New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
Friday, August 9th @ 7pm: Washington Justice
I may be starting to sound like a broken record here – but there’s no more room for error for the Boston Uprising. We knew going into Stage 4 the amount of pressure that was on the team. After getting broomed by Guanghzou, and losing a tight match on map 5 to Chengdu in Week 1, the outlook is even worse for the boys in blue. Let’s take a look what Overwatch League’s official statistician puts our chances of making the playoffs at:
As the playoff race heats up, @CaptainPlanetOW is playing SOLOQ to figure out how it could all shake out. 😎
A 4.4% likelihood of making the top 12 is… not good. I won’t get into how the dominoes would have to fall perfectly for Boston. It’s better to focus on what Boston has to do to keep their hopes alive – win. And by win, I mean win a lot. Any more losses will sink this team. That means they need to win out against Washington, LAV, NYXL, Atlanta, and Florida this stage. Not a big deal, right?
Fortunately, Boston starts out the beginning of (hopefully) a miracle run against the Washington Justice. If you look at the season standings, you’ll notice Washington is there – at the bottom. You may think that’s just what the Uprising need. But then take a look at the stage standings and you’ll notice Washington is there – at the top. Unfortunately for Boston, Washington has been on a tear since the 2-2-2 role lock came out. Can they stop the momentum that the Justice have this stage?
Washington Justice
What is behind the Justice’s resurgence? As far as I can tell watching them, two things – swagger and Corey. First, these guys are playing with house money. They were eliminated from season end playoffs weeks ago – what pressure do they have? That type of freedom in a high pressure environment like the Overwatch League goes a long ways. And you can see that when they play. They’re smiling, talking, and are loose. I mean look at these guys:
Second, they just happen to have some great players. Corey looks to be one of the best Widows in the league. Like Colourhex, the guy must have partied like it was 1999 when GOATs died at the advent of the role lock. His match against Vancouver last week was a highlight reel. Dude was popping heads like a game of wack-a-mole. Additionally, Sleepy seems to be an S-tier flex-support. His sleep darts always seem to find the right player at just the right time. There’s no doubt Boston will have to bring their A-game with them tonight.
Less we forget, last time we faced Washington it was the last week of Stage 2. Boston lost in a devastating reverse sweep, in my mind the worse loss of the season. The boys in blue have plenty of motivation to seek revenge. Additionally, they’ve had an entire bye week to focus on their opponent. With no one else to play this week, there’s no reason they shouldn’t come prepared to play.
Outlook
There’s no denying that the Overwatch League has become the wild west with the new meta. Chengdu just swept the NYXL right after the Justice swept the Titans. It’s a whole new world out there. But Boston hasn’t made their claim yet. While the Guangzhou match was a dumpster fire, there were flashes of brilliance in the Chengdu match. Boston has traditionally been a team that picks up steam as stages go on, and there’s no time like the present to light the fire. Unfortunately, there’s no more time to wait. They’ll need everyone to click together for at least three maps to secure a win.
I don’t think the season ends tonight. There’s just too much talent and potential. Colourhex can show up Corey. rCk can get on a run. Aimgod NEEDS TO PLAY (talking to you Huk). Blase can pop off on Doomfist. These are all things we’ve seen from Boston this season. They just need to happen all at once. It’s happened before and it just needs to happen again – for five more matches. That’s not asking for much – right?
Photo courtesy of Stewart Volland/Blizzard Entertainment
For more weekly columns and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
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
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
Boston Uprising go into Stage 4 with plenty of work in front of them. Stuck at the bottom of the standings and looking up at a playoff spot, there’s no room for errors. No matches to tune up. Every kill and every map counts. Can’t take anything for granted. They needed wins against the Guangzhou Charge and Chengdu Hunters. How’d they do?
