Following one of the most contested weeks in the history of Overwatch League, Week 3 of Stage 3 will see the play-off hopefuls attempt to move away from the middle of the pack.
Boston overcome adversity
Boston Uprising will look to match their incredible Week 2 when they come up against London Spitfire and Seoul Dynasty this week.
After losing their best player due to major out-of-game issues, Boston clinched back-to-back 3-2 victories against top side New York Excelsior, the winners of Stage 2, and Florida Mayhem.
Boston have another brutal test ahead as they are set to come up against two of the other top teams in the league.
Striker and Mistakes should be able to perform better after another week of practice together, but on the flip-side their opponents will have much more footage of the duo working in tandem to prep against.
If Boston come out of this weekend with two victories, they will be viewed as the favourites, alongside New York, to take the whole of Stage 3.
Outlaws try to shake off losses
After back-to-back 3-2 defeats to Philadelphia Fusion and New York Excelsior, the Houston Outlaws will attempt to bounce back against Florida Mayhem and Dallas Fuel.
Houston have had some strange results in the Overwatch League as they have been riddled with inconsistency and bedevilled by an inability to finish the top teams off.
However, Fuel and Mayhem are two of the poorer teams in the league, with Dallas in particular appearing to implode this week.
Houston should be able to recover their confidence and will hope this will provide a solid foundation from which to clinch more victories in the future.
Fuel make some moves
Dallas have been in turmoil recently and they head into games against the San Francisco Shock and Houston Outlaws in Week 3.
Earlier this week Dallas announced the removal of both Coach KyKy and Rascal, sending shockwaves throughout the Overwatch scene.
Dallas had only recently announced that they were placing full control in KyKy’s hands and there had been signs of improvement. However, they now appear to be in disarray, with major question marks over which players and strategies will be used this week.
The only piece of good news for Dallas is that expectations are now extremely low, which should ease the pressure on their players.
Valiant are ones to watch
The team to watch this week are Los Angeles Valiant, who will look to prove themselves against London Spitfire after facing their inter-city rivals the Los Angeles Gladiators.
The Valiant are unbeaten in Stage 3, securing victories over three teams towards the foot of the table (Shanghai, San Francisco and Dallas) as well as Seoul Dynasty in Week 1.
This is the week that Valiant will be able to prove themselves as they face their first tough assignments of the competition.
The addition of Custa from Dallas Fuel appears to have done wonders in terms of shot-calling, with the team continually coordinating well and looking like a cohesive squad.
Given their +21 map differential in the Total Season League Standings, Valiant could jump multiple spots in the overall table should they emerge victorious this week.
Battle of the winless
Florida Mayhem should finally be able to secure a series win this week as they are set to play the inconsistent Houston Outlaws and the winless Shanghai Dragons.
Florida have generally looked better with Sayaplayer in their line-up but this has yet to translate into a victory in Stage 3.
The Shanghai Dragons have also improved thanks to some recent additions to their roster but, until they can break their winless streak, they will continue to be massive underdogs in every match.
Conclusion
All in all, it is shaping up to be another fascinating week in the Overwatch League Season 1 with plenty of sub-plots as we reach the halfway point of Stage 3.
