Florida Mayhem vs Dallas Fuel

For our final day of the Overwatch League preseason we have a clash that many had anticipated for quite a long time. Florida Mayhem (ex-Misfits) were one of the best European teams for quite a long time. They fell short to Team Gigantti in the finals of the Contenders: Season 1 tournament but they stormed through their opposition with relative ease during the regular season. Regardless, they entered the Overwatch League with the smallest roster with built-in synergy as well as staple, well-known players who can perform at the highest level.

However seeing them crash and burn against the San Francisco Shock on the first day of the preseason was somewhat shocking. They're pegged as one of the stronger mid-tier teams and to lose against a freshly formed SF Shock lineup that didn't even have a couple of key players due to age restrictions is not a good start.

Inconsistency is the key word that can be applied to all of their players. Logix is one of the best Tracers in the world but it all depends on the day, Tviq had some amazing plays (mostly on staple DPS heroes and a bit on Junkrat on Eichenwalde) but was also a complete non-factor on multiple maps and couldn't handle Shock's DPS duo - iddqd/Danteh and babybay. The problem that stood out the most however was the absolutely abysmal coordination between their support duo and the lack of any protection. Support ultimates are some of the most important in the game by far. Florida's supports were constantly getting picked off left and right by babybay and Danteh and were almost never able to fully protect their frontline. In the end, it was the San Francisco Shock that displayed better synergy and trust between their members than a lineup that has been together for far longer.

Going into their match against San Francisco Shock, Florida was considered a known quantity. A certain level of play and coordination was expected from them but it was nowhere to be seen. They have the smallest roster in the entire League with only six signed players, they don't have any substitutes and no one has to divide scrim time so these are pretty troubling signs for anyone sporting a Florida Mayhem jersey.

Dallas Fuel on the other hand managed to fight back a very hungry Houston Outlaws squad two days ago. While it wasn't nearly as clean as many thought it would be, Dallas showcased incredible composure when it mattered the most. While they often struggled to contain LiNkzr and Jake they were more in-sync, and individual members like Taimou and especially Effect managed to fight back to great success. They didn't go the expected route either, as they subbed in Seagull on Oasis but put him on Junkrat instead of his staple Pharah. Paired along with Taimou's Roadhog and Mickie's Orisa they had a completely different take on how to win the map which caught Houston off-guard.

They're one of the most sound and talented rosters in the League and arguably the strongest Western lineup so it's only natural to give them the benefit of the doubt here.

It's tough to give Florida any realistic chance after their disappointing showing against San Francisco Shock a couple of days ago, and to top it all off they're going up against a veteran squad that is incredibly flexible, innovative and fearless in their approach to the game. They constantly pull out different strats and comps and actually have the right players to do so.

Florida will probably fight a bit more than they did against SF Shock, but in the end it should go in Dallas' favor.