THE GOOD
Since 2001, adjusted for inflation, global GDP per person has increased by 52% from $11,347 to $17,196. https://t.co/w5uT8U9AGT
Our ancestors gathered and chopped wood 10 hours a day for six days to produce just 54 minutes of light. It was far dimmer and less steady than the light from a modern light bulb. Even when candles became available, few could afford to light their homes. https://t.co/ilvbwC3jVK
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first. Where is Aimgod? I thought we had moved past the roulette wheel of support last stage. Boston showed the Aimgod/Kellex combo was indeed their best pairing after taking out Paris and bringing Philly to a map 5. But yet – here we are. Back to Persia/Kellex. Are those rumors about a dysfunctional Aimgod/Kellex pairing true? There’s no time for this drama. We know who the best support line is for the team – why isn’t it out there?
And boy did Persia look out of place. From ducking out to take a piss before map 5 against Chengdu, to being picked in the backline time and time again – the poor guy just couldn’t live up to his predecessor.
Long stretches where Blase went silent. While Colourhex popped off all weekend, just seemed the American only played well on Mei. Plenty of times Boston could have used the type of DragonStrike or pick from a Junkrat that would have opened the door…and it never came. There were times he came through, but the consistency wasn’t there.
Did rCk and Fusions look dis-coordinated against Guangzhou? They sure did to me. Halt hooks missing left and right. Positioning just completely off. Not sure the cause, but something I noticed.
That map 5 loss to the Hunters was painful. While stage 1 saw a heated back and forth, stage 2 seemed like it was going to be a clean sweep. Then Boston crept back in, Blase getting some clutch picks, and the team staggering enough to scratch and claw their way back. But losing 99-95 to end a 2 loss weekend – hurts.
Also – the switching on Map 5 there was atrocious. Boston couldn’t make up their mind. Did they want snipers, dive, hack fist – make up your mind! Just swathes of time spent switching. Absolutely infuriating. Don’t they realize how they throw ult economy out the window when they do that?
THE UPRISING
Colourhex was Boston’s player all weekend. When Boston could create the space, there was the kiwi popping heads and leading teamfight wins. I’ve said all season he needs the opportunity and he’d make Huk and fans proud – boy was I right.
Looking at Fusions’ tank usage is a bit startling. The brit was on Orisa and Hammond all weekend long, with mixed results. There were alot of times, as has been the case often, that he drew opposing team’s fire and dropped first. Guangzhou and Chengdu have clearly learned from other team’s success that if you get Boston’s shotcaller first, not much good follows for the Uprising. Hard to figure where you point the finger. Do supports need to be there more? Should Fusions position himself better so as not to get picked so easily?
I thought rCk bounced back well from a pretty piss poor performance against the Charge. Playing the Hunters, it seemed like he connected on a much higher number of hooks. On Havana specifically, his Self-Destructs came in time and time again to clear out the Hunters and get Boston to the next point. He epitomized putting the past in the rear view mirror and driving forward.
Volskaya continues to be Boston’s go-to. Getting through Point B with over four minutes left? I barely had time to put my beer down and tweet how smooth that Point A cap was before it was over. Unreal. Need more of that.
Outlook
Is the year over? Well, let’s see here:
Boston doesn’t have one of those red “ELIMINATED” bars next to them yet, but it sure doesn’t look good. With only five matches left in the stage, you’d have to think they need to win out and have some help to squeeze into the playoffs. Is that realistic? NYXL, LAV, WAS, ATL, & FL. So… maybe? But then to think the Reign drop at least three matches (and Dallas, too) is… looking at the glass half full?
