Seoul Dynasty vs Philadelphia Fusion

For our third match of the day we have a pretty interesting clash between the Philadelphia Fusion and the Seoul Dynasty.

Florida entered week three with their eyes set on taking down New York and taking a hold of forth place thus bettering their chances of reaching the playoffs regardless of how their week four and five games went. They saw a weakened New York lineup and played their hearts out but - as faith would have it - they suffered the exact same fortune as in the Stage 2 finals. Defeat is painful enough but getting reverse swept twice in a row by the same team surely impacts your confidence and morale.

Unfortunately they didn't have a lot of time to regroup and focus as they had another match against the San Francisco Shock less than 24 hours after they were handed a crushing defeat. They looked lost and without a concrete plan against the Shock and they suffered a

As for Seoul things aren't getting any easier. While they were able to end week three with a 1-1 record it's still a far cry from what's expected of the Dynasty.

Even with their disappointing performance overall they're sitting as the sixth placed team which isn't too shabby considering how big of a slump they're in currently. Do they have a chance of reaching the playoffs? They do but it involves an insane jump in performance and quite a lot of wishful thinking. They could pull it off but the chances are below slim so they're really fighting for the season playoffs right now which will come sooner than most expect.

They're currently ranked fourth behind London but they have the same win-loss record (Seoul loses out in map differential) and every single map and match win counts. Even though they had a somewhat disappointing run so far they could turn things around and be a force in the playoffs.

Unfortunately they're 4-6 in their last ten matches and their only wins came at the expense of lower ranked teams. The gap between the best Western teams and Seoul is closing with each passing week and it's do or die for the Seoul giant. Perhaps the biggest problem (other than the questionable coaching decisions regarding the starting line-up) is the fact that Fleta fell off - hard. While he was the most feared DPS player in Stage 1 his statistics and overall impact took a backseat as the weeks went by. You could argue that even Sayaplayer who just came in for the Florida Mayhem had a bigger impact in their games than Fleta did recently and you wouldn't be wrong. If Fleta manages to bounce back then Seoul could very well be going into a renaissance period but if he fails to do so they could by all means lose their playoff spot when all is said and done.

Even though the Fusion are entering this match as the favorites it's still shouldn't be an easy win. Even in their current state Seoul is highly respected and somewhat even feared. Sure - they fail almost always nowadays but there always comes a time when they rebound and respond in full force and you never really know when that day will come. Fortunately the level of play that Philly displayed over the last couple of weeks should be enough to sustain them throughout this series and get them the win. That said Seoul has a tendency to rebound at the most random of times so don't be surprised if this turns out to be one heck of a series.