Uprising fans, this is not a drill. The Uprising signed players that have actually won big time games. There’s no need for any coping this time around about how we need the “right meta” or “just a few more games and we will figure it out”. This is a bona fide, grade A, stacked team for the 2023. Honestly this just seemed fake out of the get go. There’s no shot that the Uprising management would open their wallets to field a roster with this much star power.
And yet, here we are. The 2023 Boston Uprising. It’s Izayaki, LeeJaeGon, Decay, Birdring, Smurf and f****** Striker again.
Every player on this team has won a championship of some capacity, with the exception of Decay. Every one of these players have made their own case for MVP throughout the years. Each of these players were the focal point of their team when pundits would discuss who would win a potential matchup. And now here they are, all on one roster.
[Related: Boston Uprising Announced Their 2023 OWL Roster]
It’s almost sensory overload for Boston fans seeing this news. It’s disbelief, it’s wonderment, it’s bewilderment, it’s excitement that these fans haven’t felt in years. This lineup is something that Boston fans truly never thought they would see, at least not with the Huk/Kraft combination at the head of everything.
Pre and OXG have slammed the gauntlet onto the table and said “we are going for it all”. Though fans who have followed Pre since his first year at the Justice shouldn’t be overly surprised about this monster roster. He has a knack of building teams that can incite this kind of excitement and hype. He even mentioned in his offseason AMA stream that Boston would be towards the higher end the spending across the league. The murmurs and rumors began to swirl about a Boston team that fans would love right off the bat. And it looks like that came to fruition.
Just look at this DPS line. Three players that could fill a book with all of their individual highlights. Birdring came out of a one-year retirement to come join this roster after having an excellent 2021 season with the Los Angeles Gladiators. He’s one of the most consistently excellent DPS players that the Overwatch League has ever seen. Now he brings this talent to Boston – a team that has desperately needed a DPS player like this for the past five years.
Decay is the king of game-winning pop-off moments (at least in the regular season, that postseason honor goes to Playoff Profit). He joins Pre for another chance at a title, almost as though the two have some sort of blood pact, where they can only split ways after they win together. Decay’s Tracer is one of the best in the league, but he will probably take the lion’s share of the hit-scan duties. Fans may not see him every game though, as he will have to split time with Boston’s prodigal son.
Striker. What a journey it has been to get him back in Boston, a second time. Striker was slated to be the focal point of the 2022 Boston Uprising. He was the first signing the team made and was going to be the leader of a very young DPS lineup. That last for about 2 weeks before he was ultimately dropped. He then joined the Shock (again, a second time) and almost secured a third title with the San Francisco org. He has succeeded with Smurf before, and now it’s time to see if he can continue that success in Boston.
LeeJaeGon is not someone I thought Shanghai would ever let walk. But man is this Uprising fan happy they did. LJG is one of the most exciting supports to watch in the league thanks to his insane ability to may plays out of no where. His Shanghai support duo Izayaki joins Boston as well, because synergy is sometimes the most important trait for an OWL back line.
Last we got Smurf who is arguably the most reliable and impressive tank in the league. He’s a two-time champion with the San Francisco Shock. He lead a dominant Seoul Dynasty squad to a midseason tournament win. Now he’s in Boston ready to do it all over again. Smurf can and will play every tank in the game at an insanely high level. Boston may have lost Punk, but they somehow found an upgrade by signing Smurf.
Six players ready to absolutely slam the competition. The first roster to be fully announced for 2023. The Boston Uprising are poised, and now potentially favored, to reach the Grand Finals.
But really what kind of Boston fan would I be if I didn’t immediately talk about some negatives huh?
The Boston Uprising have a roster of stars. In fact, this is definitely a textbook “Super Team”. However if we look at some Super Teams in the NBA, they often times actually fail. “Fail” in this case doesn’t mean go 0-40 and implode in the middle of the season. Im talking about failing to reach the massive expectations that this team already has, just a few hours after the free agency window opened.
A team of champions only know one thing – winning. Adversity may not be kind to a team that homes several emotionally charged players. Striker struggled on Boston after a weak opening to the 2022 season. Enough so that he was ultimately dropped from the roster as his behavior was impacting the rest of the team. Dallas fans will remember Decay benching himself previously while the Fuel struggled to find their footing. Birdring coming off of retirement is a gigantic question mark as well. While he seemed totally capable during the Apex Legends showmatch, that shouldn’t be a great litmus test to see if he’s back and ready fr OWL.
If this team find itself losing in the first few matches, doubt will creep into the minds of the fans and players alike.
There is also some doubt about how Dongsu will do in his first stint as a team leader. According to a follow-up tweet from Pre, the players wanted to play under Dongsu which does instill more confidence in the hiring. But Boston has had a rough patch in selecting Head Coaches. Since losing Crusty, the Uprising have all but been cursed trying to find his successor. Dongsu does have a great history with the Shanghai Dragons, but so did Lori with WSG Phoenix.
I guess the good news, if you could say that, is that the Uprising roster really only has question marks around its DPS line and its coach. Smurf, LJG and Izayaki should be the most stable part of this roster. And that is a very, very good thing.
We say it every year, but this year does feel like Boston fans can get excited to watch this team. There isn’t a “potential” start that could come through and become a homegrown Boston star. This is a team that has stars that are already shining. There’s no guess work around “will this rookie pan out” with a team filled with veterans. This team could and should fight to be the best team in the league.
This is the next Boston Super Team.
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