Blink and it’s over — that’s just how fast the Boston Uprising disposed of their two opponents in their first week of the June Joust.
The Uprising did not look strong to start the 2021 season, and ultimately failed to qualify for the first monthly tournament. However, It looked like missing the May Melee was a blessing in disguise for the Uprising. Boston came out of their break fired up and ready to go. Neither the Defiant or the Justice were prepared for the reinvigorated Uprising roster, as they both fell 0-3. As Boston heads into their next week of games, it’s a perfect time to recap just how the Uprising ran through their opening June Joust weekend.
[Related: Houston Outlaws: Week Seven in Review]
Welcome to the League GaeBullSsi
Before the beginning of the 2021 OWL season, there was one question on a lot of fans’ minds “Which team would sign WGS’ off tank GaeBullSsi?”. The young stand out tank player made a huge splash in Korean Contenders, helping World Game Star become a consistent top-4 team. During an offseason filled with big moves and even bigger surprise departures, Contenders fans assumed GBS would find a team without an issue.
After months of waiting the news finally arrived. The announcement came through that GaeBullSsi joined the Uprising Academy. Twitter users had to triple-check to make sure it wasn’t a prank. There couldn’t possibly be a way that one of the best offtank talents in Contenders last year would settle for a struggling NA Contenders academy team.
A strong OWL debut for @GaeBullSsi 🔥 pic.twitter.com/v9zGLNebnk
— Boston Uprising (@BostonUprising) May 22, 2021
What fans did not realize was that the Uprising had full intention of bringing up GBS from day 1. Right before the end of the May Melee, the Uprising announced GBS would be joining the team on a full time OWL contract. In the opening weekend of the June Joust, the exciting new addition would make his debut.
And wow did GaeBullSsi perform in his opening weekend. On D.Va GBS sits at the top of the league in terms of Final Blows per 10, Eliminations per 10, and Hero Damage per 10. Although he only played for 5 of the 6 maps, the incredible efficiency of the rookie offtank just highlights the talent of the newest member of the Uprising.
Hero Pools Helping Out the DPS Line in a Big Way
One of the unfortunate aspects of the Boston Uprising roster is the lack of a dedicated Tracer player. Even though they did sign Soon for a short amount of time, Boston entered the May Melee with a massive disadvantage against most teams. Funnily enough this was a big issue for the Uprising in 2020 as well. While Valentine did have a few jaw-dropping Pulse Bombs, his overall Tracer play left a lot to be desired.
Now that Tracer is out of the fray, the Uprising are free to focus on more of their comfort heroes rather than force strategies that are less suited for them.The major boon for Boston was the fact that Valentine can spend the entire weekend on Echo. In his opening weekend, Valentine looked pretty disappointing on one of his premier heroes. It was obvious he had spent so much time trying to catch up on Tracer, that Valentine never found his groove on Echo. However Valentine looked like a completely revitalized player against the Justice. He outplayed Assassin at every angle and really overwhelmed the Justice with truly great Echo play.
Best of all, Valentine’s excellent play provided space for Im37 to really shine. Whether it was on Hanzo, McCree, or Ashe, Im37 has had a solid start to the 2021 season. Even in their losses the Boston hitscan player proved himself worthy for a second dip into the Overwatch League. Im37 stepped up in a big way on Rialto as Boston needed to break through a tough Toronto defense, and then again when they needed to hold the Defiant to seal the match win. In this meta, both Valentine and Im37 look like they have leveled up in such a short time.
Faith is the Perfect Pairing for Myunbong
Without a doubt, Myunbong has been the star for the Boston Uprising since joining the team in 2020. As the team failed to find any form of success, it was Myunbong that consistently came through with highlight reel plays. The Uprising’s star flex support needed some extra help in the backline however.
In comes Faith – the main support for that incredible WGS team that held GaeBullSsi, Valentine, and Lori. His signing was a bit overshadowed by an accidental leak from the Overwatch League prematurely announcing Uprising adding Valentine to the roster, but make no mistake: everyone should be excited to watch Faith.
Just as Im37 has been the bright spot on the DPS front, Faith has been an incredible rock in the support line. His Brigitte play is elite and easily one of the most fun to watch so far this season. Faith currently sits at the top of the charts in both Final Blows per 10 and Eliminations per 10 on as Brigitte. It’s fair to say Faith has become an absolute raid boss for opposing teams when he activates Rally. For Boston, Faith brings an additional threat from the support line alongside Myunbong – a dual threat that they have been missing for quite some time.
Time to Keep Rolling
In very small spurts, fans have seen Boston look like the real deal and push tough teams to the limits. What the Uprising need to do in the upcoming June Joust Qualifiers is continue to display that same level of greatness they’ve shown in their first two games. Consistency has always been Boston’s Achilles’ heel, but now they have a premier opportunity to redefine themselves as an organization.
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Featured image courtesy of the Overwatch League
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