Only one obstacle remains on Excelsior’s path to Stage 1 Playoffs in the OWL in the form of San Francisco Shock. Everyone that has come into their crosshairs has fallen in the previous 6 matches and now it is up to SF crew to try and halt the Excelsior crew at their goal of achieving a perfect stage.
Now, the “haters” would say their opponents were not the crème de la crème of the OWL 2019 season and our Overwatch League Power Rankings would confirm the notion, yet it is still an impressive to go undefeated hopefully for the entire duration of the initial stage.
After completing this week, the Excelsior squad will have a week’s rest to recoup before the playoffs, which the OWL just announced.
you know I love me some @NYXL pic.twitter.com/b9QbXxj2EG
— Matt Morello (@MattMrX) March 6, 2019
In the other important matchups of this week we take a look at Paris Eternal and The Shanghai Dragons.
The French squad has only completed 3 games so far and sits at 2W 1L just below the playoff cutoff. They too face the San Francisco Shock a day after the NYXL. But, before that they have to go over the Vancouver Titans who are also on a mission to achieve a perfect stage and walk into the playoffs toe-to-toe with the Excelsior squad. This week is crucial for the Paris squad in achieving their dream of entering the OWL with a bang and representing Europe in the brightest of lights.
The guys at Paris Eternal share the sentiment in this weeks of their own weekly First Light show:
We close this week’s roundup with a team we have covered multiple times in our postings: The Shanghai Dragons (SHD)
The SHD squad wants to improve their reputation after a horrible last season and so far things are looking up compared to the previous season. There is definitely improvement, but a 2W3L score is not something to write home about. If the Dragons want to see playoffs in the first stage they have to win against both the Dallas Fuel and the London Spitfire this week, achieving a better head-to-head record and making it barely into the playoffs.
It is a tall order to ask but all the analysis of their playstyle when compared to both of their opponents this week points out towards a victory for the Shanghai Squad.
In closing, we cover the remaining matches of the week and breakdown the predicted winners (In bold):
- Atlanta Reign -vs- Los Angeles Gladiators
- Los Angeles Valiant -vs- Philadelphia Fusion
- Toronto Defiant -vs- Chengdu Hunters
- Paris Eternal -vs- Vancouver Titans
- New York Excelsior -vs- San Francisco Shock
- Dallas Fuel -vs- Shanghai Dragons
- Los Angeles Valiant -vs- Houston Outlaws
- Seoul Dynasty -vs- Washington Justice
- Guangzhou Charge -vs- Los Angeles Gladiators
- Hangzhou Spark -vs- Toronto Defiant
- Paris Eternal -vs- San Francisco Shock
- London Spitfire -vs– Shanghai Dragons
- Florida Mayhem -vs- Boston Uprising
- Vancouver Titans -vs- Chengdu Hunter
Until next week…
