Houston Outlaws 4 - Shanghai Dragons 0
The Houston Outlaws grabbed its first victory of the Overwatch League in a crushing 4-0 stomp of the Shanghai Dragons on Wednesday night in the Blizzard Esports Arena in Burbank, California.
Both teams were left by the wayside after the first week of the Overwatch League, demolished by stronger teams, but Houston learned from its mistakes. Every map can be summed up as the biggest stomp thus far in the Overwatch League. 3-0 Junkertown, 2-1 Horizon with over four minutes remaining in the time bank, 2-0 Oasis, and a 3-1 Numbani. The numbers simply speak for themselves.
DPS players Jiri "Linkzr" Masalin and Jacob "Jake" Lyon led the charge for the Outlaws. In particular, Jake's Roadhog on Junkertown was stellar, but every player on the Outlaws should have few issued with their play in this series. Shanghai, on the other hand, has a huge problem in terms of its planning and approach to each map, as many of its team compositions were barely functional, and Houston abused the Chinese squad's vulnerable tank core for ultimate charge. In tragic circumstances for Shanghai, it is quickly becoming the "free win" of the league, unless it can dramatically improve over the next few weeks.
Houston faces a big test on Thursday in a battle for Texas supremacy against the Dallas Fuel at 5 p.m ET, while Shanghai has its best chance to pick up its first win for a while against the Florida Mayhem on Friday at 9 p.m ET.
-- Steven Nguyen
Seoul Dynasty 4 - Florida Mayhem 0
Seoul Dynasty remained undefeated in the Overwatch League by taking out the Florida Mayhem in a convincing 4-0 win on Wednesday at the Blizzard Esports Arena in Burbank, California.
Florida came into this match with an 0-2 record from Week 1, and going against the favorite to take the league, no one expected any miracles. Fortunately for Florida, its performance wasn't as lopsided as expected. Mayhem DPS players Kevyn "TivQ" Lindström and Andreas "Logix" Berghmans were able to make a strong stand for the most part, leading an aggressive outing, while on defense against the Dynasty. All of these maps, except for Oasis, were won without a timebank stage, giving Seoul Dynasty a hard time to finally close out a victory on these maps.
However, Logix has a consistency problem, and the rest of the Mahem doesn't seem coordinated. With the supports being farmed and added to Seoul's overall ultimate economy, the South Korean squad consistently held an ultimate advantage when it came to teamfights. All the players on Seoul performed well across the board, fielding some of the bench players for the first time, including flex player Moon "Gido" Gi-do on the first map of Numbani, who showed a solid Zenyatta. In the end, an 4-0 defeat speaks volumes to how much work the Mayhem needs to put in to be a strong team, but from the context of the maps themselves, it's not too far out of reach, while the Dynasty simply chalks up another victory up as expected.
Seoul continues its victory march through the Overwatch League as it takes on the Boston Uprising on Friday at 7 p.m. ET Meanwhile, Florida has another chance at redemption later that day against the Shanghai Dragons at 9 p.m. ET.
-- Steven Nguyen
Philadelphia Fusion 2 - Florida Mayhem 1
The San Francisco Shock fought hard on Wednesday to kick off Week 2 of the Overwatch League, but the Philadelphia Fusion took home the 2-1 victory in the Blizzard Esports Arena in Burbank, California.
San Francisco looked good early on in Game 1, dominating Dorado with a clever anti-dive defense. A full-hold on Point A is tough to achieve, especially in the face of Philadelphia's prolific dive, but good reads and reactions from San Francisco gave it a comfortable win, potentially setting up for its first series win of the year. Unfortunately for the Shock, this would be its lone highlight of the day, as the Fusion came back with a vengeance.
Needless to say, Philly's star DPS core played well throughout the series, taking turns taking over the game, but they had help coming from off-tank Gael "Poko" Gouzerch. Poko's ability to use D.Va's self destruct to consistently get kills was staggering, often picking up two kills on San Francisco's hapless backline. When Poko wasn't blowing the Shock apart, Jae-hyeok "Carpe" Lee's Tracer and Widowmaker were popping off, particularly on Eichenwalde, where Carpe went on a massive killstreak as Widow defending the castle point on the map. If it wasn't him, it was George "ShaDowBurn" Gushcha taking over on either Pharah or Genji, such as his 15-kill streak to lead the Fusion to a win in Game 2 on Temple of Anubis. Though the Shock fought better than it did in Week 1, it wasn't enough to faze the Fusion in its 2-1 win.
The Philadelphia Fusion look to close out the week on Thursday when it takes on the Los Angeles Gladiators at 9 p.m ET, and the San Francisco Shock will finish the week on Sunday in a matchup against the Boston Uprising at 6 p.m ET.
-- Noah Waltzer