Overwatch League, Week 5: Houston Outlaws nab playoff spot close win over Boston Uprising

DreamKazper and the Boston Uprising face their toughest test against Jake and the Houston Outlaws.

With Stage 1 playoffs very much within reach for both Boston and Houston, these two teams entered the match with their fates in their keyboards and mouses. The Outlaws just needed a win to boost themselves into the playoffs. The Uprising’s needs were a little more specific: a win over the Outlaws with a +2 map differential.

Who would get the chance at the playoffs and $125,000 in extra prize money?

Map One: Eichenwalde

Boston started on defense with DreamKazper on Pharah and STRIKER on Tracer. But right away, Houston stormed the point with Jake on Soldier 76. Immediately, Neko on Zenyatta fell. DreamKazper joined him quickly afterwards, and Houston took the first point.

LiNkzr opened the path for Houston as the payload moved through the second portion of the map. Jake, now on Tracer, also did his part by taking out STRIKER not just once but twice after he was resurrected.

Finally Boston stabilized on defense with the payload just outside the castle doors. But Jake got to work, getting just enough damage on Boston’s Kellex to get the crucial support kill. Then he followed through by going forward and taking out both Neko and STRIKER.

As the payload rounded the corner, it was again LiNkzr on McCree popping off and clearing the way. As the objective neared the end, Boston got the support necessary in a Neko Transcendence to fend Houston off. On the Outlaws’ next engagement, the Uprising barely hung on despite a DreamKazper Dragonblade getting negated by Bani’s Valkyrie.

With less than 30 seconds left, DreamKazper finally got himself a productive Dragonblade, forcing Houston’s last push to be that much more desperate. In overtime, Jake notched a big Riptire all the way in Boston’s backline, taking out Kellex. But Neko did have a Transcendence, using it to sustain the rest of the Uprising. In the end, Boston stood strong and stopped Houston short of finishing the map.

Switching sides, Houston defended with Jake on Pharah and LiNkzr on Tracer. STRIKER was Boston’s own Tracer, and he became pivotal in opening up the point for the rest of the Uprising with a big Pulse Bomb. But the Outlaws refused to give the Uprising anything for free, contesting right away before the payload was even able to move into the second section of the map.

Eventually, Boston was able to make their way forward. DreamKazper remained on Pharah and shot rockets in the direction of the castle doors. Houston’s challenge of the payload went poorly, with both support ultimates committed out of desperation. Boston did win the last engagement before the second checkpoint, supported by Kellex’s Valkyrie.

As the payload moved into the castle, LiNkzr stopped the Uprising in their tracks with a kill onto Neko and Gamsu with a Deadeye. But Boston came right back with a huge engagement, carried forward by STRIKER who took out LiNkzr and helped clean up Rawkus and Muma. With 30 seconds remaining, however, Boston was repeled once again.

The Uprising’s next attack started terribly, with Jake getting STRIKER and LiNkzr taking out a Dragonblading DreamKazper. In desperation, Boston threw as many members available onto the payload. Unfortunately, what that really meant was Boston threw players right into LiNkzr’s Deadeye. With that three-kill ultimate, LiNkzr helped Houston cap a first map win.

Map Score: Outlaws 3, Uprising 2

Match Score: Outlaws 1, Uprising 0

Map Two: Temple of Anubis

On defense, Boston set up to dive right onto Houston as they pushed forward. While the Uprising seemed to be making things difficult, the Outlaws were able to handle them quite easily. With Gamsu falling while on the point, Houston moved in and took point A quickly.

The quick first cap gave Houston seven minutes to work with moving onto point B. Boston fended off their first push, which caused Houston to reset and change up the composition. Jake moved onto Pharah and LiNkzr to Reaper, but the swaps did not help them make progress on the next push. To answer Jake’s Pharah, DreamKapzer also switched from Junkrat to McCree.

With Reaper not helping move Houston toward the objective without losing players, LiNkzr switched again to Genji. But even with his Dragonblade up and ready, LiNkzr was unable to get anything with his ultimate. With less than a minute to go, Gamsu came up big with a Primal Rage that hit Houston like a brick. It came down to one last push in overtime for the Outlaws that started off with LiNkzr getting picked by DreamKazper’s Riptire. Support ultimates came and went, and in the end it was Boston winning out over Houston’s onslaught.

On defense, Houston set up on the lower platform with Jake on Junkrat. Usually, LiNkzr would play Widowmaker here but he elected to go Soldier 76 this time. Right away, Boston got the picks they needed largely thanks to Gamsu, first on Jake and then on LiNkzr. Just as quickly as Houston, Boston took point A.

Rawkus caught STRIKER in the side room trying to sneak around, which ended Boston’s push before it started. But the Uprising soon came right back. And just as the engagement started, it ended. In the blink of an eye, Boston took the point as Houston made the mistake of completely stepping off the point. The Uprising just needed a tick and they found it easily.

Map Score: Outlaws 1, Uprising 2

Match Score: Outlaws 1, Uprising 1

Map Three: Ilios

Starting on Ruins, DreamKazper and LiNkzr commenced the Widowmaker battle. Right away, DreamKazper nailed LiNkzr and NotE helped clean it up for Boston. STRIKER helped extend Boston’s hold by sneaking up on LiNkzr and taking him out from behind, then zipping back to the objective and laying down damage on both Coolmatt and Rawkus. With DreamKazper staying a constant threat, Boston quickly wrapped up the point.

