Overwatch League Stage 3 Week 2: The grind begins

Overwatch

June 12, 2019

The current Stage in the OWL is truly the dividing part of the season as it determines who gets to see the Season Playoffs. While the Vancouver Titans, New York Excelsior and San Francisco Shock are taking all the good press and publicity, we take a look at three teams that have the most crucial task in Week 2 instead.

Atlanta Reign (Day 1 / 2)

The Reign is truly the cutoff team this season. After Week 1 they still stand at 0.500 with a 35-35 map score and 7W9L match score. A team right down the middle indeed. Week 1 also packed the hardest punch for the team as they had to face both the San Francisco Shock and Vancouver Titans in the opening days.

Considering the form of their opponents, the Reign held their own last week. They narrowly lost to the Shock squad (3-2) and gracefully bowed to the unbeaten Titans (3-1). If they ever want to make Stage Playoffs or even better Season Playoffs, the grind has to begin this week and go all the way to Week 5 at their home turf Atlanta Reign Homestand.

This weekend they face the Shanghai Dragons and Seoul Dynasty; two matches they have to win if they ever want to see playoffs. Both of their opponents are also on an upswing momentum, meaning this week will definitely put at least of them ahead at the middle of the standings.

Shanghai Dragons vs Atlanta Reign — Friday, June 14, 2:45 AM CEST
Seoul Dynasty vs Atlanta Reign — Saturday, June 15, 10:45 PM CEST

Hangzhou Spark (Day 1)

The pink Kool-Aid got to me also. Coach Mu-Ho “Mask” Lee wants a perfect stage and a 4-0 sweep against the Titans this week. Yeah you read that right. The Hangzhou Spark oozes confidence in Stage 3 after plowing through the Philadelphia Fusion (4-0) last week.

The Spark meets the Vancouver Titans on Day 1. The Titans have the stats on their side in lieu of Sparks confidence. The currently unbeaten have already stomped Spark with a 4-0 back in April and are probably not phased too much by the confidence of the Hangzhou squad.

This won’t stop me from being hopeful that Ho-Jin “IDK” Park can support his team in the upcoming mission to make the gods bleed.

Hangzhou Spark vs Vancouver Titans — Friday, June 14, 6:15 AM CEST

Seoul Dynasty (Day 4)

We already mentioned the Dynasty and Reign meeting on Day 2, but the Seoul squad has an even harder task on the Day 4 opener. The San Francisco Shock is having an amazing season so far. Only Vancouver Titans and New York Excelsior stand ahead of them, and they have already made the Titans bleed. It will be a hard task for Dynasty to contest them, but a dominating 8-0 Week 1 and an upswing in confidence gives them the best odds of finally beating a top 3 team. Wins this week can propel Dynasty to 4^th in League standings and possibly 1^st in the Stage standings.