London Spitfire 2 – 1 Florida Mayhem
The second day of the new Overwatch League stage saw Florida and London face off in their first match back from the stage break. It was a much less dominant game from the Spitfire than many predicted, with the new look starting roster for the Florida Mayhem seeming much more cohesive now that they no longer have a language barrier.
Lijiang Tower (Spitfire 2 – 0 Mayhem)
The start of this map was interesting, with Florida able to cap the first point relatively easily on a quad DPS composition. Support player Jo “HaGoPeun” Hyeon-woo was on tracer, accompanied by a Pharah, Sombra and Widow. Florida snuck 30 percent away from London, who seemed to be taken aback by this aggressive statement from Florida. However, London was able to refocus on their Winston Goats composition and confidently re-take the point capture in dominant fashion. Despite Florida switching to their own Winston Goats composition and a back-cap by their support players during the final losing fight, this stage of Lijiang was easily taken by the London Spitfire.
The second point of Lijiang was even more dominant from London, who were now not surprised by Florida’s quad DPS composition, and were then able to roll Florida to take Lijiang in a clean sweep.
Hanamura (Mayhem 3 – 2 Spitfire)
Florida were defending first and they were experimenting with the newly popular ‘Bunker’ composition. It consists of a Torbjorn, Bastion and Baptiste, hiding behind an Orisa shield with a Pharah and Mercy floating above the temple above them on point A. London decided to play a spam counter-composition with a Hanzo and Pharah, however it took two minutes for this composition to dislodge the Mayhem and then take point A.
The flexibility of Lee “BQB” Sang-bum was on full display on point B for Florida, with heroes such as Symmetra, WIdowmaker and Mei being swapped between. With this unique Bunker composition up on high ground and BQB running amok on Mei below, the Spitfire could only complete the map with 30 seconds remaining. Florida beg
an their attack on a Sombra and Tracer pincer composition, but quickly switched to a Moira Goats composition. Very quickly, Ha “Sayaplayer” Jeong-woo was able to capitalize on some aggressive positioning from the opposing Brigitte, and the team was able to push the first point very quickly. Florida was then able to snowball onto the second point with an ultimate advantage and complete the map with 4:30 left in their timebank. With a much larger timebank than the Spitfire, the rest of the map was quite dominant from the Mayhem. Sayaplayer was again impressing on Brigitte.
Eichenwalde (Spitfire 2 – 2 Mayhem)
This map was extremely close and was perhaps the most fun map of the contest. Florida began on a Moira Goats composition. After some clever rotating, HaGoPeun built up a quick Coalescence which helped Sayaplayer play aggressively. This early ultimate was the catalyst for the quick point take from Florida, and an easy snowball onto the second point. With a big Shatter from Yoon “Swon” Seong-won, the Mayhem easily took the second point and were cruising to an easy second point. Swon continued to carry the Mayhem through the final point, with two massive five and four-man Earth Shatters. This helped them to cap the final point after a scrappy final fight, with a small timebank.
Florida’s bunker composition returned on defense, however, it was easily dove onto by London, who took the first point very quickly. Despite some heroics from HaGoPeun, who avoided two EMPs and was able to use his Transcendence to heal through oncoming damage, the Mayhem were starting to falter. The final point became a stalemate as both teams swapped to Reinhardt Goats. Park “Profit” Joon-yeong caught Florida overextending with his Graviton surge, but was unable to fend off the stalling re-spwaning Mayhem players before they entered over-time.
This meant Florida had 1:18 seconds to partially capture the first point in order to win the map. However Florida looked sloppy, and London easily defended their point. Resulting in a draw, and an imminent Gibraltar showdown.
Watchpoint: Gibraltar (Spitfire 1 – 0 Mayhem)
It all came down to this last map. It seemed that perhaps there was some inexperience in playing final maps for Florida, and perhaps also the Spitfire finally woke up. Whatever the reason, it was a very dominant performance from London from the get-go. Florida began the map on an iteration of the ‘Pirate Ship’ composition, with the single shield from Orisa and a Bastion on the payload. However, they were stopped part way through their attack and decided to swap on to a Moira Goats composition. This decision caused Florida to be behind London in ultimates. London then cycled their ultimates very strategically and were able to full hold the Mayhem quite effortlessly, it seemed.
Florida were able to stabilize somewhat on their defense and were able to build their ultimates slightly quicker than their opponents. In the following fight, Koo “Xepher” Jae-mo was able to eat a Graviton Surge to again fend away London. However a very intelligent solo Graviton from Profit a fight later sealed the deal, as BQB was killed with his own Graviton Surge still in his pocket.
Closing Thoughts:
The Mayhem were able to keep it relatively close at all stages of this match. Despite relying somewhat on some ‘cheesy’ compositions, this was a very solid performance. Fans of the Mayhem will take solace in this performance after recent news declared massive changes within the organization. Looking forward to the Philadelphia game, a win there now seems achievable.
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