There is no question that the Philadelphia Fusion is one of the best teams in the Overwatch League. The May Mayhem tournament was their time to shine. The was dream was shot down early by a surging Florida Mayhem team. There were a lot of moments where the Mayhem’s newfound synergy outplayed the Fusion but there were also a handful of mistakes that the Fusion needs to clean up.
The May Mayhem Domination
The tournament is now two weeks in the past but the Fusion needs to look at their play against the Mayhem to not repeat the shellacking they received. The Mayhem came into this tournament with a lot of hype, cleaning the floor with their opponents in the month of May. They scored two 3-0 victories against the Uprising and a 3-1 victory against the Justice. To most fans, that doesn’t sound like a hard task to accomplish. What these matches allowed the Mayhem to do it is to warm up for stronger competition and build the chemistry needed to perform well as a team.
The Mayhem stunned the Overwatch League community by defeating the Atlanta Reign 3-1, proving that no matter the competition, they are here to fight. This 3-1 win was foreshadowing of how the game versus the Fusion would pan out.
Sanbum “BQB” Lee and Kim “Yaki” Jun-ki were borderline unstoppable. Yaki on several occasions took on Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee one on one and asserted his dominance. BQB found the room to frontline on McCree and shred the Fusion’s pushes. The Mayhem entered this game looking for blood and blood they received.
The Fusion Need To Clean Up
Over the past few weeks, the Philadelphia Fusion has looked impossible to beat. They would constantly flex their roster depth muscles on teams to show that they are a force to be reckoned with. This came to a close when the Mayhem were more hungry for the win.
A Carousell Of Teammates
The Fusion decided to switch the roster around every match against the Mayhem. These changes were on the off-tank and DPS positions. The night started with Gael “Poko” Gouzerch on off-tank and Seunghyun “Ivy” Lee next to Carpe on DPS. The next game, Josue “Eqo” Corona and Junho “Fury” Kim was subbed in. Poko and Ivy were slotted back in on map three and flip-flopped again with EQO and Fury.
There’s no question that the Fusion has depth but the constant changing of players affected their play. It does make sense to place Ivy in maps like Hannamura where Mei is great first point but other than that, Eqo should have been giving the stage to flex his Echo muscles. For the two maps that Eqo was in, he outplayed his partner and Fusion legend Carpe. He looked spectacular on the Echo and was able to turn fights while Carpe was seen struggling at times against Yaki. Moving forward, the Fusion should worry less about showcasing their depth and more on who’s hot.
Sado’s Ultimates
Fans are more than likely sick and tired of hearing how Sumin “Sado” Kim was a huge question mark for the Fusion coming into the 2020 season. He has shocked the world and has turned his play 180 degrees from last year’s mediocre campaign. He has also had time to shine on his best character, Winston but one area that he still struggles with is his ultimate usage on Reinhardt.
Sado has been in all season and fans have seen him hit some fairly larger earthshatters but in-between those moments of greatness are highly questionable decisions. Sado’s use of his ultimate in this match was pretty awful. Every time fans heard the iconic “Hammer down!”, there was no value. There were also fight where he obtained his ultimate after a guaranteed defeat to throw the shatter into a shield. This happened twice during the match.
The Positives Coming Out Of The Break
The Fusion couldn’t have lost to a better team. The Mayhem is firing on all cylinders right now. With that, the Fusion still looks like a top-five team. Carpe struggled a bit against Yaki this weekend but his Widow play was crazy as always on Busan. Eqo has been able to step off the bench and show the world how great his Echo is. Kyeongbo “Alarm” Kim continues to show the Overwatch League community that he is a top contender for rookie of the year, hitting sleep after sleep all match long.
His partner in crime, Daniel “FunnyAstro” Hathaway continues to look great with his clutch beats and impressive Lucio plays and finally Sado. While he needs to work on his Reinhardt ultimate building and usage, his improvement from last year is exactly what the Fusion needs. It’s only up from here for the Fusion as they make their push towards playoffs once the league resumes in a week.
Stay Connected
Follow Rocco on Twitter @MaridonGaming for all things Philadelphia Fusion! You can also reach out to them on Discord and talk some OWL! (Maridon#6912)
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