In case you missed it, the Overwatch League has a development league akin to baseball’s Triple-A and basketball’s G-League. It’s called “Overwatch Contenders“, and the Boston Uprising’s team, the Uprising Academy, are having one of their best season’s to date.
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With their latest win against the Gladiators Legion, the Uprising Academy cemented their spot in the NA East Overwatch Contenders playoffs. Sitting at 5-2, the Uprising Academy have drastically improved the last time we saw them in Contenders. Back in Season 1 of Contenders, UA had finished 1-6, forcing them to fight for their spot in Contenders Trials – a season long promotion-relegation league where amateur teams can win a spot over the worst Contenders teams.
What I’ve come to realize recently is how little people actually watch Contenders as a whole. So I am here today to catch you up with the Uprising Academy, and help you become the best bandwagon fan you can be.
The Roster
Contenders has a different rule-set than the main league, and sometimes teams will bring in substitutes that aren’t on the main roster. Occasionally teams call in a ringer to fill in for a match, like UA had to do in their most recent game. For the sake of this introduction we will focus on the main roster for now.
Player
Position
Country
Teetawat “Teetawat” Terrayosyotin
Tank
Thailand
Leyton “Punk” Gilchrist
Tank
Australia
Walid “Mouffin” Bassal
Tank
Canada
Cameron “Cameron” Watson
Tank
Scotland
Nicolas “Klaus” Ferrari
DPS
Argentina
Chris “MirroR” Trinh
DPS
Vietnam
Gabriel “Swimmer” Levy
Support
USA
Victor “Scaler” Godsk
Support
Denmark
Season Recap
After finishing with an impressive 7-0 record in Contenders Trials, UA looked to start their redemption arc. Their toughest games came first, having to play Atlanta Academy and the newly-branded GRUNTo Esports (formerly Chicken Contendies) .
The Slow Start
For their first match, UA came out blazing hot against GRUNTo, taking the first map 2-0 on Ilios. But starting out strong doesn’t mean much without the ability to close out matches. The Uprising Academy would go on to lose the next three maps in a row to open the season with a loss.
After the loss against GRUNTo, the Uprising Academy began looking for a new off-support player. Hunter “Dino” Traupe’s contract had expired after Week 1, and the organization decided not to renew it.
Six days later UA signed their current support Scaler, just in time for the match against Atlanta Academy. Normally as teams pick up a new player, we tend to see some regression in a team’s play. But sometimes we see new faces bring vast changes to a team, even leading to some surprise wins. So maybe the signing of Scaler would bring success against Atlanta Academy – one of the top teams in the division?
Sadly that was not the case. The skid would continue further into the next match against Atlanta. Losing 0-4, Uprising Academy started their second season going just 1-7 in maps, and 0-2 in matches. After such a rough loss, it would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking this season would turn out like the last. But that would be incredibly naive of you. This is a Boston team don’t forget, they are extremely hard to keep down.
The Spectacular Run
The week following the brutal Atlanta loss, the Uprising Academy came back in a big way. UA put on a show, beating the Skyfoxes 3-1, only losing the last map in the series. They continued to prove themselves as the following week they beat Phase 2 3-1. In fact, Uprising Academy would go on to win four games in a row with the same score, with two more wins against Bermuda and Square One. Despite early success, Uprising Academy’s coach Raymond “Kolsti” Tea was not content to keep winning 3-1.
Last match of the season came against the fierce Gladiator Legion. Last season they placed 2nd, right behind the dominant Fusion University. In a barn-burner of a match, the Uprising Academy come through to win 2-1 and secure the 3rd overall seed for the playoffs.
Playoff Time
For their first game in the bracket, Uprising Academy have a re-match against the Gladiator Legion. GOATs was still the meta the last time these two played, but going into the playoffs role-lock will be enforced. Expect a coming-out party for Boston and their talented DPS duo, because they’ve shown flashes of brilliance in a meta where DPS was almost non existent.
"We're just going to pop off this playoffs. We're ready. We're going to win."@uprisingacad Support Player @SwimmerOW shares the issues the team had before the match, why @Teetawatv3 didn't play, and their rising confidence heading into playoffs. pic.twitter.com/4b9BN3IlVg
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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.
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.
Boston lost this fight
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.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
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Sadly Stage 3 was pretty awful for the Uprising. Games weren’t close at the start of the stage, and everything looked uncharacteristic of Boston. Thankfully this nightmare is over, and we can look back and use this experience as a learning opportunity. Just like any good math class, you need some numbers in order to learn! Let’s recap the past stage with some good, bad, and fun stats!
Overall Record: 1-6
Good enough for 16h in Stage 3. Unfortunately this rough stage also dropped Boston from 11th in overall season standings to 17th.
Map Record: 7-22-1 Map Diff: -15
At -15, Boston had the 4th worst map differential – just beating out Florida (-19), Toronto (-20), and Washington (-22).
Stage 3 Superlatives
Most Likely to Die First: blasé
It’s a tough life to be the Brig player in GOATs. When the enemy Graviton Surge comes in, you only have a small shield to help protect yourself. Sadly, most of the time it just can’t the job done. blasé was responsible for 22% of the first deaths in team fights this stage. Some of those were due to aggressive initiations as Doomfist, but a lot of those deaths were in Brig-Jail.
Player
# of Times Player Died First in Team Fights
blasé
63
Fusions
56
Colourhex
52
rCk
47
AimGod
22
Kellex
22
Perisa
19
Alemao
12
Axxiom
0
Most Likely to Get the First Pick: blasé
When blasé is out of Brig-Jail, he often finds a way to give Boston a man advantage. Doomfist and Bastion were blasé’s main tools of success in finding the first kill, notching 24% of Boston’s first eliminations.
Player
Recorded First Elimination in a Team Fight
blasé
58
Colourhex
52
rCk
44
Fusions
43
AimGod
17
Kellex
17
Persia
8
Alemao
5
Axxiom
0
Most Likely to Ult First: rCk
As the Sombra specialist on the team, rCk often has one and only job: get his EMP ASAP. This ult is vital to the success of the Sombra GOATs compositions, so it’s no surprise rCk would account for 24% of the team’s first ultimates used in a team fight.
