half just like they had done during the finals. And, just like they did in the finals, they came back in a reverse sweep. This match they did it again, suffering through the first half 0-2 before waking up and rolling the Gladiators in the next three maps.
No one knows why New York has suddenly developed a fondness for map five. Maybe they like playing Oasis, or maybe they like giving us a show. Or perhaps in their marathon race to be the top team in the League at the end of the season, they’re finally showing some signs of fatigue.
Final Thoughts
The top four teams headed to the Stage 3 Finals right now are the Boston Uprising, the Los Angeles Valiant, the New York Excelsior, and the San Francisco Shock. The Shock pulled off some interesting upsets earlier in the Stage, beating the Gladiators and the Fusion, but next week their winning streak will undoubtedly be humbled by the Spitfire and the Excelsior. That leaves a huge opening that anyone could capitalize on as the next four teams have the same record and an extremely thin map differential between them.
You’ll want to pay attention to all these teams’ matches next week because every map they play will mater come the Stage playoffs.
But ultimately the team to watch out for, the team that will win or come exceedingly close to winning the Stage 3 Finals, is Boston. Boston’s ability to coordinate, communicate, and dive with laser accuracy is exactly why they are the team to beat this stage. It’s true all teams need some level of coordination to be successful, but a lot of times teams rely on hard carries from their star players. Architect and Sinatraa for the Shock, Sayaplayer for the Mayhem, Geguri and Ado for the Dragons.
They get the kills that win the matches but at the end of the day the team with the superior teamwork is the winning team. And no team in the League right now is better at working together, and better at winning, than Boston.
Ash, the first of her name, keeper of Zenyatta lore, protector of Hanzo mains and Mother of Shanghai Dragons, is a content writer for the Overwatch section of MMO-C and Gamepedia.
Week 3 Day 1
Match of the Day
Los Angeles Gladiators vs. Los Angeles Valiant
The Battle for Los Angeles has come to Stage 3 and this time, it’s personal. Player trades between the Gladiators and the Valiant saw Ted “Silkthread” Wang trading his wings for a shield and looking to enact a little good-natured revenge against his former teammates. Both hometown heroes have a win a piece in the series, but it’s the Valiant that prevailed this time thanks to some killer plays like this one.
But the Gladiators didn’t go down without a fight. Look at this play from Fissure "the most handsome, best main tank, greatest in the world" (his words not mine).
Who is better than Fissure? Nobody.
Week 3 Day 2
Match of the Day
Boston Uprising vs. London Spitfire
Boston’s on a meteoric rise up the Stage and playoff standings. They’re first in the Stage rankings, second overall, and a very likely candidate to win the Stage 3 Finals. London, meanwhile, is at an uncharacteristic 1-3, putting them near the bottom of the stage rankings and quite possibly out of the stage playoff race. A win here for the Spitfire would have restored some much-needed confidence and boosted them over other teams in the standings, putting them back in contention for a playoff berth.
These two teams are 1-1 against each other, but the last time these two teams faced each other, London shut out Boston 4-0. For the first half of this match, it looked like history was ready to repeat itself. But Boston came back with a blazing fast 2-0 sweep of Ilios.
Things looked grim for Boston on the next map, earning only one point on Junkertown. Only a full hold could keep them alive. So Boston, in their best imitation of the Los Angeles Gladiators, put their shields up, and held the line.
After that, it was Boston’s game to win. London is 1-7 on Oasis and aren't at their best on control maps in general. The Uprising finished the game with a 2-1 victory on Oasis, completing the reverse sweep to end all reverse sweeps.
