After a hot showing in the first week of the Overwatch League, the Boston Uprising have finally shown some weakness to their astounding ways. The streak of reverse sweeps came to an end. At the hands of the Hangzhou Spark, they suffered their first Stage 2 defeat. A team that’s been underestimated after the middle of Stage 1, the Spark showed everyone why they loved them in the first place. From here, things don’t get any easier for the Boston boys, as week three poses a very heavy threat.
Courtesy of the Hangzhou Spark.
The Spark pulled out their secret weapon to secure the win over Boston this week. DPS superstar Cai “Krystal” Shilong jumped off the bench and delivered a top tier performance. On a variety of heroes—most notably his bone crushing Bastion on Oasis—Krystal gave Boston a hard time, and won on every map he played on.
In true Boston tradition, this game went all the way. In map five round three, the teams were tied up at 99%. A clutch and series winning boop from Ho-jin “iDK” Park’s incredible Lucio won them the map. The game was close from start to finish, and it’s easy to tell just how evenly matched these two teams are.
Minseok “AimGod” “Jeff” Kwon truly has a way of keeping up with every team the Uprising play against. As a Zenyatta player, it’s AimGod’s job to keep his team healed up, while also providing the damage necessary to take out the tank line on the enemy team. In a series that gave us predominantly GOATs from the Boston side, AimGod did his job wonderfully. He’s consistently proven just how strategic and enjoyable his game play can be. Boston has truly found a superstar in this sniper support main.
A team that’s managed to climb higher and higher as the stage progresses, the London Spitfire are shaping up to be the champions they are. However, it should be noted that two of their three victories have come from beating the Florida Mayhem, and the Atlanta Reign. These two teams have suffered greatly with the meta changes, and these victories don’t hold up as impressive when looking a little closer. Their 2-1 victory against the Philadelphia Fusion should raise some slight concern, despite how close the game initially was.
2019-04-05 – Overwatch League 2019 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
In the end, Boston has a little bit of the upper hand. London showed weaknesses that the Fusion were able to exploit. Additionally, Philadelphia was able to hold off a hungry London team from a win that should’ve been attainable, with a full five minute hold. The Uprising can use this to their advantage as often as they can, and show their strengths when choosing to run Reinhardt GOATs into the London Spitfire. Like all Boston games so far, it’s also entirely possible that this could go the distance.
It’s been a good week to be a D.Va player in the Overwatch League. Because of this, the player that Boston should fear the most is Jun-ho “Fury” Kim. With insanely high levels of game sense, Fury has been able to consume ultimates from the enemy team left and right. The Uprising’s new D.Va player, Richard “rCk” Kanerva, has to be able to do the very same. If rCk can manage to play on a similar level when flexing onto D.Va, there’s a real chance for them to get the job done.
The undefeated Titans face off against the Uprising once more on Sunday night. When these two teams met in the playoffs, Vancouver steamrolled over Boston. It’s expected that, this time around, things will go exactly the same. It’s hard to think otherwise, when the Vancouver Titans haven’t shown any weaknesses against a team other than the San Francisco Shock.
Courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment.
Because of this, it’s safe to assume that the Vancouver Titans will win it all. The second time round, however, there’s a chance for Boston to exploit their difficulty in dealing with DPS-centric compositions. If the Uprising can flex onto those heroes and take advantage of their struggle, they could squeak out a map win. In the end, however, the victory will go to Vancouver.
As always, the clashing of the ultimate Overwatch League Chads brings a new level of entertainment to this series. Sang-beom “Bumper” Park and Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth are two of the top main tanks in the League. As aggressive Reinhardt players, it’s always immensely impressive to watch the way their respective teams rally around them to support their daredevil plays. This matchup will show off why these two are among the best, and the different play styles worth trying when filling into the main tank role.
Featured Image Courtesy of the Overwatch League.
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