Overwatch League Recap: Week 3
Photo by Robert Paul For Activision Blizzard
Week 3 of the Overwatch League took place in Washington as the Justice hosted three matches on Saturday and Sunday. The Philadelphia Fusion played the New York Excelsior, two teams who went into the weekend undefeated. The Houston Outlaws played the Boston Uprising to see who stay at the bottom of the rankings. In front of their home crowd the Washington Justice played the Paris Eternal. On day two the Outlaws played the Excelsior, the Fusion went up against the Toronto Defiant and the Justice ended the weekend with a game against the London Spitfire.
Philadelphia Fusion v New York Excelsior
This match was the big one to watch this weekend. Both the Fusion and the Excelsior are looking dominant this season and came into this match-up undefeated. On Busan whoever took first control of the point kept it and controlled the flow the battle. The Fusion ended up taking the edge and winning the map 2-1. On Horizon Lunar Colony the Fusion kept the momentum going with an opening pick on Sung-hyeon “Jjonak” Bang by Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee’s Widowmaker. Keeping pressure on Jjonak was a big boom for the Fusion throughout the entire series. Philadelphia would take this map as well with a full hold on point A after their map completion.
On Havana the Fusion had a very strong attack but the NYXL were able to hold them from completing point C. On NYXL’s attack it seemed as though the Fusion were going to once again be the dominant force. It took multiple ultimate abilities to take both point A and point C. In the end New York was able to pull out the map complete and take one win in the series. Even though New York finally came alive in Havana and pushed the Fusion to the bring in Eichenwalde, as the two teams went into extra rounds it was the Fusion was came out on top. Philadelphia win the series 3-1.
Houston Outlaws v Boston Uprising
The Outlaws and the Uprising came into this match on the bottom, battling to determine who would stay there for the next week. The Boston Uprising had a very strong start on Illios taking the map 2-0 with little resistance from the Outlaws despite a good start in round one. On Anubis the Uprising continued their play pushing the Outlaws off balance, but Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang made a quick switch to Doomfist at the last second to buy a better defense for them. Boston did take the point in the end. The Outlaws had a decent attack on point A and ran GenjiSombra dive for point B and beat Boston’s time bank. In round two both teams were full held on point A ending the round in a draw.
On Dorado Boston once against take control of the flow of the battle and easily take the map putting them up 2 in the series. On Blizzard World Boston have a commanding attack and put through point A and B. Houston is able to muster a decent defense before point C and almost hold the Uprising, but a shatter from Park “Axxiom” Min-seob allows them to finish the map. Houston is able to complete the map as well but with a smaller time bank. In the extra rounds both team hold each other for another draw.
Houston are able to turn their luck around going into game five on Oasis. The Outlaws claim their first map victory of the season with a 2-0 map finish. It was beginning to look like the Outlaws might have a chance to pull off a reverse sweep as they took Nepal 2-1 against the Uprising. Unfortunately, the Uprising got control back and in game seven on Lijiang Tower they finished the series with a 2-0 win, ending the series 3-2.
Washington Justice v Paris Eternal
Washington’s first match in front of their home crowd was against the Paris Eternal. Illios didn’t quite go their way as the Eternal managed to pull the first win with a 2-1. The Justice were able to blast back on Anubis with a map completion and then holding Paris from completing themselves. The Paris Eternal would go on to edge out the Justice in play as they took Junkertown 2 – 1 and Blizzard World 3 -2. Paris take the series 3 – 1 in front of Washington’s home crowd.
Houston Outlaws v New York Excelsior
Starting off day two the Houston Outlaws took on the New York Excelsior. The Excelsior were on top of the standings the day before but dropped their match against the Fusion. The Outlaws after suffering their loss to the Boston Uprising sit at the bottom of the standings. The Outlaws continued to try and run mirror compositions into the New York Excelsior and were punished severely for it. The suffered their third clean sweep of the season thus far. On Illios they lost a hard 2-0 match and were at least able to take point A on Hanamura in OT but would lose that as well. On Havana the final map, the Excelsior would complete the map but hold the Outlaws at point A.
Philadelphia Fusion v Toronto Defiant
The Fusion have thus far proved to be one of the most dominant and adaptable teams in the team. This was only the second match of the season for the Defiant so there wasn’t a lot of expectations against a team like the Fusion. Philadelphia came out of the gate with a strong performance on Oasis taking the map 2-0. Then again on Anubis the Fusion secured the win 2-1. Up 2-0 in the series they were on match point when the Defiant came alive. A long push on Dorado saw the Defiant almost complete the map, then on defense they managed to hold strong at point B taking their first map of the series.
On King’s Row both teams were able to complete the map, but with little to no time on the clock. The Defiant made an incredible push completely in OT to finish the map and then held the Fusion on their run forcing the game five. For the Defiant it wouldn’t quite be enough for the reverse sweep as the Philadelphia Fusion took the win on Nepal 2-0.
Washington Justice v London Spitfire
The final match of the week saw the Washington Justice fighting for a single win in front of their home crowd against the London Spitfire. Washington started off with a very dominant performance taking the first control map on Oasis 2-0. On Hanamura the Justice kept a firm hand on the Spitfire and secured their second win 2-1. Dorado proved to be a very pivotal moment for the rookie squad as they were able to hold the Justice in their spawn for the duration of the round. They had to move the payload less than 10 meters for the win.
On Blizzard World the Spitfire continued the aggression by completing the map and then full holding the Justice on point A. In game five they went to Nepal and took one round each and then built the clocks up to 99% on both sides. The Spitfire had firm control of the point by a Earthshatter from the Justice allowed them to take control of the point back and it seemed like they had secured their win. Carpe came back with an immediate kill onto Corey “Corey” Nigra and the Spitfire flipped the point back and completed the first reverse sweep of the season.
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