With the close of the first week of Stage 4 yesterday let’s recap all the changes we have seen in the league. Thursday began the start of the final stage of season 2, and the beginning of the 2-2-2 hero lock system. Not only did that mean the funeral for GOAT’s, but the resurrection of many players bound to the bench (and Brig, too).
The week started off with a dominant performance from the Paris Eternal against Houston Outlaws. We finally got to see SoOn and ShaDowBurn pop-off on some of their most favored heroes. Poko (Philadelphia Fusion) revealed his hopeful game-winning “stache”, only to shave it following their 2-3 loss to the Guangzhou Charge. Thursday’s upsets came as LA Gladiators took the lead over NYXL, and Shanghai Dragons weren’t able to clutch the win against Vancouver Titans.
Friday Washington started off by getting their third win of the entire season against the falling Toronto Defiant. As suspected, London Spitfire’s tank line and DPS god’s easily outplayed the also falling Dallas Fuel. Dallas has only managed two wins since their Homestand in April. They won against Florida Mayhem in Stage 2, week 5, and against Washington Justice in Stage 3, week 1. These are the very bottom two teams in season standings.
Friday was also the day of the second Nighthawk Router Rumble match between San Francisco Shock and the Seoul Dynasty. Super of the Shock remains the keeper of the belt after a 3-1 win. Philly then loses yet another match to a Chinese team. The Hunters pull out a 3-2 win in a five map game.
Saturday’s games may have just been the highlight of the entire week. The first game between the LA Valiant and Paris Eternal was a two hour long crazy match resulting in a W for Valiant in map five on Busan. But the excitement doesn’t stop there. Charge goes 3-0 up on Boston Uprising, and for map four they bring in new additions to the team, Fragi and Bischu. Fans have been dying to see both players, neither whom have played at all this season. They claimed their 4-0 victory on Havana, in style. Charge also brought in Eileen, Rise, and Onlywish for the last map. Houston put a surprising 3-1 win against LA Gladiators. Surefour and Decay played DPS well, however, Muma and Spree were stronger on the tank line than Hydration and Void. Saturday’s games were closed out by Atlanta Reign making Hangzhou Spark look completely unprepared for the 2-2-2 shift. While Atlanta played very well, Spark might consider keeping their 2019 MVP candidate main tank Guxue in for the entirety of the game.
As the weekend concludes, Seoul takes another loss against Shanghai. They are now placed 7th (SHD), and 8th (SEO) in season standings. Seoul needs to shape up their ever-changing roster if they want to keep themselves within playoff reach. London continue to look better this weekend with Gesture shining on main tank Orisa and Profit able to play the heroes we all know and love him for. Vancouver takes a non-surprising 4-0 win over Florida. Vancouver has had an incredibly easy schedule the entire season, and it doesn’t get any more difficult for the remainder of the season. We closed out the night with Boston losing once again, even though we have been expecting Colourhex and Blase to help lead this team to victory with their powerful DPS plays. But, the Hunters have been playing the DPS game since the beginning and it is still working in their favor. Both hitscan players Baconjack and YangXiaoLong made huge plays, all being supported by the amazing Yveltal.
Teams we expect to see rise up in standings for the last and final stage are Valiant, Spitfire, Charge, and Eternal. We’ve seen a huge decline in Dynasty, Fuel, Uprising, and Fusion. Spark and Gladiators are desperately holding on to their current spots and will hopefully be taking the week to improve and make the necessary changes.
