It’s a new stage for the Florida Mayhem, giving them time to forget their shaky beginning and set off in a more confident direction. It is a difficult set of matches this week for Florida, but with their only win in Stage 1 coming in an upset over the Philadelphia Fusion, perhaps the Mayhem are quietly confident they can repeat history this week.
London Spitfire may hold the title as the most inconsistent team in Overwatch League history. At times during Stage 1, the Spitfire looked lost, switching their roles constantly before realising they needed to rely on the mechanical skill of their players to grind out map wins. Hong “Gesture” Jae-hee will have many critics to silence in this stage as he was noticeably less dominant last stage than during the Season 1 Playoffs last year. He will look to establish himself in the first match. Players, analysts and pundits have all hinted at the Goats Meta still having a strong influence on Overwatch play; in this case, London will need to have improved their teamwork and consistency over the stage break or they may be in for a surprising loss.
2018-01-25 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
As for the Mayhem, this is an opportunity to capitalise on what could be another slow stage start from London. The Mayhem should look to take notes from the Chengdu Hunters, a team that clawed their way out of the lower quarter of the league standings by employing their own Meta game. The Mayhem should continue to run Lee “BQB” Sang-bum on Sombra, to disable Kim “Fury” Jun-ho on his D.Va. They should also continue to weave Mei into their compositions, or utilise other niche heroes such as Hanzo. Kevyn “TviQ” Lindström built his Overwatch legacy on heroes such as these and it should find Florida some success against a team like London, who are not known for their strict and coordinated Goats gameplay. Which means they may not be well disciplined enough to counter-pick against unique compositions.
Prediction
London Spitfire 3 – 1 Florida Mayhem
Key Player for the Florida Mayhem
Kevyn “TviQ” Lindström
The Philadelphia Fusion are a formidable team in any Meta, however it seemed that when they played Goats in Stage 1 they could only play it with Kim “SADO” Su-min on Winston. This made them predictable for teams that could match their incredible synergy and mechanical skill. Take their 4-0 loss to the San Francisco Shock in the semi-finals of the Stage Playoffs as an example. If all the whispered conjecture is accurate, then it seems Philadelphia will have to again rely on SADO’s Winston play in another stage where Goats is quite prevalent. After suffering what many consider an embarrassing loss already to the Florida Mayhem this season, it seems that this team cannot afford to risk being swept by a struggling team and may opt to unleash their star DPS players Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok and Josh “EQO” Corona in order to sidestep their issue of being predictable.
Philadelphia Fusion Entrance by Robert Paul
This is going to be a very tough opponent for the Florida Mayhem. Where the Spitfire are historically slow to begin their stages, the Fusion will be looking to take revenge immediately for their surprise loss earlier this year. If the Mayhem can force the Fusion to play Goats in the matchup, they may stand a chance to win this game because of the added flexibility of Lee “BQB” Sang-bum. His ability to play both Zarya and Sombra is highly unique in the league, and may shut down SADO’s playmaking ability on Winston, namely by hacking the Winston during his Primal Rage. This may be the key to the win for the Mayhem, as they seem outmatched on paper in a situation in which they need to play a DPS heavy composition against the Fusion.
Prediction
Philadelphia Fusion 3 – 1 Florida Mayhem
Key Player for the Mayhem
Lee “BQB” Sang-bum
The opening day of matches for this stage is going to be one full of surprises, hopefully. Perhaps Goats will only be played on Kings Row or perhaps the Mayhem can produce their first 2-0 week in the history of the organisation. Despite any likelihood of either of those two things occurring, the matches will undoubtedly be fun to watch.
Featured Image Courtesy of the Florida Mayhem
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