Boston Uprising vs New York Excelsior

For our first match of the day we have an incredibly exciting clash between the New York Excelsior and the Boston Uprising.

No one really expected Boston to enter Stage 3 swinging but they surprised everyone in attendance after taking down (upsetting even) the Philadelphia Fusion in 3-2 fashion. It was a shock to many as Boston struggled to adapt to the changing meta for the majority of Stage 2, just barely managing to improve near the very end. Taking down a very dangerous Fusion squad that cemented themselves as arguably the best Western team (especially after taking down London in the playoffs two weeks prior) was nothing to scoff at but they didn't stop there. A day later they managed to outclass Houston on all fronts and get the 4-0 victory, propelling them towards playoff contention and building a ton of positive momentum as well.

Fast forward a couple of days later and Boston took the biggest hit imaginable - DreamKazper was accused of sexual harassment (among other things) and was expediently released from Boston. It's really hard to describe how big of a hit this really is, not just for Boston but for the Overwatch League as a whole, to lose such a highly talented player due to his own questionable (and morally reprehensible) life decisions. The League will carry on as it should, but Boston will take a really big hit in the long run. DreamKazper was not only one of the best performing DPS players in the League but an integral part of Boston's success. They couldn't achieve what they did so far if it wasn't for the clutch factor that DK brings to the table. His deep hero pool and ability to switch on the fly allowed Boston to do things other teams couldn't - without making the right substitutions, etc. When he and Striker performed they were one of the most dangerous DPS duos in the League that could by all means tango with the likes of Libero and Saebyeolbe.

Fortunately they have another DPS player signed and that is Mistakes. He is quite capable on Tracer but most importantly on Sombra which is skyrocketing in popularity with the recent meta and patch changes. That said there are a lot of question marks regarding their matches going forward, especially with the fact that you essentially want Striker on Tracer 24/7 given his proficiency on the hero which means that Mistakes will probably have to fill the insanely big void left by DreamKazper's removal from the starting lineup.

This is rather unfortunate given how well Boston played last week. It was exciting to see how high they could go in the future and whether or not they have what it takes to take down New York. Now with these changes to their roster it's fair to say that they don't have any chance going up against such a versatile and dangerous team that has only lost twice during the entire season.

As for the New York Excelsior there really isn't much that can be added. They're continuing their dominant run and they're surely looking to extend their spotless 8-0 map record as well. (four of those wins came at the expense of London) They're the team to beat right now and quite frankly, there doesn't seem to be a team that is up to the task.

For Boston the timing of this whole conundrum couldn't be worse. They're in the running for playoffs but they're also just a single win from getting knocked out. They need to keep up performing at a very high level in order to reach the Top 3 and without one of their key players - a player that was touted as one of the best flex DPS players in the West after weeks of performing out of his mind - their chances were immediately plummeted.

We're going all in on New York for this one and with good reason.