Florida (1-4) vs Boston (2-3)
Similar to Shanghai, the Florida Mayhem were taken out of the Stage 1 playoff race before this match. Boston, still in the mix, needed a big game in order to stay alive for that last spot. With Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth emerging in Season 2 as a superstar, the tank line for Florida had to bring their A-game.
Uprising 4 – 0 Mayhem
Busan: Boston 2 – 0 Florida
Busan started out with a beautiful EMP, as Sang-bum “BQB” Lee gathered a speedy EMP to clean Boston. That was about all that worked for Florida, as Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse laid two graviton surges that shook the Mayhem. To make matters worse, Jae-mo “xepheR” Koo couldn’t lay a graviton in round one, as it was eaten by Lucas “NotE” Meissner’s matrix.
A quick three team fights were all the Uprising needed to steal the first map. xepheR fell early in the first fight on an earthshatter from Fusions, and BQB’s EMP proved worthless. His next EMP was better, as help from Hyeon-woo “HaGoPeun” Jo’s discord orbs brought them a team fight. Sitting at 92%, Colourhex’s graviton being used to strike down Seong-won “Swon” Yoon was just enough to cap. Boston took the lead after Busan, 1-0.
Numbani: Boston 3 – 2 Florida
Numbani was similar to the previous map, and the Uprising made quick work on the attack. Minseok “AimGod” “Jeff” Kwon took charge and opened up the match with an elimination on Jun-soo “Kris” Choi. Boston continued on the graviton plus self-destruct trend, as they included a Fusions charge to move Swon off-guard and steal three eliminations. They would do this same play again for two eliminations, which would bring the Uprising close enough to cap. Florida had no answers for their opponent, and it showed.
The Mayhem brought the payload far but ultimately couldn’t reach the 100% marker. It started rough, as they couldn’t bring in the first fight to their favor. With around one minute left, Florida used an earthshatter to combo with a xepheR bomb to cap the first point. Kris and HaGoPeun were caught by Fusions more than once, as the earthshatter shook the Mayhem’s attempts. A late transcendence from HaGoPeun would be just in time for Florida, as it gave them enough time to smack Boston away from the payload to move to point B. They wouldn’t move much farther, as NotE, Fusions and Colourheux did their signature combo, claiming the map win. The Uprising took the lead 2-0 after Numbani.
The theme of the game thus far. #OWL2019@NotEvenBleu is the definition of CONSISTENCY!
LIVE: https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/K9VaExwSwc
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) March 10, 2019
Horizon: Boston 5 – 4 Florida
This back-and-forth battle was scrappy and dug deep for both teams. Swon fell early in both fights for the caps on Boston’s attack, as Fusions dominated the main tank role against Florida. The Mayhem deleted that round from their memory quickly, as they won two team fights to cap two points in their attack. This is due largely to BQB, as his ability to build up to his EMP is one of the quickest in the league. Florida would cap their round with over six minutes in the bank.
In the first overtime attack for Boston, AimGod was a man on a mission. His discord orbs counted for five eliminations in the first team fight, eventually capping point A. NotE joined in on the fun, as his D.Va tracking quickly took the first elimination to take point B. Mayhem’s overtime attack ultimately led to their demise. After capping the first point in about 90 seconds of their six-minute time bank, it would take over three minutes to finally complete the map. Boston utilized their support ultimates near perfectly, being mindful of BQB’s EMP.
In double overtime, both teams had slightly over one minute remaining. When the Uprising capped A, they were able to successfully deny Kris’ sound barrier, helping them snowball into point B. In the final round, the Mayhem needed to at least win their first fight in order to have a chance. xepheR fell early, and it caused the Mayhem to waste time and fall back. This stopped Florida from gathering their ultimate charges, and BQB couldn’t get his EMP off in time before Boston cleared Florida. Boston won the battle and upped their score to 3-0.
Dorado: Boston 3 – 2 Florida
On Dorado, Boston tried to boost their map differential, as it could be the deciding factor in their playoff push. Quite possibly the toughest fight of the night for Boston, it would take an overtime push to put it into consideration. BQB continued on Sombra, pestering the Uprising in the first couple fights. As both teams unleashed their graviton surges and transcendences, Boston slowly developed picks that pushed their payload past point A.
Damon “Apply” Conti noticed that Fusions had the discord orb, and took over in dominance to help stall the Uprising. Fusions replied with a crucial charge that took out Kris, which depleted the healing that Florida needed in the fight, leading to three eliminations. The uprising capped B with 90 seconds left, and they delivered. NotE unleashed a self-destruct that caught xepheR off-guard, and snowballed to a Florida stagger to try and defend the point. The Mayhem’s efforts would be all in vain, in the end.
BQB did not want to be swept, and he came out of the gates swinging on Sombra. Destroying Fusions and Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang with hacks, the Mayhem capped A easily with little resistance. BQB utilized another EMP, ultimately canceling Colourhex’s graviton. The scrappy play from Boston after was just too much for Florida, and they would lose another fight. Florida replied with scrappy play of their own, as xepheR came in as Tracer and took enough eliminations to cap. It wouldn’t be enough after B, as HanGoPeun was sniped early, and then Boston played through a five-man EMP to steal crucial eliminations. Boston’s hold would complete the sweep on the Mayhem.
Just a man with his hammer.
Beware of @Fusions.
LIVE: 📺: https://t.co/mVkjLAqyJw pic.twitter.com/gxuUIrhqwK
— Boston Uprising (@BostonUprising) March 10, 2019
CONCLUSION
The Uprising may not be a playoff team, and it showed how much worse the Mayhem were. Any defensive efforts for the Mayhem were all in vain, and they didn’t have an answer for the self-destructs. Time and time again, the Mayhem would make some strong stalls or pushes on the Uprising that would look to steal time. What Florida wasn’t prepared for was the Reinhardt charge from Fusions to knock Swon’s shield away. If this team wants to regroup after Stage 1 and start winning matches, they’ll have to learn to defend variations of that play.
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