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Overwatch League day 2 recap: Underdogs surprise while stars start to rise

By Christine Wang Dickson

Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment /
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More teams made their Overwatch League debut during day 2 of regular season play.

The first day of Overwatch League ended in a spectacular matchup between two already established heavy-hitters: the Dallas Fuel and the Seoul Dynasty. Just as Blizzard wanted, that display has started the League off with an exciting tone.

While day 2 didn’t have quite the same caliber headliner, the docket did contain the season debut of the London Spitfire, another early League favorite, as well as the start of what will assuredly become a rivalry just because of their geographic location: the New York Excelsior vs. the Boston Uprising.

London Spitfire vs. Florida Mayhem

London is arguably the second best team in the League as it now stands, to only the Seoul Dynasty, and the only team with 12 active players on the roster. This gives London an obvious advantage — more active players means more talent, more potential compositions and more play styles that opponents have to prepare for. Florida, meanwhile, is the smallest team in the League with only the starting six on the roster. Despite that, the players that the Mayhem do have are known to have a wider breadth of hero skill, still giving them the ability for flexible compositions.

While all the announcers at the desk predicted a 4-0 sweep in favor of the Spitfire, that was not to be. Florida surprised spectators by opening with a strong defensive showing on El Dorado, with an unfortunate mistake by Spitfire’s Profit not staying by the payload as time ticked down allowing them to stop London short of the second checkpoint. On attack, Florida’s teamwork continuously moved the payload forward, with at least one player always following up on any initial damage dealt to get crucial eliminations. Ultimately, Mayhem came away with map one.

From there, however, the series was all London. On Temple of Anubis, Spitfire was easily able to capture both control points, while Mayhem struggled to do the same. Thanks to a couple well executed ultimates, Florida was able to make it to the last tick on the second point but was unable to fend off the London respawns in the end. Similarly, Florida struggled to maintain control on third map Oasis. Over and over, Mayhem would hunker down on the point first, usually managing to build up a high control percentage, before conceding the point to Spitfire’s superior tank play.

On the last map of the series, London encountered minimal resistance as they rolled through Numbani. On the other side, they shut Florida’s attacks over and over again. Without using a single sub from their extensive roster, London earns their first Overwatch League victory.

Result: Spitfire 3, Mayhem 1

Player of the Match: birdring, London Spitfire

Philadelphia Fusion vs. Houston Outlaws

The Fusion made its true Overwatch League debut in its season opener against the Houston Outlaws on Thursday. The team from Philadelphia had been unable to make a showing during the preseason, as the struggle to coordinate logistics around players living in nine different countries was too much. However, with a talented roster including the likes of Carpe and ShaDowBurn, the Fusion made a strong debut.

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Right from the get go, ShaDowBurn’s renowned Genji play gave the Fusion an advantage on El Dorado. With engagements dragging out between the two teams, the series became about playing smart instead of playing aggressive. ShaDowBurn used his Dragonblades only when he knew it would give his team an advantage, namely after the Outlaws had used both support ultimates. Almost in direct counter to that, Houston’s Rawkus was also very careful about when to use Zenyatta’s Transcendence.

Even though the Fusion took map one, the Outlaws stormed back on map two, starting with a frighteningly good defense on Horizon Lunar Colony. Houston’s LiNkzr on Widowmaker essentially controlled who lived and who died on the second objective of the map. His presence alone deterred the Fusion from attempting to draw out overtime as the remaining time on Philadelphia’s attack ticked down. On attack, it was the Outlaws’ Rawkus on Sombra who EMP’d through Fusion’s first defensive stand. He then proceeded to bust through the Fusion’s second defensive stand even after switching back to his usual Zenyatta. With Jake trapping and mining opponents on the side, Houston cruised to victory.

Philadelphia, however, was not intimidated. After halftime, ShaDowBurn switched to Pharah for Oasis and owned the skies. Meanwhile, his teammate Carpe was a terror on the ground on Tracer, badgering the Outlaws on all sides. The Fusion quickly locked down the victory, not allowing the Outlaws to gain even a percent of objective control.

