Overwatch League, Week 3: Philadelphia Fusion stun the New York Excelsior

And then there were only two undefeated Overwatch League teams.

The Boston Uprising handed the London Spitfire their first loss of the season, which means now it’s just the New York Excelsior and the Seoul Dynasty sitting at the top. With those two teams playing on Friday night, this was New York’s opportunity to go into that big game with momentum on their side.

The Philadelphia Fusion, on the other hand, came into the matchup after being stunned by the Los Angeles Gladiators last week. Looking strong with a 2-0 lead in the series, the Gladiators ended up winning three maps in a row to pull of the Overwatch League’s first reverse sweep. Would the Fusion be able to pull off the same feat as the Uprising and beat a Korean team?

Map One: Numbani

Philadelphia was fairly successful on their first attack. ShaDowBurn on Pharah was able to hang around on the point long enough to lay sustained damage onto the Excelsior while his teammates around him vied for positioning. And eventually the Fusion did indeed find the picks to have the positioning on the objective necessary to take it.

While New York pressured the payload as it moved down the street, Philadelphia was able to make steady progress. The biggest stall happened, as it usually does, right before the second checkpoint, where control of the payload wavered back and forth between the two teams. The longer the fight drew out, the less time Philadelphia had to actually move the payload to the second checkpoint, and when the dust finally settled it was New York who ended up with the upper hand. Having been completely wiped, the Fusion had no one available to contest the payload in overtime.

New York attacked with a single support composition, and despite Libero’s Pharah rockets feeding the Excelsior good reconnaise information, it was the Fusion who struck first in eliminations, downing Janus. Overall, Philadelphia did a fantastic job of repelling New York by winning the necessary fights. The Excelsior eventually did take the point but used a lot of time to do it.

Unfortunately for the Fusion, the payload wasted no time in moving toward the goal line, which rested right before the second checkpoint. The Fusion mounted one big nullifying defensive stance as the payload neared the end, but the Excelsior had plenty of time to regroup and take the payload back.

Map Score: Fusion 1, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Fusion 0, Excelsior 1

Map Two: Temple of Anubis

On defense, New York went with a classic Orisa composition but not on the usual high ground next to the objective. They instead chose to set up on the platform close to the archway. With their set up much closer to the entrance and lower to the ground, the Fusion were able to jump on the Excelsior easier. Even those New York gave ground, they had the strength necessary to push Philadelphia back to resume their set up.

However, the Fusion would cap the point on the next push. As they were coming onto the point, the Excelsior attempted to jump on them, thinking that they would be able to catch Mercy in an easy kill. But it was New York that got killed, and Philadelphia wasted no time barreling onto the point.

Moving onto point B, the Excelsior put up a spirited fight but ShaDowBurn did massive damage as Genji. With a wasted Valkyrie, New York struggled to mount a robust defense. Soon enough, there weren’t enough Excelsior respawns making it onto the point and the Fusion capped point B.

Philadelphia set up their own Orisa defense on the more convention high ground location, but for much of New York’s attack that Orisa went untouched. Carpe singlehandedly drove back New York’s first attack with two quick headshot eliminations that would force the Excelsior to retreat and regroup. And he wouldn’t stop there. On subsequent attacks, Carpe always had a hand in the eliminations that came in for the Fusion. It wasn’t until the clock was down to around a minute that New York was able to create the space needed to take the point.

Moving onto point B, it was a well placed Poko Self Destruct that staggered New York’s first attempt. ShaDowBurn stopped the next one, picking Libero right out of the sky with a shuriken. Not to be outdone, Carpe on Tracer zipped right through the sky to successfully stick a Pulse Bomb onto a mid-Valkyrie Ark. Both sides entered the next attack heavy with ultimates, but it was the Fusion coming out on top because of their support ult advantage.

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Map Score: Fusion 2, Excelsior 1

Match Score: Fusion 1, Excelsior 1

Map Three: Ilios

As expected, “Big Boss” Pine was subbed into the New York roster as the series moved onto the control map. Pine on Widowmaker would go against Carpe’s Widowmaker on the first point of the map. Both Widows were able to get big shots on each other, but neither’s initial shot was enough to eliminate the enemy.

Outside of the Widowmaker duel, the Fusion were able to take control of the point first. As the battle raged on the objective, Carpe finally got his shot on Pine. Even with that pick, the Fusion looked dangerously understaffed on the point. That was when Neptuno on Mercy flew in with the Valkyrie, making some dangerous but worthwhile resurrections to help Philadelphia keep control of the point.

It wasn’t until the Fusion already had 99 percent on the board that the Excelsior took control of the point. Then Pine got to work, getting some picks to keep the Fusion from pushing up. Philadelphia’s next attack was ended by Janus’ Primal Rage pushing Philadelphia’s Winston off the edge.

