Hello everyone, this is Proilios, and I'm ready to get into my predictions for Week 24 of the Overwatch League. A couple of weeks ago, we got to witness the Summer Showdown, which the Guangzhou Charge won in APAC, and the Paris Eternal won in NA, thanks to a fresh new meta involving Genji-centric Double Shield comps.
However, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, and it's a new Hero Pool for the next wave of matches, in which Orisa, Widowmaker, Mei and Ana will be banned. This means we'll be seeing new strategies develop, since Orisa and Widow were meta picks in the Summer Showdown. I suspect this week's meta is going to lean towards a Rein-Sigma Rushdown comp, with a Bap-Lucio support line. The choices of DPS will be varied, with heroes like Tracer and Ashe still being strong picks. I'm not sure if Genji will be played much, since Orisa and Ana are out of the pool, and their Halt and Nanoboost respectively were useful synergies for Genji to exploit. Maybe we see some Zarya play for the classic Grav-Blade combo? I'm not sure, but we'll find out soon enough.
DAY 1
1. Vancouver Titans vs. Paris Eternal- Eternal wins 3-0. A team with a far higher skill cap and a much better track record than the Titans, Paris should sail through this game with no trouble. Xzi and Sp9rk1e will continue working their magic, and they're definitely the duo Paris should play around. They'll still be able to play their amazing control map strats with SoOn's Symmetra, and probably Reaper this time since Mei is out. The Titans are still in a rather inflexible position, since they've just got 3 hitscan players as their damage dealers, with the only flex DPS pick they've done justice to being sHockWave's Echo. It's weird how much faith the Titans' coaches put in Dalton's Genji, which wasn't impressive in the slightest. Granted that this wasn't a winnable game for them either way, but they should've played their DPS players's signature heroes as much as possible. Anyway, I'm happy because this was a perfect prediction.
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| The Battle of Texas returns! |
2. Houston Outlaws vs. Dallas Fuel- Outlaws win 3-0. I'm not quite sure what damage dealers the Outlaws will run this week, since they've got a ton of options with their Trifecta of Specialists. Dallas will likely rely on their DPS' pop-off potential as usual, but I don't see them winning this series, although it's possible for Decay and Doha to go carry mode again and turn the tides in their favour. Dive comps could be the way to go for the Fuel to try and outplay the Outlaws, who have been improving a lot in recent weeks, so maybe an attempt at Tracer-Sombra/Echo Dive could be fruitful. I'm certain this prediction will come as a surprise to some, but hey, it's what I think will happen. The Fuel won 3-2; not what I expected to happen, but it did. Hydration seemed really off on main tank in this series, playing passively for the most part with random bursts of aggression. You could tell he was struggling, which begs me to ask why Muma hasn't been fielded back.
DAY 2
1. Hangzhou Spark vs. Seoul Dynasty- Dynasty wins 3-0. Even with Seoul's ability to run Orisa and Mei removed, they're a better team than the Spark. I think they can still show some formidable looks, especially with a Tracer-Sombra Dive in this meta. With Brig's Repair Pack nerfed, it'll be easier for sustained-damage DPS to get value, so with FITS's Sombra and Profit's Tracer, they should be able to play comfortably into whatever the Spark run. I'm not sure what look Hangzhou will show, but after their recent showings, I'm not confident in them. Who knows, they might have a good week and actually beat the Dynasty; that's how inconsistent they are, and therefore, hard to predict. Seoul got swept 0-3, thanks to some weird compositional choices by their coaching staff. They were playing Rein-D.Va with a Mercy-Zen backline, then Half-Dive into a comp with no diveable targets, and so on. Very disappointing.
2. Guangzhou Charge vs. London Spitfire- Charge wins 3-0. This should be an obvious prediction. The Guangzhou Charge are on an absolute tear right now, showing off probably the highest skill cap we've seen in the League this year. They have some solid DPS players, supplemented by excellent teammates all around. I think this week they should play around Happy's Ashe as much as possible, since Genji may not be as strong as people anticipate, and with Rushdown/Deathball (if I'm right) being meta, farming B.O.B. will still be a quick ordeal. It's also a great week to pull out Eileen's Sombra, who can focus on farming up EMPs and combo them with Earthshatters. London's best bet will probably be Double Hitscan, with Babel and Glister in the mix, and even though I think they're no pushovers, they'll go down fighting against Guangzhou. A closer-than-expected match saw the Charge winning the series 3-1.
3. Chengdu Hunters vs. New York Excelsior- Excelsior wins 3-0. This won't even be close. The NYXL are vastly more consistent and stronger than the Hunters. I think New York can base their play around Haksal's Genji in this meta, and really enable him with everything they've got. I think they could run a Moira-Mercy backline and just keep Haksal pocketed throughout, running Winston-D.Va-Tracer/Sombra alongside him. Another way to go would be to play Rein-Zarya-Bap-Lucio and farm up Grav-Blade combos. I don't think there's anything Chengdu can run to get a win in this series, and due to their randomness, it's hard to guess what they'll lean towards. I think this was a choke. This was an absolute choke. After going up 2-0 in the series, the NYXL suddenly lost focus and were reverse-swept by the Hunters. I'm actually not sure whether it was the Excelsior choking or the Hunters stepping up, but either way, I think this match is an outlier to all logic.