I’m not about to say Boston should start jumbling their roster, giving their bench players an opportunity, and starting an inventory of who they have for the future. No. We’re not in throw away mode yet. But it’s put up or shut up time. There ain’t much good to say, but it ain’t over yet. Boston can still make something of this mess. But another loss may knock them out. A win may not be enough. Boston gets a bye week to stew on this. So with that…
For more Boston Uprising content and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
Saturday, July 27th @ 4:45pm: Guangzhou Charge Saturday, July 28th @ 7:00pm: Chengdu Hunters
It’s been an up-and-down season for the Boston Uprising. None of us have any illusions about that. There’s been some highs (four reverse sweeps) and lows (stage ending Map 5 losses to Washington and Philadelphia). But that’s all in the past. Here we are at the final stage of the season. Season end playoffs are realistically within range. A new meta, punctuated by the 2-2-2 role lock, has reset the pecking order of the league. This is the biggest change since the Mercy nerf came down last season. Nobody knows what hero comps teams will put out there. It’s the wild wild west and its time for the boys in blue to nut up or shut up. Lets roll.
Guangzhou Charge
With the new role lock it’s hard to predict how Boston’s Stage 4 opening matches will play out. We can only look at how the teams have done this season, any likely team comps, and what the match means for each team.
Given that, Guangzhou stands at 9-12 on the season, a step above Boston in the race for the season end playoffs. While they’ve been up and down all season, the most interesting part of Saturday’s matchup will be seeing who they put on stage. Guangzhou spent the break between stages making more roster changes than any other team, picking up the Gladiator’s Bischu and Fusion’s fragi.
In Thursday’s match against the Philadelphia Fusion, the Charge played a lot of Mei/Sombra, snipers, a Tracer here and there, with a lock on Ana/Mercy and Orissa/Roadhog. That may be their counter strat to the Fusion, or it could be what they think their strengths are at. Not exactly something you want to bank on seeing Saturday. But they clearly are putting up a fight against Philadelphia after rolling them on Volskaya.
Chengdu Hunters
All season the Chengdu Hunters have been that team that resisted the GOATs meta. These are the guys that were playing DPS when everyone else was running triple tank/support. It got them a lot of fans because, well, we were all sick of watching GOATs. But also, it takes a lot of chutzpah to go so against the grain on a professional level. Also, the conventional wisdom has been that given they’ve spent all year playing off-meta comps they would be the best equipped if a role lock ever came down the pike. What’s that mean?
Hard to say. At 9-12, Chengdu is also slotted one spot above Boston in the standings, currently in the season end playoffs. As the only team with an all Chinese roster, the Hunters’ fans believe they can be the reds’ national hope for Overwatch League dominance. Hopefully the boys in (red, white, and) blue can show up and lay their claim as a top tier role lock squad.
Outlook
Any prediction is a shot in the dark, especially when a drastic change like the role lock is being unleashed for the first time. Fusions and company spoke on the official Uprising Twitter that they expect to see plenty of dive and bunker comps. As I write this, I see a lot of Thursday’s matches feature double snipers, Tracer popping up intermittently, and somehow Mei becoming meta (is this the dawn of the ice age meta?). In other words, it’s utter chaos out there.
It’s time for the Uprising to pop off. Blase has been stuck in the Brig all season. Colourhex has only had a few chances to show what he can do on DPS – and he’s done great. We’ve got a new DPS in Stellar who single handedly put Toronto in top-tier contention until his early retirement. Add in All-Star Fusions’ drive to make the playoffs, and a squad with plenty to prove, and fans have all the reasons in the world to buy-in.
Photo courtesy of Stewart Volland/Blizzard Entertainment
That picture is the last we saw of Fusions and Blase last stage. Let’s hope they still have some of that swagger to bring to the stage this weekend. If Boston wakes up Monday without a win, that may be all she wrote for the season. That’s not what I’m expecting. That mantra from the start of the season still matters and should be on everyone’s mind going into this weekend and every match from here on out. Prove. Them. Wrong.
New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.
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
After the Stage 3 playoffs, Overwatch League was set for a slow news week. Monday seemed to be the day to reflect on Shanghai’s unexpected upset of San Francisco to win the Stage 3 title. Instead, Boston takes the headlines away from the Dragons to announce the signing of DPS player Stellar. That name sound familiar? Yes, that’s the same Stellar who played for the Toronto Defiant. Same player who as recently as April retired from professional Overwatch. Wait, what?
