Week 11 of the League will be spread out over more than 2 days, which is something we're not used to seeing, but that unfortunately doesn't mean more matches. This week, we'll get to watch just 9 different series, but I'm ready with my predictions for Day 1 (for the U.S.), which will have two matches to start us off with.
Before we do that, let's quickly go over my thoughts on the meta, as usual.
3. Dallas Fuel vs. San Francisco Shock- Shock wins 3-2. This prediction may get a lot of hate, but I don't think it's unrealistic. The Dallas Fuel really seem to have stepped up their game in recent days, and even though they're not an elite team, neither are the Shock at this point. In this meta, where you can get Decay and Doha to get a lot of work done on Reaper-Doom, it's not crazy to say they can carry their team once again. I think their main weakness, as usual, will be NotE, who hasn't raised many eyebrows this season, and doesn't, in general, raise any when he's not on D.Va. On the Shock's side, the off-tank slot is pretty sorted, since ChoiHyoBin plays a crazy good D.Va and Sigma. I think we might see Striker-sinatraa on Reaper-Doom once again, or maybe see Rascal brought in to play Mei, I'm not really sure. Either way, I think this will be a really close series, and therefore, exciting to watch. Another perfect prediction, and a close one at that! At no point did this series feel one-sided or lost for either team, as it was filled with back-and-forth team fights, clutch moments, and effective micro-plays all around. NotE didn't play like a noob Sigma, moth showed us how talented he is at setting up plays and clutching fights, and Dallas as a whole proved that they're still very much in the game. They should be incredibly proud of themselves for playing the Shock as close as they did, and yes, I expected that to happen, but it was unreal watching it happen nonetheless.
1. Chengdu Hunters vs. Guangzhou Charge- Hunters win 3-2. The Chinese regions are always really hard to predict, so don't take my word for it, but I think this will be a close match. The Hunters haven't had the best, most skillful displays so far, but they've been quite clinical in their approach, and have achieved fairly consistent results. The Charge, on the other hand, thrive a little more on individual pop-off potential, but are pretty inconsistent. I can't even put my finger on what these teams will play this weekend, but if I were to guess, I'd say the Hunters will probably go for Double Barrier with a Pharah-Hanzo-Mercy-Baptiste on maps with high skyboxes, and Mei-Reaper-Moira-Lucio on maps without. The Charge would probably use Double Barrier with Mei-Hanzo; they don't seem to like playing much of Reaper, and rely on Happy's pick potential on Hanzo instead. This comp can be backed by either a Moira-Lucio or a Bap-Zen, depending on the map being played. Watch out for Eileen playing Doomfist, that could be a sleeper pick here. Overall though, my vote is with the Hunters for this series. I was right about the Hunters winning, but they came into this match much stronger than expected, demolishing the Charge with a 3-0 result. Guangzhou tried their best, opting into playing a ton of Pharah, which I actually expected Chengdu to do more of, but got outclassed by the Hunters' coordination and of course, JinMu. I think the Charge should avoid playing the Pharmercy-Dive comp in tomorrow's match, because if they don't, they'll be set up for failure once again.
Before we do that, let's quickly go over my thoughts on the meta, as usual.
META SPECULATION
The last time Reinhardt, Widowmaker and McCree were banned, we saw a unique variation of Dive, which had Winston-D.Va-Tracer-Sombra/Soldier-Zen-Brig. This time though, Brig is banned too, which means if we see Dive at all, it'll be a different variation. I suspect this version will be Winston-D.Va-Tracer-Sombra-Ana-Lucio. One of the primary purposes of Brigitte in the previously-mentioned Dive variant was to protect Zenyatta, whose Discord Orbs are crucial at bursting down dove targets. With Brig out, Zen has no stun to protect him, which means it's unlikely he'll be played. The second best option would be Ana-Lucio, since Lucio can Dive as well as peel for Ana, and Ana has her Sleep Dart and Biotic Grenade to keep herself alive if she's flanked/dove. You could also run Moira instead of Ana, but that doesn't work very well on high ground-dominant maps/maps with long sightlines. Anyway, this comp is just a substitute for the Zen-Brig Dive comp, and I'm not sure teams will want to run it. However, it's on the table.
