The second stage of the Overwatch League 2019 is now over and the Mayhem again find themselves on the bottom of the standings. Stage 2 was a winless one for Florida, and many fans are soured by the Mayhem’s performance. It’s not just the fans either, most Overwatch League pundits agree that Florida are the worst team in the league. However some popular community power rankings are comically misinformative, Florida have managed to keep every game this stage closer than most would think they could. They took maps off of Stage 2 finalists in the Gladiators, Dragons, Fuel and Spitfire. The Fuel and Spitfire matches were even winnable. Although the Mayhem might be out of the running for the end of year playoffs, there is still a lot of time in this season to build a successful culture.
Koo “Xepher” Jae-mo and Yoon “Swon” Seon-won both struggled this past stage. The were rightfully labelled by most as the worst tank duo in the league. However to be fair, Xepher is flexible and showcased some decent Pharah play, and Swon produced some clutch Earthshatter kills in later stage matches. Both of these players being upgraded upon for next stage.
2019-02-21 / Photo: Sean Costello for Blizzard Entertainment
Although the Mayhem did not play against the Shock or Titans in Stage 2, five of the seven teams they played against made the Stage playoffs. So to cut the Mayhem some slack, the strength of their schedule was quite tough. This tough schedule also came in the midst of a major roster overhaul. Considering both of these facts, it’s hard to justify that the Mayhem is terrible and cannot be competitive.
Florida has also recently expanded its composition library. Where in Stage 1 they played exclusively Meta compositions, Stage 2 saw Florida play more DPS compositions. Lee “BQB” Sang-bum played some more Sombra, a hero much more suited to his skill set than Zarya is. This added another dimension to Florida’s playstyle. Furthermore, in the next stage, it is predicted that GOATs may be further nerfed by Blizzard. This will help Florida a lot because BQB is not a carry level Zarya. BQB is, however, a carry level player on Sombra and on other weird heroes. Fingers crossed, the Meta changes enough to also allow Ha “Sayaplayer” Jeong-woo to play McCree and Widowmaker instead of Brigitte. The Mayhem have three players to integrate before Stage 3. However, they have close to a month to scrim with their new players. Each of these three players are objectively direct upgrades over their counterparts bar Seong “Byrem” Joo lee in the flex support position.
2019-04-05 – Overwatch League 2019 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
The schedule for Florida in Stage 3 is less difficult than their schedule in Stage 2. They play the Dynasty, Eternal, Outlaws, Shock, Spark, Reign and Excelsior. Only three of these teams made the Stage 2 playoffs. If the Meta changes and if the new players slot nicely into the current Mayhem roster, this could be a stage where Florida earns some wins.
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