The weekend has come and gone and so has the Fusion’s first homestand, so how did they get on? Did they beat the Mayhem and Justice? Or did they slip into last season’s weakness of throwing away games that they should win? If you read on, you’ll find out!
Just before I get into the game breakdowns, I have to say this homestand was absolutely incredible from start to finish. I was worried about the OWL heading into the season with this new homestand format but watching the games at the weekend, my opinion has completely changed and the future looks bright for Overwatch esports. The crowd were on fire, even when the Fusion weren’t on stage, Gritty leading the Fusion out for their games was fantastic and it was hilarious watching some of the fans react to Gritty for the first time ever. Our next homestand is in May and I just really wished we had one every week now! Right, onto the games!
https://twitter.com/steveoo242/status/1228824045778604032?s=20
Game 1: Washington Justice 1-3 Philadelphia Fusion:
The Fusion started out day 1 with a matchup against the Washington Justice. The hype behind the Fusion side was seriously high going into this opening game and, for the most part, the Fusion lived up to it. The starting lineup was a bit of a shocker to some OWL fans, with the Fusion deciding to keep Sado and Poko together as the tankline, rather than playing Fury as the off-tank with Sado. Another shock was that Eqo was dropped from the starting 6 for new DPS player Ivy. It turned out to be the right call as the Fusion ended up winning the match 3-1.
Map 1 saw the teams compete on Nepal and the compositions from both teams were very weird, it led to the Justice taking point 1 and it was pretty easy for them. Point 2 was completely different and Fusion took control, winning the point quite easily. Point 3 was a tense one, that went to overtime and it looked bleak for the Fusion, that was until Carpe put the team on his back and silenced the doubters when he switched to Widow and picked off 4 of the Justice players to earn map 1 for the Fusion.
Heading into Havana off that brilliant, clutch win on Nepal, it was looking good for the Fusion until they only managed one point off their offensive push and it was all down to our defense and whether it could hold. Unfortunately, after making the game a lot closer than it should be, the Justice managed to get 2 points and we headed into map 3 tied at 1-1.
Kings Row would be the third map of this series and this was another seriously close matchup. We managed to just about hold the Justice to 2 points on their offensive push, and right at the death, we managed to reach the third point and win map 3, giving us the chance to end the series on map 4. All of this was down to Carpe and his heroics, he really carried the Fusion through this series and was really effective at cleaning up kills after Ivy did well to initiate them.
Temple of Anubis would end up being the 4th map of this series and It looked like Fusion had it in the bag after a brilliant push that got us 2 points and then some solid defense gave us the view that the Fusion would hold on and win. However, Ark snuck around the back of the Fusion defense, as we pushed up to eliminate his team mates and captured the point for the Justice, taking the game to overtime.
https://twitter.com/overwatchleague/status/1228848744214519813?s=20
Heading into overtime, the Fusion had more time with their push and that’s what won the map and the series for the Fusion. Sado had a fantastic Shatter with Rein during this that secured the win for the Fusion.
My standout player in this game was Carpe. It was tough to pick one as Ivy did so much that went unnoticed and Sado silenced a few of his doubters with his performance, but Carpe put the team on his back during the clutch moments of the series, especially that Widow play on Nepal.
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Game 2: Florida Mayhem 0-3 Philadelphia Fusion:
Coming off that win against the Justice, Philly found themselves coming up against the Florida Mayhem, a Mayhem team that shocked everyone on day 1 when they swept the Outlaws 3-0. Mayhem made a few changes to the starting line-up that dominated the Outlaws, whilst Philly stuck with the same 6 that beat Washington.
It seemed to me that the Fusion understood they would be in a dogfight from the start against this Mayhem side and they countered that fantastically by just going straight at them from the off. Ivy and Sado were fantastic on point 1 of map 1 and carried the team in team fights, taking point 1. We got heavily dominated in point 2, so we headed into the deciding point 3 all tied up at 1-1. Point 3 of map 1 was a closely contested one but Sado came through once again on Rein and we won point 3, taking a 1-0 lead into map 2.
https://twitter.com/overwatchleague/status/1229179365067558912?s=20
Map 2 would see the two teams fight within Junkertown and the Fusion were utterly fantastic from start to finish on this map, they showed everyone how good they can be and that star players win you games. We took the payload to the house for a 3-0 lead heading into our defense and this defense was just superb. We controlled the pace of the Mayhem’s push from start to finish, we fought the battles on our terms and throughout all of this Sado and Ivy were fantastic.
There was a point during one of the last fights where it looked like the Mayhem would win and take the round to overtime. However, Alarm hit a clutch nano boost on Poko to keep him alive and then Ivy and Sado combined together and wiped the Mayhem’s push by themselves. We won Junkertown 3-2, taking a 2-0 lead into map 3, giving us the chance to sweep Florida.
Map 3 would be Blizzard World and we would start off attacking. Our attack was pretty dominant until it came for the last push, as the Mayhem weren’t going down without a fight. Thankfully our players came in clutch, mostly thanks to Sado again, and we got all three points. It all came down to our defense and well, the Mayhem basically handed us the win by picking Sombra. We didn’t even allow them to capture the first point and we finished our inaugural homestand with a 3-0 sweep over the Florida Mayhem.
Verdict:
The Fusion were fantastic over the entire weekend but the scary thing about watching the games, was the fact I was thinking to myself; this team can be so much better. They were making some silly plays here and there. The Ark back capture was one that was so stupid and could have cost us that map, it slightly reminded me of us last season, where we would fail to properly finish and opponent off and allow them to come back into the game. However, this season, when that happened, we came back stronger than ever on the next point. It was a great way to start the season and thankfully, the hype behind the team seems valid at this point.
My player of the weekend was a tough choice. Carpe was fantastic during the entire weekend, he came in so clutch during so many crucial parts of the games. Alarm had a great debut in the OWL, the hype behind him as a prospect is certainly valid and the sky’s the limit with this kid. FunnyAstro did well on Lucio and worked really well with Alarm. Ivy did the things that fans didn’t really notice, Carpe’s name was coming up in the kill feed a lot but it was all down to Ivy making the right calls at when the right time was to engage in a fight.
However, there was one guy that stood out for me over the weekend and that was Sado. This guy had so much hate towards him after the last season ending, everyone was calling for the Fusion to sign another main tank but the Fusion stuck with their man and boy did it work out this weekend. I was one of those that doubted Sado after last season, however, I’m so glad he proved us all wrong during the weekend and hopefully he can keep this up for the entirety of the season, because if he does, we’re going to win our first title!
I’ll see you again this weekend as the Fusion are in action again, this time the games take place in Washington, as we look to keep our unbeaten streak alive with games against New York Excelsior and the Toronto Defiant!
