Overwatch League, Week 4: Boston Uprising sweeps Los Angeles Valiant

Both of these teams look like they’ve hit their stride in the Overwatch League.

The Los Angeles Valiant have become one of the most formidable opponents in the first stage of the Overwatch League. Sitting just underneath the three powerhouse Korean teams, the Valiant brings terrifying individual talent and cohesive teamwork to their game.

But the Boston Uprising are not a team to be looked down on. They’ve managed to claw their way from the middle of the pack to a certain level of prominence. After all, a team that’s able to take down the London Spitfire is not one to be taken lightly. Would the Uprising become the Valiant’s kryptonite?

Map One: Eichenwalde

The Valiant started on defense first with Agilities on Pharah and SoOn on Tracer. The Uprising attacked with Neko on Lucio and DreamKazper on their own Pharah. Boston’s first engagement was unsuccessful, but it lasted long enough for both teams to build up their support ultimates. The next fight was frenetic, with LA capitulating to Boston, but because Agilities managed to stay alive even in the face of both Boston’s tanks, LA was able to get respawns back onto the point to push Boston back.

With time ticking down, Boston finally jumped onto the point successfully and got the payload moving. As it moved through the archway, STRIKER took out Fate while Note hunted down Agilities. That gained Boston even more room to work with. Just outside the castle doors, DreamKazper unleashed his Rocket Barrage to get two kills. That was just about enough for Boston to push the payload to the second checkpoint.

Moving into the castle, DreamKazper switched to Junkrat and helped push the Valiant back immediately. As Boston bore down on the last point, LA attempted to contest the Junrkat with a Junkrat, but STRIKER negated him with a quick Pulse Bomb right at the spawn room doorway. After a slow start, Boston relatively quickly finished the map.

Now on attack, LA put SoOn on Widowmaker and Agilities on Pharah. As the Valiant moved onto the point on the ground, Agilities killed DreamKazper in the Pharah vs. Pharah duel. Quickly, LA capped the first point.

They would proceed to push the payload through the next point of the map. The progress wasn’t fast but it was steady, with picks getting traded the entire time. LA finally got some uncontested progress after Agilities took out DreamKazper and then followed it up with a two-kill Rocket Barrage. Boston jumped in to contest slightly before the second checkpoint, but it would be a weak attempt.

The Valiant cruised down the castle hallway fairly quickly, only to meet a very stiff Uprising stall at the end of the map. Players fell, then were resurrected and then were healed by two simultaneous Transcendences. Amid all the chaos, Agilities again made a big impact on Pharah, taking out Gamsu, DreamKazper and then cleaning house with a Rocket Barrage. And even though he was felled by a Self Destruct, Boston ran out of stalling steam, giving LA the final point.

Boston attacked first in the time bank rounds and immediately started off better than the last time they attacked. DreamKazper was able to kill SoOn away from the point early, and as LA went to resurrect him the rest of Boston jumped on top of the Valiant. As the payload moved forward, LA attacked, leaving just Boston’s tanks on the payload to push it forward in overtime but push it forward they did. They were even able to catch Verbo on Mercy, forcing LA to give up valuable ground to Boston.

Just outside the castle, LA came out to contest but Verbo was caught first again. Boston’s tanks did a tremendous amount of work both staying on the payload and clearing the payload of LA. STRIKER then helped open the last portion of the map up with a Pulse Bomb onto Envy, and suddenly Boston was completing the map.

After this strong showing, it was LA’s turn to attack once again. The Valiant took their time to engage, waiting until everyone was in a good position to attack. But when they did, Boston outplayed them, with DreamKazper catching Agilities in the air. Kariv also fell, and LA had to reset. It’s not until the map reached overtime that the Valiant were able to take the point.

A huge fight took place immediately over the payload, with picks coming in for both teams. The Valiant played well despite needing to stay close to the payload in order to keep overtime going, but there was nothing they could do about a sudden DreamKazper Rocket Barrage that rained down all over the payload, taking every member of LA with it. Boston took the first map.

Map Score: Uprising 6, Valiant 4

Match Score: Uprising 1, Valiant 0

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

Los Angeles started on defense on the high ground, with SoOn on McCree, Agilities on Junkrat and  Envy on Roadhog. Boston attacked with a pure dive composition, but was disrupted by Envy, with a hook and kill onto Gamsu. The Uprising struck next by sneaking STRIKER onto the point in an attempt to draw the Valiant onto the point. LA was slow to respond, distracted momentarily by DreamKazper dashing onto their high-ground position. LA would get back on the objective, but lost a tick on the point to Boston.

The Uprising’s next attack was perfect, with everyone on the team doing their share to get picks onto the Valiant. LA attempted to contest at the last moment, but eventually, they were driven back. And immediately Boston snowballed their momentum into an attack on point B. It started and pretty much ended with a big DreamKazper Dragonblade right at the Valiant’s spawn, which injured LA so much that there was no one left to even stall the point as the control meter ticked up. Boston capped the second point just like that.

LA attacked with a four-tank composition bolstered by Moira, and immediately bullied their way onto the point, getting three quick kills. After two ticks on the point, Neko on Zenyatta helped Boston pull it out in the end and remain alive. LA invested the Moira Coalescence on the next push but a huge Dragonblade from DreamKazper foiled their plans. The next attack also started disastrously, with DreamKazper reflecting the Graviton Surge back onto LA. However, the Valiant managed to hang on by the skin of their teeth, and last long enough for their respawns to come in. It took a very long time, but LA did take point A.