Player
Ultimates Used to Start a Team Fight
rCk
56
blasé
45
Colourhex
39
AimGod
26
Fusions
23
Persia
18
Kellex
16
Alemao
13
Axxiom
0
Most Ultimates Used: rCk
Between Sombra and D.Va, rCk managed to lead the team in ultimates used. What is more interesting is how AimGod managed to gain 25 more ultimates than Persia, while playing one less match.
Player
Ultimates Used
rCk
119
blasé
113
Colourhex
105
Fusions
89
AimGod
78
Kellex
58
Persia
53
Alemao
36
Axxiom
0
Most Lethal: Colourhex
Most Deaths: blasé
Man I’m happy to see our DPS grabbing the most eliminations. Seeing our boys deal damage again as Widow, Pharah, Junkrat, and Doomfist was a pleasure for fans and I only hope we see more in Stage 4.
Playing aggressive DPS characters can be a double-edged sword at times. Clocking in at 205 deaths, blasé became quite familiar with the re-spawn timer. Not far behind, Fusions also hit the 200 deaths mark this stage, with exactly 200 deaths. Seems as though Brig shield and Rein shield aren’t doing a whole lot, as together they account for 37% of the deaths on the Uprising.
Most Healing: AimGod
Most Damage: rCk
With AimGod playing a whole bunch of Ana and Zenyatta, he takes the crown as top healer for Boston this stage. Strangely enough, rCk was able to edge out Colourhex on the total damage output. Maybe the stat is skewed from the burst damage of D.Va bombs, but damage dealt is still damage dealt.
Boston’s Stage 3 Team Stats
Total Ultimates Used as a Team: 651
Even though the average of ults per game would be 92, the majority of ultimates come from the matches against Paris. Between the two, Boston amassed 275 ultimate abilities – almost half (42%) of all ultimates used. The roughest match was against Houston, where Boston generated only 54 ultimates.
Winningest Team Comp: Bunker
At 52%, Boston found the most success using a Bunker composition. Whether it be the play making ablility of Kellex on Baptiste, or teams not ready for the blasé Bastion, there was just something magical about Boston’s bunker.
2-2-2 was Boston’s true highest win percentage team comp, but it came in 1 map on 1 push to win 3 out of 4 team fights. We also saw a little bit of Mei GOATs against the Fusion, with some moderate success winning 33% of those fights. Boston also ran a 3-2-1 composition just once – they lost that fight.
It is worth noting that the Hackfist comp took a nose dive in win percentage in the match against San Francisco. Boston won just 2 of 21 team fights against the Shock.
Team Composition
Team Fight Win Percentage (10 Team Fight Min)
Bunker
0.52
Triple DPS
0.46
Reinhardt GOATs
0.44
Sombra GOATs
0.37
Winston GOATs
0.30
Hackfist
0.26
Most Played Comp: Reinhardt GOATs
With a whopping 32% play rate, Rein GOATs was still the go-to method for Boston in Stage 3. The Uprising played traditional GOATs in 120 team fights out of a total of 363. In the matches against London and Paris (week 1), Boston played GOATs in 92 team fights, spending the entirety of the match against London on the same team composition. Note: that tiny little slice is the one time Boston played a more traditional 2-2-2 comp featuring Genji.
Team Stats vs Opponents in Stage 3
Below are the total eliminations and deaths for Boston against specific opponents. It is worth noting that our only map wins came against Philly and Paris, so naturally we would have more elims in winning scenarios. In the only win in the stage, Boston had 587 elims against Paris in week 3. This can be attributed to the Uprising playing a Triple DPS comp in 49% of the team fights, with a 50% win-rate in the match.
In case you were wondering why Fusions called the Houston match the “rock bottom” for the Uprising, it’s because they had the fewest amount of elims in the stage, and had the most deaths of all the 0-4 losses.
Here we have the total damage dealt along with the total amount of healing put out through the stage. Again, when Boston played Triple DPS, the damage numbers skyrocketed. Boston dealt more damage in the losing match against Paris oddly enough, rather than the winning match
Grab Bag Stats
Different Support Lineups: 4
We won one of these games!
Axxiom AFK?
Sadly, Axxiom was the only player not to have playing time this stage. Will we see him more moving into a 2-2-2 role lock? Only time will tell.
World Travelers
Boston was the only team to field a lineup from six different countries for the entire stage! While Dallas did have a lineup with six unique nationalities, it came in Week 3 against the Spark (Harryhook subbed in for uNkoe)
South Korea – London, Houston, Philly(W2), San Fran
rCk
Finland – All-Season
Whew! What a whole lot of learning! Stage 3 was certainly something special. As we get ready for Stage 4 and beyond, let’s hope Boston can take away some important lessons from their past to succeed now.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
Well, Stage 3 sucked.
Maybe my hopes in my last Strength of Schedule article were a little too high going into Stage 3, and I set myself up for failure. I was completely wrong about how the stage would turn out for Boston and I am admitting that now. I, like many fans, was pretty blindsided by the strange coaching decisions, and wasn’t expecting new lineups each week. We also weren’t expecting an absolute turn around from the Outlaws, and two close matches against the Eternal.
But that’s all in the past now, and it is time to begin looking forward and upward for the Uprising!
Stage 4 is finally here and Boston has a small, but very real chance of sneaking into the season playoffs. Boston is one of six teams that are 8-13 or 9-12 sitting on that 12th place bubble. Then there are teams like Dallas, Philly, and Shanghai that are comfortable now, but must have a successful Stage 4 to ensure their playoff birth. Despite their dangerously low position in the standings, Stage 4 bears a lot of promise for the Uprising.
Stage 4 Schedule
Boston plays a couple of new teams this stage, and with new opponents comes new challenges. They start the stage against a red hot Charge team, looking to prove they can play with top teams just as Hangzhou did in Stage 3. Following up are the Hunters, a team capable of upsetting the San Francisco and the London Spitfire. Luckily for Boston, their schedule contains only one top-8 team in the NYXL. Unluckily for Boston, the NYXL are one of the most dominant teams in the league, having only lost twice, both times to Atlanta.
