Los Angeles Valiant vs Philadelphia Fusion

The Eastern region isn't nearly as fascinating (and prone to veering into the fiesta realm) as the Western one, which means the games themselves are both different *and* somewhat peculiar. We also don't have the foggiest idea as to who's better than whom seeing how Seoul, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Philadelphia have all impressed us in slightly different ways. They're all stacked beyond measure and are equipped to leave a mark in some way, shape, and form.

The Fusion have perhaps been the least impressive of the bunch, but we're talking nuances here -- no one should be reading too much into their games during a meta as flexible and malleable as the one we're in right now. Everyone's still trying to figure things out, to conjure up some kind of a playstyle, an identity, if you will. And, naturally, some teams have been more successful at this than others but it's a process and it'll take a while no matter how a team decides to approach it.

The Fusion have numerous exceptionally talented players and they *will* make the Midseason Madness cut -- of that you can be certain. And, to help them out, they've been given an opponent who, while generally a lot better than we expected, probably isn't on the same level.

Their record doesn't tell the whole tale though. The fact that the Valiant went blow for blow with Seoul Dynasty, Hangzhou Spark, and the Shanghai Dragons speaks volumes. They're obviously a dangerous contender and a feisty one at that. Going the distance with the absolute best teams in the Eastern region is no small feat, so they deserve a ton of credit for it and, who knows, maybe they'll be able to correct course in the near future and really leave a mark come Summer Showdown. Right now, though, they're at too big of a deficit and are almost surely *not* going to be turning it around -- there's simply no time left.

We're going with the Fusion on this one, but it's not going to be as "easy" as the odds would suggest.