Houston Outlaws vs Dallas Fuel

For our first match of the day we have a clash between the Houston Outlaws and the Dallas Fuel - a Texan el clasico! Sadly it's not as hyped up as it could have been, with both teams performing below expectations.

Last night we saw a promising glimpse from the Outlaws. You could see their improved overall synergy, especially in their tank lineup with Muma causing the biggest chunk of trouble for the Shanghai Dragons on Winston. But that's the key - they were up against Shanghai. Beating them in dominant 4-0 fashion isn't as strange or unexpected these days.

It is when things get more competitive that Houston falters.

Most criticism has been focused on their DPS Jake and his inconsistency and overall effectiveness. When he's on Junkrat, it seems like no one can compare. (flashes of their Lunar Horizon defense against Seoul comes to mind) But when he isn't on Junkrat, you almost never see him dominate. He simply doesn't play heroes like Pharah or Soldier well enough to compete with the likes of Taimou, Fleta, Pine, etc.

He has fantastic a fantastic game sense and is surely a solid addition in the shotcalling department, but against top tier teams it doesn't seem to be enough. We saw what happened when they faced New York - Pine and Fleta had free reign to dominate due to their tanks providing ample space and security.

As for the rest of their roster, they stood their ground against New York Excelsior - if we ignore the Ilios shellacking. Coolmat was very solid and LiNkzr put on carry performances more than once. Perhaps the biggest surprise was how well Clockwork did on Tracer after multiple games where he was a complete non-factor. (finally showing what made him such a good Scout in his old competitive Team Fortress 2 days)

This is by no means an easy match to predict. The Outlaws had serious ups and downs over their five matches so far (including the preseason) and the results have been mixed. They had flashes of brilliance but they were too far and few between.

That is exactly what makes this match so unique and so hard to predict. These two teams already fought in the preseason, with Dallas taking the fifth and final map - Lijiang Tower. It is important to note that Dallas wasn't tryharding by any stretch of the imagination in December, but then again they didn't look that great last week either.

They have glaring weaknesses - the lack of synergy between their tanks, Mickie's mediocre D.Va (especially when compared to someone like Poko or Coolmat), the lack of a shotcaller and even the fact that Taimou and Seagull just can't seem to pop off as they're expected to. You watch them swap out players almost every map but they never seem to force their own playstyle or strategy.

Fortunately they already played Houston once so they should know their weaknesses. They should in theory be able to once again contain LiNkzr and Jake and pull off the win. It should by no means be easy, but the fact that they failed to win even a single match so far should further motivate them to dominate this time around.