Opponent
Head-to-Head Record
Guangzhou Charge (12)
0-0
Chengdu Hunters (12)
0-0
Washington Justice (19)
0-1
Florida Mayhem (20)
5-0
Los Angeles Valiant (14)
3-1
New York Excelsior (2)
2-3
Atlanta Reign (11)
1-0
Although Boston has the lead in the head-to-head, the LA Valiant are not the same team from Season 1. The Valiant have cemented themselves as a top tier team in the league after massive wins against the Titans and the Spitfire. If Boston wants to have a chance in the playoff race, they will need to have their best games against the Hunters, the Charge, and the Valiant. At 9-12, 9-12, and 8-13 respectively, each team needs every map win they can get.
But what teams have the best shot at improving that ever-so-crucial map differential?
Strength of Schedule
Rank
Team
Average Opponent Map Win %
1
Shanghai Dragons
0.577
2
Chengdu Hunters
0.557
3
San Francisco Shock
0.539
4
Dallas Fuel
0.542
5
Los Angeles Gladiators
0.539
6
Hangzhou Spark
0.525
7
Guangzhou Charge
0.523
8
Seoul Dynasty
0.518
9
New York Excelsior
0.511
10
Vancouver Titans
0.499
11
Philadelphia Fusion
0.489
12
Paris Eternal
0.480
13
Los Angeles Valiant
0.479
14
London Spitfire
0.452
15
Florida Mayhem
0.446
16
Houston Outlaws
0.443
17
Washington Justice
0.439
18
Boston Uprising
0.430
19
Atlanta Reign
0.409
20
Toront Defiant
0.398
With the 3rd easiest schedule in the league, Boston has an excellent opportunity to secure their spot in the season playoffs. They even have help from their opponents schedule difficulty, as Chengdu, Dallas, and Shanghai all are in the top 5 for strength of schedule. Each map matters for Boston, so games against Washington and Florida need to be 4-0’s in order to maximize their chances. Games against Los Angeles and NYXL just need to be crazy upests.
Match Predictions
Guangzhou Charge (9-12)
This team is extremely talented, but struggled in the past. Unfortunately for Boston, they have looked increasingly better as time has passed. Nero and Happy are starting to play real DPS, and people should be scared. Let’s hope Colourhex and blasé are up to the challenge, because if they can perform like fans know they can, Boston should come out on top. Prediction: Boston 3-2
Chengdu Hunters (9-12)
No one knows what the expect from this team, except crazy DPS oriented strategies. Jinmu and YangXiaoLong have looked incredibly impressive, and the Hunters have played well when they play well. Look for the support lines to be the defining match-up in this game, as Yveltal has slowly adopted Neptuno’s blood-thirsty Mercy play style. AimGod and Kellex will have to truly bring it this time around. Prediction: Boston 3-2
Washington Justice (2-19)
Boston is 0-1 against the Justice, and cannot afford to make it 0-2. Stratus has arrived for Justice in a big way, but they weren’t able to close out games at the Atlanta Homestand. Boston is a better team than the Justice, they just need to perform like it. Prediction: Boston 4-0
Florida Mayhem (2-19)
I can’t stress how important it is for Boston to 4 – 0 the weekend they play both Mayhem and Justice. While the Mayhem was able to tie a map with the NYXL, they still haven’t looked good enough to beat even mid-level teams. Unless of course you’re Houston. Prediction: Boston 4-0
Los Angeles Valiant (8-13)
Boston’s first upset game is here, against a team with the same record after Stage 3. The Valiant have looked amazing and it pains me to say Boston is not favored in this one. Kariv and Agilities have come into their own as hard-carry players in the support and DPS role. Prediction: LA 3-1
New York Excelsior (19-2)
The complete opposite of Florida, New York is the toughest team Boston plays in Stage 4. The silver-lining here is that Boston does historically perform well against New York. Not sure if its the deep-rooted rivalry between the two cities that causes Boston to step up, but they will need to come up big one more time. Prediction: NYXL 3-0
Atlanta Reign (9-12)
Boston needed to reverse sweep Atlanta the last time these two teams met, but Atlanta looks revitalized after their Homestand weekend. This one will absolutely come down to the wire, as the last game of the Stage (and potentially season) both teams will leave nothing on the table – well, desk rather. Prediction: Boston 3-2
I know some of these are a little gracious to Boston, but I believe this team will make massive leaps forward now that they have settled the support line and embraced more DPS comps. At 13-15, Boston will need some serious help from other teams to help sneak them into that last 12th seed. From now until the end of the season, Boston will be taking the underdog role. Let’s hope the boys in blue can make some magic happen.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
If there’s one constant with Boston Sports throughout the years, it’s that you can never count out the Bean Town boys. The Red Sox did it in 2004 when they came back from an 0-3 deficit to win the ALCS. In 2011 the Bruins roared back after going down 2 games to 0, by scoring 8 goals and winning at home. Then there’s my personal favorite, the Patriots coming back from a 28-3 deficit against the Falcons in 2017.
The Uprising were following the footsteps of its older siblings by becoming the first team to perform 3 reverse sweeps in a row. But the second half of Stage 2 became quite the rough patch for Boston. Tough losses against London, Hangzhou, and Washington left fans and players with a bad taste in their mouth. Not to worry though, because this is what Boston does – we get down and beaten up, but never give up.
What people weren’t expecting was how far the Uprising would fall. After 2 weeks and their most recent loss to San Francisco, Boston is 0-5, going 2-17 in overall map wins in Stage 3 . In fact, since beating Toronto in week 1 of Stage 2, Boston has won just 7 of 26 maps in that span including two map 5 losses.
It’s one thing to be frustrated as a fan watching your favorite team lose over and over (we feel you Florida),. But it is completely different to be a player on that team. Putting your heart and soul in each match, it’s only a matter of time before emotions get to you. Watching Fusions slam his desk was heartbreaking, and his thoughts on the stage so far are just as saddening.
