Houston Outlaws vs Philadelphia Fusion

For our second match of the day we have a very exciting clash between the Houston Outlaws and the Philadelphia Fusion.

Now won't just be for the bragging rights, these two teams are fighting for the unofficial title of "best Western team" at the moment, with Dallas Fuel perhaps being a silent dark horse on the side. While Houston continued their incredible run from Stage 1, Philadelphia went on bit of a downward spiral nearing the very end, barely managing to win against the Florida Mayhem.

All that changed last week though, as they annihilated both Boston Uprising and Florida Mayhem, with a perfect 8-0 map score.

But let's focus on Houston first.

People forget that they only lost three times so far, which is an incredible feat - not just for a western team but in general. Two of those wins came in the very first week of the Overwatch League, and the third was a close 2-3 loss to Seoul Dynasty and yet they were fighting without LiNkzr in the lineup. One could fairly presume that they would've won that close series if they had their full lineup but a loss is still a loss.

They made quick work of Boston last week as they displayed superior teamwork and skill throughout the series, regardless of the map. They were simply too flexible and strong on every team comp they went for and it made all the difference. Houston also realized how much work Gamsu did for Boston so they invested ample resources into shutting him down and it paid off in spades - they killed him 15 times on Hanamura which was 11 times more than Boston killed Muma. Without an aggressive Winston in the mix it was easy for the Outlaws to clean up. It didn't matter who was in the lineup either - LiNkzr flexed on to Zarya on Lijiang Tower and Muma showed off his fantastic skills in Reinhardt as well. They had some trouble on King's Row against Gamsu's superb Reinhardt plays but they managed to force the win regardless.

We've also seen Jake play Junkrat to the same amount of success as before, perhaps this time only for zone control than straight-up one shotting but still.

However their win against a game London Spitfire last week was always a possibility beforehand but it was just too good to be true in a way. London started off a bit strong with Hagopeun showing some of the best Sombra plays so far in Stage 2. Houston bounced back strong on Nepal though as London played unexpectedly sloppy echoing their Stage 1 CP map problems. It was a complete back and forth with Houston dominating on King's Row but failing to repeat on Route 66. It all came down to Ilios, and Houston have generally always been better on Control Maps which allowed them to win in the end thanks to some clutch plays and coordination.

As for Philadelphia, well, they're not looking half bad either. In fact, they're looking in-sync and rather terrifying.

They subbed in EQO instead of ShadowBurn which seemed like bad idea, however EQO - an Israeli OW World Cup representative - had an absolutely mesmerizing Genji masterclass. He didn't wait for the perfect opportunity - he made them, eventually killing 9 players with three "Dragonblades" and a dozen more with his shurikens. That, paired with the perfect coordination between their players allowed them to snowball from the very get go. They were relentless and stormed every map without fear which left Boston wondering what they did wrong and how they could've better countered. We've seen Fragi's staple Reinhardt once again on Lijiang as he charged his "Earthshatters" on a 29s average. Boston bounced back with a solid attack on Hollywood however Fusion responded in kind.

There was constant chaos, but when you looked closely you could have seen that Florida new exactly what they were doing - there was a method behind it.

Perhaps the man worthy of the most praise is Carpe. He comes in each week and simply dominated the opposition and is incredibly consistent. He always delivers and when left on his own he dishes out insane damage - which was evident from a prolonged 6K near the third point. If they want to stand a chance against Houston, he will once again have to perform at the highest possible level, however it won't be as easy.

Against Florida Mayhem it was much of the same, with Carpe and EQO having zero deaths on multiple maps and yet over twenty eliminations per player. They only faltered on Nepal where Florida played just a bit better and had better ult management, however Hollywood and Gibraltar were almost flawless, with Carpe having yet another highlight reel showing. (13/0 on Hanamura, 15/5 on Nepal and 17/1 on Hollywood)

But the Outlaws are a different kind of beast.

In short, it won't be that easy for the Fusion to find the same openings against a top tier team like the Outlaws as they did with a crumbling Boston and Florida. That said Philadelphia looks quite dangerous with and without ShadowBurn. They were incredibly dominant last week overall, and even though the Florida Mayhem match isn't really the best gauge of their strength it was still a display of mechanical prowess and team coordination.

We're going with Houston here. They're simply at another level and Philadelphia won't have such an easy time realizing their win conditions this time around when they're up against the second best team in the League.