Tag Archives: Philadelphia Fusion

Solo Out Sado: A Player Preview of Philly’s Main Tank

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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 attacking ana
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.

  1. Babybay is on high ground with very high charge, able to melt Sado if he doesn’t hold his shield.
  2. 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 went too deep.
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.


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Shotcaller

Monday Morning Shotcaller: Stage 3 Week 2

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After a disastrous opening to Stage 3, Boston had plenty to improve on. Swept by the London Spitfire and only taking a single map from the Paris Eternal was far from how anyone envisioned last week going. It seemed evident that Boston was experimenting both with their hero composition and the backline players on stage. That type of tweaking of the team’s chemistry and strategy on stage didn’t work out well last week. Would they do the same against the Houston Outlaws and Philadelphia Fusion?

Short answer? No.

A resurgent Houston team that put everyone across the league on notice earlier this week by taking down the San Francisco Shock came ready to play, sweeping Boston. Despite a map win and a winner take all map four, Boston would fall 2-1 to the Fusion. Another 0-2 weekend has added to the scrutiny that this team will be under. What happened?

The Good

  • Blase’s Tracer taking out Jake’s Pharah on Nepal was fantastic. Seeing Houston’s dps getting wacked with Hex’s rockets (I counted 3x) the whole map showed Boston at least had the advantage in the sky. Honestly I thought Boston had Jake’s number all match long, which I loved. Overwatch League’s lead poster-boy getting shown up was the highlight of the match.
  • I thought Colourhex was our best player this week. Whether it was his Pharah or Widowmaker, he was consistent through both matches. I loved seeing the Fusions throw everything but the kitchen sink at his Widow on Paris, still fail to get him, and get punished by the rest of the Uprising. Delicious.
  • I’m a big fan of the dps comps Boston threw out there this weekend. They clearly aren’t a top tier GOATs team, so why keep hitting their head against the wall? I don’t hate Boston trying something new. They just need to execute more consistently.
It’s 2019 and we’re seeing a Hanzo? I’m here for this.
Doomfist was great too.
  • At least Boston didn’t look as bad as Philly. Who thought those jerseys looked good? I’ve never seen anyone wear zebra stripes like that. What, do you want to look like an umpire? No one thinks referees look cool.

The Bad

  • There’s been a lot of talk about Fusion’s efficacy on Winston. Should he just stick to Rein and get swapped out if the map calls for something else? Well, that attempted jump from the corner to the main platform on Nepal’s first map where he went for a fall… not helping the pro-Winston case. As Hex said on the cast – you have to know when/where you can make that jump.
  • Several miscommunications on Volskaya Industries (which Boston has a reputation of winning on). Persia hitting a Transcendence after Fusions gets picked. RCk only hacking 4 Outlaws, notably not the Zen with a Transcendence ready to launch. Just not how anyone drew that map up.
  • Danteh was the better Sombra in the Houston match. Boombox was the better Sombra in the Philly match. I hate to say it, but the Finn didn’t match any of the competition. Considering we traded for rCk to play a Sombra meta, this was not a good development.
  • Boston’s sole turn on the bunker comp on Paris didn’t work out well, did it? While we saw some brilliance from Hex’s Widow, who had seemingly open range on Philadelphia, it didn’t last. Philly’s dive was too potent and lead to a quick cap on both points.
  • Any hopes of a reverse sweep against Houston went out the window on Numbani when the Outlaws held Boston off Point A at 99.8%. They stalled long enough for the team to rally back, and Boston took too much time. Boston seemingly couldn’t focus on their targets while Houston got picks left and right.
  • I listened to Uber’s defense of using Ana over Zen – and I don’t buy it. A biotic grenade isn’t in the same ball park as a Transcendence to respond to an EMP with. Yes, Fusions in general should benefit from a focus Nano, but I didn’t see nearly enough of that in either match to justify it. Anytime Boston saw Danteh or Boombox on Sombra they should have switched the Zen on.

The Uprising

  • A simultaneous EMP on Point B was one of the craziest plays I’ve ever seen. 10 players without powers as Boston tried to close out their second lap. That’s not something either team prepares for. Boston winning that fight got them the point and3
  • You could tell how much fun Blase was having out there. Being allowed out of the brig (#DadJoke) to play Doom was just what the doctor ordered. He was great too! Boston played several dps comps where the frenticness played into Doom’s hand (or fist).

Looking forward

Stage 3 playoffs is dead. Let’s not kid ourselves. Boston is barely keeping their head above water. There are holes in the hull. The sail is burning. They’re taking on water. The ship may be sinking. But there is hope.

