After a long, long time, the Overwatch League is going to have a Playoff-style tournament, with lucrative prizes for every participating team along the way.
The 'May Melee', as it's been named, is going to take place in two different brackets: one in the North American region, and the other in the Asian region.
I'm not going to get into the details; you can find them here, but essentially, higher-seeded teams will get to pick their opponents, based on a few rules, which means that some of our predictions will need to be made last-minute.
The odd thing about the North American May Melee is that the first match of the week is a qualifier to determine which team will be the last seed in the tournament, and the subsequent matches, which are part of the main tournament, will begin immediately after it's over. I'll explain this better shortly, but let's get into my predictions for the 4 matchups that are already set to happen. Remember that there are no Hero Pools for the tournament, meaning that all heroes will be available to play.
MAY MELEE QUALIFIER (NA)
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| Will the Titans defy my prediction? |
This match is between the Vancouver Titans and the Toronto Defiant. At the moment, the Titans are struggling. They recently revamped their roster, and put together a set of Western Contenders players, not all of whom have played together before. This led to the team being relatively unimpressive and inconsistent, especially since a few of them are playing at high ping. The Defiant haven't faced any such issues; their roster is quite stable, and they don't have anyone in their starting 6 playing with high latency. Despite that though, they've been quite inconsistent too, and I don't know what to attribute that to. That said though, I believe they've shown us slightly more promise than the Titans, which is why I think they'll take this series 3-2. Composition-wise, I think it's best if the Titans played it safe, and didn't go for Dive compositions as much as they have so far. I'd encourage them to play easier-to-execute comps, such as Mei-Reaper Rushdown with Rein-D.Va-Moira-Lucio. It's simple, it's got tons of brawling potential, it has a ton of sustainability, and it's not too mechanically-demanding, which is great news for players on high ping. We haven't really seen the Titans play Rushdown, so I don't know how good they'll be at it, but I think it's their best bet. The Defiant can certainly match them in this playstyle, but I think they'd prefer to play Poke, due to KariV's prowess on Ana and Logix's skill on McCree.
Now, back to what I was talking about with the schedule earlier. This match is going to take place just a couple of hours before the Quarterfinals of the NA May Melee begin, which gives me little-to-no time to write down subsequent predictions for their first day of play. For me, this qualifier is at 10:30pm tonight, and the first Quarterfinal is at 12:30am...just 2 hours later, which leaves me no time to write detailed predictions or even plan my Fantasy teams better (yeah I enjoy playing drafts and daily fantasy contests haha). Anyway, I'll see what I can do and update you guys on this same link, so be sure to visit this page after every match and see if I've updated anything. Perfect prediction! Moving on to the Quarterfinals preds real quick!
MAY MELEE KNOCKOUTS (NA)
1. Houston Outlaws vs. Dallas Fuel- Fuel wins 3-2. I think Dallas should go for Rushdown; Decay is disgustingly good at Reaper, and he can even break out Tracer if he feels the need to. Poke for Houston. Should be extremely close. Dallas won 3-1, thanks to Decay's stellar performance on Widowmaker on Rialto, which just mentally boomed the Outlaws. Also, congrats to Dallas for setting a new record on the same map, with 5:11 in the bank after their first attack!
2. Washington Justice vs. Los Angeles Gladiators- Gladiators win 3-0. This team's loss to Boston was an outlier; they're going to stomp Washington. Glads look great on Rushdown comps; I think Shaz is actually a very underrated Moira. You don't generally rate Moira players, but I think Shaz is one of the best in the League, and with the level of coordination his team has, it should be an easy win. I expect Washington to play MeiCree Poke. Easy prediction. Nothing too interesting happened in this match, but the Glads came out on top 3-0.
3. Toronto Defiant vs. Atlanta Reign- Reign wins 3-0. We already saw Toronto playing all sorts of comps. They need to be more aware of flankers, but either way they don't really stand a chance. I think Reign will be at home as usual on Double Barrier comps, no matter which variant of it they play. This 3-0 was actually closer than you'd expect, since we saw flashes of brilliance from Toronto when they were playing Rushdown compositions. Despite the odd decision from Atlanta to run Double Barrier with Bap-Zen against the Defiant's Rushdown comp costing them a whole defence on King's Row, the former bounced back big-time, and took the map anyway. Props to Beast for landing massive shatters consistently, and Nevix for following up on them with his D.Va Bombs.