Now with both teams at 99 percent, the Fusion clashed furiously with the Excelsior on the objective. The fighting went back and forth, but it was again thanks to Carpe that the Fusion came out on top.

The Fusion seized control of the next point first, but the Gladiators found their way back thanks to two Pine eliminations on McCree. With New York in the control of the point, Pine slunk away to hide quietly in a corner, allowing most of the Fusion to pass him by. The moment Neptuno’s Mercy was in his sights, he sprung with a flashbang. He was able to take out Mercy but Carpe, who Neptuno was healing, displayed a ridiculous reaction time, dispatching Pine almost instantaneously with a flashbang of his own.

Despite this drama, the Fusion was unable to make headway on the objective itself and it would be the Excelsior walking away with ownership of the Lighthouse.

So Ilios would end on Well, a point which the Fusion again took first. Saebyeolbe on Tracer opened the New York attack perfectly, taking out two Fusion members in quick succession on their way to point control. And from there it was all New York, with Pine more than pulling his weight to threaten Philadelphia at every turn.

Map Score: Fusion 1, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Fusion 1, Excelsior 2

Map Four: El Dorado

New York decided to set up on defense well back within the courtyard, giving Philadelphia a decent amount of unchallenged ground. Meanwhile, Carpe on Widowmaker attempted to execute a long flank all the way around New York in pursuit of some better sight lines. Unfortunately, he was spotted by Saebyeolbe and taken out before he could so much as aim.

Despite the man disadvantage, the Fusion were able to win the fight enough to push the payload past the first checkpoint thanks to a ShaDowBurn Dragonblade. Philadelphia continued to move forward thanks to some hunting on behalf of ShaDowBurn, who was able to catch Libero up in the second floor of the courtyard and slashing down to finish Saebyeolbe. But right as the payload straightened out in front of the second checkpoint, the Excelsior stiffened, forcing them back. With time for one more attack, Libero’s Junkrat rained down onto the Fusion, stopping them in their tracks and ending their attack.

The Excelsior easily took the first checkpoint on their attack, quickly wiping the area of Fusion players. Philadelphia regained a semblance of control as the payload moved out from under the archway, pushing New York back. With both teams investing Transcendence into the next fight, it’s a Libero Dragonblade that went way into the backline that made huge headway on the payload. Again, Philadelphia scrambled back to push New York away with the payload inches from the goal.

With less than 30 seconds remaining, the Excelsior started their last attack. Just as Libero unleashed his Dragonblade, the Valkyrie came out for Philadelphia and Libero actually ended up going down before making anything of the ultimate. Soon after, New York’s Valkyrie was also drawn out. With both support ultimates out of the picture, it became a matter of who would be able to make the picks required. It was Philadelphia who got and used Transcendence first, gaining the upper hand with that support and outlasting New York. As the last man on the payload, Janus executed a desperation Primal Rage but it would be for not. The Fusion stuffed the Excelsior, forcing the series into a fifth map.

Map Score: Fusion 2, Excelsior 1

Match Score: Fusion 2, Excelsior 2

Map Five: Lijiang Tower

For the second time of the evening, both teams moved to Lijiang Tower. Just as on the previous control map, the Fusion jumped on the objective first. But soon enough, the point was in the Excelsior’s grasp. Despite excellent Tracer play from Saebyeolbe, the point switched back again to the Fusion after Fragi’s Primal Rage. But the occupation would not last long.

Just as the point switched back and forth, so too did players from both teams trade excellent plays. In the end, it would be an Excelsior overextension that allowed Carpe to sneak onto the objective and take it back for the Fusion. As New York attempted to backtrack, Philadelphia made sure they didn’t do it with a full team. And as overtime ticked down, it was ShaDowBurn’s Dragonblade making sure that the point wouldn’t switch again.

The fight over the next point didn’t actually take place over the point at all. Rather it occurred in the side room, where ShaDowBurn on Pharah hovered around the outside, trying to rain down as much damage as possible. When the dust settled, it was once again Philadelphia with control, and they proceeded to lock the point down almost until the end, with ShaDowBurn doing a huge amount of work as Pharah to keep New York from coming in full force.

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The Excelsior took control of the point with the Fusion hovering at 99 percent. After a few rebuffed attacks, the Fusion stormed back onto the point with a Lucio and finally the engagement stuck. Every single person concentrated on pushing New York out. And somehow, that’s exactly what happened. With one last Lucio boop, overtime ran out and the Fusion were in possession of a huge upset win.

Map Score: Fusion 2, Excelsior 0

Final Match Score: Fusion 3, Excelsior 2

Player of the Match: Carpe, Philadelphia Fusion