Two top teams, London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion, face off in the Overwatch League.
At the end of Stage 2, the London Spitfire were looking and feeling strong. They were in prime position to play New York Excelsior for the second time in a row in the post-stage playoffs for the stage champion title.
But Philadelphia Fusion had other plans. They spent Stage 2 improving, gaining wins and found themselves against the Spitfire in the playoff semi-finals. Unintimidated, the Fusion were able to shock the league by defeating the Spitfire, and in the process solidify their reputation as a team to watch out for in the league. The real Fusion, the best version of themselves, had finally arrived.
The Overwatch League opened Saturday games with this explosive rematch. Would London get the revenge they surely were seeking?
Map One: Temple of Anubis
On attack first, it took a while for London to find their groove. But soon enough the Spitfire found their opening thanks to London’s Profit getting a two-kill Dragonblade and helped by a whiffed Riptire from Philadelphia’s Eqo. An incredible Dragonblade from Profit also helped London start making significant progress on point B as well, complete with impressive mid-air slash and dashes.
To Philadelphia’s credit, the Fusion were able to yank control back after two ticks were taken and doubled down on their defense. London found it difficult to make it to point B cleanly, and ended up banking their attack run on one last overtime push. Unfortunately for the Spitfire, Profit was taken down right away by Fragi in the midst of his Primal Rage. With Eqo using concussion mines to play clean up, the Spitfire fell short of taking point two.
Instead of the usual cluster of team members on the high ground, London elected to go with a spread out defense with the hopes that they would be harder to dive on. Unfortunately for London, Philadelphia had a solution for that in the form of Carpe’s Widowmaker, who laser-beamed London’s Widowmaker birdring to start the snowball for the Fusion to take point A.
When it came to point B, Eqo gained Philadelphia two ticks with a huge Dragonblade. But just before the control meter hit the mark, Profit launched a Riptire onto the point to zone out the Fusion and get a kill on Boombox. It was enough to get London a breath of air, but Eqo came right back with another Dragonblade, this one ending up even more deadly than the last. Bdosin valiantly threw his Transcendence on the point in the hopes that he would stall long enough for his team to return, but it was not to be. Philadelphia took map one.
Map Score:Â Spitfire 1, Fusion 2
Match Score:Â Spitfire 0, Fusion 1
Map Two: Blizzard World
Moving onto the next map, London subbed in HaGoPeun and WooHyaL. Philadelphia subbed Snillo in for Eqo.
London calculated an attack that saw them winding their way around to the back of the point while leaving Profit to attack from the front. With the Fusion having to deal with the Spitfire dealing damage from both sides, the defense was easily dispatched and London took point A quickly. Thanks to a birdring Dragonblade, the payload traveled smoothly to just around the corner from point B before Philadelphia stopped it. From there, the Fusion played smart and patiently, waiting for London to come to them and changing compositions to directly oppose London’s changes. It wasn’t until overtime was burning that the Spitfire took the second checkpoint.
The Fusion were sent scrambling a bit after the Spitfire managed to take the second point, but recovered as the payload reached halfway through the last section of the map. Just as time ticked away, WooHyaL on D.Va thought he might have a chance at stalling the payload when his Self Destruct caught Boombox in its range. But he was the only one on point and was quickly focused down. With no one else close enough to the payload, overtime drained away.
Both London and Philadelphia engaged patiently over point B on the Fusion’s attack run. In the end, the Fusion would be successful as they kept finding the Spitfire’s supports and taking them down. But then it was the Fusion’s turn to lose their supports, causing them to have to wait before moving forward with the payload.
Once the payload did get going, the push was fairly smooth. Despite superior support gameplay, the Fusion were able to separate and focus down members of the Spitfire, forcing the fight to swing in their favor. London even tried a last-ditch Bastion in birdring in an attempt to take the fight back, but it would be short lived.
Armed with an arsenal of ultimates, Philadelphia nearly got the payload to the goal line with a beautiful EMP. It took every ultimate London had to push Philadelphia back. With time nearly gone, the Fusion attacked again and Carpe’s McCree helped his team get the job done, getting first blood on HaGoPeun. By prioritizing the supports, Philadelphia whittled London down until the payload hit home.
Map Score: Spitfire 2, Fusion 3
Match Score: Spitfire 0, Fusion 2
Next: Stage 3: London Spitfire barely survives Florida Mayhem
Map Three: Ilios
Starting on Ruins, London took control of the point early. With the Spitfire up 43 percent, the Fusion’s push came together to flip the point. Snillo helped his team maintain solid hold of the objective, shredding through WooHyaL on D.Va with a Pulse Bomb on London’s attempt to retake. It wasn’t until the map was in overtime that the Spitfire put together a successful run, and even then the entire team was nearly wiped in the process. Surprisingly, the Fusion struggled to mount their own successful retake of the point and the Spitfire ended up with the 100 percent on the point.
London took Well’s point first but had the point stolen away at just 28 percent. Philadelphia excelled at dragging engagements out over long periods of time, but their reign over the point was not long enough. The Fusion reclaimed the point and once again held on until they had the map firmly in their grasp.
Map Score:Â Spitfire 2, Fusion 0
Match Score:Â Spitfire 1, Fusion 2
Map Four: Junkertown
London’s tank-heavy composition rolled fairly easily through the first and second point, and made good headway even through the last portion of the map before Philadelphia finally put their foot down. In overtime, London bore down onto the point but were eventually repelled thanks to an Eqo Riptire while Boombox kept everyone else on the Fusion up with a Transcendence.
Philadelphia looked like they were on their way to an easy first point take with Eqo on Hanzo laying down a dangerous amount of damage, but London recovered thanks to Bodsin on Roadhog dispatching Eqo and a Profit Riptire. With Neptuno solo-healing the Fusion, Profit on Junkrat made sure to target his Mercy every opportunity he could with great success on behalf of London. WooHyaL on D.Va helped as well with his own highlight reel moment after getting a three-kill Self Destruct. Stymied at every turn, the Fusion fell completely flat and the series moved onto the tiebreaker map.
Map Score: Spitfire 3, Fusion 0
Match Score: Spitfire 2, Fusion 2
Map Five: Oasis
Starting on Gardens, London kept it interesting by sending out a Moira and Sombra. The Spitfire aggressively jumped on top of the Fusion but were quickly crushed, giving Philadelphia control of the point first. From there, Snillo on Tracer helped lead the Fusion to a comprehensive shutdown of the Spitfire, denying them even a single percentage point.
Stonewalled on Gardens, London continued to struggle on University. With Philadelphia up just over 50 percent, London finally took control with a Graviton Surge/Self Destruct combination, a move that they were able to execute flawlessly twice in the course the map. The Spitfire got up to 98 percent before Poko landed a three-kill Self Destruct, gifting his teammates control of the point again. From there, Philadelphia settled in, sustaining through overtime and clutching out a win over London once again.
Map Score:Â Spitfire 1, Fusion 2
Final Match Score: Spitfire 2, Fusion 3