Boston Uprising vs Los Angeles Valiant

For our second match of the day we have an incredibly exciting clash between the Boston Uprising and the Los Angeles Valiant. This is - at least on paper - a clash between the first and third best team in the League however as the weeks went by the Valiant's "stock" really fell after a couple of weeks of Stage 3 play. Sure, they were incredibly dominant but against which teams? Middle of the pack or below, and a win against the likes of Florida (and teams similar to them) don't really carry a lot of significance.

Valiant are currently a safe pick for the playoffs however there are a ton of cracks that are starting to show. They lost two of their last three matches after a sensational 5-0 start and their schedule isn't getting any easier. (even though they won't be fighting against New York this stage) Even though they have an insane tank duo in Fate and Space (one of the best Winstons in the League and a sensational flex tank in Space) and some phenomenal supports their DPS duo has been rather unimpressive lately. Soon leads in deaths per 10 minutes as Widowmaker and he's been put on hit-scan duty more often than not with Bunny being their go-to Tracer player. While he's been rather dominant at the beginning of the stage he fell off a bit as he wasn't able to play the way he wants against top tier opposition. When faced against better teams he simply cannot execute opposing supports with such ease and furthermore individual players like Jjonak and Shaz can fend for themselves.

Ever since they lost to the London Spitfire in a five map brawler in week three they've been rather inconsistent. They've lost to the Houston Outlaws last week in 1-3 fashion and other than a solid win against the Mayhem they weren't able to really assert their dominance nor show the world that they're deserving of the Stage 3 playoffs.

As for Boston there really isn't much that can be said. They're aiming for a perfect 10-0 stage record and while it's not going to be easy they could actually pull it off after getting wins against New York, London and Seoul in succession. They're the best team in the League currently - at least statistically - and even though they're not perfect and have had more than a couple of close series they're the team to beat and they're not showing any signs of slowing down. They have the tools to take down the Valiant but it probably won't be easy. Fortunately for all Boston fans, Gamsu and Note are more than capable enough to handle Space and Envy and they also have one of the best performing Zenyatta's in the entire League in Neko. (2nd and 3rd in all stats and while he doesn't make any flashy plays he does his job tremendously well and is the epitome of consistency)

While it might not be that clean or dominant, the Uprising should by all means emerge victorious.