Boston Uprising (1-1) vs Houston Outlaws (0-2)
Looking to bounce back from their first loss, the Boston Uprising came out with their starters from game one. With Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse still banned, Minesob “Axxiom” Park is filling his role. Axxiom is a main tank player, so his Zarya experience is below the OWL standard. Nevertheless, the Uprising put up a good fight against the Outlaws.
Boston edged out a win against the Outlaws with amazing team play and coordination. Many people ranked this team low, but the shotcalling and hive mind lead to a strong GOATS performance. Perhaps now people won’t underestimate Boston, or maybe being the underdog is what makes this team play so well. Either way, don’t sleep on the Boston Uprising.
Nepal Houston: Outlaws 2-0
Boston ran out on a quad tank setup with Jeffrey “blase” Tsang on Roadhog. Houston ran an anti-GOATS setup with Wrecking Ball, Sombra and Pharah. The enemy Sombra as well as D.Va were too strong on map one, and it went in the favor of Houston.
The second map saw rollouts of Winston GOATS where Houston got a quick first capture. A scrappy fight with several kills for Axxiom won them control for a short time. An amazing Graviton Surge from Dante “Danteh” Cruz led to a quick recapture for the Outlaws, and they captured map two to go up 1-0 in the series.
Hollywood: Boston Uprising 3-2
Substitutions came in for the Outlaws on the second map, which meant Boston had to adjust to a different strategy. Starting on defense, Boston rolled out on the standard GOATS composition, which Outlaws matched. Lucas “Note” Meissner caught a pickoff on the enemy Lucio and ended the first fight with three kills. Boston snowballed the cart up until the last part of the streets phase. D.Va Bomb and Graviton surge combos came out, first from Matt “Coolmatt” Iorio, then from Note. Minseok “Aimgod” Kwon caught a pickoff on the enemy Zarya, who was feeling too safe. They then strolled with the cart up to last point. Boston was stopped right before completing the map.
GOATS came out again for both teams. Kellex was picked off early on point one, giving Houston the point with a four minute timebank. Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth hit one of his classic Earthshatters, stopping Houston by the saloon. Houston’s Graviton and Bomb combo pushed them to point two with one and a half minutes. A scrappy last fight with re-spawn advantage to Boston put them on the board. Boston took the map and tied up the series.
Volskaya Industries: Boston 4-3
Volskaya Industries was Boston’s home map last season, which gave them a slight advantage. Fusions came out on attack with Reinhardt vs. Austin “Muma”‘ Wilmot’s Winston. The static shield showed to be advantageous as they captured with six minutes. Note caught out Muma with a Self Destruct and that lead to two ticks on point two. Fusions found two quick Earth Shatters to finish out the map with just over one minute left.
Fusions went Winston for defense, the Outlaws decided to run the Moira version of GOATS. The healing was too much for Boston to chunk through and Houston rolled through point one. Respawns were at the advantage of Boston, but Houston were slow and methodical, capturing with three minutes in the time bank.
Note opened up the attack with a solo kill onto the enemy Zenyatta, who was out of position. With that, Boston captured first point, ran to second and scrapped it out. Boston captured both points with a minute and a prayer, off the back of Note with amazing D.Va play.
The Outlaws threw a curve-ball and attacked with a triple DPS composition, but got shut down on their first attack. Jiri “Linkzr” Masalin’s Widowmaker was too much for Boston and they fall to his left clicks. Houston made wholesale changes to GOATS for their last fight and fell to Boston. Volskaya remains Boston’s best map and allowed them to go up in the series.
Dorado: Houston Outlaws 4-3
Needing just one more map, Boston ran Winston GOATS on attack and got a first kill onto Linkzr’s Ana. They captured the first point with ease, but they were stopped at the church. Muma was alone on point and Boston solo killed him to get an easy fight win, but a good play from Linkzr’s Ana stopped them again. A misplay from Danteh’s Zarya gave Boston an advantage going into last point, and great team play and focused fire pushed them to the end of the map with ease.
Planning to face DPS heroes, Boston ran a Moira over Zenyatta for more healing on the defense. Boston held close but the damage output was too strong from Houston, and they captured point one with ease as well. A great EMP from Danteh pushed the cart some distance, but the Ana pick for blase threw off Houston. Fusions and Kellex got cut off from the rest of the team, giving the point to Houston. Boston was discombobulated and could not get a strong teamfight, Houston pushed to the end with two and a half minutes left.
Danteh stayed on the Sombra for the Houston defense, and hit a huge EMP at the end of first point. After a long and scrappy fight, Houston stopped Boston before they captured point one. The Sombra for Houston is too strong on their attack, Danteh hits a six man EMP and pushes Houston to a map five.
Ilios: Boston Uprising 2-1
With one final game to determine it all, Boston ran their signature GOATS and Houston matched. Note and Axxiom carried Boston to a first point capture after Fusions fell. Note opened up the fight again with a starting kill onto the enemy Zenyatta. Amazing team play for Boston and a hard carry from Note lead them to a map one capture.
Ilios Well meant an anti-dive composition for the Outlaws. Linkzr’s McCree and Muma’s Orisa lead to a first point capture with ease. Crowd control was the game for Houston on this map, and they pushed Boston into the well and off of the map. Map two went to the Outlaws with ease.
Map three was a GOATS map: Boston rolled out with the Reinhardt, Outlaws with the Winston. The first point capture went to Boston as Axxiom lasered down his enemies, they managed to hold control until 86%. Houston took control and uses their Graviton and Bomb combo to hold, Axxiom and Note respond with their own, catching one and collapsing on the rest. The Outlaws were unable to touch the point and Boston won the series 3-2.
Conclusion
The Boston Uprising lack flexibility within the roster, but right now that isn’t a problem. Aimgod and Note were standout players all game, Axxiom filled his role best he could and Fusions stood up to Muma like he was nobody.
This team has the potential to be the best GOATS team in the league, with Fusions leading and Aimgod clicking heads. The veteran player Note got so many solo kills to open up fights, he outplayed his counterparts with ease and supported his Main Tank. Don’t sleep on this team, not again.
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