London Spitfire 2 - Boston Uprising 1
The London Spitfire picked up a 2-1 win over the Boston Uprising to open Thursday's action in the Overwatch League at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
For the first time since March, the London Spitfire managed to overcome the Boston Uprising. While both teams have had a bit of a rough time in Stage 4, London looks to be on the rise, and the Spitfire made that fact perfectly clear in this series.
From the start of Game 1 on Blizzard World, London looked to be playing with a renewed sense of vigor. The team, led by DPS Park "Profit" Joon-yeong's Brigitte, steamrolled through the first two points with little opposition from Boston. The Uprising did hold strong on the final point, but the same couldn't be said for its own turn on offense. Boston was stuffed on its final push by Spitfire flex tank Kim "Fury" Jun-ho's D.Va, who cleared everyone off the point to hand the Uprising a Map 1 loss.
The Uprising put up a fight on every map, including its win on Dorado. Main tank Noh "Gamsu" Young-jin held down the frontline while also disrupting to the rhythm of London's attack with regularity, but the Uprising's deficiencies elsewhere ended up being the difference.
Boston's DPS duo of Kwon "Striker" Name-joo and Stanislav "Mistakes" Danilov just couldn't match the output of Profit or Kim "birdring" Ji-hyeok. If that wasn't already too much for Boston to handle, London flex support Choi "Bdosin" Seung-tae did his best DPS impression with Zenyatta all throughout the series to give his team that extra edge in every teamfight.
This series was a marked improvement for Boston, but the team is still winless in Stage 4 after going unbeaten during the regular season of Stage 3.
Boston will be back in action at 11 p.m. ET on Friday to try and bounce back against the San Francisco Shock, while London will look ahead to matchup with the surging Dallas Fuel at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.
-- Wyatt Donigan
San Francisco Shock 3 - Dallas Fuel 1
The San Francisco Shock took out the Dallas Fuel in a 3-1 victory on Thursday at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
The Shock's most deadly player of the evening was without question star DPS Park "Architect" Min-ho, who took over the series on both Widowmaker and Pharah. Architect's performance on Pharah in particular was somewhat fueled by Dallas refusing to try and find an answer. Instead, the Fuel opted to go for fast dives onto the rest of the Shock and attempted to use the Pharah rockets as a battery for Zarya's charge -- to little effect.
While there was a clear skill gap between the two teams, main tank Son "OGE" Min-seok helped level the playing field for Dallas in Game 2 on Hanamura. OGE's Reinhardt was a menace in the frontline, and the main tank showed flashes of game-changing talent. In addition, the frontline was further bolstered by Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangchod's Brigitte, and the flex player continues to prove he's one of the best players on the new hero in the Overwatch League.
To round out the week, the Shock will look to take out the Boston Uprising at 11 p.m. ET on Friday, while the Fuel will square off against the London Spitfire at 4 p.m. ET Saturday.
-- Tyson Tavolazzi
Los Angeles Gladiators 3 - Philadelphia Fusion 1
The Los Angeles Gladiators held off the Philadelphia Fusion 3-1 in the final Overwatch League series on Thursday at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
Despite losing the Battle for L.A. to the Valiant on Wednesday, the Gladiators came prepared for the Fusion. Learning from previous mistakes, the Gladiators took good care of main tank Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung, who has become the main focus of enemy aggression in recent matches. Though Fissure maintained his regular levels of aggression, the rest of the Gladiators were much quicker to come to his aid.
The Gladiators DPS corps of Lane "Surefour" Roberts and Joao Pedro "Hydration" Goes Telles was surgical in coordinated attacks and hunted down isolated members of the Fusion. Hydration would get up close and personal as Genji and Brigitte while Surefour would attack as Widowmaker from range.
Although the Gladiators had some trouble putting Philadelphia down for good, the team always kept composure and avoided an tiebreaker map.
The Fusion will likely be doing some tinkering to its lineup after this defeat because something isn't working. DPS player Georgii "ShaDowBurn" Gushcha started in place of DPS Josue "Eqo" Corona, who has been absent with an undisclosed wrist injury. ShaDowBurn's presence gave the Fusion a little bit more bite on offense, with the former starter racking up plenty of kills as both Pharah and Genji. However, ShaDowBurn was not without his drawbacks, such as holding his ultimate abilities for far too long in an attempt to make a hero play instead of trying to create an opening for his teammates.
The Fusion also put too many resources into protecting DPS player Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok, which lead to the team completely leaning on Carpe to carry the game. This Philadelphia Fusion is a far cry from the team that almost won the Stage 2 title match.
The Los Angeles Gladiators will rest up over the weekend in preparation for a showdown with the New York Excelsior next Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fusion will face another tough opponent in the San Francisco Shock at 11 p.m. ET that same Thursday.
-- Travis Elliott