Figure out the support line. Persia seemed wildly out of place and out of sync with the rest of the team. Establish some consistency there. Keep working the DPS comps. There were flashes of brilliance against Philly. Let’s build on that.

Stage 3’s schedule isn’t getting any easier. Rematches against Philly and Paris. Stage 2 champions the San Francisco Shock. No joking around. Figure your crap out. We’ve seen these guys rally when the situation called for it. Let’s hope they can do it quickly.

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

Uprising Stage 3 Week 2 Preview: Outlaws and Fusion

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Friday, June 14th @ 10:30pm: London Spitfire

Sunday, June 16th @ 6:30pm: Philadelphia Fusion

With Stage 3 in full gear, the Boston Uprising look to earn what eluded them opening week – a win. After getting swept by the London Spitfire and only winning a single map against the Paris Eternal, things couldn’t get much worse for Boston. Another week brings a new set of opponents and opportunities to get things going in the right direction. Here’s what lays in front of them.

Houston Outlaws

For those not looking at other teams across the league, let’s get the basics down of who exactly the Uprising are up against tonight. Houston is 3-12 on the year. They haven’t won a match since March 17th. As of now they are 18th in the league standings. Back in Stage 1 on February 17th, Boston slipped by with a 2-1 win on Ilios for the 3-2 match win.

All that said, Houston opened up Stage 3 last Saturday with a near win against the NYXL, losing 3-2. Last night they beat the Stage 2 champion San Francisco Shock, highlighted by a full hold on Havana. That is quite the opening start to Stage 3 and does not portend well for the Uprising.

All this amidst some chaos in their ownership group and a poor start to their season makes what the Outlaws are doing so much more impressive. Much of their success the last two matches has been due to Danteh and his use of Sombra. His ability to not just rack up the hacks, but to fatten up on the eliminations after the fact makes him dangerous. Houston has also benefited from Rawkus, who has shown a ton of versatility in support. Whether he plays the Mercy in combo with the Pharah or his pinpoint accuracy as Ana, Boston will need to focus fire on a tricky Houston backline.

Philadelphia Fusion

On the other side of the spectrum is the Fusion. Stuck in the middle of the pack like the Uprising, Philadelphia sits at 9th in the League Standings with an 8-7 record. While they are in season playoff position now, with so many teams bundled in the middle, no one can take a match off. As last year’s championship runner-up, Philadelphia has alot to prove.

In their opening week of Stage 3, Philly was swept by the Hangzhou Spark. They have seen their previously tough exterior slowly crumble throughout the season. Carpe has lost his edge on Zarya, often getting his gravs eaten. Poko, who used to have weekly highlight plays with his unpredictable Self-Destructs, doesn’t show up with those bombs like he used to.

How will Boston play them? We didn’t see much of Sombra last week – perhaps rCk will be let loose. Maybe we’ll see some more DPS heroes – blase on a Genji or Doomfist? Will we see Mei come back? Whereas last week saw almost all GOATs, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go in another direction.

Outlook

What we’ll need answered right off the bat is who will be playing? Last week Uprising fans saw the premiere of Persia to the stage and Alemao play in Kellex’s usual role. Will they show up again? How about Axxiom? Or, as many fans have speculated, is this all posturing by Huk to dangle his players and increase their trade value? Is he looking to make a move?

Regardless of who plays, how will they play? Will they stick on GOATs or go off the 3-3 meta? When they play the Outlaws, will they fall prey to the Sombra? We all know their success against that comp has been mixed. Can Boston continue to pile it on to Philly? Fusions has always wanted that Fusion-Fusions matchup – will he show up in this marquee matchup? After recent losses I’ve quit the prediction game, but I’m optimistic getting shallacked opening week will motivate Boston to turn things around. They can’t be taking any matches off and need to focus. No more throw aways and no more feeding.

Lastly, is their anyone more unlikeable in Overwatch League as Jake? He’s been shipped around the press as an unofficial league spokesman of the players as if he’s the league MVP. Sorry bro, but you aren’t at that level. Granted, Houston has several Team USA members on their roster that I love (Rawkus, Muma, coolmatt) but right now they’re on the other side against Boston. After pumping up the Uprising against Washington and Paris in recent weeks and seeing that go horribly awry, I’m loathe to suggest any match is a gimme at this point.

Such a puncheable face

Also – Philly has hands down the worst new jersey. It’d be one thing to lose to the Fusion, but to lose to a squad dressed in umpire zebra-stripes would be an all time team low point. Don’t do that Boston. For all our sakes.

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