With the end of Week 2, a few things are starting to get shape, and some of the questions asked last week are starting to getting answered: we have a clear Top 6 that will be fighting for the playoffs spots – saved any unexpected surprises such as performance drops – and that a clear bottom two consisting of the Florida Mayhem and Shanghai Dragons, who are yet to find themselves at all. With the clock ticking faster every passing well, what they can in order to salvage something from this season?

Whereas Week 1 was marked by very close contests, we only had a single 3-2 this week – albeit an amazing one. Another proof that things are starting to take shape, and that likely with the starting of the next week of games, the fate of most teams for the remainder of the Stage will start to take form. However, and it is important to say: unpredictably is one of the things that make the Overwatch League exciting right now.

Even if some things are indeed starting to take shape, everything can actually change in the blink of an eye…and we wouldn’t even notice it coming. But enough from this talk for now. Are you here to see this week’s highlights right? So be my guest, and enjoy it!


A series for the ages

Despite being massacred by London on the final day of the week, Philadelphia’s reserve sweep against Houston will be remembered for a long time. NeptuNo and the rest of the Fusion surprised the Outlaws to claim a very unlikely victory – especially considering how the two first maps worked out, with Philadelphia suffering hard losses both in Volskaya and in Nepal.

But somehow, they found themselves back, and truly stunned the favorites to walk away with the victory. Normally, such wins in such circumstances normally give a lot of momentum to the team, but as you know very well, that is not what happened…


Insane London

…because the London Spitfire simply delivered a flawless and incredible performance against the Fusion. The Stage 1 Champions showed why…well, why they are the Champions, fulling exploiting Philadelphia’s inconstancies to take home a very comfortable win – even on the dreaded control map, well known to be the Spitfire’s weakness, with a sub 50% win ratio throughout the season so far.

A perfect win for London indeed, who after a rather unstable week 1, is showing to be back on track, and is more than willing to defend its Stage title.

Valiant to the skies

And sharing third with London is the Los Angeles Valiant following a solid albeit not particularly stellar 2-0 week, with victories over San Francisco and Dallas. Even with the Valiant perhaps not facing any of the top teams and still showing several aspects of miscommunication (something obviously to be waited in a squad with players from three different regions), the praise is well deserved, especially after the tough week 1 which saw the team 4-0’d by Seoul.

KariV in particular was a delight to watch, as he went havoc on Widowmaker and Soldier 76 to melt through his adversaries. Definitely, a team with a lot of raw talent, the Los Angeles Valiant will have an interesting next week to prove they deserve to belong with the very best, facing first across the town rivals, the Gladiators, before matching strengths against the Houston Outlaw for a spot in the Top 4.


Big Apple

Life is good this week if you are a New York Excelsior fan. With a perfect 8-0 map record this week, including a 4-0 against another top-tier team, Houston - which however looked much closer than the score might tell – New York replied its critics in the best manner possible, following a rather shaky week 1 with a map drop to Florida and a series defeat against the London Spitfire.

With Saebyeolbe and Libero being the beasts they normally are, things are definitely looking bright for the side who has maybe the best individual talent pool of the entire league. The question is of course whether they can transform that into high-level team play comparable to what the other top teams can offer. Yes, I know the Excelsior is leading the standings with just 2 losses, but both of them were completely avoidable had they simply polished their collective play and decision making a little bit further.

But that is definitely in the past now, and with New York will just be looking to keep the positive momentum and perhaps repeat its perfect week – this time against Philadelphia and San Francisco.


Doom by Fleta

Wouldn’t be fair to mention at least something about the Seoul Dynasty this week. With a surprising Doomfist pick against Gladiators on Hollywood, Fleta smashed his opponents, who were simply unable to play against it, making the path clearer for Seoul to close out the map and take a 3-1 win.

Revenge of the Koreans

Well, I for one like when Western players or squads do well. Of course, I don’t have anything about any Korean player and squad, they are awesome and amazing at the game, but you know, it is nice to have some winner “variety” sometimes. Coming from a League of Legends background, maybe some of know exactly what I am talking about.

With some excitement starting to surround certain full-Western squads, and talks that the Koreans aren’t actually invincible, the three all-Korean teams quickly proved the contrary, and ended up the week with an aggregate record of 6-0, dropping only 3 maps in the process while winning 21 – and most importantly, they all played damn well. An all-Korean playoff coming maybe? If that means more quality series, please, be my guest!


Saebyeolbe’s miraculous reset

What can’t Saebyeolbe do? With a perfectly timed run at the very last moment before recalling to safety, he gave teammate Libero enough time to reset the timer once more, allowing the rest of the cavalry to arrive and win the fight to somehow push the payload all way through the finish line, and save an attack that in 95% of the cases would be doomed much earlier.

Carpe and NeptuNo with the crouch

And the Award for Comical Moment of the Week goes to Carpe and Neptuno, who after destroying the Outlaws at the opening moments of the decisive map on Ilios, decided well…to have a little bit of fun…

(Photos courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment)

Disclaimer: The following article was written freely based on the author's opinion, and it may not necessarily represent Inven Global's editorial stance.

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