The OverSeer: Overwatch League S3 Week 10 Predictions

It's that time of the week again, folks! My predictions for Week 10 of the Overwatch League are ready, and without any flowery intros, I'd like to jump right into it!

META SPECULATION

Based on what we've seen OWL teams run so far, I think two compositions will be prevalent this weekend. The first one is Rein-Zarya-Mei-McCree-Lucio-Moira. With D.Va and Ana out of the Hero Pool, you've got to have Zarya with your Reinhardt if you're running a Deathball comp. Sure, you don't have the same kind of defensive utility with Zarya, but combined with Moira's burst healing and damage capabilities, you can run a very aggressive Deathball comp and run over your opponents. We've already seen a few teams, especially in the Chinese region, run Rein-Zarya in Week 9, and I think with Mei and McCree back in the mix, these tanks will only get stronger.

The second comp that I think can be very strong this week is Rein-Orisa-Mei-McCree-Lucio-Baptiste. We've seen teams use this Double Main Tank setup in the opening weeks of Season 3, using Rein-Orisa to buy tons of space for their teammates, and getting amazing Halt-Firestrike combos, which get incredibly juicy if you combine them with Baptiste's Amp Matrix. This comp also comes with additional frontline pressure, more long-range damage, and more staying power. Where it loses out is burst damage, which the Rein-Zarya Deathball has plenty of. That said, if you're playing on maps with longer sightlines and approach routes, you might want to run Rein-Orisa to begin pressuring your enemies right from the get-go. This tank duo is better in the pre-fight, and Rein-Zarya is better in the mid-fight, so it all depends on the map and the setup.

It goes without saying that these are by no means the only comps I think will be viable this weekend; they're just what I think will be meta. Sure, you might also see Dive and Double Barrier (Orisa-Sigma), but I believe they'll be very situational and team-dependent.

We good? Alright, let's get into my Day 1 predictions! Just a reminder that this post will serve as a thread, i.e. I will add and update predictions as the time passes (and obviously won't change them any time after their respective matches have begun). I didn't do too well last week, so let's see if I can bounce back with a vengeance.

DAY 1

My Match of the Day: A head-to-head between two teams who keep having close encounters with each other

1. Hangzhou Spark vs. Chengdu Hunters- Spark wins 3-2. This will be a great meta for the Spark, since they've already got the hang of Rein-Zarya with Guxue-SASIN on the frontline. They could run GodsB-Bazzi as McCree-Mei, and have a great showing. The Hunters will probably find it harder to run Wrecking Ball this weekend due to D.Va being banned, but I can totally see them playing the OMS comp (Orisa-Hammond-Pharah-Hanzo-Mercy-Ana/Moira) in this case, obviously with Moira because Ana is banned. This comp is great at applying frontline pressure and spamming from range, which can make it very threatening on maps with long sightlines. That said, Chengdu could totally run Rein-Zarya as well, and I could see them putting in LateYoung on Zarya due to his prowess on the hero. They'd probably continue with Ameng on main tank, since he seems to have better synergy with his team than ATing at the moment. Anyway, I think this match will go to 5 maps since the Spark are slow at adapting to enemy compositions. They might take some time to get used to whatever Chengdu run in their match, but when they do, I'm certain they'll be able to counter it. The Hangzhou Spark ended up stomping the Chengdu Hunters in this match with a 3-0 victory. They were always one step ahead of Chengdu, showing more coordination and skill across the board with both: their Rein-Zarya, as well as Double Barrier compositions.

2. Vancouver Titans vs. Guangzhou Charge- Titans win 3-1. After a long, scheduled hiatus from the League, the Titans will be back in action on Saturday, and I think they'll start off their weekend with a win. They're a pretty strong and consistent team, which I think will really benefit them in this meta. The Titans are no strangers to Rein-Zarya, as they can run Fissure-SeoMinSoo on those heroes, with Haksal-Stitch on Mei-McCree. The Charge, I believe, will also do well in this meta. Rio-Cr0ng is a pretty good Rein-Zarya duo, and with nero-Happy on Mei-McCree, they should still be in a good place. However, Guangzhou has been a little inconsistent so far, whereas the Titans are always on-task, so even though I think that both teams are equally good at their best, the latter is more likely to pull off a consistent win this week. If there were anything that would've reminded me of the Shock's tragic losses in Week 8, it is the Titans' loss against the Charge. This match went 3-0 in Guangzhou's favour, and mainly because the Titans tried to force some really wacky and impractical compositions to work. Their Ball-Winston Dive was especially confusing, since they were playing into Rein-Orisa compositions, which can be hard for Zens to Discord, hard to burst down because of the armour on those tanks, as well as difficult to CC due to the Reinhardt's Steadfast and Orisa's Fortify. I'm just flabbergasted at how poorly Vancouver had strategised for this game, and I hope this isn't what we are to expect from them for the remainder of the season.

3. Philadelphia Fusion vs. Paris Eternal- Fusion wins 3-0. This prediction is more of a gut feeling. Although Paris and Philly are both formidable teams, I think the Fusion are incredibly clean and consistent. Paris has, of course, beaten them before, but that was because of some off-beat strategies that they used, which I don't think will be possible in this meta. I believe the Fusion will do great with SADO-Poko on Rein-Zarya, and Ivy-Carpe on Mei-McCree once again, and I'm certain they can beat the likes of BenBest-Hanbin-NiCOgdh-Xzi in a mirror, who are pretty good in their own right. Philly didn't quite get the 3-0 I expected. In fact, they came very close to losing 3-0 themselves! The Fusion took a while to find their footing, as they lost the first two maps and came very close to losing the third. That said, they did go 3-0 after halftime, and finally looked the part, but unfortunately, that doesn't make my prediction correct. The final score was 3-2. Also, Carpe is insane.