Week 3 Day 3
Match of the Day
Boston Uprising vs. Seoul Dynasty
Boston is unstoppable and currently undefeated. Now, after this match, they have earned the distinction of being only the second team in the League to defeat every other team. After last week’s upset over the New York Excelsior, the Uprising’s schedule only got harder, pitting them against the Spitfire and the Dynasty in the same week, on consecutive days no less. (RIP Philadelphia Fusion, who had similar consecutive day bad luck. They had a less than 24 hours between their match against New York and their match against San Francisco — their fatigue was evident in their stunning 3-1 loss against the weaker but better prepared Shock.) Seoul, meanwhile, is still struggling to claw their way back into stage playoff contention, and looked to close out the week with a sorely needed second win.
Boston took Volskaya in grand fashion. Both teams were undefeated on this map, but through a combination of Mistakes on Genji and Striker on Tracer, the team held Seoul to a 2-1 victory. Then on Blizzardworld Seoul forced a draw, able to match but unable to overcome a dominant Boston.
Mistakes on Sombra shut Seoul down at critical moments with his EMP ultimate while his team, in perfect sync, collapsed on the crippled enemies, wiped them out, and went on to win the match.
Week 3 Day 4
Match of the Day
New York Excelsior vs. Los Angeles Gladiators
The Excelsior just like playing with our emotions. Earlier in the week, in a rematch of the Stage 2 finals against the Philadelphia Fusion, New York went down 0-2 at the half just like they had done during the finals. And, just like they did in the finals, they came back in a reverse sweep. This match they did it again, suffering through the first half 0-2 before waking up and rolling the Gladiators in the next three maps.
No one knows why New York has suddenly developed a fondness for map five. Maybe they like playing Oasis, or maybe they like giving us a show. Or perhaps in their marathon race to be the top team in the League at the end of the season, they’re finally showing some signs of fatigue.
Final Thoughts
The top four teams headed to the Stage 3 Finals right now are the Boston Uprising, the Los Angeles Valiant, the New York Excelsior, and the San Francisco Shock. The Shock pulled off some interesting upsets earlier in the Stage, beating the Gladiators and the Fusion, but next week their winning streak will undoubtedly be humbled by the Spitfire and the Excelsior. That leaves a huge opening that anyone could capitalize on as the next four teams have the same record and an extremely thin map differential between them.
You’ll want to pay attention to all these teams’ matches next week because every map they play will mater come the Stage playoffs.
But ultimately the team to watch out for, the team that will win or come exceedingly close to winning the Stage 3 Finals, is Boston. Boston’s ability to coordinate, communicate, and dive with laser accuracy is exactly why they are the team to beat this stage. It’s true all teams need some level of coordination to be successful, but a lot of times teams rely on hard carries from their star players. Architect and Sinatraa for the Shock, Sayaplayer for the Mayhem, Geguri and Ado for the Dragons.
They get the kills that win the matches but at the end of the day the team with the superior teamwork is the winning team. And no team in the League right now is better at working together, and better at winning, than Boston.
Ash, the first of her name, keeper of Zenyatta lore, protector of Hanzo mains and Mother of Shanghai Dragons, is a content writer for the Overwatch section of MMO-C and Gamepedia.
|
|
Tweet
|
0
Comments
|
by
Published on 2018-04-20 05:40 PM
Overwatch PTR - Hanzo Rework and More
Another Overwatch PTR build has been released!
Overwatch League - KyKy & Rascal Released by Dallas Fuel
Some changes were made to the Dallas Fuel roster this week.
Another Overwatch PTR build has been released!
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Overwatch League - KyKy & Rascal Released by Dallas Fuel
Some changes were made to the Dallas Fuel roster this week.
Published on 2018-04-16 03:00 PM
Stage 3 is rolling right along, inching ever closer to the season playoffs and the end to an explosive inaugural year. This week the standings are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, with new teams rising up the ranks and unlikely teams slipping towards the bottom. What went down week 2? Let’s find out.
Week 2 Day 1
Match of the Day
Seoul Dynasty vs. Dallas Fuel
None of today’s matches were amazing feats of gaming to behold. Shanghai lost, San Francisco lost, and Dallas lost too. No great upsets, just a lot of close calls. The Dallas Fuel taking the Seoul Dynasty to tiebreaker was definitely one of those close calls. Dallas has been tinkering with their line up for the last few games, specifically their tank line. Their new main tank addition OGE had a lot to do with why Dallas came so close to beating Seoul.
