London Spitfire vs Boston Uprising

For our first match of the day, we have a pretty hype match-up – London Spitfire against the Boston Uprising.

Now, both these teams weren’t exactly able to find a lot of success throughout the first stage of play – which means they were merely okay, if not underwhelming. Everyone expected more from them, and that holds especially true for the Spitfire, seeing how they became the very first OWL champions.

But they were unable to adapt to the meta, they were unable to lock down an identity for themselves, and as a result, were unable to tango with the best teams the League had to offer. With stage two and its many changes and improvements meta-wise, all twenty teams are playing on somewhat of a level playing field, and that goes for both London as well as Boston.

The Uprising were able to start the second stage off with a bang because of their stellar wins over the Atlanta Reign (an insanely close 3-2), and the Toronto Defiant (also a 3-2 war). They were then unable to keep going full steam ahead as they met the same fate – a 2-3 loss against the Hangzhou Spark last week. That loss didn’t exactly hurt their stock too much, but they have two tough challenges ahead for week three – the Spitfire and the Vancouver Titans. That’s a tall order, regardless of the way you look at it.

Then again, they’ve only won in reverse sweeps this stage. That means they had to dig deep – really deep in order to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. That’s both commendable – seeing how they had the mental fortitude and grit in order to turn things around, but also a worrying sign. They were constantly put in an disadvantageous position from which they had to fight an uphill battle. Depending on the opponent, they won’t always be able to

They’re all playing really well overall and the meta is definitely trending towards their strengths, but until we see them step up and play a good match from start to finish, it’s kind of hard giving them any benefit of the doubt. They have the right players and a stellar coaching staff, but they need more time in order to sync up and actually start playing as well as they could. Their recent wins gave them a bit of momentum, but against a team of Spitfire’s caliber, that’s probably not going to mean much.

The story isn’t much different when it comes to the Spitfire. They’re good, at times even great, but were unable to really pull ahead of their competition when it mattered the most. They were recently able to take down Florida Mayhem (2-1), the Atlanta Reign (4-0), and the Philadelphia Fusion (2-1), so they’re definitely doing something right in their preparation and play, but they’re still struggling to find an identity and maintain a certain level of play. They’re all exceptional players, however, and should be more than capable at turning things around and getting to the playoffs seeing how the current meta favors a good chunk of their starting line-up. They looked downright incredible against Atlanta, they were in-sync, aggressive, commanding and just dominant across the board. They need to focus on their strengths and the fact they can go back to their DPS-oriented roots should give them an upper hand going forward, especially the many mid-tier teams around them.

They’re currently ranked fifth with three wins and a respectable plus six map differential. They’re not exactly knocking on the top three, but they could if everything goes “according to plan.”

We’re going with the London Spitfire on this one, although not with full confidence. They’re the better team; they won the inaugural Overwatch League season for a reason. They’re downright exceptional, and even though they struggled a bit in stage one, it seems as though they were able to fix most of their problems and enter stage two on a high note.

They’re undefeated so far and have looked great in most of their outings, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt.

With the meta shifting back towards certain DPS team comps and strategies, they should be able to shine once again sooner rather than later. That said, Boston aren’t exactly a slouch, so you can expect one heck of a fight that might, in theory, even go the distance.