Let’s try to break this down. Stellar, a Tracer specialist in Korean Contenders for O2 Blast, started the season for Toronto. He was there back on March 3rd when the Defiant trumped the Uprising 3-1. In the GOATs meta, much like Blase, the DPS specialist has been stuck in the Brig. Stellar played a bit of Sombra, he never stuck around long enough this season to see the DPS resurgence that has been prominent this past stage. That, along with unspecified personal reasons, was enough to make him to decide to step away from the game.
Staring at a wall
Now he’s back and we’re left wondering what Huk’s long game is here. A few hot takes for you:
First, with 2-2-2 lock coming down the pike, Boston strikes first in signing DPS talent. Makes alot of sense and glad Huk is out in front of everyone.
Second, If you’re Blase or Colourhex and you wake up to this news, what’re you thinking? These two DPS stars have had too few moments to shine and show what they can do. Now there’s another DPS player to soak up playing time? They can’t be happy.
Next, it’s strange that just two weeks after former Boston DPS player Mistakes unretires to join the Montreal Rebellion (Toronto’s Academy Team) Stellar unretires too. Conspiracy theorists will have a field day connecting the hidden dots between these players/organizations.
Boston is now up to four Korean players on the roster. That ties the most they’ve ever had with last year’s squad. After seeing Shanghai dump their original roster for an all Korean players to transform from an 0-40 team to Stage 3 champions, teams have to be tempted with this approach. Florida has done the same. Hopefully Boston will stay steadfast in their approach.
If you’re going to sign a DPS, what better can you do than another team’s former starter? That’s the definition of buying low and moneyballing the hell out of the competition. This has Huk’s hands all over it and I love it.
Lastly, anyone thinking this roster will be the same a few months from now is nuts. Huk may already be hawking some of the shiny looking toys in the box he’s shown off to the rest of the league. Maybe Colourhex’s Widow skills have earned him a spot on the trading block. Perhaps Aimgod is next out the door. Former obscure players like Striker and Neko found themselves in similar positions last year, after coming from obscurity to strutting themselves on the OWL stage. Either way, Boston wins and the machine keeps rolling.
Worse case – we never see Stellar on stage. Like Persia and Axxiom, he may be another Korean stuck riding the pine until Huk finds trading partners for everyone else. Hard to say what type of long game the President of Gaming has in mind.
Final Thought
Well, all these takes aside, what’s a Boston fan to think? For me, I think we have to trust the process. This is the same management team that plucked players like Gamsu and Note out of obscurity. We’ve seen this team go undefeated one stage and miss stage playoffs another. Boston dished out reverse sweeps four times this season, but also were reverse swept by the Washington Justice. It’s part of the fun of being an Uprising fan. Strap in. Drink the Kool-Aid. Enjoy the ride. Let’s go.
Look into those eyes. Does that look like the gaze of a man that doesn’t have a plan. #ThatsMyGM
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.
Well that sucked. After living off that reverse sweep high last week, Boston goes to another game five. And drops it. Against Philly. That’s a burn that will stay with the team for awhile. Not as bad an ending to a stage as getting reverse swept by the Washington Justice, but this will sting. Despite the loss, Boston played a tight game with a team that had beat them 2-1 just two weeks ago. Let’s take a look at what went down.
The Good
Boston’s full hold on Point B of Horizon Lunar Colony was a textbook bunker defense. Years from now scholars will study just how Boston was able to squash any offense Philadelphia threw at them. From perfectly timed Immortality Fields, well placed Widow snipes, to smart healing shots from Aimgod, Boston put on a clinic to hold Philly to just a point.
I have to eat a bit of crow as I’ve advocated Boston abandon GOATs. So how did they hold Philly on Point B defense on Havana? Ana GOATs. What’s so impressive about them succeeding with this comp was Fusion’s use of Sombra. Granted, Poko holding onto his EMP for the majority of the push until he gave up and switched to DVa helped. With Boston coordinated around the tight quarters of Point B, it seemed clear to everyone that the Uprising had rehearsed and were prepared for this part of the match.