One comp that I'm certain will be played a lot is Double Barrier, which has a lot of possible variants. Orisa-Sigma, of course, form the core of this comp, and we've seen many different DPS and supports being run with them. This week, I think we'll see a ton of Orisa-Sigma-Mei-Reaper-Moira-Lucio on non-payload maps/points, and Orisa-Sigma-Mei-Hanzo-Bap-Zen on Payload maps/points. The first of these variants is more brawly in nature, and is better for repositioning, whereas the second variant is better for shield-break and long-range spam.
I feel like these will be the most dominant comps this week. Of course, you can have sub-variants of those comps too, like running a Hanzo with Dive, like Xzi had done (hope he recovers soon), or running a Symmetra or Doomfist with Double Barrier. It depends on what the teams are comfortable with, so I'm really excited to see what happens!
And now, let's kick off our predictions!
DAY 1
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| This should be a pretty easy win for Atlanta, and I'm all for watching the occasional one-sided affair |
1. Atlanta Reign vs. Washington Justice- Reign wins 3-0. The Washington Justice have been looking pretty bad as of late, and it's no surprise that I'm predicting a clean win over them for the Reign, who are not only a fantastic team, but are also well-accustomed to Double Barrier comps, which I assume will be the flavour of the week. That was a perfect prediction, and I'm not surprised. The Atlanta Reign completely outclassed the Justice on all fronts, playing Season 2's Doom-Reaper variant of Double Barrier. It's interesting to see teams opt into a lot of Doomfist, and it makes sense, since McCree and Brig, two of his hardest counters, are off-the-table, and I'm glad I know this going into tomorrow's matches.
2. Los Angeles Gladiators vs. Los Angeles Valiant- Gladiators win 3-0. Although the Valiant have had higher highs than the Gladiators, they've also had much lower lows. For that reason, I'm going with the more-consistent Gladiators squad for this match, and I think it's going to be a stomp. The Valiant were on the brink of making a comeback in this surprisingly-close matchup, but lost 2-3 to the Gladiators in the end. We did see Double Barrier comps again in this match, but we also saw some Season 2 Stage 4-esque Orisa-D.Va speed comps, with Mei-Reaper. The Gladiators weren't too inclined to play these comps, but were somehow forced off of Double Barrier by the Valiant, who tried to integrate D.Va into their compositions wherever possible. We also saw a ton of Ashe and Torb from the Valiant, probably because they don't have a great Doomfist player on their side. In the end, I don't think it ended up working; I believe Mei-Reaper would've been a much safer route to go, but hey, they got two maps with these off-meta comps, so credit to them for that.
DAY 2
1. Florida Mayhem vs. Paris Eternal- Eternal wins 3-0. The Paris Eternal have got all the right pieces to roll through the Mayhem in this matchup. They've got an insane Sigma/D.Va in Hanbin, and a great Mei/Doomfist in NiCOgdh, the two of whom I think can carry in this series. I do think Florida has a great flex DPS in Yaki, who's proficient at Mei and Doom as well, but I just don't think his team will be able to play around him so much that they take this series...not by a long shot. Well that was completely unexpected. The Florida Mayhem must've come across some lucky charms during their time off, because Paris did not look like themselves today, which is rather unusual. The Mayhem started off strong and got 2 maps from them pretty easily, and even though the Eternal showed some signs of life on Map 3, it wasn't enough to get them a win. It's truly worrying if a seemingly-Bottom-5 team beats a seemingly-Top-5 team with relative ease, and I hope Paris doesn't let this loss affect them too much.
2. Boston Uprising vs. Toronto Defiant- Defiant wins 3-0. Yeah, Toronto will be fine. I've got a lot of faith in Surefour's ability to play a great Reaper, and Agilities' pop-off potential on Doomfist. Boston is just a mess right now, and they're still the worst team in the League by a mile. I'd be surprised if they got a single map in this series. Toronto took this series 3-1. They opted into playing a ton of Sombra-Reaper, which Boston frankly did a pretty good job at deterring, but the better team won in the end. I must point out that Boston did not play like a hot mess, and that might be a sign that they're finally beginning to improve. However, it takes time to bounce back from such a shaky series of performances, so don't expect them to start getting any Ws just yet. I think, as an experiment, Boston should try to enable Jerry and Colourhex as much as possible, similar to how Dallas enables Decay and Doha, because I think the damage line is where the carry potential of this team lies. Comparing them to Dallas is not very accurate, but you get the idea.