I don't know what to say, literally hit rock bottom. I don't want this feeling ever again. GGs @Outlaws
Rock bottom is certainly where a lot of fans feel right now. Losing sucks for any team, but the constant shifting of lineups and stale meta have made things rough for Boston fans.
The Spiral
How did we get here?
The week following our incredible back to back reverse sweep, Boston lost an absolute heart breaker to the Hangzhou Spark in Stage 2. The Spark at the time were ranked quite poorly, as it was clear they needed more time to practice on stage in Stage 1. Unfortunately for Boston, it was their match when the Spark cashed in their “scrim bucks” and transformed into a top-tier team. In hindsight, it was more surprising that Boston took the Spark to five maps, but at the time it was a shocking upset.
Morale took a pretty big hit after that match, and the rough streak continued as Boston got stomped by both London and Vancouver. The following game Boston upset the LA Gladiators in an impressive 3-1 match.
Out of all games, the loss against the Washington Justice that initiated the spiral towards rock bottom. Getting reverse swept themselves Boston left Stage 2 without a playoff spot and plenty of film to watch in the All-Star Break.
People saw the Washington game as fluke, and the Los Angeles game as a true testament as to who the Uprising were as a team. There was a lot of conversation about how “Boston only planned against LAG because they knew they were going to stomp the Justice”. It looked to be the case anyway, and Boston only lost that game after getting too cocky and let a worse team stick around. The outlook for Stage 3 remained mostly positive, even I thought it would pan out as a positive stage for Boston.
Instead of going up the ladder, Boston fell straight to rock bottom.
The Rock Bottom Pit Stop
Fusions visibly upset after the loss against Houston
The Lineup Shakeup
At the start of Stage 3 we saw Boston go into the game against London with a completely new support lineup of Persia and Alemao. This was an incredibly shocking move on Boston’s part, as both Kellex and Aimgod had played very well this season. On top of that, playing two green players against a team like London during a pivotal stage seemed truly out of character for the Boston coaching staff. To the surprise of very few viewers, Boston was easily 4-0’d by London to start the stage.
Next up was the match against Paris, and Boston again shook up the lineup a second time. Boston decided to play Alemao over Kellex again, but swap back AimGod in over Persia. Another strange move as most support duos perform much stronger when playing against a common partner. Constant support switching can hurt a team, as they have to relearn the play styles of the new player. After winning Illios in convincing fashion, fans thought Boston was back in form. But the Eternal had other plans, and proceeded to roll Boston three maps in the row to take the win.
The Houston Game
As Boston faced off against Houston they wanted to try out one more iteration – Persia and Kellex. As the longest standing member of the Uprising, it was extremely apparent his leadership was missing in the games he sat out. Back on stage with the team, he was the only one to record an elimination on Nepal-Sanctum against the Outlaws. It would proceed to be another very long game for the Uprising as they go on to lose 4-0. Again.
The Houston game also brought us a swap in roles, as blase and Colourhex traded Brig and Zarya. I personally think this was the switch that truly hurt Boston against Houston. Colourhex looked incredibly passive on Brig, and blase’s bubble management on Zarya was atrocious. The two players that are necessary to keep Fusions alive were failing to do their job. It wasn’t 100% their fault however. Houston’s Danteh was an absolute terror on the Boston support line, specifically targeting Persia in order to deny his ultimates.
It was this game where Boston found themselves on the brink. They had made it to rock bottom and it sucks. There’s no wifi and nothing to do.
The Long Road Back
The Promising Hackfist
Despite being smacked around by various teams, Boston still used each game to experiment with new compositions and strategies. In the match against Houston, Boston wasted no time trying out new triple-DPS comps. On Nepal-Village Boston came out firing with Pharah, Sombra, and Tracer. Their game plan here is to outplay the Outlaws DPS players. While they lost the map – and eventually the map – Boston saw the immediate difference between playing GOATs and playing DPS. There was a spark of hope in the pit of despair.
Then came the Philadelphia game, where Boston’s new strategy really shined – for a moment at least.
I discuss this before in a previous article, but what fueled Boston’s rise was their use of the Hackfist comp. Boston again came out strong, utilizing more DPS characters against Philly on Ilios. Boston cruised to a 2-0 victory to start the match. As the match went on, Boston began to lose steam and decided to run GOATs just one more time. They lost terribly, and thus made their findings clear. Boston should move on from jamming GOATs into every map.
Rocket Punch out of the Pit
Finally the week was upon Boston, where they must face the Stage 2 champions, the San Francisco Shock. Everyone already knew the outcome of the match but no one expected Boston to play so well. Boston started with the Hackfist comp to less than ideal success. rCk seemed to be telegraphing his routes and San Fran seemed to know where he was at all times. It’s one thing to smash lesser teams with an experimental comp, but its a completely different game when facing a top tier GOATs squad.
Fast forward to Hollywood where Boston again busts out the triple DPS comp. This time it is Colourhex’s show. His Pharah was incredible, bringing Boston almost to cap two points against the San Fran defense. Again Boston comes up just short to lose the map, but the improvement and progress was noticed by casters and fans.
That brings us to the Paris Eternal rematch. Now confident in their new comps, Boston started playing DPS comps and never looked back. With the original support line of AimGod and Kellex back together, Boston looked like a new team. At least, in the second half.
The first half Boston looked extremely shaky. Missed opportunities, sloppy mistakes, and a whole lot of dying early caused Boston to go down 2 maps to none. Don’t forget though, this is a Boston team through and through. They aren’t done till the clock says 00:00. Or in this case, till the screen says Victory.
Paris Reverse Sweep
On Boston’s second attack at Eichenwalde they had only a minute to take a tick. When push comes to shove, expect someone on Boston to make a hero play. This is the moment we viewers were blessed by one of the craziest Doomfist plays in OWL. I also talked about this one here, but please watch it again because the play is just that good.
