Washington Justice vs Dallas Fuel

This is where things get a lot more interesting. Well, in a way, at least. This is by no means a sensational clash of titans that'll make your mouth water, but it's still an interesting match-up that should, by all means, provide us with a lot more information into both of these highly peculiar line-ups. And, frankly, we need as much intel as we can get.

First of all, let's get one thing straight right from the very get-go: there's no clear-cut favorite this time around. Washington Justice have the edge on paper, but that means very little at this point in time. Simply put, we're still at the very start of the season and anything you can imagine is seemingly possible. Chengdu just made Shanghai and New York look like a bunch of scrubs whereas Houston toppled the two-time champions San Francisco Shock. There's still no definitive way of playing the game right now, so anything goes -- no matter how outlandish or improbable.

Still, we've seen Dallas already in action and, frankly, they looked good. Heck, they looked a lot better than most folks expected. They were never predicted to leave much of a mark, but going five maps with Houston and then beating LAG in 3-1 fashion is quite a solid start, all things considered. Washington, on the other hand, will only just play their first match of 2021 which could, theoretically speaking, affect their performance (stage jitters and all). We might be grasping for straws here, but we'd much rather go with someone who's a "known quantity" (despite having a meagre sample size) than a team that should, in theory, be ever so slightly better but has yet to be seen in action.

If we were to judge this match-up on odds alone, we'd think that this is nothing more than a one-sided blowout in the making. In reality, however, the gap between these two teams is nowhere near as noticeable as some would lead you to believe. In fact, most folks (industry analysts and media) had Dallas ranked *above* Washington coming into 2021 — that alone should tell you everything you need to know coming into this clash. We'll side with the Fuel on this one as it's the only logical option. What'll happen, however, is anyone's guess. Regardless, entertainment should not be absent!