San Francisco Shock vs Dallas Fuel

Going into the Overwatch League, it would have been rather hard to find someone who didn't have Dallas Fuel in their Top 5 - at the very least. The reasons were aplenty - championship caliber roster, some of the best players in the world, renown DPS duo with one of the best Tracers in Overwatch. They had a couple of issues here and there most notably in their lineup but those have been quickly fixed with Seagull and xQc.

Even when the preseason began, they weren't extremely dominant but they got the job done, and it looked like they experimented far more than usual as the preseason matches had zero impact on the regular season - so why not?

However now after two weeks of play a lot of people are disappointed and even worried. There are a ton of problems with the team, and even though they had a couple of close matches - most notably their first one against Seoul, it's still a far cry from what people have been expecting.

The problem is - they have to choose between Taimou and Seagull for their primary DPS, and neither of them are performing that well, which is one of the main reasons why Seagull started more often last week. They have completely different champion pools, which pidgeonholes them into playing strats that even they're not proficient in. With Taimou/Seagull underperforming, that creates too big of a burden on EFFECT to carry. To make things worse they cannot compete with xQc who is banned for the entirety of the first stage, meaning they have to start with Cocco who, while a very capable tank player isn't as good of a Winston as xQc.

Luckily for Dallas, their Week 3 schedule is pretty forgiving as they will fight two bottom of the pack teams in Boston Uprising and the San Francisco Shock. This should by all means be the moment where they turn things around.

They're also probably starting their original EnVyUs lineup with Taimou, Mickie, EFFECT, Cocco, Chips and Haryhook mainly because they want to settle on a stable, consistent roster that has enough synergy to compete. We've saw that approach garner a single map win against the London Spitfire which - while being a very mild consolation prize - still means something.

As for the San Francisco Shock, they're currently sitting at a 2-3 record, and are probably the perfect example of a middle-of-the-pack team. They're not strong enough to fight against the big dogs, they're obviously stronger and more capable than teams like Shanghai and even the Boston Uprising and they even have the potential to upset a couple of teams that are aiming for the playoffs. With the meta changing back to Lucio, they will surely have more success over time and potentially even be able to contest for that last playoff spot.

Last night we had the chance to see them fight against the London Spitfire and it was really a mixed bag. We've seen their strengths - particularly their DPS duo, but they always fell short. Babybay, even as talented as he is couldn't keep up with Birdring's insane damage output whereas Dhak and Sleepy were outclassed by Bdosin who is trying his best to get into the running for "most aggressive Zenyatta in the Overwatch League" alongside with Jjonak and Shaz.

Unfortunately, Babybay is still too big of a catalyst for San Francisco. With fantastic DPS players on the other side as well on Dallas, they shouldn't have too big of a problem handling just a single player.

While we're going with Dallas here, this could by all means go the other way around. San Francisco Shock has shown great resilience when they have their backs against the wall. Babybay and Danteh had a fantastic showing last week and overall as a team they never roll over and surrender regardless of the opponent. They know that Dallas is vulnerable - perhaps now more than ever.

As for Dallas, we're betting on their great mentality, their great team atmosphere, their experience and mental fortitude. They know their 0-4 record isn't the end of the world and that they have ample time to start stringing victories in this long 40-game regular season. After two tough weeks against top tier teams, now is the time to start.