Author Archives: Brock

The Bdosin Breakdown: A Player Preview of London’s Off-Support

Superior Positioning

Bdosin’s strongest asset he brought to the match was his incredible positioning. He constantly creates situations where Boston was left with an impossible decision. Does Boston attempt to attack the back line first in a 3-3 mirror? Or do they believe they can power through the front line and clean up the healers after? The usual answer is the latter – burst down the enemy Reinhardt or Zarya, and then quickly roll the rest of the team over since their main source of damage is gone.

Having seen his fair share of GOATs, it looks as though Bdosin decides to create as much pressure as possible from difficult to reach positions. By staying far away from the chaos, he is able to force Boston to take fights that are out of their favor. Take this example from the first map Busan – Meka Base.

Busan – Meka Base

As Boston approaches the point, London is posturing just for a moment to build ult charge and to allow Gesture to return to the point. In the meantime, Bdosin takes advantage of the high ground that overlooks the point. The strength of Bdosin’s position lies in the fact that he is both uncontested and able to see the entire point. Why is this important? From where Bdosin stands, he is able to generate ult charge twice as fast as Aimgod. Being able to have line of sight to heal as well as deal damage, Bdosin gains 55% ult charge in 27 seconds. To compare, Aimgod gains 41% in the same time span.

Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment — Bdosin overlooks point from a safe distance

Even worse for Boston is that even if they do decide to pressure Bdosin on the high ground, they would waste large amounts of time to force him to simply rotate back to his team. Because he plays near the ledge behind his team, Bdosin puts himself in a spot to be able to drop down and ult if needed. From this one fight, London is able to snowball their advantage into a map win.

Paris Defense

As a bonus example, I wanted to share this little clip from the next map Paris. London has given up the first point easily to Boston, and now face a large time bank to hold Boston from completing the map. It’s a brief moment, though I think it really defines why these players are pro and most people are not.

Original screen shot courtesy of Blizzard Entertainemnt — Bdosin avoiding unnecessary damage

Boston eventually pushes London out of this position, but Bdosin sets up in a spot with 3 forms of protection against the enemy Zen. Bdosin sets up behind Birdring here, but he has the option to stand behind the globe as well as Gesture. From this position, Bdosin also has two very easy escape routes behind him and to the right towards point. Small moments like these are excellent for showcasing how each position should bring value to your team, even if you aren’t in a fight.

The Clutch Factor

Just like physical sports, the attributes that separate a good player from a great player are the intangibles. During this series, Bdosin displays what it means to have incredible game sense. His plays on Paris and King’s Row highlight what exactly “the clutch factor” can do for a team.

Paris Attack

If you re-watch this series, you’ll start to notice a trend in Bdosin’s play. He solely focuses the Boston supports in the posture phase. The pressure he inflicts onto the Boston backline causes Aimgod and Kellex to position themselves in awkward areas.

On the second Paris attack, Bdosin turns on the heat and brings Aimgod to half health the moment he peeks the choke. The shock of almost getting one-shot forces Aimgod to back up and play safer around the small wall and Blase. This also forces Aimgod to use bio-nade, a crucial cooldown Boston needs in order to slow down London’s push.

Moments later, Bdosin ends the game with a pick on Kellex to break the stalemate. The death of Kellex creates a flurry of opportunities for the London attackers.

First and foremost – Boston no longer has a defensive ultimate because they had elected to play Ana in hopes to counteract Bdosin’s transcendence. Second, Boston no longer has the speed boost to control the pace of the fight, once Lucio is gone London is given the freedom to attack when they choose.

Without that kill, Boston has a shot at winning the map and gaining momentum into King’s Row. Unfortunately Bdosin had other plans.

King’s Row Defense

Down 0-2, Boston needs to create a spark to get the momentum back in their favor. Up until this point, Boston has not brought out their Sombra GOATS despite having resident expert rCk in the lineup. It only makes sense that now would be the time to lean back on “the crutch” that is Sombra.

Sure enough, that is exactly what we see from Boston on their first attack. Even though Boston is able to complete the map, it was obvious the match would boil down to Bdosin’s transcendence vs rCk’s EMP. You can guarantee both players knew this as well, but only one was able to come out the victor. When the dust settled, Bdosin dodged 4 out of the 6 EMP’s from rCk.

How was the battle so lopsided? Bdosin knew that each fight he had transcendence available, he needed to watch and listen for Sombra. Understanding that Sombra is the Boston win condition, Bdosin positions himself in spots that allows him to either ult early or avoid a hack altogether. Most importantly, when the last fight came around, Bdosin was simply more clutch than rCk.

When you watch the clip at the start of the article, you can see rCk trying to line up his EMP. He looks to hit both tanks and DPS, but Bdosin knows he is out of line of sight. Staying in that room forces rCk to either commit fully to hacking only Bdosin, or hack the rest of London with Bdosin left able to use his ultimate. By taking a small step back, Bdosin ends the match with a bang. Bdosin’s clutch dodge leads to a disappointing loss for Boston.