Then of course was the insane shatter from Fusions, and a massive 3k from Colourhex to stop the Eternal at 3.37m. Dorado was more excellent DPS highlights from Boston as Colourhex puts on a clinic for aspiring Pharah players. On Nepal Boston looked near unstoppable. rCk played out of his mind on Nepal-Sanctuary, actually hitting a Kruise with a hack before EMP’ing the rest of the Eternal. Every single player stepped up and it absolutely warmed my heart and inspired hope moving forward.
The Thriller Against Philly
In the last match of the stage, Boston faced Philly once again. With a win under their belt and the support line settled, Boston was ready to even out the series. Hell, the entire fan base was ready for a sort of Phoenix-like renewal from the Uprising. What we really got was a spark of hope that slowly fizzled out.
After a truly awful Nepal start, Boston took back Horizon Lunar Colony to go into half time. These first two maps were so important because they set the tone for the rest of the series.
No one knew who was going to win when DPS were involved.
On Nepal we saw an absolutely vintage Carpe performance with Widowmaker. On Lunar Colony we saw Boston’s DPS overwhelm the Philly defense, and then thwart the attack with a bunker comp. Sadly, Boston was then let down by that same bunker comp, as they failed to even take the first point on Numbani.
Stage 4 and Beyond
I’ve been saying it for a while but I’ll mention it one last time – Boston’s DPS palyers shine when they are playing DPS. This match highlights that even with a slow start, Boston is a team very much in hunt for season playoffs.
Stage 4 is looking to be a very weak schedule for Boston, and I hope this momentum carries them forward. Boston looks to be out of rock bottom, and inching closer to the promise land of Wells Fargo Center.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
The Uprising and the Fusion have been eerily similar teams this season. Both teams have extremely talented DPS players stuck playing tanks thanks to GOATs. Both teams have severely struggled to break themselves from the pack of .500 teams. Why? Because both team’s main tanks are almost always the focus of their opponents. While Fusions is focused due to his importance as a shot-caller, Sado is focused because his hyper-aggressive positioning makes him an easy target.
Previously on Philly vs Boston
Earlier when these two teams met, Philly was able to slow down Boston’s lightning fast start to pull out a 2-1 victory. After a definitive win on Ilios and a close tie on Paris, Boston moved to play GOATs in the following maps. Philly happily obliged, as it allowed Sado to play to his aggressive style
Boston was unable to keep up with fast paced-aggressive GOATs comps Philly brought. Several times Boston was far too slow to rotate or react to Philly’s advances. Whether it be pateience or just hesitance, Boston got rolled on Hollywood and Gibralatar. But that was two weeks ago now, and Boston is a more confident team now. The Uprising are in full control of the match, as long as they take advantage of Sado’s terrible positioning.
Taking Notes From Atlanta
Last week against the Atlanta Reign the Fusion had trouble closing out maps and had to go to a fifth map. The reason for this struggle was Sado’s almost tunnel-vision like play on Havana. Where Philly could have finished the match here, Sado decides to take matters in his own hands and fails.
On point B, Philly’s attack looked to have successfully broken the Atlanta defense. However, a greedy play by Sado denies them the point. Here we have Sado demonstrating why his play is so dangerous to the success of Philly.
Sado trying too hard for a hero play.
After a grav from Babybay, Atlanta and Philly have found themselves in a long, drawn-out fight. Just mere meters from the payload, Dogman is able to nano-boost Erster in a last ditched effort to hold the point. While a nano’d Brig could be quite the threat, a coordinated team effort could put her down without an issue. Unless of course someone decides the Ana is a better target. Sado splits away from his back line in hopes to kill Dogman, but doesn’t realize two things.
Babybay is on high ground with very high charge, able to melt Sado if he doesn’t hold his shield.
Sado has no support from his back line because they are fighting a nano’d Erster.
Philly loses this fight, because not only does Ana live here, but the Philly supports die very quickly without a tank to defend them.
A minute later, we see Sado do something very similar.
Sado charges in for a kill, but backfires.
A fight breaks out on the catwalk on point B. Seeing the opposing Rein get nano-boosted, Sado aims to charge Pokpo in order to mitigate the aggression. Despite the good intentions, Sado leaves himself alone against four members of the Reign. One failed shatter later, Sado is the first to die and Philly fails to capture point B. The unnecessary aggression caused Philly to take a fight they weren’t ready for.
Sit Sado?
Sado has been the focal point of a lot of debate among Philly fans. If you’re out of the loop, the Fusion have two main tanks on their roster: Sado and Fragi. Sado’s over zealous Reinhardt play has left fans begging for Fragi, a notoriously strong Reinhardt player, to play and instill some life into the Philly front line. The main issue however is Sado’s proficiency on Winston, and Fragi’s noticeably poor Winston play, leaves Philly in a weird spot. Playing Fragi would immediately signal a Reinhardt composition, while playing Sado provides an option of both Rein and Winston GOATs.
Boston’s Best Bet
Simply put, Boston’s best shot of beating this Philly team is to go back to what works. Hackfist allows Boston to solo out Sado and eliminate him before he can have an impact on the fight. The Atlanta game showcases how easy it is to bait out a wildly aggressive play from Sado. Punishing his position will put extra pressure on his off tanks to go and save him, putting them out of position as well. With the last game of the stage this Saturday, Boston looks to keep their momentum up from last weeks thriller against Paris.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
Welcome back to Team Fight Tuesday here at BSE. What a weekend for the Uprising huh? Sure they got smacked by San Francisco, but who really had the Uprising winning that match anyway?
You know what? I’m thinking it’s time for @BostonUprising to come back in a huge way. Calling my shot now, 3-1 Uprising over the Shock. I can feel it way down in my plums #OWL2019https://t.co/fTsejJR6Go
Yeah, you’d have to be really brave or really dumb to have the Uprising upset the shock.
The real story here is the amazing match against the Paris Eternal on Sunday. Starting the match 0-2, it looked like just another moment in rock bottom for Boston. Except the map that Paris had to win was none other than Boston’s home court – Eichenwalde.
Boston’s Second Eichenwalde Attack
Even though Boston is 2-2 on Eichenwalde, it has been the map where Boston likes to start their reverse sweeps. Against both Toronto and Atlanta, Boston was able to turn the matches around on this map. It’s only fitting that after a rough skid Boston would find their groove where they play best. And in true Boston form, the Uprising decided to wait till the very last moment to win the map.
