While the Boston Uprising’s chances to make the playoffs are slowly failing, their Contenders team is preparing for their quarterfinals game. The Uprising Academy sit a top of the standings with the 3rd overall seed at 5-2 in the North American East division. With the 3rd place finish, the Uprising Academy quarterfinal will be against the lowest seed, the Gladiators Legion.
Courtesy of Liquipedia
Going into this game, there are a few question marks around the Uprising lineup. New pick ups Walid “Mouffin” Bassal and Cameron “Cameron” Watson have only been on the team for a few weeks, but have shown to be quite the talented additions. Cameron has already filled in once for Teetawat “Teetawat” Terrayosyotin against the Gladiators Legion, so expect him to fill in once more if Teetawat can’t play due to injury. But between Mouffin and Leyton “punk” Gilchrist, I would be shocked if Uprising Academy tests out their new off tank in a high pressure game.
New players or not, the Uprising Academy are preparing for a deep run in the playoffs.
The Gladiators Legion had a pretty rough run this season, finishing 6th thanks to a map differential tie-breaker. After starting the season 2-0 by beating Bermuda and Square One, the Legion dropped the next 5 matches in row. After struggling in a GOATs environment, the Legion are most likely excited to see the 2-2-2 role lock enforced for these playoffs.
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
In their last game of the regular season, the Legion actually played the Uprising Academy in a close 2-1 loss. They were able to force a draw on Volskaya and win on Havana. Despite having already lost the match at that point it was an impressive moral victory for a team struggling through the season.
The Gladiators are underdogs in the match up, but with a 2-2-2 role lock in place, I wouldn’t be surprised if they look like a whole different team. We have seen this already with the Washington Justice and Florida Mayhem in OWL. It is only fair a contenders team would find some success with the new format as well.
While it may seem like a cop out to say “everyone” in a playoff game, this situation is a little unique. These teams haven’t played many DPS compositions this year as GOATs was still the top tier strategy. Towards the end of the season we did see more Pharah-Mercy compositions like we did in the Overwatch League. Now with 2-2-2 lock we will most likely see more Orisa-Roadhog based strategies.
Because Contenders does try and follow suit with OWL metas and compositions, the focus will be on the Mei and Reaper players. It’ll be important to watch how each team effectively uses Mei’s ability to create opportunities with her walls. While on the other hand, the Reaper player will be under scrutiny for their ability to output the damage necessary to kill Orisa and Roadhog.
We also will want to watch the sniper battles as well, whether it be Hanzos or Widowmakers. Teams can no longer hide behind several shields to approach a point. These sniper fights will define the maps with longer sight lines. In a playoff scenario, these could be some of the most important maps to win mentally.
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
If you have never watched a game of contenders before, that’s okay! The best time to start is now with some of the best contenders matches going on this week. The most exciting aspect of watching these Contenders games is watching the potential rise of a new Overwatch League star. In fact, both Corey “Corey” Nigra and Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang were previously on the Gladiators Legion.
If you want to watch some of the greats before they become household names, Contenders is the place to watch.
Catch the Uprising Academy quarterfinal on Twitch, August 12th at 10:30 PM EST!
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