4. Boston Uprising vs. Paris Eternal- Eternal wins 3-0. Boston should stick to MeiCree Poke and let Jerry and Punk carry. Paris can play a more Rushdown style; I think they're better at taking fast, aggressive fights than play the Poke game. They'll still outclass Boston though. Paris seems to have struggled to get this win, since the final score was 3-2. It was well-fought by Boston, but the Eternal were the better team in the end.
MAY MELEE QUARTERFINALS (NA)
1. San Francisco Shock vs. Dallas Fuel- Shock wins 3-0. Even though the Fuel showed us some really impressive play earlier today, I'm skeptical about their chances against the Shock, who are way more adaptable and versatile than most other teams out there. Double Barrier has San Fran's name written all over it, and I'm sure they'll adopt some variation of it as their go-to for the May Melee. A team that's cleaner and more consistent than the Fuel, the Shock cannot and should not be overlooked in this matchup, because to me, they're actually the clear winner. Shock won 3-1.
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| Can't wait to see if the Mayhem are actually as good as I think! |
2. Florida Mayhem vs. Atlanta Reign- Mayhem wins 3-2. Most people haven't been too high on the Mayhem, but seeing their cohesion and consistency in past weeks, I'm sold. I get that they've had a weak strength of schedule, but they haven't faltered anywhere at all, which is definitely the sign of a good team, and since they also beat Paris to kick off their win streak, I think they can handle the Reign, even though they won't go down easily. The MeiCree Poke will likely be Florida's comp of choice, and they'll probably run it with Ana-Brig instead of Ana-Lucio as usual. Mayhem won 3-1.
3. Philadelphia Fusion vs. Los Angeles Gladiators- Fusion wins 3-0. Despite the 3-0 victory against the Justice, the Gladiators didn't look very clean in their execution, and that's something the Fusion can certainly exploit. Again, a team that can throw many different looks, Philly can outmatch the Gladiators on every comp I can think of, and this should be an easy win for them. I'm hoping we get to see a ChipSa-MirroR Doomfist matchup, but that's just a distant dream, and I'm sure it won't happen this time round at least. Fusion won 3-1.
4. Paris Eternal vs. Los Angeles Valiant- Eternal wins 3-0. I get that Paris struggled against Boston, but I don't think it changes their place in the standings much for me. Boston's addition of Punk did elevate their level of play, but that doesn't make Paris any worse, and since the Valiant are a pretty inconsistent team, I think this should be fairly one-sided. I'm not quite sure what the Valiant will run; they've looked their best on those Rein-D.Va comps, so maybe they'll run those with some combination of Reaper, McCree and Mei. Valiant won 3-2.
MAY MELEE SEMI-FINALS (NA)
1. Los Angeles Valiant vs. San Francisco Shock- Shock wins 3-0. Perfect prediction!
2. Philadelphia Fusion vs. Florida Mayhem- Fusion wins 3-0. Mayhem won 3-1. Surprise surprise!
MAY MELEE FINALS (NA)
I won't lie, I'm actually writing this bit after the finals match. It was super late in my time zone, and I couldn't stay awake to watch Florida playing Shock, but my prediction was that Shock would take the series 4-3. I came pretty close, since the match was filled with intense team fights and clutch moments. I did get to watch the entire series after waking up, and Shock won 4-2, so a big congratulations to them for winning the May Melee Tournament in NA!
MAY MELEE QUARTERFINALS (APAC)
1. Seoul Dynasty vs. Hangzhou Spark- Dynasty wins 3-2. Thank God this section of the tournament is better-timed! No qualifiers here, we just get straight into the matchups, and this one is a doozer! When you think of Seoul and Spark, you immediately think 'inconsistent', except that the former is inconsistent from meta-to-meta, and the other, from match-to-match. With no Hero Pools though, I think the Dynasty will be able to play their comfort picks more often, and will be able to beat the Spark, who are slow to adapt to enemy playstyles. I think the Dynasty would love to play a Double Barrier Shield-Break comp i.e. Orisa-Sigma-Mei-Hanzo-Bap-Zen. How often the meta allows for that is a separate conversation, but I'm sure the Dynasty would slay if they got to play this. The Spark could certainly match that with their own Shield Break comp, but knowing them, I think they'd prefer the MeiCree Poke instead. I know it's unlikely that we see both these comps in action at the same time, but I just wanted to share what I think the strengths of each team are. Dynasty absolutely stomped the Spark, using a diverse set of strats, which involved variations of Dive and Double Barrier. Did not expect to see them run out like this, so if I were their next opponents, I'd be very scared.
