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This past weekend showcased some truly incredible Overwatch play. Sadly for us, none of that came from Boston. Against Guangzhou, Boston looked like an academy team trying to figure out how to simply keep up. Then against Chengdu, Boston got sucked into the chaos where the Hunters thrive. While one match was significantly closer than the other, both games highlighted various new issues for the Uprising to overcome.
Inconsistent Execution of Plays
In their match against Chengdu, Boston had showcased extremely strong, aggressive attacks. On their first attack on Volskaya, Boston waits almost an entire minute before making a move. Why did it take so long? Because their plan is to split the team into essentially 2 groups – the flankers and the supports. Once Colourhex/blasé are in position, you can see Fusions immediately dive the snipers (Kyo and YangXiaoLong) and all 3 focus fire down the Ana, then the Widow. From their it is an easy 4v6 and a point capture.
Now take their attack on Blizzard World as another example. On each map, both teams have the same exact team composition. Boston looks to flank around the outside but there is a pretty significant difference in execution. On Volksaya, Boston took their time and assessed the locations of each opponent and decided on a safe area to dive. However on Blizzard world, Boston looked as though they made a blind dive – an initiation onto an opposing team with little to no information.
The Different Attacks
On this attack we see Fusions again lead, however blasé and Colourhex aren’t nearly close enough to any high-value target. Instead of finding the snipers or other more vulernable targets, Fusions found himself between both tanks and an Ana. Someone then makes the call to chase the Ana, even though Fusions has already rolled away and the rest of the Chengdu team peeled to defend Kyo. As a result, rCk dies and the attack is dead.
Now normally losing one push is ok, considering there is plenty of time left on the clock. For this map however, Boston found themselves consistently staggering themselves in weird spots. Realistically, Boston only had three real 6v6 fights over the course of the attack. This inconsistency was masked a little bit by the 3-3 meta because Boston’s only option was to attack as a full unit. In a DPS meta, not every fight needs to be staged and formulaic is GOATs. When Boston fails to perform set plays, after showing they absolutely can perform them, it shows how unprepared Boston may be swapping to the 2-2-2 environment.
Unnecessary Swaps
Maybe this is a nitpick on my end, but I figure it is worth noting. Boston outplayed themselves a few times in the Chengdu match specifically once Jinmu brought out Doomfist. Looking at the first round of Illios Boston’s DPS combo of Mcree and Pharah had appeared to keep Chengdu at bay.
After one lost fight, Boston decides to switch up the team comp to a more dive-centric one. With the new look, Boston does not win a team fight for the remainder of the map.
While the thought process makes sense, the situation did not call for a huge swap. All the switching does is remove any ultmate charge the Uprising has built up. Colourhex even swaps while having an ultimate ready for the next fight. I understand why the swap happened: Doomfist needed to be stopped and Sombra is a good counter to him. But the Uprising already had a strong counter in Mcree, and Colourhex seemed much more comfortable on that hero as well.
It is worrying to see unnecessary swaps like this in the middle of an important map. Rather than riding the hot-hand with Colourhex’s Mcree, Boston opted to swap to a weaker composition. Incorrect swaps are something to note as Boston plays this stage.
Failure to Follow Up
If there was one thing that frustrated me the most this weekend, it was Boston’s inability to follow up on first picks. While Mercy is extremely popular for her ability to essentially “undo” the man advantage, the Uprising failed to follow up even when resurrection was already used.
My main example comes from the second round on Illios against Chengdu. With time running out, Colourhex picks not only YangXiaoLong, but he kills Yveltal as well giving Boston a two-man advantage. And it wasn’t just your average advantage – Colourhex had killed both the Widowmaker and the Mercy, allowing Boston to not only approach point without fear of dying instantly, but also preventing the Hunters from resurrecting a fallen teammate.
What happens instead, is Fusions dies shortly after these two picks. Then Chengdu decides to use all available ultimates, removing any advantage Boston had created.
Wait, No Examples From the Guangzhou Game?
When a team gets beat as bad as Boston did, it is pretty tough to point out what went wrong. Yes, you could point out that everything went wrong, but that doesn’t normally lead to constructive discussion. In close losses, it is easier to find the small, workable issues that if changed, would have lead to a win. There were some similarities between to the two matches, but the Charge simply outplayed Boston in every facet of the game.
There were moments of each issue but the biggest issue against the Charge was a lack of play making ability. Nero often dictated the fights in the match, while Boston didn’t really have that same of presence. A few picks from Colourhex and blasé weren’t enough to deter the Charge. Our tanks couldn’t create space on point and our healers couldn’t keep up with the insane amounts of damage. It was truly the perfect storm of mishaps and mistakes.
A Much Needed Off Week
Boston can now relax, as they have time to re-evaluate and fix the large problems that came up during these games. But there is plenty of work to do to catch up to the rest of the league. Miraculously, Boston STILL has a shot to make the play-ins – they just need to win the next five matches.
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