Games have yet to start, but the Midseason Madness is already causing teams to go wild. Just mere days before the second tournament of the year and teams are adding and dropping players like it’s going out of style. The teams that are fighting to escape the bottom of the standings made the biggest moves, and now viewers will get to see if it all paid off.
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Because the two regions have yet to battle each other, the rankings will remain split for the time being. The finale of the Midseason Madness tournament will have the top APAC teams duke it out against the top western teams, settling the score for at least some time before the end of year playoffs.
Is this finally the year of the Tiger? Seoul Dynasty looked incredible in their run to a Kickoff Clash championship. The veterans are coming through in a big way, and it looks like the rookies are taking notes. There are playmakers everywhere on this team. As long as they don’t have to play the Shanghai Dragons four times in a row, the Dynasty are set for another tournament run.
So far the Dragons are the only kryptonite to Seoul. They have no problem matching any composition against any foe, but their backline doesn’t look like their typical selves. Maybe it is just some early season rust shaking off, but for the moment the Dragons still seem to be plenty capable of taking down every opponent in APAC.
Woah is this what the Spark can do when they don’t swap the roster every week? The DPS line look scary good, and the tank line has a solid flow of subbing in and out based on compositions and maps. The only thing holding this team back seems to be playoff experience. They rolled over the competition during the qualifiers, but fell flat on their face in the Kickoff Clash bracket.
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Fusion
Try as they might, the Philadelphia Fusion just may be the most predictable team in the league. They impress everyone in the first week, they fumble the bag in the second week and then some how find their way in the championship match in the Kickoff Clash. They lost in rough fashion, but this should be a prime time for a bounce back performance.
The Chengdu Hunters look like they are struggling after the massive shift in their roster just before the season started. The talent is still all there, it just may take some time for all the pieces to get synced up again.
They won a game! The Valiant have found a way to actually win a game of Overwatch. Great news for Valiant fans as they look to double their total in the first weekend of Qualifiers. They picked up Min-seo “Marve1” Hwang to bulk up their tank line, and it should help them going forward.
The Charge need a jump start ASAP. They look like they are having a rough time out there, having only notched one win against the Los Angeles Valiant. Maybe the long break helped them build upon any of the lessons they learned from the Kickoff Clash Qualifiers.
Courtesy of the Overwatch League
Can anyone stop the Glads? That will be the prevailing question as teams head into the Midseason Madness Qualifiers. They are flexible, they are in-sync and they are just the top dogs until further notice.
Zarya brought this team to the finals of the Kickoff Clash, but it couldn’t push the Fuel through the finish line. Dallas are well-rounded for the most part but the team needs to find some synergy on Winston compositions if they want to best the Glads.
A major surprise to a lot of viewers, the Reign came to play in the Kickoff Clash. They showed plenty of different looks and kept teams, and viewers, on their toes. Taking home bronze isn’t the worst result for a team people thought was a fraud. The Reign are ready to take the next step towards winning a major tournament.
Courtesy of the Overwatch League
The Shock brought in a main tank in the brief downtime the team had in hopes to find someone that can fill in the gaps in the tank spot. The team overall looked very good for four rookies and a veteran, but there were clear mistakes that caused the team to falter down the stretch. The Shock have several ROTY candidates, so they shouldn’t be struggling for long.
What a pleasant surprise the Florida Mayhem have been so far. The unique roster has found success time after time, and even put up a solid fight against some of the tougher opponents in the Kickoff Clash bracket. Florida does have a bad habit of starting hot and falling off later, so this year’s version is aiming to break the cycle.
Outlaws are still just doing their thing. They play one composition well and that’s about it. Though their Doomfist comp is good enough to smack around the lower half of the standings, they are finding it very difficult to surpass those teams ahead of them. Once they figure out how to play other heroes, they have a shot at a top-4 finish.
The Defiant have dumped their coach and are heading into some uncharted territory. After flaming out of the Kickoff Clash, the Defiant are hoping that a new direction can give them some much needed wins.
Courtesy of the Overwatch League
Never trust the Washington Justice. They are Sour Patch Kids – Sour, sweet, gone.
Keeping running Reinhardt and eventually it will work out, right? The London Spitfire may be onto something with their Rush compositions, they just struggle to close out those tough matches. They have a young roster, but they need to start working on other tactics to climb the ladder.
For a team that had some amount of good things going for them, Boston is once again hanging out at the bottom of the standings. They removed some clubhouse issues from the roster, and hopefully the practices they had were solid enough to get them back into the groove. Just unlucky they have an insanely difficult schedule.
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Paris were one of those teams who decided to dump players quick and try something new. They’ve done it twice now, and fans are getting a bit worried about the management style of the Eternal. It has got to be tough for the players, but here’s to hoping they find a spark.
Even with all the big names on the team, the New York Excelsior have just disappointed every step of the way. Their mini-behind-the-scenes show highlighted their difficulties practicing, which could have attributed to their poor performance so far. Now with the team all in one spot, they could turn things around this tournament.
New coaching staff aside, the Titans are going to need some major improvements to get back into contention. The players have shown some great stuff, but none of it has brought any form of success. Maybe that opening lost really boomed the team.
Featured image courtesy of the Overwatch League
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