Boston Uprising vs Dallas Fuel

For our first match of the day we have a fairly interesting clash between the Boston Uprising and the Dallas Fuel.

Boston's incredible 14 match winning streak was snapped last week by the Philadelphia Fusion and while losing isn't such a big deal - especially not when a new patch and meta comes along - losing in such convincing fashion twice in one week is. Now while they are a shoe in for the season playoffs they still have to perform up to a certain standard if they want to secure a high enough spot in the rankings.

The biggest problem Boston had last week was their stubbornness in trying to make their tried and true dive comp work. They forced the old meta and it simply didn't work - as everyone predicted going into Stage 4. They failed to adapt and failed to realize what's best in the current patch. It's a frightening thing for Boston, the fact that what they did best is no longer the most optimal way to play the game.

This was perhaps most evident on Gibraltar against Houston when their pushes were constantly stopped mainly due to Jake's stellar Brigitte play. He almost single-handedly countered their attacks by picking off Striker multiple times in a row. Boston looked lost and without a clear response.

To make matter worse Mistakes played a lot worse and had a lot less impact in both matches and there might be a very clear reason why that happened. Since Tracer is no longer as effective, Striker was able to do a lot less work than before. He is no longer able to clean the opposing backline with relative ease, he's no longer able to create chaos so that Mistakes can snipe people from long distance and that is a problem. With Striker's effectiveness dropping Mistakes has to step up considerably. Fortunately Widowmaker is still a key pick on more than enough maps but if he isn't able to perform up to the level of say LiNkzr, Carpe, Birdring or the "Big Boss" Pine himself then he won't be able to do his part.

If anything they did showcase their strengths on Control maps, especially on Oasis when they were able to best Houston. It's not a lot but they do have something going for them. (especially with some fantastic ult combos from Kalios' Zarya and the rest of the Uprising)

In short, this stage will be the true test for the Uprising. They were slow to adapt to the changing meta in Stage 2 and they failed to perform then - will the same thing happen this time around? They're a highly talented team no doubt but now is the time for them to prove their worth.

As for Dallas, well, much of the same. They're still struggling to really form an identity for themselves however they did improve perhaps in a couple of areas. While they did manage to win against Shanghai in their very first match last week, well, it was against Shanghai so it doesn't really carry much significance. Their 0-4 loss to the Los Angeles Gladiators is far more interesting to analyze.

They had a couple of good moments, and to be fair they did improve when it comes to swapping out players and playing with certain line-ups for specific maps and strategies. We are no longer seeing AKM's abysmal Genji, but instead we saw a lot more of Taimou who had a couple of stellar plays. Seagull however was the man of the hour on more than one occasion with his insane Pharah ultimates which almost managed to secure them a win on Oasis. Unfortunately even though they had 99% on the first point they were swept by the Gladiators. Overall - some improvements but nothing too impressive in general.

After witnessing Boston's fall from grace last week we're betting here with a lot less confidence than we'd like. Sure, they're the favorites but it all comes down to which team manages to adapt the best to the current - somewhat flexible - meta. Boston showed almost zero competence at the current patch last week which is one of the main reasons why they failed to put up much of an offensive. Will they perform better this time around, now that they've had some time to prepare and adapt? Time will tell but they do have the odds in their favor.

We're going with Boston on this one but do bet a lower amount as Dallas does have the tendency to surprise at the most random of times.