Los Angeles Gladiators vs Florida Mayhem

For our first match of the day we have an incredibly exciting match between the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Florida Mayhem. Now if you told someone after Stage 1 that this would be a competitive or even engaging clash people would have probably laughed - and with good reason. Florida was pretty lost, their DPS department didn't function that well other than a couple of standout moments in each series - which was never enough and they only managed to defeat the Shanghai Dragons - which isn't worth much these days.

However the last two weeks have been a completely different story. They finally started playing a lot better, they displayed greater team cohesion and actually managed to go blow-for-blow with some of the best teams in the League, however when they actually started winning people started noticing the depth of their improvement.

They dominated over the Houston Outlaws and had a strong 2-0 lead before crumbling and getting reverse swept. They then outclassed Dallas Fuel in 3-2 fashion the very next day and the biggest highlight worthy moment was their dominant win against the Los Angeles Valiant. This is the series where their improvements became the most apparent. Their comms were clear and in unison - unlike most Overwatch teams that simply scream on the top of their lungs giving out tons of unnecessary information, and their individual play was fearless and mostly spotless. Speaking of individual improvement, both Tviq and Logix started playing out of their minds now that their clutch snipes and kills can't be negated by an enemy Mercy. The amount of game winning plays Logix had yesterday against the Valiant was mind-blowing as they walked over the Valiant regardless of who was the second DPS - Agilities or Kariv. Logix displayed incredible mechanical prowess on Widowmaker as well on Route 66 as he hit shots that seems impossible, completely outclassing both Soon and Kariv.

Most people are praising their newest addition in their coaching staff - Hyun-jin "r2der" Choi, a renown Korean player and Meta Athena coach. Ever since he arrived in the Mayhem house they started playing with more confidence, they had a clear game plan for every opponent and map which is something that was absent prior. They're also far more ready to go off-script and play what they feel is right, like Tviq playing Hanzo on Route.

On the other hand we have the Gladiators and they've been wrecking house. After yesterday's dominant win against the Houston Outlaws there is no doubt that they're the best Western team at the moment, and also as it turns out the most fearless.

Even though they started off slow on Volskaya, losing the first map they rebounded in incredible fashion. They were clutch on Lijiang Tower with Asher and Hydration cleaning up the Valiant when it mattered the most. They were then able to recreate their magic on King's Row and actually full hold in their defense much like they did against the London Spitfire. The Outlaws responded well on Gibraltar but completely fell apart on Ilios where the Gladiators flexed around everything - Hydration on Lucio and Shaz on Tracer.

Every member of the Gladiators stepped up when it mattered the most however it is the addition of Fissure that allowed them to be so aggressive, so flexible and full of confidence.

We're still on the fence with the Los Angeles Gladiators. Their potential is undeniable, they stepped up considerably both individually and as a team however they had flashes of brilliance earlier as well so if they continue playing as well as they're playing right now they're a serious threat to the top Korean trifecta.

As for Florida they're improving incredibly fast as well however it's tough seeing them taking down the Gladiators. That said both teams have been playing out of their minds and have shown incredible confidence regardless of the opponent so expect an extremely close match that could by all means go the distance.

We're going with the Gladiators here but seeing how many upsets have been happening over the last couple of weeks it might be best to bet a lower amount.