The first attack was dominated by Colourhex and his amazing display of Pharah play. His 4 kills alone won them the point and left Paris reeling. However, it seemed as though Paris was ready for Chex the second time around. They opted for a Dva over the Sombra for their defensive setup. Though Sombra is quite the pain for Pharah, Dva brings much more utility and sustain in a high-pressure situation like this defense.
With an early sleep onto Colourhex Paris immediately halts the Boston assault. Shortly after both AimGod and blasé are killed. The attack appeared to have failed, and Boston would have to settle for another match loss.
That is, until Kellex revives blasé, who proceeds to put the team on his back. Time to track how hard blasé carries this fight.
blasé Punches His Way Through Paris
As blasé comes back, Paris makes the mistake of using a sleep dart to try and sleep Fusions rather than blasé. Sleep dart has an 12 second cooldown, giving blasé a large window of opportunity for aggressive play. Now the only hard crowd control Paris has left is Brigitte’s shield bash. Naturally, blasé is aware of this as well, and focuses NiCOgdh first.
Doomfist Hard Carry Meter
Low
The second mistake was trying to fight a Doomfist inside close quarters. As blasé escapes to wait on his cooldowns, Kruise and Finnsi attempt to finish off Boston’s low health Doomfist. What Paris did not expect, was for blasé to punch away Finnsi and one-shot Kruise.
blasé survives this.
Doomfist Hard Carry Meter
Medium
Meanwhile on point, BenBest uses shatter to stun Fusions and rCk in hopes to gain a player advantage over the Uprising. Altough rCk does die, Fusions manages to live and continue contesting the point. NiCOgdh swaps to Tracer to race back to point, leaving Paris no hope for a Brig rally.
Now that two of the supports are down, it only makes sense to focus down the last one. blasé catches Greyy off to the side of point, split away from the Paris tanks. A quick auto attack and an uppercut sends the Paris Ana back to spawn. 3/3 on healers for blasé.
Doomfist Hard Carry Meter
High
With the help of Kellex to keep him healthy, blasé then turns back towards point to pick his next victim. A half health Danye sits on the point, and blasé slams him into house behind point. blasé 4, Eternal 0.
Doomfist Hard Carry Meter
Gonna need a Chiropractor
Hackfist Demonstrating its Strength against GOATs
Keep in mind, this entire skirmish happens in just under a minute. It isn’t until blasé is hard focused by the two remaining tanks that his killing spree ends. Although they kill the Doomfist, the rest of Boston is back from spawn to clean up the mess blasé left.
This fight is a prime example of how Boston’s use of the Hackfist comp will propel them to the next level. As teams lean on GOATs to be their crutch, the chaos that Doomfist and Sombra create causes the GOATs composition to play sub-optimally. Spreading apart healers and tanks allows other DPS characters like Pharah to focus down isolated targets.
BenBest may have killed AimGod, but he left his own Ana exposed.
For example, as blasé punches Greyy away from the fight, he removes a healer so that Danye can’t keep pressure on Fusions. This forces Finnsi and BenBest to fall back onto point to defend the Zarya, but this rotation is too slow. Without a shield or defense matrix, Colourhex is free to deal damage to a defenseless Danye. By the time the Paris tanks reach Danye, he is already below half-health and is one-punched by blasé.
He Does it Again on Dorado
Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke on Eichenwalde, Boston runs back the triple DPS composition for point C of Dorado. After an ineffective barrage from Colourhex, blasé ults onto point in hopes to find a pick. Because rCk is actually able to hack Danye (who is also on Sombra), blasé is given a free shot to kill Danye.
Again, look how split apart the Eternal are in this fight. NiCOgdh is miles away because he was punched over a wall. BenBest panics and ults in hopes to hit blasé, but instead only hits Fusions. Finnsi is de-meched from the barrage earlier, and is running around trying to get his mech back. On the other hand, Boston is grouped around the cart getting heals from Kellex’s ultimate. The high mobility of Boston’s entire comp allows them to quickly flank and then group up again. Paris does not have that luxury, and severely pay for it.
blasé continues to hard carry Boston, as he goes to roll over Finnsi, BenBest, and NiCOgdh. Another fight, another four kills for blasé on his signature hero. Let’s check in on that carry meter once more.
Doomfist Hard Carry Meter
Please don’t sellblasé
Welcome Back DPS
While I may be highlighting blasé this time around, I can’t stress enough how well each member of Boston played. Even though the first half of the match was a wash, the second half had heroic plays from each Uprising player. Chex was insane the entire time on Pharah. Kellex and AimGod got an incredible amount of picks on the enemy support line. rCk hit some amazing EMPs on Dorado and Nepal. And of course, Fusions’ shatter on Eichenwalde was the reason he received player of the match from the OWL desk.
I love this team on DPS characters because it shows the rest of the world what Huk saw in these guys. With that said, that’s going to be it for Team Fight Tuesday! This week we have our last match up of the stage against Philly, so hopefully the momentum from this match carries into the next.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
Welcome back to Team Fight Tuesday! Even though the weekend as a whole was devastating for Boston, we finally got some winning team fights to discuss! For this week, we are going to talk about the Uprising’s use of the new-hotness going around both OWL and contenders – the comp known as “Hackfist”.
What is Hackfist?
The “Hackfist” team composition is based around the two characters Sombra and Doomfist. Popularized by the Korean Contenders team Element Mystic, this setup aims to create chaos against GOATs and capitalize on the disruption. The combination of Sombra’s hacks and Doomfist’s stuns create the opportunity for early fight picks. This is powerful against a 3-3 team, because 3-3 comps rely so heavily on coordinated group play. If a player in GOATs is unable to use abilities to save an ally, or is knocked away/stunned before they can ult, the rest of the squad is very vulnerable.
If things make more sense to you in video form, here’s a great video from Akshon Esports. They describe more of the intricacies and nuances of the comp.
Why Did Boston Run It?
