The Florida Mayhem are in a rough transition period at the moment. The organisation is struggling to remain competitive whilst they scour Korean Contenders for new player talent. The general perception of this team is that they are the worst team in the league by far, with many also suggesting that the Mayhem Contenders team could be better than their big brother.
Last week, the Mayhem could have genuinely taken Paris to a map five with a slightly better performance on Blizzard World. Their other match against the New York Excelsior wasn’t close in the slightest, although no one should have expected it to be. The Mayhem play against the Dragons and Gladiators this week and it would be nothing short of a miracle if they were able to record their first stage win against either opponent.
Los Angeles Gladiators (4-0) Map Score (12-4-1)
The Gladiators are a top five team in every power ranking within the community and for good reason. Where in Stage 1 they were struggling to incorporate new players in a Meta that may not have particularly suited them, Stage 2 sees them returning to rotate through their great roster depth similar to the successful Gladiators of 2018. The success story of Jang “Decay” Gui-un continues in this Stage’s Meta, seeing him impress on the many heroes in his wheelhouse.
The Florida Mayhem will struggle to play a competitive series here. The best bet for them is to expand upon their recent foray into DPS heavy compositions. For example, a Sombra for Lee “BQB” Sang-bum, a Pharah for Koo “Xepher” Jae-mo and Widowmaker for Ha “Sayaplayer” Jeong-woo. This not only disrupts the Gladiators with a Sombra, it threatens them with a deadly Widow and ensures that the Mayhem need not worry about Xepher’s lackluster D.va play. An all round better composition than a Florida Mayhem Goats composition.
Prediction: LA Gladiators 4 – 0 Florida Mayhem
Player to Watch: Decay. This series won’t be close. As such, all should have their eyes on LA’s roster, and Decay consistently performs impressively.
Shanghai Dragons (1-2) Map Score (4-7-1)
The Shanghai Dragons are on an ever-upward trajectory with their eyes set for Stage playoffs. Their two losses this stage came at the hands of the Gladiators and the Excelsior, neither of which they would have been favoured to win. Last week they dismantled the Chengdu Hunters, a team that has troubled many others decent teams this stage. Not enough praise has been given to Son “CoMa” Kyeong-woo, who has been the captain steering this team’s ship forward since the Kongdoo Panthera era of this roster. They will look to this game against the Florida Mayhem as a chance to easily leap-frog in to the top 10 by improving their record to 2 wins and 2 losses.
In this game, the Florida Mayhem will be aiming to take some map wins. Of course it will be tough to take a map against an up and coming team such as Shanghai. However, Shanghai are yet to assert their dominance in such a way so as to suggest bottom tier teams can no longer match up to them.
Consequently, if the Florida Mayhem can remain relatively competitive in this match, it will show that they have not fallen off a cliff completely. Every week so far this stage, they have had at least one match that remained close, and some of them were against solidified top of the ladder teams. This gives Mayhem fans a shimmer of hope coming into this match.
Prediction: Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Florida Mayhem
Players to Watch: Diem and Sayaplayer in what should be one of the best Widow duels in the league.
Conclusion
The Florida Mayhem are in for another rough week. Again it is important to state that this team is in the midst of a player and staff overhaul, hopefully being pushed into action after this stage ends. The sooner the better for this team, who have seemingly cemented themselves as the worst team in the league. Many Mayhem fans have put forth expressions of discontent and frustration. But there is a silver lining. This team has the best NA Contenders team. Florida has Sayaplayer, BQB and HaGoPeun and are looking to upgrade in every other area, as soon as possible. So hang in there Florida fans, there is still a whole lot to love.
Make sure to check out Sam’s Florida Mayhem potential signings article, where he explores the targets that are likely and/or should be looked at for Florida!
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