Boston Uprising vs London Spitfire

For our first match of the day we have a fight between London Spitfire and the Boston Uprising.

The third week of the Overwatch League will be a breather for the London squad after last week's hard fought, five map series against the Los Angeles Valiant. They dominated on Dorado and Lunar Horizon Colony but failed to play up to their standards (given the pedigree of the roster and their skill ceiling) on Oasis and Eichenwalde.

It's tough saying for sure what was to blame - whether it was the Valiant's superb defense or London's inefficiency on CP maps but it was a very concrete problem in their second week, losing both Oasis maps in both matches. They looked vulnerable, far more than their biggest Top 3 competitors - Seoul Dynasty and New York Excelsior.

However even when they're losing they have the strength to pull it together and that is perhaps the most important thing. They're aware of their issues and the holes in their game, but because they have the mental fortitude they have always managed to come back and emerge victorious. Even when they lost two maps in a row decisively against the Valiant, they managed to play like nothing happened once they stepped foot on Lijiang Tower, with Birdring having a Widowmaker masterclass - sniping Valiant members left and right regardless of the path they took.

Luckily for London that great virtue probably won't be needed this week as they're up against the San Francisco Shock and the Boston Uprising. Two teams that inhabit the bottom of the standings due to a plethora of reasons.

The London giants should have no issue dominating their opposition this week, as they finally came to a fantastic starting roster - spearheaded by the fantastic DPS trio of Birdring, Profit and Rascal. The sheer amount of mechanical prowess and game sense just within their DPS portion of the roster is astounding.

As for Boston Uprising, they've really been a mixed bag so far. While their 1-3 record doesn't paint the full picture, they've often shown glimpses of great potential. They made Seoul sweat and even took a map off of New York Excelsior - and not a lot of teams succeeded at that. The DPS duo of Dreamkazper and Striker are heavily underrated overall, and almost every team highly praises them after seeing what they're capable of.

Perhaps one of the easiest wins that they could have gotten was against the San Francisco Shock last week, but unfortunately for Boston fans they failed to do so after a five map brawler. It was intense from the very get go, with Boston taking Dorado and Eichenwalde, but falling short on Oasis and Horizon Lunar Colony. That back and forth tempo continued onto the deciding map - Lijiang Tower where they managed to go the distance as well. It's tough really pinpointing what went awry for the Boston squad but one thing is for sure - they don't know a lot of ways to play the game. Other than their standard Genji, Tracer and Winston dive team comp, they're often confused and out of sync whenever they try something different or new.

They're obviously a talented bunch of players, albeit pretty one-dimensional in game. When they're on their comfort picks they can do some damage, however they won't get the luxury to play the way they want to against the absolute best teams in the world and if they couldn't force their playstyle against a middle-of-the-pack team like San Francisco - there is absolutely no way that they will be able to do so against the London Spitfire.