OWL 2019: Stage One Photo-Finish

The last leg of the race to Stage One playoffs in the OWL is upon us and with it some interesting upset scenarios and opportunities arise.

First off, we have to complement the New York Excelsior for finishing their perfect stage without dropping a match in their seven games of the season. Right behind them is the Vancouver Titans who seek to finish the perfect stage as well this Sunday. These two teams were also our top picks in our OWL Power Rankings 2019 hence their dominating performance comes as no surprise.

What a BEAST @Nenne_chu #EverUpward #OWL2019 pic.twitter.com/yj2vBUX9mF

— NYXL (@NYXL) 9 marzo 2019

On the other side of the coin, we have the Los Angeles Valiant and the Washington Justice who are looking to go perfect in the opposite direction with a 0W7L streak. It has been a tough season start for the LA squad who had to face some of the toughest opponents in their stage one games. Looking forward to Stage two there is an easier schedule and relatively easier opponents facing them which is a good way to bounce back and get back to form. The Justice on the other hand has an “easier” schedule but are yet to get a win themselves. They are either going to match with the LA Valiant at the bottom of the standings with a 0-7 score line or possibly can play the upset card vs the Seoul Dynasty this week and ruin their playoff chances.

boston-uprising-at-overwatch-league-2019 — © Robert Paul

This is an important week for the Dallas Fuel and the Boston Uprising with a head-to-head matchup that could determine playoff contention for both teams. The Dallas team had a double matchup against the Shanghai Dragons and won both of them, messing up our weekly predictions, and also setting themselves up for playoffs with a 4W 2L score line.

Pretty much everyone has looked past the Atlanta Reign as being a strong contender coming into the season, but the Atlanta squad had other ideas in mind. With this week throwing two “easier” opponents in the mix, the Reign might look to take reigns (pun intended), advance to 5W2L, and secure a playoff spot at the Blizz Arena.

Finally, at the end of the Week 5 the Guangzhou Charge will attempt to stop the Titans at achieving their perfect run in stage one. If they manage to hold the Titans at bay they will get to keep their playoffs chances alive. This is also our match of the week.

With all of the intricacies coming into this week let’s take a look at our game predictions coming into the compacted 8 game week. (Predicted winners are in bold)