Hey everyone, hope you all are doing well and staying safe! This is Proilios, and after a two-week break, I'm ready to get back into the OWL action! The May Melee Tournament was a huge success; we saw matches without Hero Pools for the first time in a long time and still saw a ton of variance in strategies, which was a refreshing experience.
The Shanghai Dragons emerged as the winners of the APAC May Melee, whereas the San Francisco Shock seized the throne in North America. For me, these are the two best teams so far this season, regardless of division. Enough of the May Melee though; we're in June now, and are ready to work our way towards another exciting tournament, which is the Summer Showdown!
In Weeks 19 and 20, Echo, Sombra, D.Va and Brigitte will be out of the Hero Pool, and I think that's going to lead to another week of Shield-Break-heavy Double Shield comps. I'm sure there will be teams that go the Rushdown route, but let's talk about that while I'm sharing my predictions with you below.
DAY 1
1. London Spitfire vs. Shanghai Dragons- Dragons win 3-0. I think this will be a fun matchup to watch, since with the given Hero Pools, I fully expect both teams to play something like Orisa-Sigma-Mei-Ashe-Bap-Zen. However, I'm clearly favouring Shanghai for one main reason...the tank matchup. I think Stand1 and Void make up a much better Double Shield duo than JMAC and BERNAR, so although this match can be close from map-to-map, I don't see London getting anywhere close to winning the series. A perfect prediction! Granted we didn't see as much Double Shield as I expected, we still saw a fairly-dominating performance from the Dragons, in addition to a glimpse of London's B-Team. GGs to both teams.
2. New York Excelsior vs. Seoul Dynasty- Excelsior wins 3-0. If I had to name one team that I think would still play Deathball comps in this meta, it would be the NYXL. A team that really hasn't used much of Double Shield, they can leverage HOTBA's flexibility on the off-tank role to gain an advantage over Seoul. It's hard to prep for a team whose off-tank is comfortable on not only D.Va (who's not in the pool), but also Zarya, Sigma and Orisa. You could put Mano on Reinhardt, HOTBA on one of those 3 tanks, Libero or the newly-acquired Haksal on Mei, and Saebyeolbe on Tracer. With a reliable backline featuring JJoNak and Anamo/Mandu, they should be able to walk over the Seoul Dynasty. Although Seoul is far from a stranger to Double Shield metas, they lack flexibility; and I know it's odd saying this when you've got Profit in the lineup, but that's how it is. I think they'll stick to Shield-Break-heavy comps, like Orisa-Sigma-Mei-Hanzo/McCree/Ashe-Bap-Zen, but if they want to be competitive, they fully need everyone to fire on all cylinders and adapt on-the-fly, which is not something this team is known for. This is the prediction everyone doubted, and honestly, I'm a little surprised I got it perfect despite making it myself! The Excelsior showed a lot of grit and persistence, mounting unbreakable defences. Although Seoul's defences were pretty good too, they couldn't match those of New York. The Dynasty did seem to have a great comp with Winston-Zarya to counter the Excelsior's Double Shield, but once HOTBA wielded that Roadhog, the tides turned, and like I anticipated, Seoul couldn't adapt. Super-happy to be right about this one, and I hope I keep up the momentum!
3. Paris Eternal vs. Boston Uprising- Eternal wins 3-0. Although this matchup was pretty darn close during the May Melee Tournament, I think Paris will be significantly better at dealing with Boston this time round. I already believe the Eternal to be way stronger than the Uprising, and with the coming-of-age of Sp9rk1e, they will have one more curveball to throw their way. Another noteworthy point is that Echo, which was largely the reason Boston was competitive last time, is not in the pool, meaning Colourhex will likely be on Mei for most of the series. I don't need to point out that NiCOgdh is evidently the better Mei player, so that's another advantage Paris has. Another exhilarating matchup between these two teams ended in a 3-2 win for Paris. Sp9rk1e finally got to show off his skills in T1 Overwatch, and he did a darn good job. His flashiness on Genji and his setups on Mei were noteworthy, and he was one of the main reasons the Eternal could win this series. I'm also impressed by how well Boston were able to compete despite Echo being out of the pool. Colourhex was stupefying on Tracer, picking off Paris' squishies and landing Pulse Bombs consistently. Boston as a whole is definitely looking better now, but until they get a win or two, I unfortunately can't bump them up in my power rankings.
4. Florida Mayhem vs. Dallas Fuel- Mayhem wins 3-0. Oh man just give me a Tracer matchup between Yaki and Decay already! I've been keen on watching these two Tracers duel for a few weeks now, and I'm glad that wait's going to be over! I have no doubt that both these teams will play Tracer with Double Shield and Bap-Zen. However, I think BQB will be on Ashe and Doha will be on Mei, based on what we've seen before. I'm confident in Florida winning this because of their recent momentum, and also because they seem to have a better support structure in place for their DPS than the Fuel. In another match where the damage dealers stole the show, the Florida Mayhem beat the Dallas Fuel 3-1. BQB and Yaki played a fantastic game, trumping Decay and Doha in most of their fights, and must I say, this DPS duo is one of the best we have this year.
