New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
After an up and down start to the 2019 season, the Boston Uprising enter the final week of stage 1 with their playoff hopes still alive. While the hypotheticals are too much to go through, beating Dallas would certainly be a good first step. With Dallas playing well recently, many doubted the Uprising’s chances. Specifically, the Fuel have rCk on their roster – a well known Sombra player.
Boston had a lot of things that needed to go right if they were going to win. They’d have to keep Kellex and Aimgod out of EMP range with their ults ready to launch. Fusions, the vocal leader of the team, had to keep his aggressive style going and get the picks that the team needed. Lastly, Note would have to continue hunting down support players in the midst of battle to turn the tide of team fights. That’s a lot to keep together – how’d they do?
Ilios
Dallas unsurprisingly puts rCk on Sombra. He farms his ult impressively quick and hits his first EMP onto 5 Uprising players. Also, Fusions died first in first in the first three team fights – he either is gagging horribly or Dallas clearly is focusing him. Sadly, Boston gets rolled horribly and loses 100% – 10%.
After the devastation that rCk unleashed, Dallas oddly chose to put him on DVa. While a close back-and-forth happened all match, Boston was able to get timely picks and flex their strengths without the specter of an EMP. Boston wins 100% – 94%.
With rCk back on Sombra, the Uprising’s anxiety had to be shooting on all cylinders. As a result, the first EMP gets all 6 Boston players as rCk jumps down from the high point near Boston’s spawn. Dallas continued to spawn camp for a bit, but eventually Boston pushes through. Note gets a nice double kill with his Self-Destruct, as well as picking rCk to help cap the point. Using his second EMP, rCk hits everyone but Aimgod. This is that moment Boston needed – Aimgod hits Transcendence. Unfortunately, Fusions gets picked before he can close the gap and Dallas uses that to snowball the point, winning the map 100% – 83%.
Kings Row
After an impressive first map, rCk starts map 2 back on the Sombra. With his first EMP, he hits all 6 Uprising players leading to a team wipe. Next EMP, Aimgod finds himself out of range again but is unable to save Fusions in time. An ugly pattern developing for Boston. After another team wipe by Dallas, main tank OGE t-bags after Note’s baby DVas gets staggered. Suddenly OGE is aiming to join Neko as most hated player in OWL for Uprising fans. Boston falls to another EMP but is able to cap Point A only after Overtime. It becomes clear at this point that Dallas is focusing Fusions, who gets picked first in quite a few team fights. Sadly, Boston gets it to the tip of the final point but is unable to complete.
In what is quickly becoming a pattern, Fusions is the first picked on Boston’s defense. Fortunately, Aimgod gets a pick on Zarya that delays Dallas. rCk’s first EMP hits all but Aimgod, but again Fusions is picked off before the Transcendence can save him. Boston falls prey to the EMP over and over again, with small glimmers of hope when Kellex and Aimgod get an evade here or there. Unfortunately, Boston gets rolled, but not before Kellex goes to the Widow in desperation and gets a sick double kill. At least there was that – but no win.
Volskaya
Down 2-0 going into halftime, Boston needed to continue their dominance on Volskaya where they are 11-1-1 all time. Aimgod starts it off with a great pick out of nowhere on rCK! Boston gets a quick Point A cap and snowballs it into a quick Point B cap. Uprising finish with 5:44 time bank when rCk hits the EMP when Aimgod already had Transcendence running. Whoops. See for yourself:
On defense, Boston delays pretty well considering Dallas got a lot of picks on their second team push. Between a Sound Barrier then Transcendence, they hold for awhile past a big EMP from rCk. Interestingly, Note picks of rCk in a panic switch to Tracer during a stagger attempt. The stagger extends on Point B when Kellex avoids another EMP and gets a Sound Barrier to sustain the team. Boston eventually succumbs to the pressure but docks Dallas’ time considerably.
Back on defense, Note starts the round off with an aggressive pick on OGE seemingly out of nowhere. Dallas seems to be on the cusp of capping Point A, with Kellex bunny hopping around looking for a boop in hilarious fashion. Dallas secures Point A with only 20 seconds left. Aimgod gets a huge pick on rCk right before he uses the EMP on Point B that helps steamroll Dallas and prevents them from getting a pick.
Back on offense, Boston needs Point A and a tick on Point B to keep their hopes alive. rCk gets a big EMP on Point A that hits everyone but Aimgod, who doesn’t have the Transcendence ready. After a steamroll and back on a team push, Dallas wins a fight without the EMP. On their third push and down on ults, RCK drops an EMP immediately which hits everyone. Despite their time advantage going into the round, things start looking bad for the Uprising. Note’s seemingly misdirected Self Destruct gives Boston positional advantage to win a team fight and get Point A. Good timing allows a nice snowball on Point B to win the map.
