Houston Outlaws vs London Spitfire

For our first match of the day we have an incredibly exciting clash between the London Spitfire and the Houston Outlaws. This is not only a rematch between our number two and three teams from Stage 1, but also just a fight between two incredibly talented, top tier teams.

London is entering Stage two on a high note, and $100.000 richer. They big farewell to their DPS Rascal and main tank Fissure, however they won't be too fazed going into Stage 2 as they retained the same highly successful six man roster from Stage 1.

Everyone is eagerly awaiting to see how well they play tonight as they're fighting New York Excelsior tomorrow in a repeat of the finals. They're surely looking to dominate over the Outlaws and keep certain map-specific strats under wraps however it's questionable whether or not they will be able to do so as the Outlaws are quite the formidable opponent.

As for Houston they reached the Top 3 of Stage 1 and that in itself is an incredible achievement, one worthy of the highest praise. Unfortunately they were unable to repeat their mid-week performance and they lost to London 1-3 the second time around and thus failing to reach the finals.

That said we are entering a completely different meta - one with new strategies, new maps and new team comps. London proved to be the best team after five weeks of competition however the playing field is more leveled now and that gives Houston quite a bit of strength. However that might just be wishful thinking after seeing just how dominant Seoul Dynasty was against the Los Angeles Valiant yesterday, 4-0'ing then without breaking a sweat. A single pick from Fleta translated into a strong push and soon it was game over for the boys in green. Houston thrives as an anti-dive team however London are very versatile and strong on almost anything, and now that they've settled completely on a starting lineup they should prosper and improve even more.

To make matters worse, Houston will no longer be able to rely on Jake's incredibly dominant Junkrat and Bani won't be as effective with Mercy out of the meta which means we will see a lot more of Boink in the starting lineup. While these changes will surely affect Houston, it's tough to predict how much. Junkrat mine changes were significant nerfs, however in the hands of a master like Jake - perhaps it's still viable?

Because of so many question marks we're going with a very low bet on this one. Regardless of how strong London is, Houston has the "x-factor" and they can make any game incredibly competitive - regardless of the meta.