Getting a point on sudden death Ilios by playing GOATs was huge. Playing the mirror to the Fusion was the right call, and Boston played it perfectly. rCk getting picks on the Zen, Rein, and Birgitte as OT started was the play of the stage there. The Finn was on fire.
The Bad
Let’s start on Nepal, where Carpe popped off on Widowmaker. Guy had free rein to click heads and was a force to be reckoned with. Boston had no answer for him.
Too often Boston was timid in swapping heroes out. We saw this on Nepal when rCk held onto Mei and her ult. He never found a spot to toss it in and swap out when Philly was already closing out. It happened again on Numbani when Boston came out with a strange bunker comp on offense. Didn’t work – and the boys didn’t switch to GOATs until it was too late.
Can we talk some more about that team comp on Numbani on offense? Blase on Rein? Colour on Bastion? I default to trusting in Huk and the coaches, but this seemed ill designed. Philly defended with a Winston GOATs, almost a dive comp with DVa. Fusion had no problem diving the Bastion and picking off the supports. I wish Boston had switched out quicker.
I’m calling out Malik, Soe, and Sideshow’s halftime analysis (or lack thereof). You’d think Philly was up 2-0 the way they were kissing their ass. Pandering to the Fusion in the middle of a close contest seemed off.
Philly won the match on Stage 2 of Ilios. Boston losing 99-100 was a back breaker. They had the map won until Blase used the barrage at point blank on Sado on the point, killing himself before he picked the tank. That lead to the Uprising having to retreat. Philly got the fifth swap of control on the point and, ultimately, the last. With enough time left to get an EMP, there was still hope. That is, until Carpe picked off rCk as Tracer. Philly mopped up the picks and Stage 3 was all but over.
Colourhex getting his grav eaten by Poko on that last stage of overtime…
The Uprising
I thought rCk was Boston’s best player Saturday. Rarely did he go down first, and he got so many picks throughout the match. He was aggressive from the jump. The flex player also hit the supports more often than not with his EMPs, preventing any effective response from the Fusion. He was coordinated with the other players all match, and seemed to bother the right Fusion player each time with solo hacks. Was nice to see consistency from the Finn.
It would have been easy to pack it in after dropping Numbani in such embarrassing fashion. Credit to Boston – they came out strong on map four to force sudden death.
Winning on the fifth map seemed inevitable. The four reverse sweeps throughout the course of the season loomed in the air and it seemed Boston was ready to avenge their loss from two weeks ago to the Fusion. Especially after playing so well on Stage 1 of Ilios. Boston has to respect what Philly did in stopping that momentum dead in its tracks.
Outlook
Stage 3 didn’t work out how any of us hoped. Getting swept three times and not securing a win until week three isn’t what anyone should be happy about. However, there was progress throughout the stage that Boston fans can hold on to.
Uprising’s support line was the story of the stage. A seeming roulette between Aimgod, Persia, Kellex, and Alemao operated through the early part of the stage. It’s no surprise that returning to the staple of Kellex/Aimgod helped Boston achieve its only win of the stage against Paris. While I do think the other players have potential, Aimgod and Kellex give the team their best chance of winning. Persia just stepped off the boat a few days before walking on stage, and could use more scrim time. Alemao is a serviceable Lucio player and should be given another opportunity. Hopefully the time off will serve the team here.
While Boston oscillated between GOATs, Sombra GOATs, Hackfist, bunker, and PharMercy comps all stage, they won’t need to worry going into Stage 4. Overwatch League all but confirmed that a 2-2-2 lock is happening next stage. No one knows what to expect from it, but fans can feel good that Boston has given dps comps a good trial run this stage. Hopefully the time the team has invested in these off-meta comps will serve them well in Stage 4.
For more Boston Uprising content and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #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
