The Boston Uprising gave the NYXL a close fight tonight. With their aggressive playstyle and powerful tank plays, it was looking scary for a while, but the Excelsior managed to come out on top and remind fans of the dominant team they truly are.
With newcomer
Nenne
starting on Zarya, the NYXL were able to take the point time and time again. The rookie’s Zarya was certainly something to be feared, as he dominated the match and helped to secure a
surprisingly close round 1 on Shrine.
Round 2, however, the Uprising were no match for the NYXL who captured the point at 64% from Boston on sanctum and keep it for the remainder of the match with absolutely zero switching.
This scary-close map had fans on the edge of their seats. Fusions‘ aggressive Rhinehardt paired with Axxiom‘s vicious Zarya dominated the majority of their attacks, and the NYXL’s usual “hang-back and wait it out” playstyle failed them time and time again.
Match after match was spent with the NYXL attempting to force a GOATS comp, but the team was lacking that same aggressive ability that benefitted the Uprising. With players on the Excelsior getting picked off one by one and Fusions landing earthshatter after earthshatter, the Uprising were able to defeat the NYXL in a tight nail-biting match.
The interstellar matchup was the shock of the series, with both teams knocking each other back in strong offensive strategies and lacking in their defensive maneuvers. The NYXL, however, relied very heavily on using most of their ultimates all at once to win team fights. It was feeling desperate, but the strategy was keeping the Uprising at bay during attacks.
Courtesy: Blizzard Ent
In round 5, the NYXL were able to keep the Uprising from even getting one tick on point A. All of that was dashed, however, when the Excelsior decide to run a very unorthodox composition consisting of a Mercy, Zenyatta, Tracer, Hammond, Pharah and Sombra. Neither team was able to outplay the other, and all of the Excelsior’s hopes for winning their first match of the season were now on their final map.
On Route 66 it looked like the NYXL had finally learned that the major issue keeping them from taking the series was the Uprising’s strong tank line. With Meko on Sombra, the Excelsior were finally able to consistently shut down Boston and keep Fusions from landing the same earthshatters that gave them so much trouble on Numbani and Horizon. The team leaned on his EMPs and played specifically around them to take advantage of the Uprising’s tanks’ vulnerability.
In a league so dominated by the aggressive 3-3 GOATS team composition, New York seemed to have the most trouble dealing with Uprising’s vicious and daring tank line. Meko‘s well-timed EMPs are what ultimately saved them, but for the Excelsior to be able to keep their dominant status as the best team in the league, they have to adapt and get more used to that aggression. Their laid back playstyle nearly cost them the match, and as soon as the team started to match the same aggression the Uprising was displaying, they finally were able to dominate in the way the NYXL is supposed to.
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