Week 3 of the OWL was wild. At the end of last week we had three teams undefeated and two teams without a win. Now Everybody has lost a game and only the Shanghai Dragons remain winless. Let’s delve deeper into Week 3 of the Overwatch League.
Atlantic Division: Weekly Record (Season Record)
New York Excelsior: 1-1 (5-1)
The Excels managed to surprise the league twice in one week. They started their week with a stunning defeat against the Philadelphia fusion, losing their undefeated streak. However, they seemed to bounce back in an even more stunning victory against the league’s top dog Seoul Dynasty. They’ve done what no other team has been able to accomplish and they will look to carry their momentum into week 4.
London Spitfire: 1-1 (5-1)
A heavily favored London squad lost to a group of scrappy fighters from Boston (I swear I’ve heard this story before). After rolling over the S.F. Shock London had a crazy close match against the Boston Uprising. Every single game played in their series against the Uprising was either won or lost by a point until the tie-breaker fifth round where Boston took Lijiang Tower 2-0. London Spitfire may have been caught off-guard but they will surely redouble their efforts to stay at the top of the leaderboard.
Houston Outlaws: 2-0 (4-2)
After a slow start to the season the Outlaws have continued to ramp up their play as they climb the standings. Two convincing 4-0 victories against the Florida Mayhem and L.A. Gladiators definitely helped make their case for why they should be considered one of the better teams in the league. In his post-game interview against the Mayhem Jacob “Jake” Lyon of the Outlaws expressed great confidence in his team’s ability to prepare against the L.A. Gladiators. His confidence seemed to be right on the money and now the Outlaws look poised to be one of the mastermind teams gunning for rank 1.
Philadelphia Fusion: 2-0 (4-2)
The Fusion just won’t stop being a fun team to watch. They toppled the New York Excels. The Fusion were fortunate to face the Shanghai Dragons in their second match of the week, which likely provided them extra time to focus on their game plan against the Excels. The fact that both of their matches ended 3-2 shows that on any given day a team like the Shanghai Dragons can be just as competitive as the best teams around, like the Excels.
Boston Uprising: 2-0 (3-3)
I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong and Boston proved me wrong this week. I thought they showed an exploitable weakness last week in their predictability but they bounced back taking down the London Spitfire and Dallas Fuel in close games.
Florida Mayhem: 0-2 (1-5)
The Mayhem continued to struggle in Week 3, only scoring one checkpoint against the Outlaws and only winning one game against the Valiant. On Junkertown the Mayhem couldn’t figure out what kind of strategy to use and TviQ’s Tracer play just couldn’t keep up with Houston. Florida needs to seriously consider expanding their roster because something isn’t working and they currently don’t have any players they can sub in when a match doesn’t go their way.
Pacific Division: Weekly Record (Season Record)
Seoul Dynasty: 1-1 (5-1)
This week did not seem to go Seoul’s way. Maybe it’s fatigue, lack of preparation, overconfidence, or just bad luck but the Dynasty suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the Excels and looked much worse than they should against the Dragons. In their first game of the week Seoul Dynasty had several close calls against the dragons and almost lost maps way earlier than they should have. Perhaps they were razzed by this performance and their confidence was shaken enough to impact their play against New York in game two of the week.
Los Angeles Valiant: 2-0 (4-2)
After an exciting battle for Texas in week 2 between the Fuel and Outlaws we were treated to another exciting territory battle, this time for Los Angeles. These early rivalries are great matches to check out and the Valiant fought hard against their L.A. counterparts the Gladiators. The match came down to the wire as the Valiant were forced to reverse sweep their opponents to claim victory.
San Francisco Shock: 0-2 (2-4)
The Shock dropped two games this week against London and Dallas. They seemed to play well they just couldn’t close out checkpoints and kept dying when it mattered most. Their game against the Fuel on Junkertown is a perfect example of this . If they want to win more games they’ll have to become more consistent in clutch moments. Babybay looks good as Widowmaker but that’s not going to be enough if the Shock want to win.
Los Angeles Gladiators: 0-2 (2-4)
The Gladiators look so good and come out with unique strategies but perhaps they are as predictable as the Outlaws said they are. Although they lost both of their games the Gladiators can definitely bounce back. Fortunately for them, they have plenty of room to grow as a team.
Dallas Fuel: 1-1 (1-5)
They finally did it. The fan favorite Dallas Fuel got their first win of the season against the San Francisco Shock. Perhaps this is a return to form for the Fuel and we’ll see much more wins in the near future out of this Dallas squad.
Shanghai Dragons: 0-2 (0-6)
They’re still losing games but the Dragons caught my eye this week. They looked… good. They constantly put pressure on the Seoul Dynasty and looked like they could’ve taken a map or two early in the match. While they lost they still won Dorado against the Dynasty and surprised everyone. They sure channeled that victory into their next match where the gave the Fusion a run for their money before ultimate falling 3-2.
You can check out the Overwatch League Wednesday through Saturday every week on twitch.tv/OverwatchLeague, or you can watch the VOD’s on the Overwatch League website.
Did you watch Week 3 of the OWL? What plays and players stood out to you? Let us know your predictions for the rest of the season in the comments below, and be sure to stick around GameSkinny for all your Overwatch League recaps!
