The matchup that most casters and a certain beat writer said would be a clean sweep from the Philadelphia Fusion was flipped on its head tonight when the Florida Mayhem took home their first win of the season. With amazing plays from the Mayhem players, it showed that the roster is ready to step up and contend with the best teams in the league. The match was the stuff of legend, and gave viewers an amazing game of Overwatch, and the biggest upset the Overwatch League has ever seen.
Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
The match opened on Nepal, Sanctum and it looked as if the Fusion would steamroll the map, but the Mayhem had other plans. After three failed attacks, the Mayhem were able to flip the point in Overtime. After decisively pressuring the Fusion back to their spawn, the Mayhem held the choke until they were 99% to 99%. Poko attempted to flip the point with a back-cap and did so successfully, but the Mayhem fully defended the point and recaptured it just in time. Time would run out before the Fusion could touch the point.
Nepal, Shrine would be the second map and from the beginning it was in favor of the Mayhem. With a first capture, the Mayhem relied on BQB’s insane Sombra skills to keep key Fusion players offline. The Fusion struggled to regroup and make the key plays they needed in order to flip the point in their favor. The Mayhem would ultimately take the map and have an early series lead of 1-0.
Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
Numbani would start with the Florida Mayhem on the attack, and it was a strong one at that. With Xepher on Reaper, the Mayhem would take down Sado on their first push and file onto the point with a commanding presence. They would power through Point B, and would only have to reset twice to make a final push with 1:30 remaining in their time bank.
The Fusion were not going down without a fight however, and replicated the same attack pushes and would end with 2:26 in their time bank. The next attack for the Mayhem would not be successful as they failed to secure a single tick. The Fusion would have a difficult time capturing the point but EQO would be able to send the match into Overtime and with big mistakes made by the Mayhem, the Fusion would be able to take the map and tie up the series 1-1.
Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
The Philadelphia Fusion would break out of the gates with a new 4 DPS comp and quickly took the first point against the Florida Mayhem defense. After switching to GOATS, they would steamroll across Point B and would end with 4:58 left in their time bank.
The Florida Mayhem would would answer with an amazing attack of their own and capture both points with 5:59 left in the time bank. On the second wave of attacks, both teams would capture both points, Mayhem in Overtime and the Fusion with 31 seconds left. The Mayhem would fail to pick up a tick on their final attack, but would fully hold the Fusion and keep the score tied 1-1.
Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
The final map of the series would start off with an interesting flip of positions from the teams but would allow Florida to create the space they needed to take an early lead on time and in the team fights. As the payload made the final turn to the end of Point A, the Mayhem rallied and pushed back the Fusion offense. One by one the Fusion players would fall and the Mayhem would stop the payload just short of the Point A doors.
On their attack, the Mayhem once again used their position flipping technique to quickly dispatch the Fusion defensive line and gained a large chunk of ground. While the payload moved around the final corner from the gas station, the Mayhem split their attack for a full closing flank to wipe Philadelphia from their path. With amazing tank plays from SWON and xepher, the Florida Mayhem would come out on top to take the series and the victory with a final score of 2:1.
This week is not over for the Florida Mayhem yet, as they face the Chengdu Hunters on Saturday @ 7:30pm EST.
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