Houston Outlaws vs Florida Mayhem

For our first match of the day we have an exciting clash between the Houston Outlaws and the Florida Mayhem. This match carried very little significance in regards to overall standings, seeing how Florida are currently winless whereas Houston has just a single win. That said, in those three losses the Outlaws looked like a very competent top tier team so even though their record so far doesn't speak volumes about their skill and potential they're still quite a threat.

While it's almost certainly too late for Houston to aim for the playoffs of Stage 3 they still want to be in the running for the playoffs when Stage 4 comes to an end so winning every single match (and map) still counts. They're well aware of this fact so expect them to enter Week 3 with confidence especially seeing how they're up against two "bottom tier" teams in Florida and Dallas. While they didn't have an easy strength of schedule at the very start things are getting easier going forward. We've seen the Outlaws both at their best (beating London in week 1) and worst, we've seen their strengths and pitfalls and it's always a flip of a coin, especially when they're up against the upper echelon of the League as they have an uncanny ability to step up to the level of their opponents.

As for the Mayhem, they're entering this match after nearly beating the Boston Uprising last week and that's no small task. It was a game of inches with Boston clutching it out in the end - but barely. It was an incredible sight to behold, a team that is at the very bottom of the standings fighting for every meter of the map with a team that is tied for first place. Mistakes in particular showed up once again (after his fantastic play against New York just a couple of days prior) and did a ton of heavy lifting on Widowmaker and Sombra. Even though they were full held by Boston on the first point of Anubis it didn't stop them from coming back and almost reverse sweeping the Uprising. Sayaplayer in particular will be the player to watch tonight as he - much like LiNkzr - has the "X factor". When he's on the top of his game he delivers some incredible, highlight worthy plays with his Widowmaker and McCree. Depending on the set of maps he could very well be the deciding factor tonight and he showed that he's more than able to tango with the likes of Mistakes, Carpe and Birdring.

While they're still fine tuning a couple of things and further developing synergy, this is the strongest Florida has looked yet and they didn't even start with Logix as he was sick. They have a very capable roster that's only just starting to test out their own limits and with Sayaplayer's consistency they absolutely have the tools to contest for a higher spot even against some of the mainstays of the Overwatch League.

As for this match-up specifically there are a lot of variables. How confident will LiNkzr play against Sayaplayer? Will Houston's tank duo perform up to expectations? They played on hell of a series against New York last week and we've seen just how good Jake and LiNkzr can be as a DPS duo when they're given a platform to shine on.

This probably won't be nearly as close as people expect, especially after seeing just how strong Florida looked over the last couple of weeks. While the Outlaws didn't start off as well as they had hoped they're still a force to be reckoned with and they're surely coming into this match well prepared. While they might not execute their gameplan to a tee they're still favored and with good reason.