For map four, the teams traveled to Eichenwalde. Fusion started on attack, easily breezing through the first and second sections of the map. Houston finally mounted a defense once the payload entered the castle, and a furiously long engagement right at the end drew out epic ultimates from Fusion’s Poko (think a triple elimination D.Va Self Destruct) and ShaDowBurn. But while Philadelphia finished the map, so did Houston. The Fusion’s defense fell apart early, featuring a spawn-camping Carpe getting caught out, literally and embarrassingly, by Jake as Junkrat. As Houston worked the payload down the path, Jake and LiNkzr on McCree worked together to catch Philadelphia’s mobile DPS players as they ran out to try to disrupt.

Because both teams pushed the payload to the end, Eichenwalde went into time bank rounds. Houston dominated on their second chance at attack, with Jake shutting down ShaDowBurn’s Pharah with a Junkrat Riptire that ran all the way up the steeple in the town square to reach her.

And so, for the first time in Overwatch League’s young history, a series was pushed to map five: Lijiang Tower. Right away, Fusion occupied the first point and refused to relinquish control. While the Outlaws got kills, they were never able to completely push the Fusion off the point so that they could gain control. They were finally able to do so on the second point, but only after burning through two Transcendences and conceding 74 percent control to the Fusion. After losing the point back to Philadelphia, Houston gathered to make one final push on the point. Carpe, however, ended it before it began by taking out both of their supports in the backline.

In their Overwatch League debut, the Philadelphia Fusion were able to etch out a hard-won victory.

Result: Fusion 3, Outlaws 2

Player of the Match: Carpe, Philadelphia Fusion

Boston Uprising vs. New York Excelsior

The League closed out the day of games with the battle for the east. The Boston Uprising — a team who self-admits that it is still “in development” with its young, coachable players — clashed with the New York Excelsior, a team who handed Boston a resounding loss during the preseason. Time has passed since then, of course, and Boston has filled that time with non-stop practice, anticipating this opportunity for vengeance.

The series opened on Junkertown with Boston on attack. While New York was thrown off at first, the Excelsior was able to fend off the Uprising from completing the map. On attack, Excelsior’s Meko opened up the road with a key Roadhog hook on the opposing Mercy. As the payload moved, New York’s Saebyeolbe on Widowmaker ensured that Boston couldn’t ever stick their neck out too far attempting to contest the payload. That combined with Boston’s messy support ultimate usage allowed New York to roll easily to victory.

The teams looked much more evenly matched on Horizon Lunar Colony. Boston easily capped both objectives in one quick sweep, finishing with over four minutes left in the bank. New York returned the favor but at a slower rate, with engagements lasting either too long or not actually on the objective. During the time bank round, New York’s attack on the second point fell apart and ended when its big push with a Sombra EMP netted nearly no kills. Boston, on the other hand, was able to successfully break through New York’s defenses and get just enough on the second objective to score the surprise win.

After halftime, the Excelsior decided to enter game three with a few subs, perhaps trying to make up for the team’s perceived weakness on control point maps. New York’s Pine stepped into the roster on McCree and he ended up being all that Excelsior needed. Pine alone absolutely terrorized every single Boston player, stunning and headshotting Tracers and Winstons alike. With Pine prowling the streets of Ilios, the Uprising was unable to get to the objective and New York won the map with a shutout.

Having found such an effective weapon, it was surprising that Pine was subbed back out for map four. The casters attributed it to New York graciousness, an Overwatch League version of not wanting to “run up the score” when one team knows it is clearly better than the other. And while Boston made a stronger showing than some expected, they indeed did not have enough strength to dispatch all of New York’s weapons on Numbani.

Next: Overwatch League recap: Day one ends with blockbuster matchup

Results: Uprising 1, Excelsior 3

Player of the Match: Pine, New York Excelsior

It’s both surprising and unsurprising how quickly underdogs and powerhouses within a sport get created in the minds of fans and analysts. With one more day of gameplay left during Overwatch League’s first week, there are plenty more opportunities for these storylines to continue to develop.