San Francisco Shock vs New York Excelsior

This is where things get a bit less stressful prediction-wise. An upset could still happen, granted, but it's so unlikely we're not even going to consider it as a possibility. The reason why is rather simple: the San Francisco Shock are absolutely incredible and are amongst the most capable teams in the entirety of the Overwatch League.

They first steamrolled through the Paris Eternal (3-0), then followed it up with an equally dominant showing against the London Spitfire (3-0), which eventually led to a commanding performance versus the Houston Outlaws (3-1). Their strength of schedule wasn't necessary the toughest, but they were nonetheless able to pass all three "tests" with flying colors and have shown few (if any) weaknesses throughout the whole process.

We expected nothing less from the most successful organization in Overwatch League history.

The best way to describe this particular San Francisco Shock line-up is to say that it has numerous question marks but also an otherwordly amount of potential. Prospect is already being hailed as the 'Rookie of the Year' (if not even MVP material), and is without a doubt one of the most talented players we've seen in quite a while. He's a DPS prodigy who can play it all and dominate on basically anything he touches. He has a metric ton of momentum behind his back and, well, all of it is well-deserved. Coluge, on the other hand, is still a bit iffy. He has some very big shoes to fill and he *is* a very talented player with numerous respectable wins in NA Contenders, but for the SFS to thrive and come out on top, he'll have to play out of his mind and we're just not fully convinced he's cut out for the job. We'll find out soon enough.

In any case, they're a solid, well-rounded team with a ton of potential, but we've yet to see them clash off with the very best teams the Overwatch League has to offer, so we're still somewhat reserved in our predictions and overall assumptions.

The New York Excelsior, on the other hand, are fairly easy to classify: they're a gatekeeper at best, but most likely a bottom-dweller. That's just the unfortunate truth. They're not bad overall, make no mistake, but they aren't good or well-rounded enough when compared to their peers and, by proxy, adversaries. They don't lack for talent, though. Fiora and Yaki are an incredible DPS duo that are cracked for mechanics, Kellan has a fair bit of hype as well coming in from PSG Talon, and the same goes for Gangnamjin who, while far from a rookie, has yet to fully peak and show us what he's made of.

All in all, they have the tools to compete and perhaps even win out from time to time. The stars will have to align for them to pop off and actually contest for a spot higher up the standings but we just don't see it happening. It's not impossible, but it *is* unlikely.

And, needless to say, they're not on the same level as the San Francisco Shock. They might be able to put up a fight and make things competitive, but a win almost surely *isn't* in the cards.