Overwatch Week, Week 4: Los Angeles Gladiators break losing streak with win against Florida Mayhem

Both Los Angeles and Florida are coming out of a tough week of Overwatch.

The Gladiators and the Mayhem suffered four losses combined last week, plummeting both of them in the standings. Coming into this new week, it’s about recovery for these two teams, about who can come together to salvage the season.

Los Angeles and Florida are at very different points in their development as a team despite the fact that their records are only separated by one win. The Gladiators have put on spectacular shows against tough teams like the Valiant and the Fusion, whereas the Mayhem have predominantly struggled against every team they’ve faced. However, they’ve also showed glimpses of brightness at the most unexpected of times.

Map One: Eichenwalde

Los Angeles started on defense first, featuring Hydration on Pharah and Surefour on Tracer. Meanwhile, Florida pushed out the doors with Logix on McCree and TviQ on their own Pharah. Despite CWoosH setting up his Orisa shield in an attempt to give his team a covered place to stand while attacking the point, Hydration was easily able to shoot around that shield, taking out Logix and CWoosH many times. It wasn’t until Florida used both support ultimates and a Deadeye at the same time that they were able to get three Gladiators kills and make enough room to take the first point.

As Florida made their way through the second portion of the map, Bischu immediately sent them packing with a big multi-kill Self Destruct. The next Mayhem engagement was sloppy with Zebbosai on Mercy taken out first. But Florida did make their way to the doors of the castle on their next push after taking out both Gladiator DPS players. The Mayhem’s attack run officially ended just short of the second checkpoint as the Gladiators outlasted Florida on the payload.

Los Angeles attacked with Hydration on Pharah and BigGoose on Lucio. Florida kept TviQ on Pharah for defense and elected to go with Ana instead of Zenyatta. The Gladiators struggled to make any sort of progress on the point, with one solid Valkyrie engagement completely nullified by the Mayhem’s own Valkyrie. As time ticked down past the minute mark, Los Angeles finally made the perfect first strike onto Zebbosai, who was seconds away from getting Valkyrie. Without that key sustaining ultimate, the Gladiators took the first objective.

Moving into the second section of the map, Florida did a great job of stalling Los Angeles before the payload could even move past the midpoint archway. With the map in overtime already, the Gladiators pushed back the Mayhem to gain much needed uncontested ground. Just when it seemed like Florida had a chance at stuffing Los Angeles short of the goal box, Hydration landed a huge close-quarters Rocket Barrage, taking out both Florida supports. Just like that, the Gladiators would earn a very slim map one win.

Map Score: Mayhem 1, Gladiators 2

Match Score: Mayhem 0, Gladiators 1

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

On their attack, Florida elected to go with an uncommon composition with TviQ on Pharah and Zebbosai on Widowmaker. Pharah usually does not make an appearance on Horizon because of the difficulty of the enclosed space paired with the lack of clear lines to the objective. And while TviQ wasn’t completely useless, the composition did not work for Florida. Zebbosai never had Los Angeles in one place to get good looks for snipes, and TviQ was one less person available to contest the actual point. Florida’s control on point A went as far as the second tick before their time ran out.

Despite the abysmal offensive showing, the Mayhem started out strong on defense. TviQ found much more success as Junkrat picking apart Gladiator pushes. However, Florida was eventually pushed off the high ground, and while they could withstand an Hydration Dragonblade, they could not withstand that on top of a mix of Surefour’s Tracer and Bischu’s D.Va.

Map Score: Mayhem 0, Gladiators 1

Match Score: Mayhem 0, Gladiators 2

Map Three: Oasis

Starting on University, the Mayhem chose to run Manneten on Zarya and CWoosh on Reinhardt. They were countered by a true-dive comp from the Gladiators. Los Angeles took control first, and were able maintain a solid, constant presence on the objective. Florida’s one big push started with a Transcendence drawn out well before reaching the point, and ended with a Graviton Surge wasted while team members fell to an opposing Self Destruct. Surefour took care of the rest by using his Dragonblade during Florida’s last possible push.

Moving onto the Gardens, it was TivQ and Surefour facing off in the skies. The Gladiators again quickly took control first, and even as they were outnumbered by the Mayhem on the point, they prevented the Mayhem from actually flipping the point by ensuring there was always at least one person from LA touching it. It’s not until they got 73 percent on the meter before their stalling tactics finally petered out.

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However, once Florida took the point they held on with an admirable tenacity. It first started with a huge mid-air Rocket Barrage from TviQ. Then it was Manneten on land as D.Va, fending off any player that even looked purple. As Florida’s percentage control surpassed LA’s, it became the Gladiators stalling out of desperation. That tactic was just as unsuccessful as last time, and the Mayhem took the second point.

Surefour started the last map of Oasis off with a bang as McCree, taking out the Mayhem even as they were backing up to their spawn room after knowing that they had been bested on the point. But Florida was able to take the point back, and this time they decided to try their hand at stalling for percentage control themselves by congregating just on the other side of the City Center pillar, out of sight from the Gladiators but with at least one person actually touching the point at all times. But soon enough, LA would have enough of those shenanigans. LA’s Asher on Tracer struck again and again, lessening Florida’s control on the point one player at a time. The Gladiators would finish up Oasis with the map win and the match win.

Map Score: Mayhem 1, Gladiators 2

Match Score: Mayhem 0, Gladiators 3

Map Four: Junkertown

On defense first, the Gladiators went with a triple-tank, solo-support composition. The Mayhem moved forward with a classic pirate ship attack with Bastion and Orisa, with TviQ on Widowmaker. After one unsuccessful push, Florida decided to approach the payload from behind by taking the entire team on a long flank. With the Mayhem set up on the high ground behind the payload, it strangely looked like they were actually the ones defending on the map. With only Gladiators around the payload, however, the set up earned the Mayhem no extra ground.

After a long stall, Florida was able to take the first checkpoint. After one Manneten Whole Hog in the second portion of the map, the Mayhem took the next checkpoint with relative ease. Logix truly came to life on Tracer during this last stretch, catching as many vulnerable Gladiator players as he could to create even more space for Florida to move forward. Hydration put an end to the push with a Dragonblade, but with one more minute on the clock, Florida came right back to try again. The push started poorly for the Mayhem, with Zebbosai falling early to a Bischu Self Destruct. But miraculously, it was Florida who ended up in control of the payload. With Asher running around close to the spawn room doors, the Mayhem handled the respawns and finished the map in overtime.

Florida continued their trend of unconventional compositions by running a Sombra alongside their Orisa and Roadhog on defense. LA’s attack composition, on the other hand, closely resembled Florida’s on attack. After winning the first clash, the Gladiators looked as if they would quickly take the first checkpoint, but Zebbosai jumped in with the EMP, which propelled Florida to three LA eliminations, the biggest being BigGoose mid-Valkyrie. Even Asher Widowmaker headshots were not enough to get the Gladiators back up and going, so LA had to retreat.

It wasn’t until the map was ticking down into overtime that Los Angeles was finally able to get a handle on the payload. One good engagement from Florida found LA again attacking the payload in overtime to get it the second checkpoint. As the Gladiators moved into the last portion of the map, they finally found momentum on their side, wiping away the Mayhem immediately with a Hydration Dragonblade. But as they moved into their last overtime, Florida took out Bischu quickly to gain a valuable man advantage. With Zebbosai’s Valkyrie hovering over them like an aura, the Mayhem stole the payload away from the Gladiators and denied them a 4-0 series victory.

Map Score: Mayhem 3, Gladiators 2

Final Match Score: Mayhem 1, Gladiators 3