Moving onto Lighthouse, DreamKazper switched on Pharah. Houston had LiNkzr on McCree and Jake on Tracer. Houston was able to take the point first, but Boston were able to flip it in short order. LiNkzr uncharacteristically was unable to get the kills necessary, going so far as to accidentally walk off the map. From there, the Uprising never relented. DreamKazper played it perfectly, with an impressive concussion blast that took LiNkzr again off the map, followed by a close quarters Rocket Barrage on the objective that rocked the Outlaws. Meanwhile, STRIKER hunted down members of Houston over and over off the point, making it a struggle to even contest. Just like that, Boston won the map and were one more win away from the payoffs.

Map Score: Outlaws 0, Uprising 2

Match Score: Outlaws 1, Uprising 2

Map Four: El Dorado

Houston opened up their attack with a LiNkzr headshot onto STRIKER, the opposing Widowmaker. But later on, STRIKER would return that favor. Both were resurrected quickly after the fall, but the amusing exchange roused the audience. With the payload underneath the archway, Houston pulled back to regroup.

It was a slow grind for Houston to make progress, but progress they made. With the Outlaws never easing up on the aggression, Houston moved relatively easily to the second checkpoint. After a wasted Jake Riptire, the Outlaws were pushed back. But Houston would win the next fight thanks to Muma’s Primal Rage, pushing the payload dangerously close to the end.

Again, the Uprising were able to retake control of the payload. DreamKazper took care of the last Houston push with a Dragonblade, and Gamsu used a perfectly timed Primal Rage to bat Muma away to prevent overtime.

With Houston stopped short of the end, Boston went on attack with Neko on Bastion. With no one expecting it on the side of the Outlaws, Houston immediately retreated. As soon as Neko got downed, he was resurrected, allowing Boston to effectively pummel over Houston to the first checkpoint.

DreamKazper started his team off wonderfully as the payload moved into the second section of the map, getting a big hook and kill on LiNkzr. Making his way onto the high ground, he also got a kill on Muma and Jake with his Whole Hog. But the rest of Boston succumbed to Houston and the Uprising had to regroup.

After a slight stall from Houston, Boston got the kills necessary to retake control of the payload. DreamKazper took out LiNkzr’s Widowmaker and Gamsu took out Rawkus. With one last knife into Bani, the Uprising took the second checkpoint.

Houston held strong over two Boston pushes. With less than 30 seconds left, DreamKazper was downed devastatingly early in Boston’s last push. He would be resurrected, but was killed by LiNkzr a second time before he could pull out his Dragonblade. The rest of his team faltered and faded away to give Houston the tying win.

Map Score: Outlaws 3, Uprising 2

Match Score: Outlaws 2, Uprising 2

Map Five: Lijiang Tower

With the win on El Dorado, the Outlaws closed the doors on the Uprising’s chances of making the playoffs. But Houston themselves were still not assured a playoff entry. They would have to win the fifth and final map of the series to guarantee themselves that last playoff spot.

Starting out on Control Center, Houston wrestled Boston off the point first to start the percentage meter building. But the Uprising roared right back, supported by their Valkyrie and punctuated by a triple kill from STRIKER. However, Houston also came back to flip the point, and from there moved to try and hold Boston in the small choke point forward of the objective. They were successful through one push, but Boston managed to gain the point once again as Houston hit 99 percent.

In overtime, the Uprising retook the control point. Houston took their time to reset and regroup. Thanks to a huge Graviton Surge from Coolmatt, in which he manhandled multiple members of Boston, the Outlaws erased the Uprising from the point and capped it.

Now on Gardens, Boston started out in control first. In the next engagement, DreamKazper won the Pharah fight over Jake while STRIKER cut through the rest of Houston on the ground as Tracer. As Boston’s percentage ticked ever upward, a furious fight took place where ultimates netted kills but also resulted in the ultimate user getting taken out as well. The engagement lasted long enough for the Uprising to get up to 99 percent, but that also happened to be when LiNkzr came alive on McCree. That was the difference needed for Houston to finally take control.

The Outlaws held onto the point until they were also up to 99 percent. What resulted was one final crazy fight that started with Jake falling to NotE and LiNkzr’s Deadeye getting reflected right back at him thanks to DreamKazper. DreamKazper then followed that up with a Dragonblade that helped Boston sweep the point clean.

With that, the series moved to one final map on Night Market. DreamKazper started on Pharah and right away helped take out Jake, Bani and Rawkus. This allowed Boston to stroll onto the payload to take it first. However, the Outlaws did flip the point, patiently waiting out a NotE Self Destruct before claiming the territory for their own.

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The next engagement looked like it was going to go Boston’s way, especially with DreamKazper using a Rocket Barrage to murder both LiNkzr and Muma off the point. But Jake on Soldier 76 provided the backup to never allow Boston to flip the point. However, as Houston reached 99 percent, Boston doubled down and got the kills to flip the point once again.

The Outlaws perfectly executed their next assault on the point, taking out both Uprising supports right away. With that crucial healing out of reach for Boston, Houston took control and all that was left was cleaning up Boston members as they threw themselves at the objective in ones and twos. It wasn’t long before overtime burned away and Houston found themselves in possession of a spot in the Stage 1 playoffs.

Map Score: Outlaws 2, Uprising 1

Final Match Score: Outlaws 3, Uprising 2

Player of the Match: LiNkzr, Houston Outlaws