Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment Los Angeles Valiant boast a 2-0 start to the season.
After more than 10 million people tuned in for the first week of Overwatch League, it’s time to do it all again. Week Two doesn’t have the same fanfare the opening night, but it’ll be a revealing week for some teams nonetheless.
We’ll start with the Los Angeles Valiant, who are 2-0 without losing a map after the first week. A big reason for that start is SoOn, who was fantastic in his team’s first two matches. The Valiant have an unblemished start, but the stats show a team that has risen to the challenge. After a wild 8-7 Junkertown battle and subsequent Horizon draw with Dallas, they could easily have been down two maps to start the match. They were better against the Shock, but still allowed three captures on Anubis.
Things could level out for LAV this week, as they face the two top teams in the Atlantic. They’ll put their control point skills to the test against Pine and NYXL, and also face a tough matchup with London Spitfire.
The lone European team is also 2-0, and got some good PR during the week. Noticing their strong start, the Spitfire are in negotiations with Tottenham Hotspur for some sort of partnership. It would be the first such deal in Overwatch League, and would be a huge connection for the London team that plays in Los Angeles.
The Spitfire rolled in their first two matches, even while leaving some popular players like Rascal and Fury on the bench. Playing against Dallas and Valiant this week, it’ll be interesting to see if the Spitfire rotate players out, or continue to look for a “best” composition of players.
Speaking of Dallas Fuel, it wasn’t an ideal spot for the league’s most popular American team. Fuel have an 0-2 record after the first week, and have another tough week against Houston and London. Fuel will have to answer all sorts of questions about their team comp last week, including a quad-tank lineup against Seoul. The ratings for their tanks was pathetic last week, especially fan-favorites Mickie, who posted an average rating of 605.5 for his team’s first two matches.
The rivalry starts this week when Dallas and Houston square off, but the match is now significant in it’s own right. With identical winless starts, Dallas and Houston are in danger of missing out on Stage One playoffs out of the gate. If Dallas can’t get it done against Houston, they face top Atlantic team London with a chance at starting 0-4.
At the top, there can only be Seoul Dynasty. Say what you want about them dropping maps, this is clearly the best team in the league. Fleta is the best individual DPS in the league, as evidenced by his ridiculous fantasy numbers. Seoul is still tinkering, especially with the new DPS players folded into the Lunatic Hai squad. Munchkin and Wekeed are still splitting time at DPS, and it’s scary to think how good this team will be when they figure out their best lineup.
Overwatch League starts Wednesday and runs through Saturday every week.