Dallas Fuel vs Philadelphia Fusion

For our last match of the day we have a very interesting match-up between the Philadelphia Fusion and the Dallas Fuel. For the Fuel this match carries absolutely zero significance however the Fusion could use every single map and match win given how they're fighting for that last playoff spot.

Philadelphia entered Stage 4 with a bang and it was exactly the start they needed. After a very mediocre Stage 3 they had to improve and reinvigorate themselves in order to reach the Top 6 and it seems like they actually succeeded. To be fair they didn't really have the hardest schedule in the world as they had to fight against Boston (a bottom three team right now), Seoul and Shanghai. Not exactly top tier opposition. Regardless, Philadelphia strives off of momentum and they certainly have it right now. It's all about confidence going into a match and Philly has the opportunity to start 4-0 with a win over Dallas.

However because of the fact that they faced weaker teams, we don't really know how strong they really are right now. If anything, they've all stepped up on an individual level. We've finally seen the return of Carpe's staple Widowmaker as he absolutely wrecked house last week, echoing his Stage 1 and Stage 2 level of play.

The only map they last was when they started with Fragi and Poko. They were able to introduce SADO and Hotba as their second tank duo and to be frank they actually played better. With a 100% win rate so far, they displayed more than enough synergy with the rest of the team. SADO in particular had a very different plastyle when compared to Fragi and the stylistic difference could be a very positive change for Philadelphia. While he absorbed less damage, he doubled Fragi's eliminations, "Earthshatter" kills and died 50% less. An interesting tidbit is the fact that Fragi scored almost three charge eliminations per ten minutes whereas SADO only had 0.6, meaning he's always with his team, rarely going in solo looking for a kill.

It's a frightening thought, that Philadelphia can only get better and stronger going forward with a more subdued and tactical tank duo. Their DPS line-up isn't slacking by any stretch of the imagination, as EQO's skill were on full display last week. He also leads the League on many heroes but perhaps most surprising his Pharah is number one in Hero DMG, eliminations and final blows per ten minutes.

As for Dallas, well, they actually won a game and not against a team called the Shanghai Dragons. The last time they won against another team was late February - exactly three months ago. Their match against the Boston Uprising was something of a Team EnVyUs renaissance - and in more ways than one.

Not only did they utilize Lucio's speed boost to perfection on Blizzard World, but they were the first team that pulled out Reaper and completely outclassed the Uprising with a couple of ult combos. Taimou had one of his best games in the League so far, especially on Widowmaker - ending Blizzard World with 25 eliminations and 3 deaths, and Lunar Horizon Colony with 24 elims and 5 deaths.

He was their biggest playmaker and when it came to Oasis, AKM stepped up and performed incredibly well, especially on McCree and Pharah. However their biggest strength right now is Mickie who's arguably the best performing Brigitte player in the entire League. His stats are downright insane, with his ultimate "Inspire" having an uptime of 35%. Mickie ended the match with almost 30k damage, 30k healing and almost 25k armor given. He is the epitome of a battling frontline support as he never backs down and it was his willingness to fight and persevere that allowed Dallas to outclass Boston on every map. With others stepping up as well there is no doubt that they might actually be a somewhat solid team and while this might be an overreaction to a single win against a crumbling team, Dallas always had potential. The fact that Seagull is now starting more often than not gives them an edge in a certain way as he can flex from D.Va to DPS within a second and still play on an incredibly high level. (his D.Va in particular has been on point)

We're going with Philadelphia on this one but not with full confidence. In their match against Boston, Dallas looked pretty incredible. They were in-sync, they swapped when they should've, they played a plethora of different team comps and perhaps most importantly everyone carried their weight, starting from Taimou who had a renaissance performance all the way to Mickie who displayed arguably the best Brigitte skills in the entire League. Going into this match, we don't know whether that was Dallas playing well, or Boston playing abysmally.

Philadelphia on the other hand remains an incredibly talented team at the top of their game, a team that is very layered and capable of playing a plethora of team comps and strategies so they obviously have the edge.