Overwatch League Stage 1 Playoff Race Gets Shaken Up

The Los Angeles Valiant's victory over the Seoul Dynasty blew the playoff race wide open for a handful of teams waiting to get their chance to compete for a coveted Stage 1 playoff spot. Two of these teams faced off with the 5-3 Boston Uprising taking on the 5-3 Philadelphia Fusion. The winner of the this match would have a great chance of grabbing the third and last playoff spot. Viewers then saw the 7-1 New York Excelsior go up against the 1-7 Florida Mahem. While on the surface it does not seem this match would have any bearing on the playoff race, New York could not suffer a loss or even a close win with so many teams waiting to pounce on any slip up by them in the standings. Then there was the match of the day as the playoff hungry Houston Outlaws faced off against the number one team in the league, the London Spitfire. With a win London would continue to hold onto the top spot in the league, while a Houston win would push the Outlaws into the Stage 1 playoffs as the team would grab control of third place. Let's see how all of the action went down.  

Boston Uprising - Philadelphia Fusion 

In a rematch of the Super Bowl cities, the Boston Uprising were looking to avenge their fellow organization in the New England Patriots, while the Fusion were focused on continuing what the Philadelphia Eagles had started and give Boston fans another loss to hang their heads on. 

The first map of the match saw both teams travel to Eichenwalde and, unlike their counterparts' performances in the Super Bowl, it was a defensive struggle between both of these teams. The Uprising were able to execute an impressive defensive hold and held the Fusion scoreless in their first attack round. This opened the door for Boston to take a very quick victory, as they would only need to capture the payload to win. Boston would do just that through the excellent play of Jonathan "DreamKazper" Sanchez, 9 eliminations to only 2 deaths and 5,037 damage done, and Namju "STRIKER" Gwon, 12 eliminations to only 3 deaths and a 5 player kill streak. The 1-0 map victory would give Boston a 1-0 in the match.  

Our second map would see both teams travel to space to duke it out on Horizon Lunar Colony and it was a better representation of the Super Bowl with offensive fireworks sparking on the map. The Fusion would strike first by capturing both control points and securing a 2-0 lead on the map. Boston would not be phased and went on to capture both control points very quickly, 5 minutes and 46 second left on the clock, to tie the map at 2-2 and go into the time bank round with a large advantage. Philadelphia was able to break through Boston's defense and secure Point A on their second attack round, but Boston's defense was able to hold off the Fusion off and allow only a 3-2 lead to be taken. Through excellent team coordination, the Uprising were able to capture both points in their second attack round and secure the 4-3 map victory and take a 2-0 lead in the match. YoungJin "GAMSU" Noh led the way for Boston with his exceptional Winston play, 35 eliminations and 12,259 damage blocked. 

Map three on Ilios would be a quick one, as the Uprising were able to secure the first two hills without too much trouble and take the map 2-0 and guarantee themselves the match victory at 3-0. DreamKazper once again drove the Uprising to victory with his fundamental DPS play as McCree, 10 eliminations to 0 deaths and 4,203 damage done.  

Even though the match had already been decided, with map count being a huge part in the playoff race, the Boston Uprising needed to grab a fourth map victory, while the Fusion needed to scrap together at least one map win to avoid total disaster. Map four saw both teams deliver the payload all of the way to end of the map and be tied at 3-3. Boston was able to put together an impressive defense to stop the Fusion from getting another point in their second attack round. With a clean sweep one point away, the Uprising put together one last coordinated attack and secured the 4-3 map victory and the 4-0 match victory. Lucas "NotE" Meissner anchored Boston's win with his D.Va performance, 47 eliminations to only 7 deaths and 22,020 damage blocked. 

With the win the Boston Uprising improved to 6-3 and are now in fourth place in the league, while the Philadelphia Fusion dropped down to 5-4 and are now in seventh place in the league. 

New York Excelsior - Florida Mayhem 

Right on the heels of the London Spitfire for first place in the league, the New York Excelsior were looking add four map wins to their resume against the Florida Mayhem, while the Mayhem were doing their best to show the team's improvement and play spoiler to the Excelsior.  

