The 2019 Overwatch League’s fourth stage is entering its final weekend of the regular season, with the Los Angeles Valiant’s home stand occurring.
The change to 2-2-2 continues to reverberate throughout the game but San Francisco Shock have dealt with the switch well and have managed to maintain their good form throughout the whole season.
Reign and Shock still undefeated
Atlanta Reign are in a race with the Shock for the top spot in the stage, each
currently sit at 5-0 with a +13 map differential.
Unlike the three previous stages, there is no play-off event in Stage 4 but rather the league moves to the post-season.
Atlanta come in fresh off an incredible Week 4 in which they defeated both Washington Justice 2-1 and London Spitfire 4-0.
With Dogman’s shot-calling and the overall co-ordination of the team, the Reign are the clear breakout squad of the stage, with pressure and hype continuing to pile up as they maintain their spotless mark.
This
final week brings matches against Dallas Fuel and Boston Uprising, who are
winless between them, the pair holding a combined 0-11 record in Stage 4.
Shock look the team to beat
Directly opposing the Reign are Stage 2 champions San Francisco, who are yet
again having a brilliant showing in the regular season.
The Shock are still on their revenge tour through the league after they fell in the Stage 3 finals to Shanghai Dragons and no beat has skipped following the change to 2-2-2.
Their dominance has hardly been surprising, but they have an incredibly difficult final week with matches against the Stage 1 champions Vancouver Titans and hosts Los Angeles Valiant. Both are likely to be involved in the end-of-season play-offs.
The challenge for many opponents is the depth Shock have at DPS, with their willingness to run different pairings constantly, making counter strating seemingly impossible.
The
Shock have even busted out Rascal, a DPS player, in the Support role, although
it did make some sense given his previous showings.
Battle of LA on tap
Los Angeles Gladiators’ only match of the week is against their city rivals,
the Valiant. This does at the least allow the Gladiators to plan for a single
goal.
The Gladiators have been generally sticking to Surefour and Decay as their DPS players and overall they have placed a higher value in keeping a squad together than many other teams.
Hydration
could come out as a DPS or tank as a trump card given his flexibility, but
whatever the line-up is this match which will mean much in front of the local
fans.
Spark face Dragons
That aforementioned Spark also have a single match to contend with, albeit against
a vastly different level of opponent. The Spark’s opponents are none other than
Stage 3 champions Shanghai Dragons who despite that title have struggled
immensely in this stage as their primary win condition last year was countering
GOATS compositions, which no longer exist.
GodsB has performed well alongside Adora in the DPS position and they will be looking to crack a frontline of the Dragons which has routinely been caught out of position.