2. Chengdu Hunters vs. New York Excelsior- Excelsior wins 3-0. Enough of this choking crap, NYXL. Just dominate Chengdu like everyone knows you can! Seriously though, the Excelsior are more skilled and consistent than the Hunters, and if they don't cluelessly collapse mid-game, like they're used to doing during playoffs and tournaments, this series should be a breeze. This team can throw a lot of looks, but I think they feel their best at the MeiCree Poke comp, with Libero and Saebyeolbe on the damage role. As for Chengdu, I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled out a Sombra-Tracer Dive for most of the match; they seem to love using this comp whenever possible, despite having Ameng on Winston and JinMu on Sombra...heroes they're not known for excelling at. How typical of the NYXL to choke during a playoff-like tournament. They didn't lose, thankfully, but came quite close to it. They won 3-2.
3. London Spitfire vs. Shanghai Dragons- Dragons win 3-0. This prediction shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The Dragons are still the best team in the League in my opinion, and they stomped the Spitfire just last week, so they should be able to do it again with ease. They can play whatever they like honestly, despite Poke comps seemingly being the way to go without Hero Pools. They could bring out the MeiCree Poke, or run LIP's Sombra and get consistent EMP-Shatter combos, the possibilities are plenty. I believe London has also looked their best at these Poke comps, so this is their best chance at trying to play Shanghai close...I don't think they will though. The Spitfire came out all guns blazing in this match, challenging Shanghai at every opportunity, and fighting until their eventual 2-3 loss. Props to them for playing so well, and props to Shanghai for keeping calm and not breaking down mid-game.
MAY MELEE SEMI-FINALS (APAC)
1. Seoul Dynasty vs. Guangzhou Charge- Dynasty wins 3-0. Although the Charge have beaten Seoul with relative ease quite recently, this meta seems to be fantastic for the Dynasty. I'm also not sure if nero will be playing due to some 'motivational issues', and if he doesn't, this series will be even more one-sided for Seoul. A comp I'm really anxious to see the Charge play is a Sombra-Reaper Deathball, and if Eileen-Happy is the DPS duo for them this time round, we'll probably get to witness it in action! Dynasty won 3-2.
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| Sigma(Excelsior, Dragons)= 2, where Dragons > Excelsior |
2. New York Excelsior vs. Shanghai Dragons- Dragons win 3-1. New York had a tough time against the Hunters yesterday; they made tons of mistakes in high-pressure situations, and were able to win only because of a few clutch team fights. I don't think that approach will work against the Dragons, who are coming off of a genuinely difficult match against the Spitfire, who looked arguably cleaner than the NYXL in the Quarters. Therefore, I say Dragons win this 3-1. Dragons won 3-0.
MAY MELEE FINALS (APAC)
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| Just two remain! |
I predict that the Shanghai Dragons beat the Seoul Dynasty 4-0. Should be a stomp. It wasn't a stomp. Not by a long shot. Seoul went up 3-0 right off the bat, putting the Dragons in a very tough position, but they somehow, magically, pulled off the biggest reverse sweep in Overwatch history, winning the match 4-3! It was truly a spectacle, and I encourage you to watch the whole series, or at least the highlights, if you don't have that kind of time. I'm super-happy for them, and also for me, since I actually predicted every single winner in the May Melee APAC bracket correctly! That's amazing! Before I forget, huge props to Seoul for putting on a show and pushing the Dragons to their limits. Amazing stuff! Kudos!
Below are the brackets I made before the tournament began, just for fun. Meme them all you like!
Okay this is suuuuper interesting. I got 16/18 (88.89%) winners and 4/18 (22.22%) scores right! Even though the latter score is not very impressive, we did witness some unexpectedly close matches this weekend, but I'm stoked that I was right about so many winners! I can't remember the last time I predicted so many winners correctly, so yeah, hopefully I can keep up the momentum next week!
Thanks a lot to you guys for reading, and I'll see you soon! Cheers!
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