Seoul Dynasty's reign continues with win over Philadelphia Fusion

Seoul Dynasty 3, Philadelphia Fusion 1

The Seoul Dynasty triumphed over the Philadelphia Fusion on Thursday with a 3-1 victory in the Overwatch League at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.

With a reverse-sweep of the Houston Outlaws next week and a meta that better suited its strengths, the Fusion appeared strong coming into this contest. Seoul, however, tore Philadelphia apart, much like its South Korean roster counterpart London Spitfire did to on the final day of Week 2. All-star support Yang "tobi" Jin-mo gave Seoul plenty of versatility with his flexible hero pool, few of the Fusion's composition changes worked as a result.

The first half of the series was cut and dry as the Dynasty took a 2-0 lead on Volskaya Industries and Lijiang Tower. Not content to let Seoul simply run away with the series, Philadelphia's DPS duo of Eqo and Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok dismantled the Dynasty on King's Row with Roadhog and Tracer, respectively. Despite the result Thursday and relative inexperience, with Eqo having only debuted for the Fusion two weeks ago, the Philadelphia pair has earned a place among the best DPS lineups in the league. Seoul, on the other hand, will surely want to work on its approach to King's Row as it dropped the map both times this week with two different lineups.

Off King's Row, though, Seoul still reigns supreme. The Dynasty continued its perfect start to Stage 2 with a crushing win on Watchpoint: Gibraltar to secure the 3-1 series victory.

Philadelphia, which has lost two games in a row against South Korean rosters, will get another chance this week when it takes on the New York Excelsior at 9 p.m. ET on Friday. Seoul has finished its schedule for Week 3 and will take on New York at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

--Steven Nguyen

Los Angeles Valiant 4 - Houston Outlaws 0

The Los Angeles Valiant threw off the Overwatch League hierarchy with a 4-0 win against the Houston Outlaws on Thursday at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.

Just a day ago, the Valiant was trampled underfoot by its cross-town counterpart, the Los Angeles Gladiators. Losing the Battle for LA was just another in a long line of disappointments for the Valiant during Stage 2, but a rebound performance against the Outlaws is certainly an encouraging sign for the weeks to come.

The positional change by Bak "KariV" Young-seo, who switched from support to DPS during the offseason, continues give the Valiant some positive momentum. While at times the team has looked uncomfortable with the additional versatility, the former support's flexibility has created more opportunities than disappointments, often frustrating the opposition with his rotating hero selections. KariV's prowess on Reaper, a hero seldom seen due to its lack of range and maneuverability, was particularly impressive against Houston. KariV melted the Outlaws tanks, allowing his teammates to position themselves around the map more favorably and stymieing Houston' supports.

Houston, meanwhile, has lost 11 straight maps and looks lost in this meta. Tracer was noticeably absent from most of the Outlaws lineups in the series despite the hero's prevalence in Stage 2, and although both Houston DPS characters have played the hero this stage, neither brought it out Thursday. With no Tracer for the Outlaws, the team had trouble downing the Valiant tank line and nabbing support pickoffs.

The Houston Outlaws will try to rebound during its matchup against the Florida Mayhem at 11 p.m. ET on Friday. The Valiant faces Florida in its next game, too, at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday.

-- Travis Elliott

Boston Uprising 4 - Shanghai Dragons 0

The Boston Uprising continued its mid-stage resurgence with a lopsided 4-0 win over the Shanghai Dragons on Thursday at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.

Despite starting Stage 2 with three straight 4-0 losses, Boston has now picked up two straight 4-0 sweeps of its own. This series followed pretty much the same cadence of its sweep over the Florida Mayhem last week, as the Dragons put up a mild fight on the opening map of Volskaya Industries before rolling over and dying on the final three maps.

For the second straight series, Boston opted for Shin "Kalios" Woo-yeol at the tank position over the usual starter of Noh "Gamsu" Yeong-jin, and yet again Boston looked like a team with a renewed energy. It simply didn't matter what Shanghai tried to throw Boston's way as Kalios led a solid frontline for the Uprising's relentless dive and allowed the electrifying DPS duo of Jonathan "DreamKazper" Sanchez and Gawm "Strike" Nam-ju to cut down the Dragons with reckless abandon.

While Boston has indeed looked strong in its last two outings, it is worth mentioning that it has come against two teams at the bottom of the OWL standings. In particular, the winless Dragons were without one of its best players in Weida "Diya" Lu, who returned home to China earlier this week due to a family emergency. This forced the Dragons into a triple tank composition that looked completely befuddled against the aggression that Boston put out at every moment. Even when the Dragons seemingly looked strong by holding the Uprising to just one point on King's Row, it turned right around and didn't get a single tick on the first point while on offense.

Boston will face a true test of strength when it takes on the London Spitfire at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, while Shanghai will once again reset and try to pick up its first win of the season when it takes on the Philadelphia Fusion at 11 p.m. ET next Wednesday.

-- Wyatt Donigan