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| Match of the Day: A clash between Dallas, who's on the rise, and the Shock, who need to prove that they're still a top team |
3. Dallas Fuel vs. San Francisco Shock- Shock wins 3-2. This prediction may get a lot of hate, but I don't think it's unrealistic. The Dallas Fuel really seem to have stepped up their game in recent days, and even though they're not an elite team, neither are the Shock at this point. In this meta, where you can get Decay and Doha to get a lot of work done on Reaper-Doom, it's not crazy to say they can carry their team once again. I think their main weakness, as usual, will be NotE, who hasn't raised many eyebrows this season, and doesn't, in general, raise any when he's not on D.Va. On the Shock's side, the off-tank slot is pretty sorted, since ChoiHyoBin plays a crazy good D.Va and Sigma. I think we might see Striker-sinatraa on Reaper-Doom once again, or maybe see Rascal brought in to play Mei, I'm not really sure. Either way, I think this will be a really close series, and therefore, exciting to watch. Another perfect prediction, and a close one at that! At no point did this series feel one-sided or lost for either team, as it was filled with back-and-forth team fights, clutch moments, and effective micro-plays all around. NotE didn't play like a noob Sigma, moth showed us how talented he is at setting up plays and clutching fights, and Dallas as a whole proved that they're still very much in the game. They should be incredibly proud of themselves for playing the Shock as close as they did, and yes, I expected that to happen, but it was unreal watching it happen nonetheless.
DAY 3
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| Match of the Day: A seemingly-close series between Chengdu and Guangzhou |
1. Chengdu Hunters vs. Guangzhou Charge- Hunters win 3-2. The Chinese regions are always really hard to predict, so don't take my word for it, but I think this will be a close match. The Hunters haven't had the best, most skillful displays so far, but they've been quite clinical in their approach, and have achieved fairly consistent results. The Charge, on the other hand, thrive a little more on individual pop-off potential, but are pretty inconsistent. I can't even put my finger on what these teams will play this weekend, but if I were to guess, I'd say the Hunters will probably go for Double Barrier with a Pharah-Hanzo-Mercy-Baptiste on maps with high skyboxes, and Mei-Reaper-Moira-Lucio on maps without. The Charge would probably use Double Barrier with Mei-Hanzo; they don't seem to like playing much of Reaper, and rely on Happy's pick potential on Hanzo instead. This comp can be backed by either a Moira-Lucio or a Bap-Zen, depending on the map being played. Watch out for Eileen playing Doomfist, that could be a sleeper pick here. Overall though, my vote is with the Hunters for this series. I was right about the Hunters winning, but they came into this match much stronger than expected, demolishing the Charge with a 3-0 result. Guangzhou tried their best, opting into playing a ton of Pharah, which I actually expected Chengdu to do more of, but got outclassed by the Hunters' coordination and of course, JinMu. I think the Charge should avoid playing the Pharmercy-Dive comp in tomorrow's match, because if they don't, they'll be set up for failure once again.
2. Shanghai Dragons vs. Hangzhou Spark- Dragons win 3-0. Shanghai seems to be a more skilled team than Hangzhou at the moment, and a huge factor in that is their consistency and versatility. I expect to see a ton of Mei-Reaper from the Spark, with a potential Doomfist pick from Bazzi. He will most probably be fielded with Adora, who has been on Reaper duty as of late for his team. The Dragons will likely play Mei-Reaper themselves, with Fleta as a mainstay on the lineup. For some reason, I have a feeling we'll be seeing DDing instead of LIP in this series. With McCree and Widow gone, it's a really good meta for Pharah on maps with high skyboxes, and I could see DDing, similar to JinMu, just dominate the skies with her. He could play Mei on the rest of the maps, and Fleta could just be on Reaper duty. It'll be really interesting if this actually happens, so fingers crossed; I love seeing some great Pharah play. That's another perfect prediction! My third of the week! I'm super pumped that I've started understanding Chinese teams a little bit more. Anyway, this match was a stomp on the first two maps, with Shanghai playing the Double Barrier mirror quite gracefully. Things didn't look good for them on the third map, however, where the Spark actually slayed pretty hard on their first attack. However, a terrible 4-minute offence led to them tying the map, which enabled Shanghai to take the 4th map, Hanamura. The final score was 3-0. Also, God bless Void and his fantastic Sigma.