One of the toughest aspects of a GOATs heavy meta is that talented DPS players are often pushed to the wayside or forced to play tanks. After a terrible string of losses playing with and against GOATs, Boston decided something needed to change. It was also at this time Boston remebered they have one of the premier Doomfist players in the league with blasé. With rCk’s Sombra on hand, it was only a matter of time that Boston would bust out their latest strat.
The comp also allows Fusions and Kellex to stay on their comfort picks in Reinhardt and Lucio respectively. Colourhex gets to gain more practice on Zarya for when the team needs to default back to GOATs, and finally Persia is given the duties of playing Ana.
Boston decides to run this on Illios most likely for a few reasons. First being Illios has plenty of high ground positions and natural cover. When blasé dives in he has the ability to get out safely, thanks to Doomfist’s highly mobile kit. His flanking routes can come from any of the tall buildings or alleyways behind Philadelphia. Second, Boston wants to punish the over-aggressive nature of Philadelphia’s main tank Sado. Catching out the Reinhardt in a GOATs comp is one of the best ways to win the fight. Using Doomfist’s Rocket Punch and Uppercut blasé should be able to displace Sado and create separation between him and his back line, leading to an easy kill.
The Final Fight on Illios
I love this fight because it demonstrates all the advantages Hackfist gives to Boston.
Hackfist in all its glory
Starting from the start of the clip, we can already see blasé setting up on the high ground looking for a kill on a support. He uses Seismic Slam to jump into the Philly Team, and an Uppercut to shoot Sado into the air. Once Carpe bubbles the Reinhardt, blasé jumps right back out to the opposing high ground to safety.
These first five seconds are why Doomfist can be so obnoxious to deal with. Not only is he attacking from a unique angle, he has an amazing quickness that enables him to make riskier plays but come out alive. After his first engage, blasé has now set himself up for another high ground flank.
All while this is happening Sado is hacked by rCk, forcing Philadelphia to commit resources to keep him alive. Eqo uses Rally to keep their team alive, and Carpe uses both bubbles before the fight even starts. Expending these abilities so early in a fight leaves Philadelphia in a difficult situation. Because these cooldowns are used, they have to make a difficult choice. Philly can either back up and wait for more ults (which seems bad because no one is close to one), or push hard and be the aggressor.
Surviving the the GOATs Aggression
For a moment, the aggression pays off as Philly is able to take down Fusions. Normally this would be a lost fight for Boston, however they aren’t playing GOATs this time around. The hidden benefit of Hackfist is that Fusions is no longer the focal point of the team. Of course him being alive is better than dead, but a Reinhardt death in Hackfist does not immediately signal “lost fight”.
10 seconds into the clip, Sado pushes towards Fusions to clean up the kill. But if you notice, Philadelphia is completely surrounding the remaining Boston players. blasé jumps onto the Ana, and rCk lands a hack onto Sado to essentially trap him between Kellex, Colourhex and himself. You can see the moment Sado is hacked and Boombox is killed, the remaining Uprising members collapse onto him. Boston splits him from the rest of the team, leaving him in a position to receive no healing or support.
Once Sado dies, the fight devolves into a series of solo battles between players. Poko runs off to the side to kill Persia but is pressured by rCk. blasé charges in to focus down Eqo, pushing him towards Colourhex and Kellex. Then finally rCk EMPs one more time to secure the point for Boston. Even though Persia is the only one that dies in the prolonged engagement, Boston’s comp is much better suited for this chaotic moments.
Own This Comp and Perfect It
As Boston looks forward to Stage 4 and beyond, they really need to find their style. With 2 stages worth of evidence, I am confident to say that Boston is not a GOATs team. While they may have the ability to run it and beat worse teams, GOATs itself is constantly evolving, and Boston has reacted too slowly to grow with the league. However, something like this can set Boston apart from other mediocre GOATs teams. Sure enough, Philly is one of those meh GOATs teams that Boston can beat with Hackfist. Unfortunately, the moment they swapped back to 3-3, Philly took over the series.
To make a point short – Boston needs to swap back to a 2-2-2 set up, specifically specializing in the Hackfist composition. Teams have discovered that Boston is significantly reliant on Fusions, resulting in Fusions dying first in almost every fight. It’s time for Boston to remove the pressure from their main tank, and place a bit of it onto their DPS stars.
If its any indication from their twitter, it may seem like the Uprising already have the right idea.
That’s it for Team Fight Tuesday! Next weekend we have a tough one against San Francisco and a rematch against Paris. Maybe one punch is all we need to turn this stage around.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
For this weeks player preview, I originally wanted to discuss Philadelphia Fusion’s star DPS Carpe. I wanted to talk about how the transition from a DPS meta to the GOATS meta has drastically affected Carpe’s play making ability.
But then Houston beat San Francisco so I threw all that nonsense out to discuss Danteh and his Sombra. I was sitting at the bar when I tuned into the games on my phone, and I could not believe what I was watching.
2-2? Is it that late that I would be seeing things? And did I just see the Outlaws of all teams, smack the Shock around on Illios?
Naturally I checked Twitter to confirm that I didn’t go off the deep-end, and sure enough it was all real. The lowly 3-12 Houston Outlaws, the same team that went 0-7 last stage, had beaten the Stage 2 champs. San Francisco’s win streak had ended at 11 games.
Houston’s Turnaround
What did Houston do that gave them the opportunity to topple a much better team? They did what most winning teams do for a change: minimize their own mistakes and weaknesses. Attempting to play GOATs against one of the best GOATs teams in the league is quite the feat. Realizing the massive gap between their skill levels, Houston brought out new and interesting team comps to combat the Shock. We even got to see the “HackFist” comp come out on Nepal. While they didn’t stick with it for the whole round, it showed how weak the Shock are to unconventional comps.
I would love to see Boston run Sombra/Doom like this. If Houston was able to beat down on the Shock with it, maybe its Boston's turn to try it out?https://t.co/DKN9oAGQHM
The real star of the match was Danteh on Sombra. His hack selection was incredible, starting almost all fights with a pick on a San Francisco support. In the crucial map 4, Danteh hit a 5-man EMP to relieve the pressure the Shock had at the Outlaws spawn.
