Los Angeles Gladiators vs Shanghai Dragons

For our third match of the day we have an interesting matchup between the LA Gladiators and the Shanghai Dragons.

Now while this isn't exactly the most exciting clash around, it's quite the important one for all teams in the bottom half of the standings and perhaps a big chance for Shanghai to score their first win.

The Gladiators continue their confusing run in the Overwatch League. They remain one of the most inconsistent teams in the League as well, as they beat the Shock in 4-0 fashion last week and then proceeded to get outclassed by Dallas just a couple of days afterwards. With the Gladiators it's never the fact that they lose but rather the way in which they lose, the mistakes they make and the lack of logic behind them. They quite literally show obvious improvements in synergy and communication in one game and then proceed to fall apart just a day afterwards. (almost regardless of the map and opponent)

They're too obvious too often, so much so that they could perhaps even be characterized as one-dimensional at times. Their problems are also often obvious - a clear lack in communication between their tanks and their backline (Shaz getting left all by himself too often), their individual inconsistency (Hydration being a non-factor and a game changer sometimes even within a single series) and communication issues overall.

They won against San Francisco but they were far from dominant and clean and they weren't always the better team either. They only picked up the pace on King's Row where they displayed some synergy and team fight prowess but even that wasn't without fault.

Luckily for the Gladiators the addition of Fissure in the main roster is a huge one, and it became apparent in their very first series. He leads the League in eliminations, "Primal Rage" kills and hero damage on Winston all per ten minutes. He is also far more versatile and perhaps more importantly consistent!

Against Dallas they always overextended, far out of the line of sight (and impact) of their supports and other than a couple of good individual plays they were read completely on almost every map and they failed to mount an against a very game and synergetic Fuel lineup.

As for the Shanghai dragons there isn't much that can be said other than the fact that they continued their slow improvement from Stage 1 into Stage 2, however it wasn't enough last week to secure them the win. That said they had Dallas Fuel sweating on more than one occasion and they even took Hollywood in dominant fashion with an unexpected quad tank comp. It's a great team comp for them as they often lack the basic team cohesion to pull off something more complex, so pilling up into a death-ball negates some of their biggest weaknesses.

It feels like a broken record by now however Diya and Undead have been playing really well but the question remains - will it be enough? Will the rest of the team be able to fully support and enable them to do what they're so good at?

Statistically, the chances are incredibly slim. While the Gladiators are far from a consistent team they're at least a bit more layered and have a higher number of threats. That, paired with a consistent pillar in Fissure means that they have the tools to take down Shanghai but it probably won't be as easy as people expect.