With tons of Overwatch last weekend, we get another heaping serving this week. 15 different teams will be taking the online stage and competing in Week 10, with key rematches for top-tier teams. The Shock will be taking on the Glads looking to avenge their Week 8 loss, while the Eternal and Fusion will look to provide another heart-stopping five map showdown. Not to be forgotten, the Titans will also be taking the stage for the first time since Week 1. Basically this is a week full of great Overwatch. Hero bans will also come into play as Sombra, Reaper, Ana and D.va are out. This means a new meta is on the horizon and here’s how the TGH team ranked everyone heading into Week 10.
(High is the highest an individual ranked the team, Low is the lowest an individual ranked them, and LW= Last Week’s Power Ranking Position)
The Fusion came into this weekend looking for blood after their first loss. This was also the first time in four weeks the Fusion got to play. While the first map was close, Philly turned up the heat and won the next two games handily. A memorable moment was created when Jaehyeok “Carpe” Lee said “Sit” in chat to Corey “Corey” Nigra after a Torb hammer kill. The Fusion have a tough set of matches this weekend but are currently flying high.
Image Courtesy of San Francisco Shock Twitter
After a poor showing the week before, the Shock were hungry for revenge and to remind fans of their strength. With a 3-1 win over the Valiant, they were able to steady their ship. Though some of the maps were closer than they would have liked, what matters is the victory and preparation to rematch against the Gladiators on Sunday.
After experimenting with some players in their first week of Season 3, the Dragons have solidified their starting six. Lee “LIP” Jae-son has excelled alongside Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun, creating a two-headed DPS monster. The scariest thing about this monster? They’re excelling without last season DPS standouts Bae “diem” Min-seong and Yang “DDing” Jin-hyeok. Shanghai is the top Chinese team in the Overwatch League, hands-down.
Not only did the Gladiators absolutely stomp the Dallas Fuel this weekend, but Son “OGE” Min-seok proved just how powerful he is with proper coaching. Next, the Gladiators will once again face off against the San Francisco Shock. The last time these two opponents met, the Gladiators walked away with a solid 3-1 victory. The Shock suffered immensely against both LA teams without Lucio in rotation. However, they bounced back during their revenge match against the Los Angeles Valiant. The Gladiators will have to stay on their toes going into this match, but they should have a decent shot with this week’s hero pools.
Paris only have one game on tap this week after taking down the Outlaws last week, and it is a doozy of an opponent. While they were able to take down the Fusion in one of the most memorable games of the season, they’ll be hard pressed to do it again. One thing that’s in their favor is that the Fusion have two matches to prep for, and both are against good opponents. With how intense the Eternal Fusion matchup was in Week 5, the Eternal can show once again that they’re looking to make waves this season.
Robert Paul of Blizzard Entertainment
The Spark continue to take two steps forward and one step back. While that is much better than one step forward and two steps back, they are still lacking the consistency that would have legitimized their stance on keeping virtually the same roster as last year. This week, the team decided to start Sanghyun “SASIN” Song and Junki “Bazzi” Park. While they squeaked by Guangzhou with this setup, it didn’t look pretty against Shanghai. On top of that, fans didn’t get to see a Quilin “guxue” Xu/Sungwook “Ria” Park Dive comp this weekend, even when Winston was available. Overall, the team went 1-1 for the second straight week. They fell apart at times due to some critical mistakes that top-tier teams don’t seem to make but played great when they were on their game. Hopefully, the team can take three steps forward this coming weekend.
The Guangzhou Charge had a relatively average week, going 1-1 yet again and this time even yielding a neutral map differential after two five-map games. The Charge have truly cemented themselves as a middle of the pack team early on, however two upcoming games against several league front-runners, the Shanghai Dragons and Vancouver Titans may cost them a great deal of standing in the rankings. However, if the Charge do take even one of those matches as wins, it could send a message to not underestimate this squad after all.
Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa may have unleashed the hammer this past weekend, but the team certainly didn’t use a shovel to bury their opponents. Two days of revenge matches came and two losses were the result. One a dud and one a map five barnburner. The team now has time to reset this week because they have no matches to play. Look for a bounceback performance when they return.
Chengdu currently sits as the worst team coming out of the Chinese region, but it certainly isn’t from lack of trying. They’ve pushed Hangzhou and Guangzhou both to map fives on separate occasions, and their lone win on the season is against the powerhouse Shanghai. Facing off against Hangzhou first, Chengdu may be able to exploit their inconsistencies, especially as Hangzhou has begun to experiment with their starting lineup. Also looking back at last season, Chengdu was one of the first teams to really challenge Vancouver and push them to the limit, so it will be exciting to see what their first match of the season will bring out in each other.
The Toronto Defiant stunned fans when they earned a victory against the Washington Justice this past weekend. The new hero bans, however, don’t play into Toronto’s favor. Though they face a less intimidating opponent in the Houston Outlaws, this team served Toronto a loss the last time they met. A bubbling rivalry is sure to form, and the Defiant should aim for the best if they want to earn a win. Their chances, however, are not very certain.
Image courtesy of DreamSeat
Washington dropped both of their matches last week. The match against the Defiant was particularly heartbreaking, as the Justice didn’t seem quite as competitive as they could have been. In these rankings, the Justice are below many more teams than they’re above. If they keep this style and level of play up, they’ll remain there.
Progress is progress, no matter how slow. The Outlaws’ rematch against Paris this past weekend didn’t go in their favor — but they did take one map off the Eternal, which is better than their opponents did last week. Their best shot at a Week 10 win is against the Boston Uprising, who only have one win this season… against Houston, in the infamous Clownshoes Bowl of week 3. But the Outlaws have seen marked improvement since then, taking better teams than Boston to the brink. A win against the Uprising seems more likely than repeating their homestand victory over the Toronto Defiant, who are on a small but certain winning streak.
It may be a lack of sample size considering the Fuel only played their fourth match of the season, but there’s still a lot of work this team needs. They were able to pick up a win against a decent Valiant squad, but got pushed to a map five to secure it. As this team gets more games in, maybe the cohesion will start to gel more, but it’s hard to see them coming out of the bottom half of teams this year.
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Our voters for OWL Power Rankings: Brad Long, Kate Sheppard, Jezi Scott, Ethan Seftor, Mallory, Robert Hanes, Connor Knudsen, Dalton Jewell, Lotte, Sam O’Dwyer, Bryan Rockwood, Brad Killion, Seneca, Jess, Thoth, Gabby, Mandii, Rhiannon, Daebakowl, Matthew Kennedy, Christian Wisniewski, Jordan Garcia, Rocco Romeo, Tiffany Purcell, Joe Gvora, London Bishop, Sebastian Quintanilla, Ethan Butler
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