San Francisco Shock vs Florida Mayhem

For our first match of the day we have an interesting clash between the San Francisco Shock and the Florida Mayhem.

As predicted in the worst case scenario for Houston - the Shock wanted to play spoiler and they ultimately succeeded in incredible fashion, taking the Outlaws down yesterday in 3-2 fashion. It's a huge win for the San Francisco squad as they further cement their position as one of the more dangerous and unpredictable Western teams in the League.

The Shock needed this win as they're aiming to reach the overall season playoffs after Stage 4 and seeing their level of play they could very well achieve that goal. It's not going to be easy seeing how they have a pretty bad record of 11 wins and 18 losses however the majority of those losses were accrued at the very beginning of the season. They're ranked ninth right now and have a pretty abysmal map differential as well at -18 but the road to playoffs and redemption starts here. They're no longer a roster that teams can take lightly or prepare halfheartedly. They're playing at a very high level and even though they're not always the flashiest of teams they're low-key incredibly dangerous and have phenomenal players in all positions and roles.

Architect in particular did a load of heavy lifting on literally every hero he played, but it wouldn't be enough if the Shock didn't have stellar performers in other roles as well. Sleepy is also performing out of his mind right now and even though he doesn't really have those Jjonak-esque type kills or killing sprees he is incredibly consistent and had more than a fair share of clutch kills yesterday.

Overall they're improving at a staggering pace and they're going to be a force to be reckoned with come Stage 4.

As for Florida even though they lost 3-0 yesterday they don't have anything to be ashamed of. In fact, they generally played a lot better than the Gladiators throughout their series even though the end result doesn't really reflect that.

To be frank they just didn't have any luck. They were the better team overall, they displayed better cohesion and played better as a team in clutch moments - with some exceptional individual plays as well - but it was always a "Hail Mary" play from Fissure (mostly with his "Primal Rage") that turned the tides when the Gladiators were on the brink of defeat. His last second attack on Numbani towards the third point was a masterclass in itself and he single-handedly pulled his team towards victory on more than one occasion. The Gladiators eventually improved and adapted better as well but it was just surprising to see them fumble and get outplayed by the Mayhem.

Tviq and Sayaplayer once again did a ton of work. They cover an insanely wide spectrum of DPS heroes and their versatility payed off yesterday - with Tviq dominating on everything from Junkrat to Tracer and Sayaplayer doing the same with Soldier, McCree and Widowmaker. Perhaps the only part where they faltered was their support play as they really couldn't find an answer for Shaz's consistent snipes across the map. (a good reason why he was awarded the "Player of the Match" accolade)

We're going with San Francisco on this one. Even though Florida performed incredibly well yesterday they're still a couple of levels below the Shock in regards to overall team synergy however this should by no means be an easy match. The only dangerous factor is the amount of time between this match and the Shock's last, however since Florida didn't have a lot of time to recuperate either they should be on pretty equal footing.