San Francisco Shock vs Boston Uprising

For our last match of the day we have a very interesting clash between the Boston Uprising and the San Francisco Shock. Now while the memory of Stage 1 still lingers, things are quite different this time around. Boston are no longer a top tier team, in fact they're ranked eight at the moment, with four wins and four losses to their name. The Shock on the other hand remain near their ranking from last stage, however their level of play improved massively over the last couple of weeks. (much like Florida who while ranked tenth at the moment have the tools to compete for the playoffs it seems) Neither team started off the stage as they had hoped, but perhaps the disappointment was bigger for Boston as they've actually accomplished some success when the League began.

They were too slow to adapt and started giving up 0-4 clean sweeps to the opposing teams regardless of their rank. To make matters more complicated they were forced to play without Gamsu and we've actually seen the impact just a single player can make for this team. While Kalios did a serviceable job replacing him, Boston without Gamsu is not a top tier team - not even close. The amount of aggression that he brings to the table and the amount of space that he creates for his lethal DPS duo (Dreamkazper and Asher) is downright insane, he is one of the more dominant and skillful Winstons in the entire League and his play and how he enables his team elevates them as a whole.

The thing with Boston is - no one really knows how good they are at the moment. Now yes, they did outlast the Valiant last week however is that such a big achievement right now? No one is denying that the Valiant are playing some high level Overwatch but they went 0-2 in Week 4 (even losing 1-3 against the Florida Mayhem) which leaves them 1-3 in overall match win score over the last two weeks. The teams that they've beaten were at best "struggling" but more realistically lost/without an identity. (San Francisco before their improvement and Houston during their mid-Stage slump) The same can be said for Boston - they've improved over the course of the split, but is it enough?

As for the Shock, they're on a roll right now. They're quickly shaping up to be one of the most dangerous Western teams in the entire Overwatch League. The level of play that we've witnessed from Babybay and Danteh over the last couple of weeks was nothing short of sensational, Danteh especially who quickly cemented him as one of the best Sombras, Junkrats and perhaps even Tracers. He fully worked for his spot on the Shock and he isn't going anywhere soon as we've seen the Shock be more prepared to give up Babybay and start with Sinatraa and keep the versatility that Danteh brings to the table.

The last we've seen from the Shock was a close 2-3 loss at the hands of the Florida Mayhem which, after seeing how well the Florida team improved doesn't come as that big of a surprise. That said, the Shock started with both Sinatraa and Moth (in the support position) and they've obviously willing to test out all possibilities with their flexible, multi-man roster. That comes at a price as they didn't have that much evident synergy on display yesterday but it's the way to go in the long run.

Moth and Sinatraa aren't the only new faces as they're also entering this week with Architect in the DPS position and Super as a flex tank so no one really knows their starting line-up for tonight. Their potential is undeniable, however seeing how they're ready to experiment and willing to test out multiple team comps and players, it's not a smart time to bet on the underdogs.

We're going with Boston on this one, they're the more safer pick and they actually have reason to tryhard in this series whereas San Francisco Shock doesn't have a shot for playoffs. They're not opposed to winning either, but they made too many new additions to the team and they're surely looked to test them out in the last matches of Stage 2, meaning you shouldn't expect too much synergy. (Stage 3 might be a different beast though) While Boston are far from a top tier team, they're on an upswing and they're playing with the exact same roster as they did in Stage 1 so they do have the synergy down to a tee, and they're also coming back to their basics, to the things they did best and that is dive oriented team comps, with Gamsu and Note creating space for Dreamkazper and Asher to dominate.