Only two weeks remain in the Overwatch League’s 2019 Stage 4 regular season, with a vast majority of the teams still in the play-off hunt.
Reign still undefeated
The Atlanta Reign deceptively sit in third place although they maintain a
perfect 3-0 record thus far. The Reign are coming off a bye week straight into
the grinder as they first battle with the 5-0 Washington Justice, who sit atop
the standings, before a match against the 4-2 London Spitfire in their final
match of the regular season.
The
Reign, much like the Justice and others, have thrived thus far in the 2-2-2
meta, with their multi-man DPS rotation filled with talent and the flexibility
needed. Obviously given some extended time off, there is some concern about the
Reign starting slowly, which they clearly cannot afford to do against the
Justice, who continue to find success one way or another. Dogman is one of the
most passionate players in the game, with his shot-calling and energy being a
core of the success the Reign have seen thus far in Stage 4.
Shock continue to shine
The San Francisco Shock also sit undefeated at 4-0, with their lone match-up
this week against a Chengdu Hunters squad desperate to improve their play-off
chances. As expected, San Francisco had no real issue swapping over to the
2-2-2 meta, with their ever-talented line-up remaining more or less intact.
The Shock are coming off an incredibly productive 2-0 week that included a victory and revenge over the Shanghai Dragons for their loss in the Finals of Stage 3. The other match was a predictable sweep over the Dallas Fuel, but now the Shock’s attention turns to finishing out the Stage with a potential chance at the number one overall seed.
The Hunters are a fairly difficult team to prepare for given their wide variety of heroes and willingness to think outside the box, but keep in mind the Shock can have sinatraa come in and play either DPS or off-tank depending on the match-up and the map.
Things
do not get any easier after this week for the Shock with their final two series
against the Vancouver Titans and the Los Angeles Valiant, who have a combined
7-2 record thus far in Stage 4.
Mayhem looking to cause trouble
The Florida Mayhem have their final match-ups of the season this week with a
real chance that they can reach the 4-3 mark and potentially sneak into the
play-offs.
Previous to this Stage, the Mayhem were one of the laughing stocks of the league, with loss after loss despite some decent talent and continuous changing of players depending on what they deemed necessary at the time. Yet the 2-2-2 meta has completely changed everything for this team, with Sayaplayer reminding the entire world about his absolutely insane mechanical skills and abilities. With Fate also on the roster, the Mayhem are suddenly not only a relevant team, but one with true upset potential moving forward and a team many others would be concerned to face in the play-offs should they be able to make it.
First
up for the Mayhem is the opening match of the entire week when they take on a
Boston Uprising squad that are 0-3 with three map victories all Stage.
Interestingly enough, the follow-up to their match against Boston is a rematch
against the Toronto Defiant, who the Mayhem were able to defeat just this past
week 3-1. Keep in mind that the Defiant are 1-5 and they still managed to find
a map win, so while this looks like a brilliant schedule on paper, Mayhem
cannot afford to get sloppy.
Conclusion
The change to the 2-2-2 meta has completely overhauled Overwatch in Stage 4.
The Justice and the Reign have very much been the surprise sides so far and all
eyes will be on them as they look to capitalise on their ability to adapt the
quickest.