4. Vancouver Titans vs. Los Angeles Gladiators- Gladiators win 3-0. After the Titans' underwhelming performance against the Eternal, I'm absolutely certain that the Gladiators will body them. Dalton's Genji is one of the least impactful I've seen in the League, so at least until they put him on one of his signature heroes, they're doomed. The Gladiators play some mean Dive comps, and this seems to be a great meta to play Birdring's Tracer in and win off of pure aggression. A perfect prediction, thanks to the Gladiators' coordinated Dive setups. Also, Vancouver was just bad.
5. Washington Justice vs. Toronto Defiant- Defiant wins 3-0. I think this is a fantastic meta for Toronto. After watching the matches that have already elapsed, I think they can spam Sombra-Genji Dive to great success, especially against the Justice. Surefour-Agilities will likely be their go-to DPS duo if they adopt this approach. Washington's best bet is to continue playing around TTuba, who had a great showing in the Summer Showdown on Genji, but in the end, Toronto is much better. Another perfect pred! Pretty much expected, thanks to the Surefour-Agilities duo and also Beast, who played a stellar Reinhardt for the two maps he played in the series.
6. San Francisco Shock vs. Boston Uprising- Shock wins 3-0. I don't think I need to be too elaborate, but I'll share some details nonetheless. Since the Shock aren't great at flanker comps, I think they should stick to Rushdown and Anti-Dive. Rein-D.Va or Rein-Sigma should be their go-to, with super and ChoiHyoBin at the helm. With this fantastic tank line, the guidance of moth, and the consistency of Viol2t, this team is surprisingly not about the DPS this week. The Uprising have thrown some of their best looks with Tracer-Echo comps, and they seem likely to try those again, and it's up to the Shock to counter them, which they naturally will. Okay so earlier this year, sinatraa retired, Architect was traded to the Spark, and Rascal was obscenely underwhelming on Genji. So, what did SF do? Well, they fielded the gigachad big brain 5Head, super...on Genji. Yes. And they swept Boston. Does that mean super is an insane Genji? Not relatively, but he did a pretty good job. The Uprising just need to step up, they're nowhere close to even getting out of Bottom-5 territory so far.
7. Los Angeles Valiant vs. Atlanta Reign- Reign wins 3-0. I love my sweeps, huh? This meta bodes well for any Dive comps the Reign wants to try out. I think some of their best looks come through flanker-heavy strats, and I think playing Pokpo-Hawk-Edison-SharP on Winston-D.Va-Tracer-Sombra will be fantastic this week. Although one might consider the Valiant to be better at Dive, I think they will, or they should, play Rushdown more often. Having Dreamer on Reinhardt has proven to be great for this team, and if they focus on teamwork rather than KSP and Shax's pop-off potential, they can give the Reign a good fight. Wait, all my preds for Day 2 NA were perfect?! Not bad at all! The Atlanta Reign put up a great showing, especially with Erster and Edison carrying them through fights with their clutch picks. GGs indeed.
DAY 3
1. Paris Eternal vs. Toronto Defiant- Eternal wins 3-0. If the sweep preds are working, why not continue to use them? Also, I think Paris is a much cleaner team than Toronto at the moment. This meta specifically might make this match closer than one expects, but the Eternal have a clear edge. SoOn and Sp9rk1e were just insane against Vancouver two days ago, and I'm sure they can make quick work of the Defiant as well. Everything went pretty much as expected.
2. Atlanta Reign vs. Florida Mayhem- Reign wins 3-0. With the way Florida played and handled things in the Summer Showdown, I'm not sure they can go toe-to-toe with Atlanta, who looked super clean against the Valiant earlier today. The Mayhem are a more skilled team on the face of things, but I can't get past the elevated level of play Atlanta have been exhibiting in this meta, so I'm banking on them to maintain that level against the Mayhem. Florida was surprisingly good in this match, truly accepting Genji's place in the meta and letting Yaki do his thing. Gargoyle and Gangnamjin were also super-impressive, and dominated the Reign on all fronts. Big GGs to them.
3. Boston Uprising vs. Los Angeles Valiant- Valiant wins 3-0. Say what you will, the Uprising lost to the Shock with super on Genji. If that doesn't say enough, just consider the track records of both these teams. The Valiant are clearly more skilled and less prone to messing up than Boston, so that should explain my scoreline. EZ clap, another perfect prediction! The Boston Uprising are an absolute mess; this team has been unbelievably poor this season, and I don't know how they can possibly recover from their extended slump.
Overall, I got 8/12 winners (66.67%) and 7/12 scores (58.33%) right this week! I like it, considering the erratic meta shifts Hero Pools and new patches bring about. Let's see if I can do better in Week 25, as we head into the second week of the Road to the Countdown Cup!
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