Florida Mayhem vs Philadelphia Fusion

The Overwatch League is almost here! However before we get to see the best OW teams clash in January, we will get the chance to see them fight in exhibition matches this Wednesday. The first scheduled match was Florida Mayhem vs. Philadelphia Fusion, however there was a big change. Philadelphia Fusion had to pull out of the match citing "player logistic" issues, which is the main reason as to why San Francisco Shock had to replace them. They're not prepared for the preseason start, and the fact that one of their players - Sado - got banned due to boosting for money doesn't help them at all.

By all means this is not an easy match to predict, not in the slightest. In fact, betting on these exhibition matches might be a ludicrous idea seeing how almost none of these teams played on any stage in their current rosters. Every team is working hard on developing their cohesion, however things take time. Luckily for all Florida Mayhem fans (ex-Misfits), they retained almost all of the players from their previous incarnation.

The last you've seen from Misfits was the finals of the first season of Overwatch Contenders where they lost to Team Gigantti. It was a phenomenal, close Best of 7 series that went the distance. Gigantti started strong and got the map lead early, however Misfits showed incredible mental fortitude and resilience which allowed them to tie the series 3-3 before losing the final map.

Both teams have signed fantastic players and household names. San Francisco Shock are spearheaded by their strong DPS players like Sinatraa (last seen at the Overwatch World Cup alongside Houston Outlaws' Jake) and the legendary iddqd. They have the roster, but they haven't played together yet, which will definitely be the deciding factor come game day. Misfits went through thick and thin, and they went through a lot to get to the Grand Finals - ending their regular season with a perfect 7W-0L record, and losing only two maps but winning twenty seven. They were the favorites to win the whole tournament and only started to lose steam nearing the end.

Regardless, TviQ and Logix are incredibly consistent DPS players, Zebbosai and CWoosH are a very formidable frontline with Manneten and Zuppeh providing ample healing and backline protection. They will carry over their cohesion from their Misfits days and are a very strong middle-of-the-pack team.

Looking ahead, it will be incredibly exciting to see these newly formed teams fight for glory. A lot of it is up in the air, with only a couple of teams heavily favored to win the whole tournament.

While this won't be an easy and quick match by any stretch of the imagination, it should go in Florida's favor.