Day 4
1. Guangzhou Charge vs. Hangzhou Spark- Spark wins 3-1. After getting stomped on Day 3 by their respective opponents, the Spark and the Charge will have to duke it out against each other. Based on their performances in this meta, I'd say the Spark have an edge, mainly because they've got a grasp on the meta of the week, which is Double Barrier. Sure, they struggled against the Shanghai Dragons, but in all fairness, that's one of the best teams in the League right now. Also, Hangzhou did show signs of life, putting up a stunning offence on Numbani, even though they completely crumbled on most other offences. The Charge, on the other hand, were pretty underwhelming throughout their match against Chengdu. They tried to force an evidently-poor Dive composition on multiple occasions, and failed to get anything done on that comp as well as Double Barrier. This is their match to lose; we'll just have to see how badly they do it. Alright, it seems to me that the Charge are the Spark's kryptonite, because no matter how well these teams have been playing, the Charge always have something surprising to bring to the table. In this case, it was nero's Pharah, which the Spark seemingly had no answer for. I don't know if there was something lacking in Hangzhou's coaching, or if they simply couldn't adapt well in-game, but their insistence on playing the Double Barrier comp against Pharah was sub-optimal, to put it politely. I feel like running Tracer-Sombra Dive more often could've been the answer, since Ria is a very good defensive D.Va, and would've been able to deter nero's aggression by a huge amount. When D.Va ends up forcing Pharah into a tough spot, Sombra can get a hack onto her, and finish her off with the help of her team. It was a rather disappointing performance from the Spark, I'm not going to lie, but props to the Charge for finding the right comp to beat them. The final score was 3-1 to Guangzhou.
2. Chengdu Hunters vs. Shanghai Dragons- Dragons win 3-2. This is frankly an impossible match to call. Shanghai and Chengdu have both been playing amazingly well these past few weeks, even though they've had their own share of problems. Their performances on Day 3 were quite impressive, which puts me at my wit's end, because they've exhibited equal amounts of skill in this meta. The reason I decided to go with Shanghai is that they're slightly more consistent, and don't make stupid errors unlike Chengdu, who sometimes throw their own fights by whiffing ultimates, hyper-aggressing, or taking up exposed positions. I think the team that makes fewer mistakes and can adapt on-the-fly better will take this series, and even though I'm going with Shanghai here, it's anyone's game. DDing vs. JinMu in a Pharah matchup is something truly iconic, and it was quite fun to see it actually happen. However, neither side had a clear edge, and since we didn't see their mirror as much as we could have, I don't know who was better. On the macro front, Shanghai just seemed to be in the swing of things all match long, not losing focus, and granted Fearless his first ever match win in the Overwatch League, if I'm not wrong. I'm obviously not counting the occasions on which he hasn't played before here. The final score was 3-0 in favour of the Dragons.
I think I can pat myself on the back after this slew of predictions. This week, I got 7/9 (77.78%) winners right, and 3/9 (33.33%) scores right, which is my best weekly record of the season. I'm super hyped going into next week right now. We still have no idea what the schedule is, which heroes will be banned, and what the meta will be, but you know where to find all that information, don't you? It's right here, on The Plat Player's Perspective. If you liked this post and wish to see more, do subscribe to my blog, it'll be a big help to me! Thanks a lot for reading, and I'll see you soon! Stay safe, people.
I think I can pat myself on the back after this slew of predictions. This week, I got 7/9 (77.78%) winners right, and 3/9 (33.33%) scores right, which is my best weekly record of the season. I'm super hyped going into next week right now. We still have no idea what the schedule is, which heroes will be banned, and what the meta will be, but you know where to find all that information, don't you? It's right here, on The Plat Player's Perspective. If you liked this post and wish to see more, do subscribe to my blog, it'll be a big help to me! Thanks a lot for reading, and I'll see you soon! Stay safe, people.
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