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Admit it. Down 2-0 at halftime against both the London Spitfire and Vancouver Titans, you thought Boston could come back and reverse sweep. You thought there was some magic left down in the well. That the spark that lit the fire against Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto was still burning. It’s ok, I did too.

We know how that worked out.

For the second time in team history, Boston’s weekend comes up empty as they get swept off the stage in both matches. It was ugly. While there were flashes of brilliance, it’s hard to draw something positive out of a double-zero on map wins in the span of two matches. Let’s break it all down.

The Good

There’s a good argument to be made that in a weekend where Boston doesn’t win a single map this space should be blank. But we look on the bright side around here on Boston Sports Extra – let’s go!

Fusions

What’s it say about you when the other team considers you prime target number one? Against London, the Uprising’s main tank was the clear go-to for focus fire. Conversely, the Brit didn’t get as much help from supports. Against London, where rCk played a good amount of DVa, his sustain seemed to be the team’s focus. That combination seemed fatal. Looks like Fusion’s notoriety from Stage 1 has made him many team’s go-to focus fire target.

He had his moments all weekend. Slaying Vancouver’s Lucio and Brigitte on Paris’s Point B on offense as Rein. His Rein was very good in both matches. It’s clearly still his strong suit. I also thought his Winston was much better. He still had a few times where he’d charge with no backup and get focus killed quick, but he also used his Primal Rages alot better.

I’m not as convinced his play on Wrecking Ball is as legit. Too many times we saw him get picked first and early on the hamster. That may just be because the character’s kit isn’t meant to be played as the Uprising deploy him. But to my eyes, Fusions isn’t S-tier on him. Also – I thought his play on Orissa on both Paris and Gibralta, against Vancouver, was admirable. Those shields were right where they needed to be and his firing was well done.

DPS Comps – Against Vancouver?

In my weekend preview, I said that Boston should ditch GOATs and go DPS heavy. They didn’t do that against London, but they certainly did against Vancouver. Opening on Leijing Tower with Pharah-Hammond-Sombra-Widow-Ana-Mercy, Boston consistently played DPS comps. Bunker comps on Paris defense. A pirate ship on Gibraltar that got the third highest time on attack. They looked great! While they couldn’t get a win against Vancouver, they were clearly much better running DPS against Vancouver than when they did GOATs a few weeks ago.

Which makes you wonder why they didn’t play these comps against London. Why wouldn’t they use that as a formal practice for the Vancouver game? Heck, they could have won against an inferior GOATs team like the Spitfire! Why they felt restricted to the GOATs meta in that game is beyond me.

Blase

DPS trained, American born, Blase has been in the Brig all season. While he’s a good Birgitte player, you know he’s pining to get back on DPS where he’s comfortable. Didn’t happen against London, but he was let loose on Vancouver. And we were better for it! On Pharah, he was pog champ. For example, his ult on stage 1 of Leijing saved the team in OT against Vancouver. His Roadhog on Gibraltar against the Titans was even more pog champ. He even whipped out Doomfist. You have to wonder what it’d be like to see him play DPS full time.

Aimgod

I should put the flex support first. Far and away the most consistent player all weekend, Aimgod faired well against both teams. Playing primarily Ana and Zen in both matches, and had some great moments. His snipe on King’s Row Point A on London’s Bdosin single-handedly got London to flee the point both on offense (1st lap) and defense (2nd lap). While he didn’t have to dodge any EMPs like the Spitfire and Titans had to, he certainly held his own. Also camping the Titans after the rest of the team got wiped took balls. Especially with an emote.

The Bad

(This is an abridged version. A full itinerary of all the bad things that happened this weekend will be submitted for publication in the case we don’t make Stage 2 playoffs).

Ultimate Economy

All weekend it seemed like Boston couldn’t maximize the value of their ultimates. Now, that’s hard to separate from the myriad of other issues that were going on in the debacle of a weekend they had. But, time and again we saw London and Vancouver either make due with less, save ults intelligently, or counter what Boston threw at them.

We saw this on Busan against London. Up 77%-28%, London having control, and Boston with all 6 ults, the Uprising’s win condition was clear. Draw out any of the Spitfire’s 4 ults in one or two fights using as little of their own as possible. Swoop the point and win. How’d it play out? To start, rallies on both sides. Gesture Shatters and Fury’s Self-Destruct picks a demeched rCk whose own SD does nothing. Colourhex wakes up from the Shatter and shoots his Grav, but rCk’s SD isn’t in position or timed well enough to do anything. Profit hits his Grav which forces Kellex to drop his Sound Barrier to save the team. Now it’s 77%-48% and both teams are wiped of Ults. Would anyone say that was the best use of ults?

