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Sunday, March 10th @ 6 P.M. – Boston Uprising vs. Florida Mayhem
Overwatch League’s 2019 season rolls on as the Boston Uprising continue to reach for the one thing that has alluded them all season – consistency. This roller coaster of a season has featured highs, like pushing the NYXL to the limit opening night, and lows like losing to the then-winless Shanghai Dragons. Last week was supposed to be different, though. It was at that moment that we had all our players (off of suspension, under an official contract) and none of the excuses. And the result was – mixed?
While Thursday’s match saw Boston take the Seoul Dynasty down 3-1, Sunday saw them lose to the Toronto Defiant, 1-3. To add to an already disappointing loss, Toronto premiered former Boston player Neko in their victory over the Uprising. Talk about salt on the wound. How will this week go? Enter the Florida Mayhem.
Match Preview
At 1-4, the Florida Mayhem have a whole basket of issues. After dumping nearly their entire roster in the off-season (where have we heard that before?) Florida looked to rebound going into the 2019 season. What have they got going for them? BQB has been one of the better off-tanks that have flexed to Sombra throughout the 2019 season. While Boston showed they could competently counter the Sombra in their match against Seoul, they can’t become complacent. Look for the Aimgod/Zenyatta and BQB/Sombra cat and mouse between their ultimates throughout the match.
Florida has featured their new tank player McGravy after signing him to their roster just over a week ago. Signing/promoting a tank at the start of the season – where have we heard this before? Additionally, McGravy has lived up to the hype. Last week he played a prominent roll in taking down the Guangzhou Charge with his Grav-sucking Defense Matrixes. If Boston is to come out victorious, they’ll need to see continued growth and leadership from their new main tank, Fusions.
Lastly, Florida has also been willing to put out some unique team compositions. Apply popped off on Genji earlier this season, and TviQ effectively used Mei against the Charge. Boston will have to come prepared for the unconventional and unexpected. It’s likely that Florida will differ from the triple-tank, triple-support team comp that has dominated the current meta at some point. Multiple strats and counter strats will need to be prepared or the Uprising risk being caught sleeping on the job.
Match Prediction
It’s hard to be too confident about what this team can do – so far. We haven’t seen a consistent product put out on the field. Between the changing roster and the varying levels of competition, fans should still be trying to determine just exactly who the Uprising are. As are the players. Huk and the coaching staff will continue to determine what the future of this franchise is. Part of that will be what to do with new players like Alemao and Axxiom.
Despite all of that, it’s hard to see them faltering to the Florida Mayhem on Sunday. Florida’s sole win this season came against the Philadelphia Fusion, a seemingly major upset. Whether that was a flash in the plan or symbolic of the general parity across the league is anyone’s decision. But there’s no reason not to expect Boston to roll the Mayhem and put themselves in the conversation for Stage 1 playoffs. Given the bundle of teams on both sides of the playoff cutoffs, every map will count that much more going forward. I expect the Uprising squad to come out focused and play disciplined. Good luck to both squads.
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