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Saturday, July 27th @ 4:45pm: Guangzhou Charge
Saturday, July 28th @ 7:00pm: Chengdu Hunters

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Boston Uprising. None of us have any illusions about that. There’s been some highs (four reverse sweeps) and lows (stage ending Map 5 losses to Washington and Philadelphia). But that’s all in the past. Here we are at the final stage of the season. Season end playoffs are realistically within range. A new meta, punctuated by the 2-2-2 role lock, has reset the pecking order of the league. This is the biggest change since the Mercy nerf came down last season. Nobody knows what hero comps teams will put out there. It’s the wild wild west and its time for the boys in blue to nut up or shut up. Lets roll.

Guangzhou Charge

With the new role lock it’s hard to predict how Boston’s Stage 4 opening matches will play out. We can only look at how the teams have done this season, any likely team comps, and what the match means for each team.

Given that, Guangzhou stands at 9-12 on the season, a step above Boston in the race for the season end playoffs. While they’ve been up and down all season, the most interesting part of Saturday’s matchup will be seeing who they put on stage. Guangzhou spent the break between stages making more roster changes than any other team, picking up the Gladiator’s Bischu and Fusion’s fragi.

In Thursday’s match against the Philadelphia Fusion, the Charge played a lot of Mei/Sombra, snipers, a Tracer here and there, with a lock on Ana/Mercy and Orissa/Roadhog. That may be their counter strat to the Fusion, or it could be what they think their strengths are at. Not exactly something you want to bank on seeing Saturday. But they clearly are putting up a fight against Philadelphia after rolling them on Volskaya.

Chengdu Hunters

All season the Chengdu Hunters have been that team that resisted the GOATs meta. These are the guys that were playing DPS when everyone else was running triple tank/support. It got them a lot of fans because, well, we were all sick of watching GOATs. But also, it takes a lot of chutzpah to go so against the grain on a professional level. Also, the conventional wisdom has been that given they’ve spent all year playing off-meta comps they would be the best equipped if a role lock ever came down the pike. What’s that mean?

Hard to say. At 9-12, Chengdu is also slotted one spot above Boston in the standings, currently in the season end playoffs. As the only team with an all Chinese roster, the Hunters’ fans believe they can be the reds’ national hope for Overwatch League dominance. Hopefully the boys in (red, white, and) blue can show up and lay their claim as a top tier role lock squad.

Outlook

Any prediction is a shot in the dark, especially when a drastic change like the role lock is being unleashed for the first time. Fusions and company spoke on the official Uprising Twitter that they expect to see plenty of dive and bunker comps. As I write this, I see a lot of Thursday’s matches feature double snipers, Tracer popping up intermittently, and somehow Mei becoming meta (is this the dawn of the ice age meta?). In other words, it’s utter chaos out there.

It’s time for the Uprising to pop off. Blase has been stuck in the Brig all season. Colourhex has only had a few chances to show what he can do on DPS – and he’s done great. We’ve got a new DPS in Stellar who single handedly put Toronto in top-tier contention until his early retirement. Add in All-Star Fusions’ drive to make the playoffs, and a squad with plenty to prove, and fans have all the reasons in the world to buy-in.

Photo courtesy of Stewart Volland/Blizzard Entertainment

That picture is the last we saw of Fusions and Blase last stage. Let’s hope they still have some of that swagger to bring to the stage this weekend. If Boston wakes up Monday without a win, that may be all she wrote for the season. That’s not what I’m expecting. That mantra from the start of the season still matters and should be on everyone’s mind going into this weekend and every match from here on out. Prove. Them. Wrong.

For more weekly columns and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp