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Uprising Stage 3 Week 4 Preview: Philadelphia Fusion

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Saturday, June 30th @ 7:00pm: San Francisco Shock

There’s an old saying that familiarity breeds contempt.  For the Boston Uprising, who face the Philadelphia Fusion Saturday for the second time in two weeks, that means they’ll have an abundance of contempt to fuel them in this matchup. Don’t underestimate the power of pent up frustration. Look at last week. After losing to Paris two weeks earlier, Boston faced off with the Eternal again. We know how that ended – in a violent outburst only a soul crushing reverse sweep could cause. Can the Uprising go 2-2 in Stage 3 rematches?

Philadelphia Fusion

First, they’ll need to solidify the support line. With Aimgod and Kellex back on stage together, Boston was competitive with the top tier San francisco Shock, and reverse swept the Paris Eternal. Has Boston turned the corner and realized these two give them their best chance to win? Or does Huk want to keep playing with the toys in his war chest and see if he can build up more trade bait for other teams? While rumors, innuendo, and fake news crept around the internet about internal strife between Kellex/Aimgod, the two clearly give the Uprising their best chance to win.

Beyond the roster, Boston needs to settle on strats. In their last matchup, Boston played a lot of Sombra GOATs. We’ve seen all stage that Boston has slowly let go of living the GOATs life, abandoning it completely in both matches last week. They played a lot of Hackfist, PharMercy, bunker, and four dps. This played more to Boston’s strengths and caught Paris off guard. Only one of those is likely to be true this time. With Blase popping off on Fist, Fusions playing inspired Wrecking Ball/Winston, and Hex swapping back and forth between Zarya and Widow/Pharah, now’s not the time to lose your nerves. Lean in. All the chips in the middle. No hesitation. Live or die with these off meta comps as the sun sets on GOATs, and 2-2-2 is forced in Stage 4.

To win against Philadelphia every player is going to need to execute. Can Fusion avoid the focus fire and stand on his head? Will rCk avoid getting picked first and farm his EMP before their Sombra – Carpe? How will Aimgod and Kellex play when the internet’s rumor mill is on overdrive about them? Boston will need that synergy that we know they’re capable of. Only their best Overwatch will do it against a good team like Philly.

Outlook

I like Boston’s chances Saturday. As Blase said in this weeks Sights and Sounds video, these guys lost their confidence. Their swagger. Well if that’s the case, a patented reverse sweep ought to have given the boys some pep in their step. No reason to fear last year’s Grand Finals runner ups. Every reason to shove these zebra print wearing has-beens into a locker. No excuses.

For more weekly columns and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp

Shotcaller

Monday Morning Shotcaller: Stage 3 Week 3

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It’s not exactly a hot take to say Boston hasn’t been great in stage 3. Going 0-4 so far, there hasn’t been much for fans to celebrate. That can all change in a heartbeat, and a win, this weekend. Next up is the San Francisco Shock and a rematch from two weeks ago with the Paris Eternal. With the fear of getting an 0-6 record looming overhead, how would the boys in blue respond?

In Thursday’s match against the Shock, you had Boston facing a surging juggernaut. San Francisco is coming off a Stage 2 golden stage, championship, and being the first team to deliver a loss to the Vancouver Titans. Unsurprisingly, they got swept. But there were positive signs. Boston played dps heavy team comps, made some solid plays, and showed much better coordination than they have all stage. Against a non-elite team like the Shock, there was hope they could win.

Then came Paris. Barely beating Boston two weeks ago, they wouldn’t be so lucky this time. And like it was drawn up by the coaches, the win goes to Boston in the form of a reverse sweep. More GOATs thrown into the mix, better job by just about everyone, and calm under pressure all added up to a Boston win.

A lot to digest here. Let’s break it down.

The Good

  • Nothing could start this more than the reverse sweep. Boston came out with a dump in their pants against Paris, but the magic was brewing as they started on Eichenwelde. The coordination between the triple DPS, supports, and tanks was firing. No one knows reverse sweeps and how to handle the accompanying pressure like Boston, so good for them. You could tell the pressure got to Paris and Map 5 was a formality as the W was locked in.
  • Blase was the best player for the Uprising this week. With Boston going full HackFist on Thursday and giving it plenty of love on Sunday, the dps man stuck in the Brig was the centerpiece of the team. He did not disappoint. Swapping onto Junkrat, Pharah, Doomfist and Bastion. This Pharah play was just ridiculous:
  • Hard to see who is doing what during an OWL broadcast. First, they have no idea what’s happening next. Second, they can only show one player/angle at a time. Therefore, we missed alot of what Fusions was doing the second half against Paris. What we did see, though, was the Eternal’s entire roster get knocked on their ass time and time again by his shatters. Clearly the Brit regrouped and hit his spots as he was in the middle of all the big plays at the end of the Paris match.
  • You have to have some balls to not play GOATs at all in a match at this point, and Boston did it against SF. Did it work? No. But would GOATs have worked against them? No way. I appreciate that the coaching staff was willing to go all in on the dps heavy comps – that will pay off as the team learns and grows from this experience.

The Bad

  • Pretty obvious that Fusions remains the #1 target for opposing teams. While SF somehow found rCk more often than you’d like, they and Paris focused on Boston’s shotcaller. He did better surviving against Paris, and the team seems to be able to deal with Blase on comms now. That needs to keep up if Boston wants to remain viable.
  • rCk did not have a good match against San Fran. While all teams at this point are focusing Fusions, there were too many team fights in Thursday’s match that saw rCk get picked first. He’s supposed to be invisible! Monte said on the cast that the Finn was taken 1:45 to charge his EMP. Worst thing a Sombra can do is die and be slow to get the ult. Not a recipe for winning.
  • I mentioned in my preview that Boston needs to settle on a support line. They didn’t. Boston continues to alternate their supports as we saw Persia/Alemao get the start Thursday and Aimgod/Kellex on Sunday. Is this the line going forward? What’s the big picture here?
https://twitter.com/LoadScr33n/status/1141844822829031424
  • Boston’s Paris defense on Point A against the Shock started off great. Bunker comp seemed to be working for them, but once they inevitably caved they got snowballed again. They can’t keep allowing themselves to fail at regrouping on Point B.
  • I can’t blanket praise the team for the Paris match. Those first two maps were ugly, particularly control. Blase on Tracer didn’t work out. Fusions’ Wrecking Ball is still questionable. There was no answer to the Paris Roadhog. It makes it that much more surprising that they were able to come back honestly.
  • Once Colourhex lost a Widow duel to Danye on Dorado, he goes on for a 3k. Brutal. Probably the only glaring loss I saw with Colour on the Widow.

The Uprising

  • I gave some love to Blase, but lets not forget Colourhex. He flexed onto Pharah and Widow all week to great effect. His Zarya has come a long way too. He may be the most unsung hero of the team.
  • Fun to see Amplification Matrix come out on Paris Point A for both the Shock and Uprising. While us plebes question how some heroes will be used, pros always find great uses for the seemingly obscure or useless abilities.
  • As Boston started Dorado, Paris whipped out some Mei stall defense by the first building. Never seen it. Love how Boston rode it out, building up ults and plowing the Eternal in a clean team kill. That may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, as Boston never looked back through the reverse sweep.
  • Aimgod. Need I say more? Ok, how about his sleepdarts? That pick on the Pharah where she slides down the roof – a masterpiece. His well timed biotic grenades, especially that one he tossed into a graviton on Map 5 against Paris – makes you wonder why anyone thought it a good idea to let him ride the pine.
  • Best part of that sudden death map was with Paris owning the point, 5 ults in the chamber, and the casters all but calling it for them. With ult economy and positioning against them, Boston dug themselves an early grave. Leave it to the boys in blue to come back. Next time you hear people doubt Fusions’ Winston, remind them of this map where he controlled all the space on the point. Just delicious.
  • Man that play at the end, in overtime, with rCk and Kruise (Lucio). With an EMP in tow, rCk goes around the point, manually hacks Lucio, then translocates onto the point and immediately deploys the EMP. Game. Set. Match.

Outlook

Well, where exactly does a 1-5 Stage 3 record put Boston? Stage playoffs are gone, but season playoffs are still on the line. Boston is a win below that 12th spot and well behind in map differential, so each match matters. They can’t afford to drop maps from hereon out. There are plenty of positives to take out of this weekend.

https://twitter.com/LoadScr33n/status/1142926179697156096

Boston is out ahead on the Sombra and HackFist meta. Blase is an S-Tier Doom and if rCk can play his best, I have no doubt Boston is the best dps team in the league. They need to play their best support players, which I believe to be Aimgod/Kellex. Lastly, they need Fusions’ best. It’s unlikely the Uprising’s support can keep him upright with the damage he gets, so the dps needs to peel and counter focus better. I’m undecided if Boston should abandon GOATs completely – it worked keeping it against Paris. I’ll leave it to Huk on that one.

Lastly, it’s the little things that bring me joy. Like seeing the Eternal’s Kruise slam and kick the desk after getting reverse swept. I could bathe in the tears of opposing, reverse swept teams. After a week that saw Vancouver and Houston go down, the league is wide open. If Boston can stay the course and iron out their inconsistency, they could shove a (Doom)fist right through everyone in the league.

https://twitter.com/LoadScr33n/status/1142989499879890945

For more Boston Uprising content and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp

Uprising Stage 3 Week 1 Preview: Spitfire and Eternal

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New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.

Friday, June 7th @ 8:45pm: London Spitfire

Sunday, June 9th @ 4:45pm: Paris Eternal

Finally! It seems like it’s been ages since we’ve gotten any Overwatch League action. In fact, it’s been 33 days since we’ve seen the Uprising in action. Given that the boys in blue were reverse swept against the lowly Washington Justice on that day, the break has been tainted by an extra sense of bitterness. Well, no more. What better way to start Stage 3 then a double header against London and Paris?

Before we get into the matchups, let’s shake out some cobwebs. At 7-7, the Uprising are standing at 12th place. For those that don’t remember the year end playoff format, 12th place is a dangerous spot to be in. Eight teams make up Overwatch League’s year end playoffs, but the path in is highly circumstantial. First, each division winner gets in. Second, the next four teams with the best match record (regardless of division) punch their tickets. Lastly, the seventh through twelfth place teams go through a mini playoff for the last two spots. Got it?

The last time we saw Boston…

Thus any worse than 12th automatically gets you kicked out. Clearly Boston should be shooting to be a top 6 team. Is that realistic? Well, the 6th spot currently belongs to the Dallas Fuel, who sit at 9-5. The point is, Boston has to keep pace. They have to make up ground. They can still realistically get out of the play-in tournament and qualify for an automatic postseason bid. But the importance of each match can’t be understated. There are no more throw always. They have to start stockpiling wins. And that starts with this week.

London Spitfire

Last year’s inaugural season champions the London Spitfire are tough to read this year. At 9-5, they are seemingly where they need to be. But, they are 3-2 against teams with a record greater than 500. That means they’re feasting on lower tier teams and winning just over half their games against the top teams. Also, they haven’t played Vancouver, New York, or San Francisco, the near unanimously perceived top teams in the league. What happens when they get to that part of their schedule?

But don’t start calling me just a homer. On 4/20 they broomed the Uprising right off the stage. Maybe some of the European players brought their free attitude towards pot with them and got everyone on board for the day. Perhaps Boston were just off on an early Saturday night game. Maybe London was on a three game winning streak and were just hot.

Either way, there is a tough history there for Boston. London is a team that has taken care of business enough to be where they are – automatic qualifier for year end playoffs. It’s hard to expect them to falter as we wind down to the end of the season. Uprising fans can expect any hope for a hot start to the new stage to meet stiff resistance.

Paris Eternal

On the other end of the spectrum is the Paris Eternal – a quagmire wrapped in an enigma, bounded in a puzzle. There’s been some flashes of brilliance (opening the season with a win against the Spitfire) but mostly it’s been turmoil. Losing their head coach (daemoN) and team manager (lizlin) are indicative of some chaos behind the scenes. While it’s laudable that the team is made up of all European players, the execution hasn’t hit the high marks many hoped for.

While there is much to hope for in the match against the Spitfire, Boston fans have all the reasons to feel confident against Paris. Given the month break, the boys in blue should have learned from the Justice loss to never underestimate their opponent. To take each match seriously. And to execute for all four maps. No reason to think they can’t do what is necessary to win here.

Outlook

How will the Boston Uprising start Stage 3? Will they be the team that stole an undefeated stage from the Los Angelas Gladiators or the one reverse swept by the Washington Justice? As mentioned, the Spitfire are a team seemingly reaching top tier but still not thoroughly battle tested. Paris is a team that all would expect Boston to steamroll – but expectation is the mother of disappointment.

Obviously starting off 2-0 would be great. London has shown signs of weakness and inconsistency all year. Paris seems like a dumpster fire. If the Uprising show they’ve taken the lessons they’ve learned all season long seriously, they could put the league on notice. But if they aren’t on their A game, if they pump themselves up too much, it could be a long weekend. Here’s hoping they come into the new stage with the fire burning in them.

Don’t forget the Uprising are hosting an official watch party!

For more weekly columns and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp