Philadelphia Fusion 4 - Dallas Fuel 0
The Philadelphia Fusion stomped the Dallas Fuel 4-0 to begin Day 2 of Week 4 in the Overwatch League on Thursday at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
After getting trampled itself on Wednesday by the Los Angeles Valiant, the Fusion came out with something to prove against a Fuel team that has been struggling to keep its head above water all season. Dallas' best looks this season have been on defense, and this series was no exception as the Fuel gave up only one point on the first map, Eichenwalde. Dallas continued to look miserable on offense, however, squandering its defensive performance by failing to even take one point on the first map.
Pulling out games with its back against the wall is quickly becoming a trademark for the Philadelphia Fusion. Many of the analysts expected the second half to favor the Dallas Fuel due to Philadelphia's poor past performances on Dorado and Ilios. Once the teams hit the stage, however, Philadelphia went 4-0 for two quick map victories.
The Fuel will try its luck against the New York Excelsior at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, while the Fusion, which still has an outside shot at Stage 1 Title matches, will next see action against the Boston Uprising at 5 p.m. ET next Thursday.
-- Travis Elliott
New York Excelsior 4 - Shanghai Dragons 0
New York Excelsior continued its domination in the Overwatch League as it took an expected 4-0 victory over the Shanghai Dragons on Thursday at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
Not a soul is surprised at the outcome, but Shanghai's performance this week was a refreshing change of pace from its games thus far. The Dragons came out in this series and looked better than ever against one of the best teams in the league. Throughout Eichenwalde, Temple of Anubis and especially Oasis, this team seemed to show off a whole new side to itself. This was especially true of Fang "Undead" Chao, who shut down the other team with impressive consecutive headshots on McCree, allowing his team to get a point on Oasis.
While it wasn't enough to take an entire map off the vaunted South Korean squad, improvements like these are what makes for potential threats as the season progresses. Time will tell if Shanghai can work on and grow in these areas, but the future seems bright at the moment.
On the other side of the matchup, New York played crisply, with its impressive shutdown on Dorado being the exclamation point of the sweep. DPS Kim "Pine" Do-hyun and tank Kim "Mano" Dong-gyu continued to impress on Tracer and Winston, respectively, successfully combating the might of Undead. The pair secured the map with ease to lock up the sweep while making the New York Excelsior the first team in the league to reach six victories.
The Shanghai Dragons will have another chance this week to show how much it has improved against the London Spitfire on 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, while New York will look to pick up a seventh win against the Dallas Fuel immediately after at 4 p.m. ET.
-- Steven Nguyen
London Spitfire 4 - Seoul Dynasty 0
In a battle of South Korean juggernauts, the London Spitfire came out on top of the Seoul Dynasty with a crushing 4-0 victory on Thursday at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
Through the first two and a half weeks of the season, Seoul Dynasty looked like the undisputed kings of the Overwatch League. The team's communication and execution were top-notch, and the team looked unbreakable through five games. Then, the New York Excelsior handed the Dynasty its first loss of the season last Friday, and Seoul hasn't looked the same since.
It didn't help that Ryu "ryujehong" Je-Hong was out of the lineup for Seoul after having played every second of every match prior to this one. Flex player Moon "gido" Gi-Do took his place in the lineup as ryujehong battled an illness, according to the team.
Seoul seemed worse for wear without the star support. That was especially true for fellow support Yang "tobi" Jin-Mo, who looked completely hindered and hesitant without his usual partner. While Seoul finally got back into a rhythm in Game 4 on Dorado, when it threatened to send the game into extra rounds, it was promptly shut down by London on the final point as the Spitfire put the finishing touches on a well-deserved sweep.
While the London Spitfire also took a loss in Week 3, it has come back with a vengeance in Week 4. Throughout the entirety of this series, London looked as crisp and dominant as we've ever seen them. Whether it was DPS Kim "birdring" Ji-Hyeok securing picks left and right with both Tracer and Widowmaker or DPS Park "Profit" Jun-Young proving his own worth in the final three games of the series, London simply had no equal on Thursday. Driving home the dominance of this win was the fact that Seoul picked up just two points across all four games, with both coming in the final game when the series was already decided.
Seoul won't have much time to gather itself as it takes on the red-hot Houston Outlaws at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, while London will look to make it 2-0 on the week against the Shanghai Dragons at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday.
-- Wyatt Donigan