This flank route allows Danteh to hack both Viol2t and Moth
Danteh also created openings for the Outlaws by focusing ChoiHyoBin to prevent the San Francisco D.VA from defending Super. The strength of the San Francisco Shock is their amazing tank synergy between Super, Sinatraa, and Choi. By taking one of the pieces away from that front line, Houston was able to punish the D.VA and allow Linkzr free reign on San Fran.
How Does Boston Stop This?
What does this mean for Boston? Well, in the past Boston has had some serious issues dealing with talented Sombras. A specialist like Danteh would certainly force the Uprising to play around him. The good news is that Houston is a team that makes a ton of mistakes.
In the same match against San Francisco, Houston played a DPS-centric comp that actually had the off-support Rawkus play Solider:76. While cheeky, the Shock won a single fight and took the map. The large mistake was thinking a single Mercy was enough healing to sustain against GOATs. Even though Danteh was able to kill several attackers in hopes to stop the push, the rest of the Outlaws failed to follow up on the advantage.
Boston needs to be ready to fight in these prolonged fights, because Sombra doesn’t deal nearly as much damage as other DPS characters. Even if Boston trades one or two players, fights are still winnable as long as Sombra does not have EMP.
Whats the key to defeating Danteh? A clear organized game plan, with communication that gets things done. In their back to back reverse sweeps in Stage 2, Boston was able to thwart other Sombra players, so I hope to see that same strategy come through Friday night.
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
Welcome to Team Fight Tuesday! In this segment we revisit team fights from the past weekend and dive into why this fight is worth watching. While this weekend was a particularly rough one to watch, I went back through the mess because there are still some good takeaways from lost fights. The London game was interesting as we saw the introduction of both Persia and Alemao, but it’s the Paris game that we are going to look at today.
The Surprise Early Fight
In a shocking turn of events Boston found themselves down 2 maps to 1, with only one last defense to go on Gibraltar. To add to the trouble, Paris finished their first push with almost four minutes in the time bank. Both teams have been running GOATs on this map, and it’s not surprising to see both default to it again. With so much time left, and momentum thoroughly in Paris’ favor, Boston was forced to shake up their defensive strategy.
Rather than attempt to hold high ground as many teams do, Boston elected to bring the fight to Paris early. Hiding in the staircase close to point, Boston hits the Eternal with a surprise attack leading to a pick on Nicogdh. A fight like this is one of the best fights for Boston to take. It is a low risk high reward strategy because if Boston were to lose the first fight, they would still have the chance to fight again but closer to the point. Instead of winning just one fight, Paris now has to win multiple fights.
Killing Nicogdh very early forces Paris to back off into their own spawn, thus preventing them from pushing the cart forward. Without Brig, Paris doesn’t have the sustain to continue the brawl for the cart.
Following the first fight, Boston wants to set up around either stairs ,where they started, or by cart. Setting up by stairs denies Paris access to the high ground and allows Boston an easy escape route. Setting up on cart gives Boston access to the mega health pack and natural cover from poke damage. Both are valid points of defense in this situation, but the important thing is to pick one. For GOATs, teamwork is key and staying as a unit means success.
The Unsettled Follow-up Fight
Boston decides to pick both at the same time, and the result is less than ideal.
A couple things don’t look right here. We have Blase and Alemao setting up near the stairs while rCk and Colourhex position themselves by the cart and left room. Fusions is left alone holding a weird off angle where he isn’t receiving heals from Alemao. The spread thin Boston defense can’t sustain themselves at this point and have to fall back, but rCk losing his mech mid-retreat is what costs the Uprising valuable resources. As Blase dies shortly after, Boston’s plan went from highly successful to terribly bad.
The last hope for the Uprising is holding the corner after the underpass. It’s this spot where Boston would have high ground that overlooks the point, as well as a tight choke point to contest Paris.
The Ult Bonanza
Having to wait for the dead members on their team, Boston retreats far off of point to avoid any more casualties. Then just as soon as both teams have six players, the ults start flying. Rally, shatter, transcendence, beat, and bomb, are all used in this fight by both teams. Result? Zero deaths on either side. Honestly both teams played this fight well, with Aimgod having an insane reaction time to trans Benbest’s shatter. It was this moment where Boston had the most hope for a hold.
With just under two minutes left after the fight, Boston looked poised to bring it to overtime. Seeing that Danye has the most ult charge, Paris’ win condition is his graviton surge. Everyone on Gibraltar knows this, so the focus becomes the mind-game between Danye and rCk. rCk has already eaten a few of Danye’s gravs, and serves as the best and truly only line of defense for Boston. Positioning for rCk is key, but unfortunately the worst happens. Boston’s DVA is focused and killed.
Watched this a few times now, still not sure how rCk got burst down so quickly. https://t.co/vKlHUdt4Bd
He appears to be taking a flank angle which would allow him to have sight on Danye to eat his ult, as well as pressure Paris’ back line. However, it looks as though Finnsi pushes rCk out of a safe position, forcing him to fly to the health pack under the bridge. Knowing the only thing stopping him from ulting is half a map away, Danye is free to press “Q”.
In the viewers seat, it’s tough to really know what went on in comms that caused this mental lapse. Could be something simple as “No armor pack” or “No bubble” that meant that the only way rCk was going to live was if he flew to the mega health pack.
I personally think after the previous fight, Boston just couldn’t keep track of the opposing Zarya ult-charge. Since Danye had started the fight with grav, he was able to build the next one during the entire fight. Since no one died, he was able to just continually deal damage to unkillable targets.
With such a promising start to this defense (and really the entire match) it’s heartbreaking to see it end in a loss. The best news about as loss is that it creates many learning opportunities. The mistakes in these fights were few but very costly. If there’s one thing I know about this Boston, I know they will bounce back stronger and they will come out on top of these fights next weekend.
That’s it for Team Fight Tuesday! Next weekend we have Houston and Philly, hopefully we can discuss a winning fight from our boys in blue!
All clips featured in this article are courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp
