Overwatch League Stage 2: Philadelphia Fusion shock Houston Outlaws with reverse-sweep win

How will the rising Philadelphia Fusion fair against the dominant Houston Outlaws?

The top of the Overwatch League currently consists of three Korean rosters and then the Houston Outlaws. With flawless team chemistry and tremendous individual talent, the Outlaws are unapologetically winning their way to the top of the standings. By now, every other team knows that the Outlaws are a team to respect when they show up on your schedule.

With how they’ve played in Stage 2 so far, the Philadelphia Fusion are progressing into that realm themselves. First, the Fusion smashed through the Boston Uprising, a team who crushed them the first time they faced off in Stage 1. A sweep over the Florida Mayhem completed their dominance of week one, helping to boost them up the standings thanks to the beautiful 8-0 map wins over the two matches.

How competitive would the Fusion make this match against the Outlaws?

Map One: Volskaya Industries

On defense first, Philadelphia set up on defense with Carpe on Tracer and DayFly on Sombra. Houston pushed with Clockwork on Tracer and LiNkzr on McCree. Almost immediately, the Fusion were overwhelmed by the Outlaws’ dive and Houston easily capped the first point. Able to catch Philadelphia’s Neptuno on Lucio out in the transition to point B, Houston came onto the second point with a hefty advantage and right away asserted their presence on the objective. After batting away one attempt to contest by Philadelphia, Houston went ahead and captured the second point as well.

The teams switched sides after that lightning fast offense. Houston defended with LiNkzr on Widowmaker and Clockwork on Tracer. Philadelphia pushed with Carpe on Tracer once again, along with ShaDowBurn on Genji. After one stalled attack, the Fusion did manage to get the picks needed to take point A, including Carpe getting a Pulse Bomb stuck onto Rawkus’ Zenyatta.

Moving onto point B, Philadelphia patiently built up their ultimates to put together one cohesive push that whittled away Houston’s players. It took longer, but the Fusion were eventually able to take the second objective as well, which took the map into time bank rounds.

The Fusion went on attack again, and things started off very well for them. DayFly on Zenyatta nabbed a pick onto LiNkzr’s Widowmaker. However, Houston evened up the score by taking out ShaDowBurn’s Genji, forcing Philadelphia to retreat and regroup. From there, the Fusion started to struggle. LiNkzr didn’t help things for the Fusion as he sank headshot after headshot among the ranks of Philadelphia. His Widowmaker was so deadly that Carpe felt forced to switch to the sniper himself in an attempt to deal with him, but as soon as he showed his face, he was downed as well. Philadelphia’s final push died off well before it was able to reach the objective, and their time bank round came to an end with no addition to their map score.

This meant Houston didn’t have to take too much to earn themselves a win on this first map, and they had over six minutes in which to do it. Right away, Carpe’s Widowmaker was overwhelmed by Clockwork on Tracer, and that first elimination opened the floodgates for the rest of the Fusion to crumble. Within seconds, Houston had taken the one tick they needed to win.

Map Score: Outlaws 3, Fusion 2

Match Score: Outlaws 1, Fusion 0

Map Two: Nepal

Jake came into the game on the second map, subbing for Clockwork. On the Fusion side, Boombox joined the boys on stage. Right away coming out on Village, Houston went unconventional with Jake on Bastion plunking himself down in turret mode to harass Philadelphia. With the Outlaws rallied around him, the Fusion were unable to take Jake down and had to concede the point to Houston.

It wasn’t until Houston was already up to 99 percent control that Philadelphia finally was able to get onto the point and deal with Jake, who was hunkered down in turret mode behind a Reinhardt shield and nearly untouchable. With the Bastion finally dealt with, the Fusion were able to flip the point in their favor.

With Houston now on the outside looking in, Jake switched to Soldier 76. The Outlaws’ first attempt to retake the point was rebuffed by a Primal Rage from Fragi. The next engagement became messy and frazzled as both teams reached 99 percent control. In the end, it was the Outlaws who managed to cling to the point the longest.

