OWL Contenders – Top Three Predictions for Stage Two

As Week Three concludes for the Second Stage of the Overwatch League, it seems like New York Excelsior have the advantage to take a first round placing once again with their strength of schedule for the remainder of the Stage.

Marquee matchups

Week Four and Five of the Overwatch League will feature some of the most pivotal matches of the entire tournament so far as top three teams square off for playoff positions. Seoul Dynasty face off with both London Spitfire and New York Excelsior in the following week. Although Seoul Dynasty have yet to drop a series in this stage of play, there might be a chance that Dynasty face some turbulence as London Spitfire look to solidify their spot.

On the heels of London, Los Angeles Valiant are pushing for a playoff charge as they look to maximize their chances against some stacked competition. Although they lost a series earlier this week to their LA counterpart, their resounding rebound win over Houston Outlaws showed that the Valiant still have the fighting spirit.

At this point, it’s extremely hard to peg exactly where the Houston Outlaws will land at the end of the stage. The nerfs to key heroes like Mercy and Junkrat has affected their play heavily as they’ve relied on ill-fitting strategies to will their way to victories. Jake’s recent performances on Tracer haven’t been all that consistent, and heading into Stage Three the Outlaws may be in the market for a Tracer main that can add that bit of flexibility to their roster on certain maps.

Ranking the squadsz

With two weeks left for Stage Two, look for New York Excelsior to lock up the first round bye at playoffs as they have a favorable strength of schedule with Florida and Dallas in the coming weeks. Apart from the Dynasty duel next week, every other series is winnable for Excel as Pine and co. will be looking to solidify their status at the top with their sizable map differential.

When it comes to the matchup for second and third, it’s hard to size up exactly how London Spitfire and Seoul Dynasty will look at the end of Stage Two. Although London Spitfire suffered some uncharacteristic losses in the first two weeks, their last two outings against Boston and Philadelphia have shown much promise with Gesture leading the charge on his patented Winston.

The resurgence of Winston as a staple tank on certain maps gives Gesture a lot more pressure for his team, but Seoul Dynasty’s Miro enjoys the same kind of agency in the meta. The map set for their match in Week Four doesn’t necessarily favor one side over the other either. King’s Row has been a more successful map for London since the start of the OWL, but the map win percentages for Seoul favor them on Assault. When it comes to playoffs, this might be an indicator of what’s to come if the schedules play out with little surprise.

Of all the middle of the pack teams that could possibly make a run with their given schedule, Philadelphia Fusion have the propensity to shine as their roster continues to gel together. When Carpe is at his best, his Tracer ability is better than any non Korean team in the OWL and with their toughest matchups behind them, Philly have the greenlight to go on a run and possibly turn their fortunes as Stage Two concludes.

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