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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.

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, April 20th @ 3pm: London Spitfire

Sunday, April 21st @ 3pm: Vancouver Titans

After a frustrating week which saw Boston narrowly lose against the Hangzhou Spark on the match’s fifth map, the Uprising are back at it. This week they face off against the London Spitfire and Vancouver Titans. Last year’s champions, the Spitfire, started off a surprising 3-4 in Stage 1. They’re off to a hot start 3-0 in Stage 2. Meanwhile, the Titans remain undefeated at 10-0. What can fans expect to see from the Uprising this week?

Ready Player One

Boston needs to go into this week forgetting the mistakes made against Hangzhou. Does the Uprising have to keep playing GOATs? Last week they certainly seemed to think so – and look how that worked out. This week they’ll be going up against the Titans – easily the best GOATs team in the league. They’ve been playing the 3-3 team comp since season 3 of Contenders last year. Why should Boston try to play a mirror? The boys need look no further than week 1 of the stage to see what works for them. Using DPS comps, playing surprise tactics, and playing to their strengths seem the clear path to victory.

For DPS comps, will Boston gamble and let Blase out of the Brig? We saw him on Hammond, Soldier 76, and Pharah back in week 1. Colourhex also put everyone on notice. The kiwi, he of 41% critical hit accuracy, showed he’s an elite Widowmaker. Will Huk and the coaching staff let the DPS players loose, or will they be fixed to their Brigitte and Zarya roles as they were last week?

Can Boston continue to deliver the set plays, unorthodox strats, and strong off-meta comps they have in weeks past? It will be fascinating to see which tank Fusions gets put onto. We’ve seen him stick to Rein when the team went GOATs, but have also seen him play considerable time on Winston and Hammond. Then there’s rCk – how much Sombra will we see? Boston could lean into Sombra GOATs or continue to play her intermittently? These small decisions will have major consequences.

London

A lot of people are buying low on Spitfire stock, and for good reason. A 3-0 start to a stage is nothing to smirk at, and their level of play has picked up considerably. While Stage 1 saw the defending champions of the inaugural season look sloppy, the Spitfire seem to be returning to form. But look how they got that record. They barely squeaked by the Florida Mayhem, winning 2-1, and then swept the Atlanta Reign, who seem to be in free fall this stage. London also won 2-1 against the Philadelphia Fusion last week. Needless to say, they haven’t played high tier competition this stage. Boston will be their first real measuring stick of where they stand.

Looking at the maps helps inform what we can expect to see. London are 3-0 this stage on Control, 2-1 on Assault, 1-1-1 on Hybrid, and 3-0 on Escort maps. In all those games, they haven’t played any of the maps they’ll play Saturday.

Boston, on the other hand, has played a few of these maps. They played Control maps 6 times in 3 matches, thanks to each going to a 5th map. They have a 2-6 record, winning only when it was the last map. This includes winning Busan against Atlanta to end a match, and losing it against Toronto to start a match. They have a 1-2 record on Assault and 3-0 on Hybrid maps, but have yet to play Paris or King’s Row. Lastly, the Uprising are 2-1 on Escort maps, including that horrible Junkertown they played against Hangzhou last week where they were full held before the first point. If Boston can’t fix the complete embarrassment they showed there last week, it’ll be a long night for the Uprising.

Prediction

You have to think London has an edge on Control and Boston has it on Hybrid. Boston thrives off of Hybrid/Escort maps because they operate in a highly coached, set-play driven style. They scrim with specific comps on different pieces of maps with well rehearsed strats. If Boston can hold their edge on Hybrid maps and split the Assault/Escort with London, I like their chances in a sudden death Control. They just barely lost last week on Leijing Tower against the Spark, and are well versed in playing under the pressure of a 5th map. London, meanwhile, has only played a 5th map two times this season. They beat the Washington Justice but lost to the Shanghai Dragons. There are clear paths to victory for Boston.

Vancouver

Stage 1 champion seems to be just the beginning for the accolades Vancouver may amass by the end of the season. They’ve looked even better in Stage 2, dropping no more than a single map in any of their first 3 matches. After rolling Boston 3-0 in the Stage 1 playoffs, does the Uprising have a prayer?

I think we’re going to see just how stubborn the Uprising coaches are in this match. No one is equipped to out GOATs the GOATs masters. If Boston runs something off-meta that Vancouver isn’t prepared to counter, they may have a prayer against them. Even if it’s swapping in a Moira or Ana if the map geometry accommodates it, that may throw off the Titans.

Prediction

Will that be enough? Probably not. Vancouver have shown they are a juggernaut that will need a complete meta shift if they’re to lose. Boston can either run GOATs to see how their 3-3 can hold up in a mirror, or throw some crazy DPS comp out there to catch them off guard. Either way, Boston is going to struggle to avoid the sweep. Hopefully they can keep the maps tight and steal one somewhere in the match.

Outlook

After week 1, Boston was the talk of the league. Three straight reverse sweeps will do that. But now we’ve seen that Atlanta and Toronto are dumpster fires. Then they narrowly lost on another 5th map against Hangzhou. Now the Uprising face a tougher path to Stage 2 playoffs. They likely won’t win against Vancouver, but have every reason to think they can meet the challenge of the surging Spitfire. Boston gets a bye next week then has a double header against the Gladiators and Justice. There aren’t any freebies. Time to clock some wins and pave a road to Stage 2 playoffs. It’s now or never.

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