Meanwhile Seoul is still struggling to get their Stage 1 groove back, fielding teams that deviate from their core (and arguably stronger) roster. It was a critical Rip-Tire from Fleta at the absolute last possible moment that snuffed out the Fuel’s chances of victory. A last ditch clutch play that, had it not worked, would have seen the match go in the Fuel’s favor.
Week 2 Day 2
Match of the Day
Boston Uprising vs. New York Excelsior
If you’ve been keeping up with League news, you know Boston’s had to release a player some would argue was their star DPS, Jonathan ‘Dreamkazper’ Sanchez. His departure cast the future of Boston’s playoff potential, Stage Finals and beyond, in doubt. They were on a winning record, undefeated in their last six games. Would that winning streak continue?
Boston’s first game without their ‘ringer’ was against the New York Excelsior. Even if losing one of their best wasn’t the death knell a lot of fans, myself included, thought it would be, there certainly wasn’t any way their winning streak could continue; New York has been undefeated since Week 1 of Stage 2.
But if there was any way, any way at all, to communicate to fans and pros alike that Boston was going to be alright, it was this game.
Wow. Only two other teams have handed New York the ‘L’ : London and Philadelphia. And with this win, Boston rises to 2nd in the Stage standings and 4th in the season overall. This meteoric rise, if they continue to play like the did here, will see them as a solid contender for the Overwatch League throne at the end of the season.
With Mistakes, Gamsu, Striker, Note, Neko, and Kellex working together as a seamless unit against New York’s disjointed and uncharacteristically slow to adapt lineup, the boys of Boston proved there is no "I" in "Team".
Week 2 Day 3
Match of the Day
Shanghai Dragons vs. San Francisco Shock
Let’s just get it out of the way, Shanghai lost... again. And again, they are slowly, slowly, improving with every match. With that out of the way, you'll still want to watch this match. Day 3 marked Shanghai’s Team Day, a special event the Blizzard Arena puts on for fans to come meet their favorite team and get lots of free team branded swag along the way. Shanghai doesn’t have New York’s record, or Florida’s charisma, or the strong home city support of Houston. But on this day, everyone in that arena was a Shanghai fan.
The score really doesn’t do this match justice. These maps were razor thin close, with the Dragons often winning the needed tick, distance, or control in overtime.
Ado’s Genji, Fearless’s tank play, Fiveking’s healing (with a sweet Battle Mercy kill on an Dragonblading Genji) and Geguir’s D.Va (with some tasty self-destructs) carried the day and for a moment it really did look like the Dragons would cross the line on Junkertown and carry the team to their first ever tiebreaker map 5. Sadly that wasn’t meant to be, but looking at the crowd, you couldn’t tell.
Fans in Dallas jerseys, Valiant jerseys, and even Shock jerseys were cheering for Shanghai. The love was real and a great reminder why this game is so great. Even though Shanghai lost (and even if that loss does matter in terms of their playoff potential), with the way that entire crowd was cheering for them, Shanghai, in a way, still won.
Week 2 Day 4
Match of the Day
All of Them
If you have the time and a healthy enough blood pressure, watch every match from today. There’s only been one day, way back in Stage 1, where all the matches went to game 5, but that one hardly counts as the games were super critical stage playoff determiners. Today was an outlier, all-around elevated levels of play.
There’s Houston facing off against a New York still reeling from their earlier loss against Boston. Throughout the match, New York simply did not play like themselves. It was only through the monumental carry of Widowmaker/DPS specialist Pine that the team won at all. It was a victory so hard fought that after a tense final point on Oasis, shot caller ArK could only take off his glasses, throw his head back, and sigh.
Caption: BIG MOOD
The London Spitfire was looking to avenge their Stage 2 loss to the Philadelphia Fusion that kept them from the title match. Again, this was another nail-bitingly close series that saw Philadelphia shut down London on Oasis, one of London’s worst. For the longest time, London was a team that could beat everyone, including New York, with the exception of Houston. The Outlaws have defeated them every time they’ve met in regular play. Now it seems London has a new Kryptonite and it’s Philadelphia.
Florida, like Shanghai, is still winless this Stage. But with new additions Sayaplayer and Awesomeguy, they’re looking much improved especially with Sayaplayer on Widowmaker removing heads from bodies with the precision of a surgeon. But even his life saving snipes wasn’t enough to resurrect a win for Florida, but they made Boston work to keep their winstreak intact. And with a team with Florida’s kind of record, making another team work for their win is the best you can hope for. Those dropped maps will definitely come back to haunt Boston when it’s finals time.
Final Thoughts
I love the Overwatch League because as time goes on, predicting what team will do what for any given match just gets harder and harder. All teams, all of them, are improving in ways we can’t account for. Boston lost one of their best players and continued on unbothered, meanwhile Seoul Dynasty lost Fleta to illness mid-match against the Gladiators and they just couldn’t recover. As a result of all this unpredictability, the stage rankings look so vastly different from what was expected.
These stage rankings excite me because teams we’ve never seen before are taking the top spots, displacing well-loved teams that have already had their chance to shine (and win a ton of money). The close rankings and the addition of the 4th slot are going to make the race for the Stage 3 finals something incredible to behold.
Ash, the first of her name, keeper of Zenyatta lore, protector of Hanzo mains and Mother of Shanghai Dragons, is a content writer for the Overwatch section of MMO-C and Gamepedia.
Week 2 Day 1
Match of the Day
Seoul Dynasty vs. Dallas Fuel
None of today’s matches were amazing feats of gaming to behold. Shanghai lost, San Francisco lost, and Dallas lost too. No great upsets, just a lot of close calls. The Dallas Fuel taking the Seoul Dynasty to tiebreaker was definitely one of those close calls. Dallas has been tinkering with their line up for the last few games, specifically their tank line. Their new main tank addition OGE had a lot to do with why Dallas came so close to beating Seoul.
Meanwhile Seoul is still struggling to get their Stage 1 groove back, fielding teams that deviate from their core (and arguably stronger) roster. It was a critical Rip-Tire from Fleta at the absolute last possible moment that snuffed out the Fuel’s chances of victory. A last ditch clutch play that, had it not worked, would have seen the match go in the Fuel’s favor.
Week 2 Day 2
Match of the Day
Boston Uprising vs. New York Excelsior
If you’ve been keeping up with League news, you know Boston’s had to release a player some would argue was their star DPS, Jonathan ‘Dreamkazper’ Sanchez. His departure cast the future of Boston’s playoff potential, Stage Finals and beyond, in doubt. They were on a winning record, undefeated in their last six games. Would that winning streak continue?
Boston’s first game without their ‘ringer’ was against the New York Excelsior. Even if losing one of their best wasn’t the death knell a lot of fans, myself included, thought it would be, there certainly wasn’t any way their winning streak could continue; New York has been undefeated since Week 1 of Stage 2.
But if there was any way, any way at all, to communicate to fans and pros alike that Boston was going to be alright, it was this game.
Wow. Only two other teams have handed New York the ‘L’ : London and Philadelphia. And with this win, Boston rises to 2nd in the Stage standings and 4th in the season overall. This meteoric rise, if they continue to play like the did here, will see them as a solid contender for the Overwatch League throne at the end of the season.
With Mistakes, Gamsu, Striker, Note, Neko, and Kellex working together as a seamless unit against New York’s disjointed and uncharacteristically slow to adapt lineup, the boys of Boston proved there is no "I" in "Team".
