The third season of the Overwatch League got underway last week; however, the Fusion have had to wait until this weekend to get their season underway as they host the second week of gameplay at The Met, a weekend that’s been dubbed The Battle of Brotherly Love.
The Fusion are heading into the new season hoping to better the disappointing performance of last season, when they failed to reach the postseason after a loss to the Shanghai Dragons.
They made a few changes during the offseason, bringing in quality players like Fury and everyone knows about the signing of ChipSa and the drama that followed! They also made a few changes to the front office, bring in a new head coach and new staff with new roles who will all be hoping to bring the OWL trophy to Philadelphia this season.
Game 1: Washington Justice vs Philadelphia Fusion:
Philly will get their season underway with a game against the Justice on Saturday. Washington were one of the worst teams in the OWL last season, finishing 17th in the standings and boasting an 8-20 W/L record. However, they will be looking to prove their doubters wrong this season and start with a win against one of the most hyped-up teams in the league this season.
Justice will have a new tankline, but that’s their weakness, both the starters were in Contender’s last season and in a completely different meta, so the Fusion should find it easy to breach Washington and Fusion’s DPS players shouldn’t have too much trouble in picking players off. Justice also have a whole new coaching staff; however, they are new to the league so this shouldn’t trouble the Fusion, but rookie HC’s can prove people wrong so Philly can’t think for a second that this is a walk in the park.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Fusion lineup, especially with the addition of Fury. Who will start the season as the starting off-tank between him and Poko. You also have the whole DPS issue, Carpe and EQO will probably be the starters for the season, but if they perform inconsistently like they did last season, they have new guys like Ivy, Heesu and ChipSa sitting in the wings ready to take their starting place. All I know heading into this first matchup, is the Fusion should come out with a dominant win.
Game 2: Florida Mayhem vs Philadelphia Fusion:
Many OWL fans see Philly’s opening weekend and may come up with a conspiracy theory that the OWL directors want the Fusion to win it all by giving them and easy, early schedule and they might be right… Florida were the worst team in the league last season, finishing the season in last place (20th) and with a record of 6 wins and 22 losses, Florida have a lot to prove this season and many still think they’ll fall short. They didn’t really have a huge overhaul with their roster in the offseason, but the pieces they picked up complement their existing roster quite well and that should help them out as the season draws on.
By no means have the Mayhem gotten worse over the offseason, to be honest, they’ve gotten better but that’s mainly due to some teams falling off and making bad choices in the offseason. There isn’t anything special about Florida’s roster, it’s just a nice roster.
Philly should win this without too much trouble, just because they have those game-changing players on their roster. If they stick to the gameplan, and play as a team, they’ll slowly wear down Florida and win.
Predictions:
This weekend in Philadelphia, the Fusion should find both their games a treat to play as their opening games of the season as a new roster. They shouldn’t find the matchups that difficult to beat and honestly, they need to dominate these teams to send a statement out to the guys at the top of the pecking order that the Fusion aren’t here to mess around, they’re here to win games and win the entire league this season.
I’ll go with 3-1 wins in both games for Philly and I’ll even predict that they’ll be an appearance from fan favourite, ChipSa, who will make his debut on the OWL stage. There isn’t a better chance for ChipSa to get some game time against two of the worst teams in the league, just give the fans what they want, please!