Moving Forward for Boston

This time around, I believe Boston can beat the Spitfire if they neutralize Bdosin’s play style. It’s important to not let him become comfortable standing in the back line uncontested. Whether it be Sombra or a triple-DPS team composition, Boston needs to be more proactive against London. After Busan, Boston was down 31-12 in terms of eliminations. Against any opponent this is a terrible ratio, let alone a team as strong as London. As we watch the games this weekend, keep an eye out for the thrilling rematch of rCk and Bdosin. Hopefully this time rCk waits just one more second to use that EMP.

All clips featured in this article are courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

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Uprising’s Stage 3 Strength of Schedule

Stage 3 Schedule

The Uprising will have to play 3 top-8 teams, even having to play Philly a second time in what will certainly be a decisive last game for Boston right before playoffs. As a result, Boston has found itself as the underdog for more than half of the stage. Luckily they get the benefit of playing the struggling Paris Eternal twice, providing some form of relief from tougher opponents. But just how tough is it for Boston in Stage 3? Check out the head-to-head records against each opponent:

Opponent	Head-to-Head Record
London Spitfire (4)	2-3
Paris Eternal (16)	0-0
Houston Outlaws (18)	2-3
Philadelphia Fusion (7)	3-4
San Francisco Shock (3)	1-2
Paris Eternal (16)	0-0
Philadelphia Fusion (7)	3-4

Yikes. Boston does not have a single winning record against their opponents this stage. The most surprising being a losing record against the currently 3-11 Houston Outlaws, a team that has thoroughly played below expectations. While the game against Houston should be relatively one-sided in Boston’s favor, the rest of the schedule will not be so kind.

Strength of Schedule

Here’s a quick glance at how Boston’s schedule compares to the rest of the league.

Rank	Team	Average Opponent Map Win %
1	Chengdu Hunters	0.572
2	Dallas Fuel	0.556
3	Atlanta Reign	0.549
4	Florida Mayhem	0.53
5	LA Valiant	0.522
6	London Spitfire	0.518
7	LA Gladiators	0.513
8	Boston Uprising	0.509
9	Toronto Defiant	0.484
10	Houston Outlaws	0.478
11	Vancouver Titans	0.477
12	Hangzhou Spark	0.474
13	Washington Justice	0.47
14	Shanghai Dragons	0.462
15	Paris Eternal	0.459
16	Philadelphia Fusion	0.455
17	Seoul Dynasty	0.451
18	San Francisco Shock	0.438
19	Guangzhou Charge	0.422
20	New York Excelsior	0.408

Ranked 8th in the league in terms of schedule strength, Boston has quite the uphill battle if they want to finish the stage with a positive record. At 7-7, they sit on the playoff bubble with teams like Atlanta, Seoul, and Toronto – all of which share the same record. While Atlanta has the 3rd toughest schedule this stage, Seoul and Toronto have much weaker schedules, adding even more pressure onto Boston to win their tougher match ups.

Match Predictions

San Francisco Shock (11-3)

Coming off of their “Golden Stage” and a Stage Championship,the Shock are easily the hottest team in the league. This is undoubtedly Boston’s toughest match of the stage and it will be a gigantic test for the Uprising.
Prediction: San Francisco 4 – 0

London Spitfire (9-5)

The classic revolutionary rivalry. London absolutely smashed Boston last time around, but since it is the first match of the stage for these two I see this as a statement game for Boston. They can again assert themselves as a team to fear with a win. Then again, Boston is 2-4 in stage openers, so we can only hope they shake off their early stage struggles.
Prediction: London 3 – 2

Philadelphia Fusion (8-6)

Philly is a team that really excels in a DPS-focused meta where they can make use of carpe and eqo’s insane mechanical skills. Expecting more GOATS and bunker comps, Boston’s tank line should be favored this time around. Since they play twice this stage, I wouldn’t be surprised if these two split 2 very close matches.
Game 1 Prediction: Boston 3-2
Game 2 Prediction: Philly 3-2

Paris Eternal (5-9)

The first meeting for these two teams, and we get to see them play twice in the same stage. Paris has seemed lost through the first two stages, showing some really good moments but a lot of bad decision making. Boston should have no problem capitalizing on the mistakes of a weaker team.
Game 1 Prediction: Boston 4-0
Game 2 Prediction: Boston 3-1

Houston Outlaws (3 – 11)

I don’t think there’s a more disappointing team to watch than the Outlaws right now. Their GOATS is just terrible, which is stunning with a normally exceptional Rein player in Muma. Boston needs to expect shenanigans from a desperate Houston team, otherwise we will see another Washington fiasco.
Prediction: Boston 4-0

I think at 4-3 Boston would have a shot at making the stage playoffs, however looking forward to the season playoffs they would certainly have to pull out a few upsets along the way. There is a scenario where Boston upsets London and wins both games against Philly to go 6-1 for the stage, and I think it may be more likely than most people realize.

This is the stage for Boston to truly separate themselves from the rest of the pack of middle-tier teams. With a full stage with rCk under their belt, and a set roster moving forward, this stage is the best opportunity to make some noise in around the league. Last year we saw Boston have a perfect Stage 3, who says they can’t do it again?