Boston Uprising finally found their winning ways, claiming a 2-0 record in Week 4 after opening Stage 4 with a six-game losing streak.
Boston finally win
Going into the week, Boston appeared to have the perfect chance of fixing their issues as having continued to improve from week to week, they had an easy schedule in Week 4 against Seoul Dynasty and Shanghai Dragons.
With their two victories, Boston were able to secure a spot in the overall league playoffs, but if they are going to make any sort of impact, they will need a dramatic improvement in the coming weeks.
One of the players who struggled during Boston’s dip in play has been Gamsu, who looked better this week in Boston’s successes.
The key moving forward for Boston will be the play of Striker, who after previously being a consideration for league MVP, has fallen off following the reduction in Tracer’s power. If Striker can get back to his dominant ways, Boston can finally be viewed as a top team again.
Dragons miss their chance…
The most disappointing week belonged to the Shanghai Dragons, who appeared to blow their last chance at securing a victory after falling to both the Florida Mayhem and Boston Uprising; two teams that entered the week without a win in Stage 4.
Shanghai had been improving, with their DPS players in particular finding their groove and giving them hope of breaking through to their first win. However, they fell just short against the Florida Mayhem, falling in a tiebreaker map and quite probably washing away any chance Shanghai had of avoiding an incredible 0-40 season.
Week 5 sees Shanghai pitted against the Los Angeles Gladiators and the San Francisco Shock, two teams in much better form than the Mayhem and Uprising.
…As did the Shock
Another unfortunate week belonged to the San Francisco Shock as they fell to both the Philadelphia Fusion and New York Excelsior. While from an outside perspective this week would normally have been fairly expected for the Shock, the Excelsior’s recent reduction in effort, ever since they clinched the league’s overall top spot, had given San Francisco hope that they could thrust themselves into the playoff discussion.
Unfortunately, the Shock’s results all but shut the door on them making the playoffs, with San Francisco now needing to go 2-0 in the final week while also getting major help from other squads.
All is not lost for the Shock, however, as this young squad was not expected to gel and perform so well so quickly. Moving forward the future is bright going into Season 2.
Gladiators looking strong…
One of the sides that claimed a 2-0 week were the Los Angeles Gladiators, who defeated the Stage 1 champions, London Spitfire, as well as the Stage 2 and 3 champions, New York Excelsior.
The Gladiators remain one of the top teams in the league, utilising the versatility of Hydration while also having star power from the likes of Main Tank Fissure. The Gladiators are a single series victory behind the Valiant for top spot in the Stage 4 Playoffs, while only being map differential behind the London Spitfire for fourth place in the overall playoff standings.
…But must fix early map issues
This was a crucial week for the Gladiators as they pulled of a reverse sweep in both their match-ups, allowing them to narrowly escape with their victories.
With the pressure of playoffs looming, the Gladiators are in desperate need of fixing their early map issues though, with a perfect chance to do so in Week 5. The final two opponents for the Gladiators are Shanghai Dragons and Seoul Dynasty, with the Gladiators still having a chance to leapfrog both the Spitfire and the Uprising into third place in the overall Season League Standings with favourable results.