Week 2 Day 3
Match of the Day
Shanghai Dragons vs. San Francisco Shock
Let’s just get it out of the way, Shanghai lost... again. And again, they are slowly, slowly, improving with every match. With that out of the way, you'll still want to watch this match. Day 3 marked Shanghai’s Team Day, a special event the Blizzard Arena puts on for fans to come meet their favorite team and get lots of free team branded swag along the way. Shanghai doesn’t have New York’s record, or Florida’s charisma, or the strong home city support of Houston. But on this day, everyone in that arena was a Shanghai fan.
The score really doesn’t do this match justice. These maps were razor thin close, with the Dragons often winning the needed tick, distance, or control in overtime.
Ado’s Genji, Fearless’s tank play, Fiveking’s healing (with a sweet Battle Mercy kill on an Dragonblading Genji) and Geguir’s D.Va (with some tasty self-destructs) carried the day and for a moment it really did look like the Dragons would cross the line on Junkertown and carry the team to their first ever tiebreaker map 5. Sadly that wasn’t meant to be, but looking at the crowd, you couldn’t tell.
Fans in Dallas jerseys, Valiant jerseys, and even Shock jerseys were cheering for Shanghai. The love was real and a great reminder why this game is so great. Even though Shanghai lost (and even if that loss does matter in terms of their playoff potential), with the way that entire crowd was cheering for them, Shanghai, in a way, still won.
Week 2 Day 4
Match of the Day
All of Them
If you have the time and a healthy enough blood pressure, watch every match from today. There’s only been one day, way back in Stage 1, where all the matches went to game 5, but that one hardly counts as the games were super critical stage playoff determiners. Today was an outlier, all-around elevated levels of play.
There’s Houston facing off against a New York still reeling from their earlier loss against Boston. Throughout the match, New York simply did not play like themselves. It was only through the monumental carry of Widowmaker/DPS specialist Pine that the team won at all. It was a victory so hard fought that after a tense final point on Oasis, shot caller ArK could only take off his glasses, throw his head back, and sigh.
Caption: BIG MOOD
The London Spitfire was looking to avenge their Stage 2 loss to the Philadelphia Fusion that kept them from the title match. Again, this was another nail-bitingly close series that saw Philadelphia shut down London on Oasis, one of London’s worst. For the longest time, London was a team that could beat everyone, including New York, with the exception of Houston. The Outlaws have defeated them every time they’ve met in regular play. Now it seems London has a new Kryptonite and it’s Philadelphia.
Florida, like Shanghai, is still winless this Stage. But with new additions Sayaplayer and Awesomeguy, they’re looking much improved especially with Sayaplayer on Widowmaker removing heads from bodies with the precision of a surgeon. But even his life saving snipes wasn’t enough to resurrect a win for Florida, but they made Boston work to keep their winstreak intact. And with a team with Florida’s kind of record, making another team work for their win is the best you can hope for. Those dropped maps will definitely come back to haunt Boston when it’s finals time.
Final Thoughts
I love the Overwatch League because as time goes on, predicting what team will do what for any given match just gets harder and harder. All teams, all of them, are improving in ways we can’t account for. Boston lost one of their best players and continued on unbothered, meanwhile Seoul Dynasty lost Fleta to illness mid-match against the Gladiators and they just couldn’t recover. As a result of all this unpredictability, the stage rankings look so vastly different from what was expected.
These stage rankings excite me because teams we’ve never seen before are taking the top spots, displacing well-loved teams that have already had their chance to shine (and win a ton of money). The close rankings and the addition of the 4th slot are going to make the race for the Stage 3 finals something incredible to behold.
Ash, the first of her name, keeper of Zenyatta lore, protector of Hanzo mains and Mother of Shanghai Dragons, is a content writer for the Overwatch section of MMO-C and Gamepedia.
by
Published on 2018-04-10 08:52 PM
Overwatch Retribution Skins and Cosmetics
The event brings several new skins along with all of the other updates!
The event brings several new skins along with all of the other updates!
Site Navigation
