Overwatch League Stage 2 Week 3 Power Rankings
The Fuel implodes and Houston tumbles down the rankings while the LA Gladiators get a huge thumbs up.
Stage 2 is just full of surprises, and now it’s the middle of the pack shuffling around. While the trio of New York, Seoul and London still hold the top, the title of “Best Western team” has new contenders. The Gladiators have charged their way to the upper half of the rankings, while is Houston struggling more and more. Let’s break it down into the following hierarchy for the week:
1st — New York Excelsior
Another week and the New York Excelsior still stand on top. Avenging their Stage 1 loss against Philadelphia, they also swept the Shock in dominant fashion. This week the highlight of the Excelsior was the amazing support play on Route 66, with JjoNak netting key headshots against the Fusion while ArK had pinpoint Sleep Darts against the Shock. The team has consistently held the top spot with their full roster and seek to keep this position until the Stage 2 Finals. However, the true test lies ahead of them next week for the battle for number 1 as…
2nd — Seoul Dynasty (+1)
The Seoul Dynasty are hungry for the top 1 spot, for their true test is the upcoming week’s schedule. Prior to this, the Dynasty had a good warm-up taking on the Shanghai Dragons and Philadelphia Fusion and beating them both 3–1. While these map losses to all sorts of teams prevent the Dynasty from skyrocketing to the top, they are the only team with a perfect record for the stage. Now, what awaits them are both the London Spitfire and the New York Excelsior. If they can beat them both, regardless of the map score, the top dog of Stage 2 will be established as the team from Seoul.
3rd — London Spitfire (-1)
Hubris is the word of the week for the London Spitfire. While they did 4–0 the Boston Uprising, the tale against the Los Angeles Gladiators was very different.They started the GC Busan lineup against the Gladiators, which is considered their weakest one. This lineup fell in the first two maps against the squad led by their former player, Fissure. The ace lineup came back by the third game but the momentum was heavily in the Gladiators favor, who took King’s Row in a hotly contested match. While the Spitfire did come back to form to take the 4th map of Watchpoint: Gibraltar, the series was already lost. The Spitfire was too confident with testing their lineup against a very hot team, and they flew to close to the sun in this one.
4th — Philadelphia Fusion (+1)
Now why would a team that goes 0–2 in a week go up in the rankings? Well, it’s when the Fusion push the teams above to edge, taking 1 map from both the Seoul Dynasty and the New York Excelsior. The Korean teams had to bring their A-game against the Fusion’s back to back schedule, who was nursing Boombox to health (sick on one day, absent for the next). While their Stage Finals chances do take a big hit due to the week’s results, they are now given the chance to build up even stronger chemistry for the roster without the Stage Playoff pressure and take the challenge to the Korean teams on Stage 3.
5th- Los Angeles Gladiators (+4)
The Gladiators go up as their shields go up as well! The biggest jump and surprise for the week, the Los Angeles Gladiators have found their form. First, they destroyed their fellow city mate, the Los Angeles Valiant, 4–0 and have finally taken the Battle of Los Angeles. Next, they took on the London Spitfire, who looked to underestimate the squad. However, they proved their versatility when the Spitfire was forced to bring out their best lineup, running the Doomfist, Pharah, and Junkrat in different segments of King’s Row to take the series win. Fissure looked amazing and led the team as their main tank while Asher and Hydration have delivered alongside Surefour in the DPS department. While they middle no more, the question still stands if the Gladiators can keep this form or if their barrier will break under the pressure.
6th — Los Angeles Valiant
There was no mercy for the Valiant, as they lost the battle for home court against the Gladiators. However, their series against the Outlaws was a much different story. The Valiant exposed the Outlaws’ weakness even more so, with SoOn dominating the Tracer clashes and ran rampant in a sweep against them. Kariv has also shown improvement with the swap to the DPS role, amazing all with his Widowmaker play. All in all, the story of the Valiant has remained consistent: at the top part of the rankings, and are noted as a solid squad within the League.
7th — Houston Outlaws (-3)
The Outlaws are putting the tumble in the word tumbleweed as they continue their slippery descent. The week was almost completely terrible for the team, with a sweep from the Valiant to start it all off. Their next series against the Mayhem was almost a tragedy as well, but they took the last 3 maps against them to take the win. However, it’s sad to see a team who placed first in the power rankings take a fall from grace by this much, and the team really needs to address their glaring problem- that their DPS department is not enough. JAKE and LiNkzr cannot play Tracer at a level they need to win, Clockwork still needs improvement, and Mendokusaii’s play time is nowhere to be seen. They really need to sign a carry Tracer player as the mobile dive comps are now cemented to be the meta once again.
8th — Boston Uprising (-1)
With Gamsu out of action, the Boston Uprising still yielded expected results. With a much needed win against the Shanghai Dragons, the Uprising seemed to be on the upswing. However, they still lost to the Spitfire in a sweep, and brought out the struggles of the team once again. Boston is a team that has struggled to adapt, and seem to work best when their strategies are planned out. Will meta shifts be the bane of the Uprising every single stage?
9th — San Francisco Shock (+1)
Roster additions: (+) moth, (+) Architect
No more quips, the Shock have finally shown tremors of a team. To get it out of the way, yes, they were crushed by the New York Excelsior in a sweep. However, prior to that loss, they soundly defeated the Dallas Fuel with a 3–0 victory, and have shown improvements. These improvements have been sleepy’s support play and Danteh outstanding on the Tracer in the latter series. The managerial is also on the upswing, with the additions of moth and Architect to reinforce the support and DPS lines. Finally, the calendar is on the side of the Shock, with Sinatraa eligible for play this Sunday as he turns 18. While it is still unknown if the young Tracer star can handle the big stage of the Overwatch League or if he would actually get playing time over the red-hot Danteh this week, the Shock is finally getting the form to be an actual entity in the League.
10th- Florida Mayhem (+1)
Looks like its sunny in Florida, as the Mayhem has gotten their first win of Stage 2 and the second win for the season. They showed top form this week, almost beating the Houston Outlaws before being reversed swept. The true story of the week was their engagement against the Fuel, which was another series that went 5 games. The DPS department has impressed, especially with Logix staying alive on the payload long enough for the Mayhem to come back on Watchpoint: Gibraltar and force the 5th game against Dallas. He also sealed the series with his Widowmaker play on Ilios. Now, Zappis is ready to go as the Mayhem have shown that they are a team that you can’t take on lying down.
11th — Dallas Fuel (-3)
Roster changes: (+) OGE, (-) xQc
This team is a complete mess. The Dallas Fuel have released xQc after his second suspension from the League and there are reports that they are looking to trade Taimou and cocco away. They lost both their series against the Shock and Mayhem, which were two teams that they had a chance to beat. The team, who looked so bright in the preseason, now have barely any chance for the Stage 2 Finals and may have lost all hope for the Season playoffs. The Fuel has no cohesion, chemistry, and have underperformed so heavily that if you watch the old VOD’s of EnVyUS you would wonder how they actually performed that well.
12th- Shanghai Dragons
The only team worse than an imploding team is a team that consistently loses. Here enters the Shanghai Dragons, who went another week with 2 losses, being defeated by both the Seoul Dynasty and the Boston Uprising. With Diya still away in China and the coaching staff entering a transitional period, the Dragons are a walkover win for every team in the League. Without their DPS player they had Xushu flex into the DPS role, and it looked like they were more comfortable with their triple tank lineups due to it. The Shanghai Dragons need their additions to come sooner rather than later, or else it’ll take another Stage or 2 for them to get their first match win.
