There is no doubt that London is one of the strongest teams in the league. They won the Stage 1 title and are one of two teams to beat New York. They consistently are in the top two teams for power rankings all over the internet. But they often fail in very odd circumstances. London Spitfire vs. Los Angeles Gladiators was not a match many had on the radar. However, last week a massive upset took place as we watched the mighty Spitfire lose to the 8th seed team, Los Angeles Gladiators.

London Spitfire vs. Los Angeles Gladiators

Last Saturday, we witnessed one of the biggest upsets in the league so far. The quite underwhelming Gladiators were going to be an easy win for London. Or so everyone thought. That was until the Gladiators defeated them 3-1. The Gladiators had been looking much stronger ever since they picked up Baek ‘Fissure’ Chan-hyung, who was formerly a London player.

Fissure joking with his former teammates after his win. Courtesy of Twitch and Blizzard Entertainment

Fissure was consistently benched in favor of Gesture, who is often considered the best tank in the game. But only a few weeks ago, Fissure traded to Gladiators, a business decision that has already proven very beneficial. This is easily the biggest win the Gladiators have thus far, proving that they are capable of improving. But on the flip side, this also makes many question London’s consistency and strength.

Gladiators played out of their mind, not losing until the fourth map of the series. Fissure was a clear stand out performance (as he has been since he joined the team), but co-tank player Hyung-seok ‘Bischu’ Kim also brought a huge amount to the team. This combined with the amazing team work by the rest of the team just proved to be too much for London.

Not the first time

This isn’t the first time London have had a lack luster showing. The last time London played Gladiators all the way back in the preseason, they lost as well. Although many discredited that since the rules were different and the official season had yet to start. This along with a surprising loss to Boston, two losses to Houston and a loss to New York gives London more losses than the other two Korean teams with five in total.

It’s hard to identify exactly why London loses to these teams. It may be that they are underestimating their opponents. It could be just in nature the team has off days and on days. There is no doubt that Los Angeles Gladiators deserved their win. Matches like this prove that the league is much closer in skill than many people may have thought at first. Any team is capable of defeating any other team (mostly).

Although London may have lost last weekend, they are far from out of this league. There are still two more weeks until Stage 2 finals. London has proven to be a force to be feared in the past, and this setback will hopefully only push them further. But will this be enough to overcome the fierce competition? Time will tell.

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Featured image from Twitch