5. Atlanta Reign vs. Los Angeles Gladiators- Reign wins 3-1. This is likely to be a very entertaining matchup. Everyone knows both these teams are good but not quite elite, and a win here would really boost either of their confidence to make a push for that top tier. A Double Shield matchup is expected, and we know what the Reign will probably be running; Orisa-Sigma-Ashe-Tracer-Bap-Zen. I'm not sure what the Gladiators will run, since some of their favourite heroes are not in the pool. During the May Melee, they ran a lot of Dive, and Rein-D.Va at times, but I think they'll have to play Rein-Sigma in Weeks 19 and 20. Birdring looked good on Tracer, and maybe since Echo's out, we could see MirroR back on Doomfist? It's a darn good meta for him, considering that Sombra, Echo and Brig are out of the pool, which leaves McCree to probably be his best counter. So, I'm expecting a flanker-heavy Double Shield comp, probably Rein-Sigma-Tracer-Doomfist-Ana-Lucio. Dpei does like to get creative, so we'll see what he comes up with! That said, since Atlanta has played their Tracer-Ashe comp a lot before this, they'll probably be more refined in their approach, although some surprise strats could certainly throw them off. Like I said, this will be a very entertaining series. Unfortunately, I've got a winner wrong. The Gladiators beat the Reign 3-1, owing to nothing but inconsistency on Atlanta's part. Although it was a very close series, the Gladiators' synergy truly showed, as they managed to clutch fights multiple times, seemingly relying on nothing but communication. BigG00se was fantastic all game, playing his signature aggressive Lucio, and he was a big reason for the Gladiators' win. I was also amused by LhCloudy's Reinhardt, which I'd like to call Memehardt, as he adopted the most ridiculous style I've ever seen at the top tier. He was a third DPS; not a main tank, and he reminded me a lot of Bumper during Goats. He went for flank-shatters, bypassed the Reign's frontline to get to their supports, and whatnot. It was quite funny to watch, but it worked, so props to dpei for the creativity. I'm sure Atlanta is quite mad after that loss, but I hope they can learn from this and improve their communication.
DAY 2
1. Philadelphia Fusion vs. Houston Outlaws- Fusion wins 3-0. I'm not sure what Philly's going to run this week, but I know it'll be good enough to beat the Outlaws! A talented team with a deep roster, I think they could break out anything and do it justice. I hope we see Carpe on Tracer again (we probably will), and they could run that with a lot of different things. The Fusion can utilise Fury and Poko to cover many different off-tanks as well as Orisa, and that's going to help them be unpredictable. On the flip side, I really want to see Houston playing the Ashe-Tracer comp Florida has been using; I think with LiNkzr on Ashe and Danteh on Tracer, they can do wonders, but naturally, they will fall to the Fusion, who are a much more polished and consistent team. This was a pretty easy prediction. The Fusion dominated the Outlaws, thanks to their superior skill and teamwork.
2. Vancouver Titans vs. Toronto Defiant- Defiant wins 3-2. These two teams faced off right before the May Melee, and finished with the same score I'm predicting now. I was right then and I could be right even this time, since neither team has done much to bolster their skill since then. A large part of Vancouver's success in being competitive last time was Shockwave's Echo, and she's currently out of the pool. That said, this is a good time to be playing Ashe-Tracer, and I believe Tsuna and Dalton could utilise them well enough to make Toronto sweat again. I mean, the Titans have 3 hitscan players, might as well play them on their best heroes while you can, right? Toronto will likely play Mei since Agilities has improved a lot on her, and can do a good job alongside Surefour/Logix's Ashe. I think both teams will use Orisa-Sigma-Bap-Zen in their other hero slots and have a chaotic series once again. A really scrappy match saw the Toronto Defiant come out on top with a 3-0 score. Wasn't much to it really.
3. Los Angeles Valiant vs. Washington Justice- Valiant wins 3-0. Yes, JJANU is in America now, but that doesn't mean Washington's play will suddenly skyrocket. It's going to be a learning curve for sure, and although the Valiant are fairly inconsistent themselves, they're clearly more skilled. The Valiant's comps have been hard to predict this season, and once again, I'm not sure what they'll run, but their best bet is probably Ashe-Tracer with KSP-Shax, and whatever tanks and supports Packing10 sees fit. The Justice could play something like Rein-Sigma-Mei-Tracer-Ana-Lucio, which is a Poke-y style, and allows JJANU and Stitch to pop off and carry on some of their best heroes. That said, the Valiant are much more cohesive and well-practised, so I think they'll take this match quite easily. As McGravy typed at the end of the match...'ez'. The main reason this series was so one-sided is KSP's fantastic Ashe play; he outclassed Stitch super hard. I don't know if Stitch is still in Korea or has flown to America, but if it's the latter, the boy needs to step up his game.
So this week, I got 7/8 (87.5%) winners and 4/8 (50%) scores correct, which I reckon is pretty good! If only the Reign had played up to their opponents and beaten the Gladiators as I thought they would...sigh...anyway, let's try and go for the 100% winner accuracy in Week 20; I think it might be possible. Hope you guys liked this post and are enjoying the predictions. Cheers, and have a good week ahead!
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