On Sanctum, ShaDowBurn on Pharah helped the Fusion grab control of the point first, getting several big environmental kills. And as Houston attempted to come back, ShaDowBurn continued to help his team hold by getting a huge multi-kill Rocket Barrage.

But the Outlaws were able to make their way back onto the point, with Jake on Roadhog holding down the objective while LiNkzr dealt damage from a distance as Soldier 76. Once Houston took control of the point, they never looked back to pick up their second win of the series.

Map Score: Outlaws 2, Fusion 0

Match Score: Outlaws 2, Fusion 0

Map Three: Hollywood

On defense, Philadelphia went with a Moira support thanks to Boombox, with ShaDowBurn on Genji and Carpe on Tracer. Houston attacked with Jake on Tracer and LiNkzr on their own Genji. Right away, Coolmatt went for the objective on D.Va, flanked by his two DPS teammates. The Outlaws were able to take one tick before being forced to withdraw.

ShaDowBurn was able to deal so much damage during the Outlaws’ first push that he had his Dragonblade ready for Houston’s next attack, which ended it far forward of the objective. But Houston was ready on their next attempt. After taking out both Philadelphia DPS players, it was easy for Houston to finish the job and complete the take of point A. As the payload started to move, Philadelphia engaged for an early attempt to defend but were cleaned up by LiNkzr and Muma on Winston.

The payload stalled slightly halfway through the second portion of the map, but eventually LiNkzr was able to use a Dragonblade to open up the way to the second checkpoint. But just before Houston could get there, Poko unleashed a Self Destruct that caught one member of the Outlaws, even though they easily saw it coming. ShaDowBurn followed that up with a Dragonblade of his own that helped Philadelphia stabilize things further over the payload.

In overtime, Houston made one final push onto the payload. This time, ShaDowBurn fell first, but his death wasn’t the end for his team. Carpe landed a huge Pulse Bomb that took out both Houston supports. That was the fatal blow Philadelphia needed to cut Houston’s attack run short.

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Switching sides, the Outlaws defended with Rawkus on Ana, Jake on Junkrat and LiNkzr on Soldier 76. For some added tank power, Muma also went Roadhog instead of his usual Winston. Perched far back on the second floor of the cafe, Jake rained down grenades that were able to take out Boombox, which forced Philadelphia to back off slightly. When the Fusion did dive into the cafe, they were pushed out quickly by the Outlaws’ DPS.

Philadelphia started their next push with a Sound Barrier bolstering everyone’s health. It almost seemed like Houston would be able to hold, with LiNkzr getting Nano Boosted on Soldier 76 and sinking shot after shot into the bodies of the Fusion. But with both Houston supports falling, the Fusion eventually took they place atop the payload and captured the first point.

LiNkzr immediately switched onto Widowmaker to better zone Philadelphia as they attempted to escort the payload through the next section of the map. After initially falling back following a Jake Riptire, the Fusion came right back. ShaDowBurn was able to dash up to LiNkzr’s perch and take him out before LiNkzr could start getting headshots, and Jake would fall as well. This would allow the Fusion to push the payload nearly to the finish line. From there, Philadelphia just had to win one more fight against Houston to nudge the payload home, which they were able to do. The Fusion made sure the Outlaws knew they were nowhere close to giving up.

Map Score: Outlaws 1, Fusion 2

Match Score: Outlaws 2, Fusion 1

Map Four: Route 66

Houston attacked with LiNkzr on McCree and Jake on Tracer. Philadelphia defended with ShaDowBurn on Sombra, a popular hero pick for the first section of this particular map, but a hero we usually don’t see ShaDowBurn play. But he was still perfectly effective, able to build up to his EMP quickly and then use it to hack four members of Houston. The Fusion took advantage to eliminate them from the map and push them back.

The Outlaws’ next push took the payload around the corner, but they were unable to stay alive long enough to push it any further. ShaDowBurn again came up big, taking advantage of his invisibility to lay down damage. Time quickly caught up with the Outlaws. On their last push, they had to once again contend with a ShaDowBurn EMP and the Outlaws were just unable to withstand it.

Switching sides, Houston now had the tough task of holding Philadelphia back as much as possible. Rawkus played Sombra, while LiNkzr went Genji and Jake went Tracer. ShaDowBurn elected to go with Widowmaker, but was instantly taken out as the Fusion were forced to reset. Philadelphia’s next push was met with an EMP, but Houston was unable to follow up to the level that Philadelphia had been able to. The Fusion were able to get the payload moving, and from there the Outlaws were never able to bring it back.

Map Score: Outlaws 0, Fusion 1

Match Score: Outlaws 2, Fusion 2

Map Five: Ilios

The hotly contested matchup went to one last control map, with a potential reverse sweep seeming very imminent. Starting on Ruins, the Widowmaker battle was set between LiNkzr and ShaDowBurn. However, ShaDowBurn didn’t focus on hunting down LiNkzr. Instead, his priority was dealing rampant damage among the other members of team Houston, which of course helped the rest of the Fusion take them down. It wasn’t until Houston’s second engagement that ShaDowBurn spotted LiNkzr and immediately wiped him from the map. The Outlaws’ next push was handily ended by Carpe on Tracer, who claimed nearly all of them with a close-quarters Pulse Bomb.

With Widowmaker clearly not working out, LiNkzr switched to Genji. Throughout the course of Houston’s failed pushes, he was able to build up his ultimate meter. When he did have Dragonblade, he used it to great success, finally getting his revenge on ShaDowBurn by pushing forward to hunt him down. His blade helped the rest of his teammates make their way onto the point and flip it.

After LiNkzr ended things for him, ShaDowBurn switched to Genji himself. With Houston’s control ticking up to the 70s, Philadelphia went into the fight with both a Sound Barrier and ShaDowBurn’s Dragonblade. Houston was immediately overwhelmed. With Philadelphia having already reached 99 percent prior to this fight, when they did flip the point the map immediately went into overtime. Houston was barely able to throw a few members at the point to contest before Philadelphia did reach 100 percent.

Moving onto Lighthouse, the Outlaws were facing a do-or-die situation. They won the first scuffle and took control of the objective. Philadelphia’s next push, however, was very successful. Boombox on Zenyatta hunted down Jake’s Tracer, while ShaDowBurn and company took out everyone else in white, and he didn’t even need to use his Dragonblade to do it. That was an ultimate he saved for LiNkzr as Houston made their next push, single-handedly forcing them back and allowing Philadelphia to save a slew of ultimates for the next wave. On that wave, Neptuno on Lucio came up huge with multiple eliminations to disrupt Houston’s plans. But the Outlaws would finally regain control of the objective with Philadelphia up 99 percent.

Very quickly, Houston was also at 99 percent. With overtime burning strong, Philadelphia rushed back to the point, but Fragi was downed early. The Fusion had no time to regroup, so they continued their push. It was valiant but it would ultimately end in failure. Houston took Lighthouse, living to fight one final map.

So the series moved to the Well to decide its winner. Earnest fighting broke out right away, well before the point unlocked. Houston took control first, and even as Philadelphia came back to attack and the Outlaws started to lose players, those who were alive mounted a tremendous stall of the point. Even outnumbered, Houston ensured someone was always on the point to continue to build their control percentage. It wasn’t until Houston already had 88 percent on the board that Philadelphia took the point for themselves.

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After winning one fight, the Fusion’s next engagement did not go as well. Carpe’s Pulse Bomb attempt was booped off track while Boombox was downed first to deny his teammates his healing. Even as the Outlaws reassembled on the point, the Fusion were already attempting to rush back. With Houston up 99 percent and the map in overtime, Philadelphia managed to rip the point back from the Outlaws’ control using every ultimate they had in the tank. And now with both teams up 99 percent, the series came down to one last ferocious fight that looked like it could go either way. When the dust settled, Philadelphia was the team who remained standing. The Fusion had pulled off the reverse sweep to knock off the Houston Outlaws.

Map Score: Outlaws 2, Fusion 3

Final Match Score: Outlaws 2, Fusion 3

Player of the Match: ShaDowBurn, Philadelphia Fusion