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Boston regrouped on point B, pushing back LA twice. Then Note rebuffed them a third time with a two-kill Self Destruct. With less than a minute remaining, LA jumped in and took Kellex out first. It was a huge pick since Kellex did have Valkyrie up and available. This caused Neko to immediately pop Transcendence, which didn’t save DreamKazper from dying at the hands of SoOn. But Boston lasted long enough for Kellex to come back to support the team with Valkyrie. With a couple of adjustments to their composition —  Neko switching to Soldier 76 and DreamKazper to Doomfist — the Uprising repelled the Valiant for good.

Map Score: Uprising 2, Valiant 1

Match Score: Uprising 2, Valiant 0

Map Three: Oasis

The control map started off on Gardens, with Agilities and DreamKazper on Pharah. DreamKazper immediately got between Agilities and the point, putting a lot of pressure on him. But Agilities was able to get a pick a Gamsu. On the ground, SoOn on Tracer started to come alive to help take the point first.

At 69 percent, Boston got the kills necessary to take the point. Coming back, Agilities took a huge risk by using Rocket Barrage to try to take out DreamKazper. But DreamKazper easily dodged out of the way, taking Agilities out instead. Verbo used Valkyrie to bring Agilities back up, but DreamKazper then took out Verbo and the resurrected Agilities.

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LA started to run out of time to grab the point back, especially with Note on D.Va and Gamsu on Winston ruling the roost on the point. Even with DreamKazper getting taken out three times during the course of the final engagement, Boston’s tanks remained solidly on the point, refusing to give ground. As the meter hit 99 percent for Boston, LA’s last hope lay in Agilities, who attempted to use Rocket Barrage to clear the point. However, as he hovered in the air to do this, the point ticked up to 100. Agilities wasn’t close enough to the ground to contest.

On City Center, Boston took the point first and DreamKazper ensured they would hold it by popping off on McCree. At 99 percent, LA flipped the point largely thanks to a big Dragonblade from Agilities, with SoOn on Tracer taking out the stragglers. But Boston would soon be back, eating up SoOn’s Pulse Bomb with D.Va’s Defense Matrix. Very quickly, the Uprising out-positioned the Valiant on the point, forcing LA to be on the outside of the point looking in. SoOn did his best to try to find an opening to get onto the point, but was stymied time and again. With minimal trouble, Boston took the point back and capped it to win the map and the series.

Map Score: Uprising 2, Valiant 0

Match Score: Uprising 3, Valiant 0

Map Four: Junkertown

The Valiant set up an defense with SoOn on Widowmaker and Agilities on Junkrat. The Uprising attacked with Neko on Bastion, STRIKER on Roadhog and DreamKazper on Widowmaker. The payload was able to move uncontested all the way to where the map opened up, which is where LA started to get some kills. Kellex used his Valkyrie and while the payload was able to move a bit farther forward, the rest of Boston had to withdraw.

The next attack saw Boston taking out everyone from LA except for the tanks. They stalled for as long as possible before giving up the first checkpoint. As the payload moved into the next section of the map, Note immediately moved up to the high ground to play look out. DreamKazper hid himself in a side room, trying to get some shots off as Widowmaker. While he was unable to do that, he was able to win a face off against Kariv as the Zenyatta attempted to try to deal with him. From there it was a STRIKER Whole Hog that really blew the path wide open, and Boston took the second checkpoint.

Going into the last section of the map, a ferocious drawn-out fight erupted. Kills and resurrections happened all over the map, from on the payload to in the tight corners on the upper level. Boston stood strong on the payload in the end, and of course, LA would contest one more time before it actually reached the end, but Agilities’ huge Dragonblade opportunity was completely killed by DreamKazper on McCree, who then followed up with a kill on SoOn as well. The Uprising finished up the map with just over a minute still on the clock.

On attack, Los Angeles put SoOn on Bastion, Envy on Roadhog and Agilities on Junkrat. Kariv would take his place on Widowmaker. Fate and Agilities fell early, causing the LA Valiant to stall slightly. As LA attacked again, they found every kill returned in kind by Boston. The Uprising roundly ended the push with a Whole Hog from Neko, and without using their Valkyrie.

With less than 30 seconds remaining, Neko was downed. As Boston started to fall one by one, Kellex’s Valkyrie would not be enough to bring everyone back. In overtime, LA reached the first checkpoint.

Instead of contesting the checkpoint, Boston set themselves up comfortably on the high ground and immediately clamped down on Los Angeles. The Valiant took the reset to change out heroes for the next push. With 30 seconds left, the Valiant got the payload moving again and Envy flew directly up into the Orisa shield up on the high ground. But he was immediately repelled, with his teammates falling underneath him.

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The Valiant then had less than 10 seconds to jump back onto the payload, which SoOn managed to do as the clock hit overtime. Both sides committed everything to this last fight but with a Super Charger consistently boosting Boston’s damage, LA soon found themselves outgunned and falling short. Boston took the map and the 4-0 sweep.

Map Score: Uprising 3, Valiant 1

Final Match Score: Uprising 4, Valiant 0

Player of the Match: DreamKazper, Boston Uprising