Philadelphia Fusion vs Guangzhou Charge

No one's all too sure of what's happening over in the Eastern region. Just when we think that things have settled down, that some kind of explanation can be extrapolated and conjured up, an inexplicable twist occurs, turning everything we know into something totally new and foreign.

This is an awful lot of flowery language, but the point is rather simple: don't even *attempt* to understand what's happening and who's better than whom. These things tend to shift and change on a whim.

Chengdu have actually attained a .500 record, the Valiant have pulled off a few tremendous upsets, Hangzhou don't seem to be as good and capable as we had expected and the Fusion, never the ones to be outdone, go from being downright spectacular to darn near dreadful. And it doesn't even matter whom they face: they're their own biggest enemy. Whether they'll get on the same page and actually mount an offensive still remains to be seen, but betting on them sure has been a wild ride.

Chengdu have sort of solidified their spot as a "middle of the pack" gatekeeper but they, too, can overperform when you least expect it. It's all a mess; the "circle of suck" some call it and, well, we'd simply have to agree.

The Fusion *are* better, but there's still no definitive answer as to how much. Their loss to the Los Angeles Valiant still lingers in everyone's minds, and so does the 1-3 shellacking opposite the Chengdu Hunters. They did, in all fairness, bounce back in style against Hangzhou, but whether that's the result of their hypothetical resurgence or just a one-off thing still remains to be seen.

In any case, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt here. They're miles better and if they don't go for anything crazy they'll surely be able to prove it, too.