Boston also gambled playing strats that required post-point switches. We saw all weekend that London and Vancouver stuck with 3-3 all match while Boston switched. This gives the other team ult advantage from the start. Boston would play from behind, needing two team fights just to farm enough ult to compete. It’s a hard decision – go all in with a comp you know you’re going to switch off of, but do so knowing it gives you the best chance. It’s a bit of an all or nothing stat. Something for the coaches to chew on.

rCk

I do think every player had good moments and great plays at some point this weekend. But on the sum, if I’m putting one player in the bad category, it goes to the freshmen team member. While the Finn played a mix of Sombra/DVa against London, we saw him play almost exclusively the hacker against Vancouver. And the hacker didn’t do what we needed.

For example, on King’s Row against London, the payload is just about to hit the end when he tosses the Translocator. Then, he immediately EMPs – but he doesn’t hit Bdosin’s Zenyata. The Transcendence hits and he immediately gets picked and the team gets wiped. That should have rolled the Spitfire for a map win. Then again, in overtime, he clearly learned and stalked the back line to pick off Bdosin and Nus’ Lucio without dropping an EMP. But after holding onto it, he jumped at Bdosin and dropped the EMP. Except, there was a wall between them. Transcendence dropped. Boston wiped. Overtime over. Map – London.

This happened with Vancouver, too. You could tell what a difference the enemy team’s comp had on him. On King’s Row, his Sombra ruthlessly shredded Vancouver when they played the Ana. Fight after fight, he had no trouble dropping an EMP and having his team roll. Once the Titans switched to the Zen, he had trouble connecting to the omnic healer. At the final hour, he was unable to hit Twilight who immediately used his Transcendence. Boston’s attack was stimmied and Vancouver won the map.

As Uber said, you can hack the entire team but if you don’t get the Zen whose got a Transcendence ready to launch, what’s the point? If rCk is going to be as great as we know he can be, he has to focus his ult much more effectively in the matches to come.

Paris defense – Vancouver

Is the last minute choke defending Point A on Paris against Vancouver the worst ever? I’m not saying it is, but I’m not not saying that, either. Because with Overtime looming, the bunker defense running in high gear, the Titans took an unorthodox attack. Switching to a Sombra and Wrecking Ball, Vancouver got a last minute miracle capture. They snowballed it into an easy win. I think Boston will be watching tape of that whole exchange for a long time to come.

Colourhex

It was a mixed back for the kiwi on Zarya this weekend. His Graviton getting fed to Fury on Busan and King’s Row in critical moments didn’t help. I don’t think his Zarya is bad, but the lack of consistent team cohesion and synergy puts him at a disadvantage.

Of course, when he played against Vancouver and got to switch to a Bastion or Widowmaker, he proved himself again. He had some great kills on nearly all the maps as a DPS. Makes you excited for when the meta shifts more into his wheelhouse.

The Uprising

  • Valskyia Industries may be Boston’s official home base, King’s Row is their ninth circle of hell. The boys are now 0-5 this year on the hybrid map.
  • Vancouver opening their Paris offense with a pretty Symmetra teleport onto the point play was delicious. Seeing them run it was fun – especially when Colourhex shredded them all into oblivion.
  • That time on King’s Row against Vancouver rCk saw the Zen use Transcendence. You knew he was thinking, THIS IS MY MOMENT – LETS EMP AND ROLL THESE JERKS. He hits the EMP… but there is Lucio with a Sound Barrier. Vancouver gets the sustain, team wipe, point capture. Every Uprising fan had to be thinking – what is it going to take?
  • It may have been short lived, but I loved the Symmetra, Bastion, Baptiste, Orissa, Mercy comp to open Junkertown against London. Seeing them teleport the bunker comp around the map was neat. Except when they switched to 3-3 it was too late. The Junkertown curse continues.
  • Kellex got quite a few kills on Bumper. We see you Uprising OG.
  • Hexagrams called Boston a “resilient cockroach of a team” which he meant in “the nicest way possible.” Hmmmmm.
  • Love the tbag by Aimgod on Bumper – just down the street where Bumper did the same last time these two played. These two are getting quite salty against each other.
  • Hearing the overtime music refereed to as Hans Zimmer (from Inception) blew my mind.
  • What was with Junkertown starting with Blase on Sombra and Aimgod on Moira? Did they quit on the last map?
  • I really hate Bumper. This didn’t help.

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