Dorado
Hoping to get a reverse sweep, Boston started Dorado on offense. Pushing the cart nearly to Point A, rCk hits an EMP on all Uprising players for a team swipe. This delays the cap on Point A. He hits a second EMP on all 6 Boston players again halfway through to Point B that Dallas sweeps. Fusions hits a great Earth Shatter in aggressive fashion that snowballs to a Dallas team swipe, leading to a Point B cap. In one of the more heated exchanges, Fusions blocks one Earth Shatter and hits one of his own on 4 Dallas players to start the push towards Point C. Kellex drops the Sound Barrier early as the cart rounds the final corner. The risky move pays off when rCk launches the EMP that the Uprising push through to cap the final point.
Needing to get the cart through to the end to win the series, Dallas had a tall task. Unfortunately, Boston answered the bell. Aimgod continually hunted down rCK. When the EMP came up, the Uprising had a Transcendence or Sound Barrier ready to pop off. By the end of the round, Boston had pulled off a full hold on Point A – and WE’RE ONTO A FINAL MAP!
Nepal
In a winner-takes-all final map, Dallas gets the first cap but only reaches 9% before the Uprising sweeps them off the point. Aimgod gets a double kill on the formerly t-bagging OGE and unkoe, repelling the Dallas push. Boston easily wins 100% – 9%.
With their backs against the wall, Dallas response. After losing the first fight, the Uprising have to wait for Note to remech outside the point. This costs them significant time, especially when they get swiped just as they start a push. Fusions hits a huge double kill with the Primal Rage as Dallas tries to cap the point. Going into Overtime down, Boston tags onto the point several times but not enough to make up for the ult disadvantage. Dallas wins the stage 100% – 90%.
With 4 maps down and 2 stages past, it all comes down to this. Boston reaches the point first and plays footsies with Dallas. Once OGE becomes the first death, Boston snowballs for the team kill and cap. rCk’s first EMP hits all 6 Uprising players. Interestingly, Boston all but gives up – jumping off the stage and giving the point to Dallas. Going into the next team fight, Boston has all 6 ults with Dallas having the 5 non-EMP ults. Boston wins the fight and retakes the point. In the next team fight, Boston’s remaining ults put them at the advantage which they use to earn the team wipe. In a final frenzy, Dallas rushes the point. Even with an EMP, Boston keeps their supports back to repel the offense and clear the point for the win. REVERSE SWEEP! REVERSE SWEEP!
Analysis
Would you really have expected anything different to close out Stage 1 from the Boston Uprising than a 5 game throw down? An all-time, heart attack inducing reverse sweep? What better way could you sum up the Uprising’s season than the chaos that unfolded Saturday night? After taking a night to let the adrenaline of the win work through me, I’m here to give as sober a review as possible.
- How do you grade the Uprising’s Sombra counter? You could say it was a tale of two halves, as rCk was thwarted much more after halftime than before. But there were still enough big EMPs on Dorado and Nepal to think Boston isn’t where they need to be. Aimgod had some unbelievable picks (as did several others) of Sombra, but there is still room to improve.
- Uprising fans should be absolutely salivating for Stage 2 after seeing Note switch onto Tracer and Colourhex onto Widow and get the quick picks they did. What a tease of what this team can do once the meta shifts.
- OGE t-bagging on King’s Row almost put him in the pantheon of OWL villains had they won (right next to Neko in my book) – but the gag job in the second half makes it just a footnote in a tome of epic Overwatch disaster.
- Colourhex will go unnoticed by most observers, but shouldn’t. He had his energy up exceptionally high and flourished with the attention being given to Fusions. He took full advantage of having no DVa on the Fuel, landing precise and timely Gravitons. He’s been a bit inconsistent on Zarya all stage, but came through this week when the team needed him.
- Boston’s tenacity can’t be overstated. After a deflating first half, the coaches deserve all the credit in the world for keeping the team focused. Rather than tossing it in, Boston rededicated themselves and played cohesively the second half to earn their first reverse sweep of the season.
- As I mentioned in my match preview, Volskaya Industries continues to be Boston’s official HQ. Boston moves to 12-1-1 on the map.
- Fusions’ flex onto Winston worked more often than not. Many wonder if he may be a one-trick and I think tonight he stated his case for being as flexible as anyone in the league.
- Someone get Fusions a box full of throat lozengers – hopefully they have a long run starting on Thursday that runs through to Sunday.
Playoffs
While the win was nice, the map differential (+1) for the night wasn’t enough to lock in a stage 1 playoff spot. Instead, Boston would rely on the remaining teams who had to play on Saturday and Sunday. See the sequence of league standings and playoff positioning throughout the remaining games:
And with Vancouver winning over Guangzhou, Boston is officially in. Based on the seeding, Boston will open up against the Vancouver Titans. Remember back to opening night when Boston started the season against NYXL and just barely lost, 2-1? Given that the Uprising has had 5 weeks to build up since then, the Uprising could be just the type of trap game that catches the entire league by surprise. Next week will be an exciting playoffs. If the Boston can show the type of cohesion from map 1 through an entire match that they showed in the second half this week against Dallas – watch out.
If you enjoy the content and want to give your support, consider giving a follow on Twitter #BostonUp