4. Houston Outlaws vs. Boston Uprising- Outlaws win 3-0. The Boston Uprising are a complete mess right now. They're the worst team in the League according to me, and I believe they'll get stomped this weekend. This is obviously contingent on LiNkzr playing McCree...we don't want to see blase on that hero again. On the tank front, I think you could just continue with Muma-MekO; they can play a decent Rein-Zarya in my opinion, with either Danteh or Hydration on Mei. I think Boston will just crumble in this match; I haven't heard of or seen brussen's Zarya, which means this team could just fall back to running Fusions-Axxiom on Rein-Orisa, with Myunbong on Baptiste. Colourhex-Jerry are still a good Mei-McCree duo in my opinion, but their team is far too inconsistent to beat the Outlaws at this stage, at least in my opinion. 'Trashcan 2.0', as YouTube chat dubbed this showdown, was quite the slugfest once again. It was a scrappy match which Houston ended up winning 3-1. I have to say though, brussen and Jerry looked pretty good to me, and I think the only reason they've been losing is because they aren't cohesive enough.

5. Washington Justice vs. Dallas Fuel- Justice wins 3-2. This match will be all about the momentum. If the Fuel continue playing well off of their victory last week, I think there's a possibility for them to win, but I wouldn't count out the Justice just yet. Washington was fairly good at Mei-McCree in the first 5 weeks of this season, showing some competitiveness even when half their team was ill at one point. Also, D.Va being banned puts NotE in a horrific position, since he cannot play his signature hero, and isn't known for his Zarya play that much. ELLIVOTE, on the other hand, can play a pretty good Zarya, which puts the Justice at a major advantage right from the get-go. The only reason I can see this going to 5 maps is Washington's inconsistency. They've lost tons of winnable fights throughout their Season 3 run so far, which I think will work in Dallas' favour, since Decay and Doha are good enough to put their team on their backs during such situations. Therefore, even though the Fuel has the potential to win this matchup, the Justice have got a major Hero Pool advantage, and can take the win if they don't make too many mistakes, which I don't think is too much to ask. Dallas swept the Justice 3-0..."who woulda thunk it, eh?!" After adopting almost a Chengdu-esque approach, the Fuel exploited every opening that the ever-faultering Justice created for them, using some unique off-meta comps that nobody expected. Washington themselves looked pretty terrible; they were all over the place, and showed a bare-minimum level of communication. That said though, the way Dallas played was amazing, and I was actually really impressed by it. They'll be climbing quite a bit in my power rankings for sure.

DAY 2

1. Chengdu Hunters vs. Vancouver Titans- Titans win 3-2. After getting swept yesterday by their respective opponents, the Hunters as well as the Titans are looking to get their sole win of the week. I expect both sides to adopt some wacky comps today and duke it out in a really messy fashion. Ultimately, I think the Titans are a more skilled team overall, which is why I'm considering them the winners. The Vancouver Titans, for the second match in a row, made some really questionable comp choices, didn't counterpick efficiently, and got outclassed by their Chinese opponents. The final score was 3-1 in favour of Chengdu.

My Match of the Day: A potential upset by the Charge over the Dragons

2. Shanghai Dragons vs. Guangzhou Charge- Charge wins 3-2. This is probably an upset prediction, and I'm fully aware of that, but looking at how cleanly Guangzhou murdered the Titans yesterday, I think they can take this win too. The Charge were looking extremely promising this weekend, especially after their win against the Titans. However, as we saw on Sunday, it's not that the Charge were good, it's that the Titans were bad. As a result, my prediction was completely off, as the Dragons steamrolled this team 3-0.

3. Houston Outlaws vs. Toronto Defiant- Outlaws win 3-2. Simply put, I'm still not sold on the Defiant's consistency, even though they've had higher highs than Houston, and I'll rest my case on that alliterative note. Fantastic, this is a perfect prediction! The Outlaws didn't start off this match so hot, but managed to bring it back together in the end, with Danteh being a true standout performer on the Mei, at least for me.

4. Philadelphia Fusion vs. Atlanta Reign- Fusion wins 3-1. After seeing Philly bounce back against Paris earlier today, I'm convinced they're the team to beat right now, and I don't think the Reign can steal that crown from them just yet. The Reign, who had a lot of fight in them, took Philly to a Map 5 before finally losing the series.

5. San Francisco Shock vs. Los Angeles Gladiators- Shock wins 3-2. The Shock are no longer an invulnerable team, and certainly have their list of things to work on, but the Gladiators don't strike me as a team who can beat them in a Lucio-inclusive meta. The thing is, and hate me all you want for saying this, the Gladiators aren't a mega-impressive team. Yes, they beat the Shock, and yes, they played the Titans close, but Shock weren't even remotely competitive in that meta, and the Titans have had their own share of in-game problems. The Gladiators have only really beaten teams who struggled hard to play the week's meta, but they've lost every other matchup, which is why I doubt they'll be able to beat the Shock. Shock swept the Gladiators 3-0, what a shocker!

Overall, I got 6 (60%) winners and 1 (10%) score right this week, which is a great improvement compared to the previous week. I hope to get even more accurate starting Friday (yes, the matches start on Friday for me in Week 11), so be on the lookout for my next post, and subscribe to my blog to be notified about it! GG, and see you next time!