Overwatch League: London Spitfire get revenge as New York and Vancouver keep riding high in stage two
FURY and Profit came to play on Friday night, leaving the Philadelphia Fusion reeling. For the second week in a row, London’s off-tank Fury was key in keeping their perfect record this Overwatch League season going. The 2-1 win over the Fusion was scrappier than London would have liked, but it was enough to secure […]
FURY and Profit came to play on Friday night, leaving the Philadelphia Fusion reeling.
For the second week in a row, London’s off-tank Fury was key in keeping their perfect record this Overwatch League season going.
The 2-1 win over the Fusion was scrappier than London would have liked, but it was enough to secure a third win in three matches and matching their stage one total.
It was “not a satisfactory match” according to coach Agape, while main healer Nus admitted he “wasn’t able to play to our plan”.
Profit labelled the stage “messy” but grabbed the MVP award in no small part due to the near-psychic link he seems to be developing with Fury.
It was fitting that the match finished with the two combining — a well-placed Graviton Surge from Profit sucked in Fusion as they made a defiant last stand before Fury knocked them down with a perfectly time Self Destruct.
The all-conquering Vancouver Titans, who sit just above London in the stage standings, continued to stretch their unbeaten run with 3-1 wins over Seoul Dynasty and Houston Outlaws.
New York Excelsior are on another tear too — they secured a winning record for the stage in week two of five, with only one map dropped since their stage one playoffs exit.
San Francisco Shock and the LA Gladiators are both perfect in stage two as well.
The Gladiators came through the league’s only local derby to stay perfect, as they beat the LA Valiant 2-1 to close out the weekend.
None of the current top five are scheduled to play each other this stage either, opening the door for them all to potentially secure playoff places in the very near future.
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A win over Florida and a loss to Dallas saw Paris Eternal stay even with a 2-2 record on the stage – game against Spitfire in Dallas on April 27th key to their hopes of success this stage.
With a burgeoning rivalry between the two sides and London looking for blood after their opening weekend loss to their only European opponents, it’s definitely going to be one to watch.
What is Overwatch?
Overwatch is a team-based first-person shooter developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
Unlike many other shooters, characters in Overwatch have one of three roles: damage-dealers, support, or tanking.
Damage-dealers do the traditional job of trying to outgun the opposing team’s members. Tanks are there to draw fire and soak up damage while protecting objectives or their team-mates, while support characters can heal other players, boost their damage output, or protect them.
The Overwatch League is one of the flagship eSports competitions, with millions of pounds in prize money up for grabs.
12 teams competed in the inaugural season: New York Excelsior, Los Angeles Valiant, Boston Uprising, Los Angeles Gladiators, London Spitfire, Philadelphia Fusion, Houston Outlaws, Seoul Dynasty, San Francisco Shock, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem and the Shanghai Dragons.
That’s going up to 20 for season 2.
London has some company in Europe with the addition of the Paris Eternal, while Shanghai now have local competition in the form of Hangzhou Spark, Guangzhou Charge and the Chengdu Hunters.
The Washington Justice, Atlanta Reign, Toronto Defiant and Vancouver Titans have all come on board in North America as well.
All the players are full-time professionals, and all the teams are currently physically based around Blizzard’s Arena in Los Angeles, though they will be competing in their home cities next year.
Elsewhere in gaming there is news of a new Xbox due to be revealed this week, a trailer and first look at Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as well as news that the PS5 and Xbox 2 might be the last games consoles you ever need to buy.
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