London Spitfire 4 - Shanghai Dragons 0
The London Spitfire put on a clinic with a 4-0 sweep over the Shanghai Dragons on Saturday to start the Overwatch League slate at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
Coming off its big win over the Seoul Dynasty on Thursday, London showed no signs of slowing down against Shanghai. The Spitfire did whatever it wanted while the Dragons couldn't get anything positive going. While the Dragons managed to take one map from the Seoul Dynasty in Week 3, London didn't allow Shanghai to earn a single point in this series.
Simply looking at the scoreboard doesn't give justice to the extent of London's stomp. The series itself wrapped up in over 70 minutes in real time (including a 17-minute halftime), which is an impressive feat in itself. Even more impressive was the fact that London wrapped up the win in just 38 minutes of in-game time, annihilating Shanghai with perfect play as it wrapped up a 2-0 week.
To the Dragons' credit, it managed to push the control points on Ilios during the third map to 99 percent and 89 percent before London clamped down with a blistering attack and hold to seal the map. It's also worth noting that the DPS core of Chao "Undead" Fang and Weida "Diya" Lu for Shanghai did an admirable job trying to cut down the Spitfire. London's tanks were simply on another level, though, soaking up tons of damage in every teamfight to keep London's DPS players alive. With an 8-0 map score and only two points given up on the week, the Spitfire made a strong case for becoming the new No. 1 team in the league.
London will next face the test of a hot Houston Outlaws team at 9 p.m. ET next Thursday, while Shanghai will continue looking for its first win against the Dallas Fuel at 7 p.m. ET next Wednesday.
-- Wyatt Donigan
New York Excelsior 3 - Dallas Fuel 1
The New York Excelsior came out of Saturday's Overwatch League series with a hard-fought 3-1 win against the Dallas Fuel in Burbank, California.
Compared to previous outings, the Dallas Fuel played well Saturday with a slow and methodical playstyle, especially when on the attack. This is in stark contrast to previous performances where the Fuel looked like it didn't have any strategy at all, showing improvement from the struggling Fuel. Dallas even showed it had a solid read on the meta through having tanks intentionally take damage to charge up support Sebastian "Chipshajen" Windlund's Mercy ultimate, creating an ultimate economy advantage.
The Fuel showed glimpses of its high highs but that came along with Dallas' low points. Dallas looked calm and collected when enacting its own game plan but, the minute things began to go awry, panic set in. On several occasions where New York began to turn the tide of a fight, Dallas would implode. In particular, Dallas' supports would routinely stack their ultimates, giving the NYXL a large window to avoid combat before dominating the ensuing fight with an unmatched Transcendence or Valkyrie.
The Excelsior, which lost the number one spot on the table to London Spitfire yesterday, was unable to reclaim its top spot in the league after giving up a map, but still took a decisive win. If anything, this series showed that New York occasionally suffers from bouts of overconfidence, such as when the Fuel handed renowned Exelsior DPS player Kim "Pine" Do-Hyeon his first ever map loss in Game 3 on Oasis. Lucky for the NYXL, with top-tier talent at every position, there's always a way for New York to turn the tides.
Still hunting for its second victory on the season, Dallas will try to hold off the winless Shanghai Dragons on Wednesday at 7 p.m EST., while New York faces the Florida Mayhem on Thursday at 7 p.m ET.
-- Travis Elliott
Boston Uprising 4 - Los Angeles Valiant 0
The Boston Uprising closed out Week 4 of the Overwatch League with an impressive 4-0 demolition of the Los Angeles Valiant on Saturday at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California.
The series started off deceptively close on Eichenwalde as the Valiant went blow-for-blow with the Uprising on defense. The deciding factor in the first match on Eichenwalde was when DPS Gwon "Striker" Nam-Ju's Tracer hit a clutch Pulse Bomb, killing both Valiant supports and locking up the map win. After that, though, Boston's aggressive playstyle left little room for the Valiant to react. Boston DPS star Jonathan "DreamKazper" Sanchez was phenomenal throughout the evening, from deflecting a Graviton Surge in Game 2 on Horizon Lunar Colony to picking up huge multi-kills as Genji, powering the Boston attack.
Even more impressive, though, was main tank Noh "Gamsu" Yeong-Jin, who led the charge for Boston as Winston. Despite the occasional blunder, like popping his Primal Rage by accident, Gamsu was crucial to Boston's dive and kept Valiant playmaker Terence "SoOn" Tarlier in check. Los Angeles showed some glimpses of the team that has stayed near the top of the Atlantic Division throughout the series, but Boston's constant improvement since the start of the Overwatch League was too much for LA to handle.
The Los Angeles Valiant will have its work cut out for it when facing the Seoul Dynasty at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, while the Boston Uprising will take on the Philadelphia Fusion a day later at 2 p.m. ET Thursday.
-- Tyson Tavolazzi