Map one saw the Florida Mayhem able to capture the payload on their first attack round and take a 1-0 lead, but this would be all the Mayhem could muster up. New York knew exactly what they needed to do and were able to deliver the payload to the second point and grab the 2-1 map victory and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Superstar support player Seong-Hyun "Jjonak" Bang led the way with his agressive Zenyatta play, 16 eliminations, 6,699 damage done, and 5,684 healing done. 

Horizon Lunar Colony would be the stage for map two of the match and saw both teams able to capture the two control points in their attack rounds leading to a 2-2 tie. The offensive strategies would falter for both teams in the time bank round, as neither were able to secure Point A. This resulted in a tie on the map and had the Excelsior hold onto their 1-0 match lead.  

New York would get back on track on Ilios for map three and handed the Mayhem a quick 0-2 loss. While Florida did not give the win to Excelsior easily, the difference in individual talent allowed the Excelsior to succeed in almost every fight they took. The control map master Do-Hyeon "Pine" Kim of New York was the main example of this, as he would not allow Florida to get any kind of momentum due to the multitude of picks he was getting with Widowmaker to shut down any attack. 

Map four saw the Mayhem get a 2-0 lead to start the map on their attack round, but once again New York's defense would ultimately have Florida stall out. The Excelsior would go on to execute a near flawless attack round to deliver the payload to the end of the map and grab the 3-2 map victory and the 3-0 match victory. Tae-Hong "Meko" Kim was the backbone of this exceptional attack round with 26 eliminations and 9,890 damage blocked as D.Va. 

This win pushed the New York Excelsior to a record of 8-1, while the loss sent the Florida Mayhem to a record of 1-8 and 11th place in the league. Now all New York could do was wait and see the results of the last match of the day between London and Houston to see where they would soon be at in the standings. 

London Spitfire - Houston Outlaws 

Our final match of the day saw two playoff caliber teams duke it out in an exciting match that did not turn out how many were predicting it.  

London was able to grab the payload to begin map one on Eichenwalde and take a 1-0 lead. While they were able to deliver it close to the second point without too much trouble, the Outlaws fortified their defense and managed to hold London to only one point. Seeing an opportunity to strike, the Outlaws put together a solid attack round to deliver the payload to the second point and secure the 2-1 map victory and 1-0 match lead. Leading the way for Houston was Jake "Jake" Lyon who harrassed London consistently with his Junkrat, 16 eliminations and 7,846 damage done. 

Map two saw both teams make their way to Temple of Anubis, where the result played out almost like a mirror image of map one. The Spitfire were able to break through the Outlaw's defense on Point A, but their offense stalled out on the difficult Point B. Houston was able to do London one better and capture both control points. This gave them the 2-1 map victory and a 2-0 match lead heading into halftime. Driving the attack and defense of Houston was Austin "Muma" Wilmot with a great performance from his D.Va, 19 eliminations and 11,128 damage blocked.  

Houston had all of the momentum going into map three of the match and the Spitfire needed to dig deep to get back into the match. Both of the first two hills were back and forth struggles between the two talented teams, but the Outlaws were able to continue the exceptional play they had shown throughout the beginning of this match and capture both of the hills. This gave the 2-0 map victory and the gauranteed match victory at 3-0. Jake was instrumental in the Outlaws's victory with 10 eliminations to only 2 deaths and a kill streak of 6 as Tracer. 

With the match already lost, the Spitfire needed to grab at least one map victory so that they would not get too far behind the New York Excelsior in the standings, while the Outlaws were looking for the clean sweep to add to their impressive overall map count. London was able to put together their best performance of the match and grab two points in their attack round, while putting together a great defensive effort to hold Houston to only one point. This gave London the 2-1 map victory.  

With the win, the Houston Outlaws improved to 6-3 and took control of third place in the league and the last playoff spot. The loss dropped the London Spitfire down to a record of 7-2 and into second place. This was a major loss for London, as now they have lost the gaurantee playoff bye and currently will have to play the third place team to get to the Stage 1 playoff championship. This also means that tomorrow's match between the two South Korean powerhouses of London and New York will decide first place for the Stage 1 playoffs. 

Check out the official Overwatch League standings to see where your favorite team currently stands. Missed day one of this week? Check out our recap of all of the explosive action!