Game 2: Florida Mayhem 0-3 Philadelphia Fusion:
Coming off that win against the Justice, Philly found themselves coming up against the Florida Mayhem, a Mayhem team that shocked everyone on day 1 when they swept the Outlaws 3-0. Mayhem made a few changes to the starting line-up that dominated the Outlaws, whilst Philly stuck with the same 6 that beat Washington.
It seemed to me that the Fusion understood they would be in a dogfight from the start against this Mayhem side and they countered that fantastically by just going straight at them from the off. Ivy and Sado were fantastic on point 1 of map 1 and carried the team in team fights, taking point 1. We got heavily dominated in point 2, so we headed into the deciding point 3 all tied up at 1-1. Point 3 of map 1 was a closely contested one but Sado came through once again on Rein and we won point 3, taking a 1-0 lead into map 2.
Map 2 would see the two teams fight within Junkertown and the Fusion were utterly fantastic from start to finish on this map, they showed everyone how good they can be and that star players win you games. We took the payload to the house for a 3-0 lead heading into our defense and this defense was just superb. We controlled the pace of the Mayhem’s push from start to finish, we fought the battles on our terms and throughout all of this Sado and Ivy were fantastic.
There was a point during one of the last fights where it looked like the Mayhem would win and take the round to overtime. However, Alarm hit a clutch nano boost on Poko to keep him alive and then Ivy and Sado combined together and wiped the Mayhem’s push by themselves. We won Junkertown 3-2, taking a 2-0 lead into map 3, giving us the chance to sweep Florida.
Map 3 would be Blizzard World and we would start off attacking. Our attack was pretty dominant until it came for the last push, as the Mayhem weren’t going down without a fight. Thankfully our players came in clutch, mostly thanks to Sado again, and we got all three points. It all came down to our defense and well, the Mayhem basically handed us the win by picking Sombra. We didn’t even allow them to capture the first point and we finished our inaugural homestand with a 3-0 sweep over the Florida Mayhem.
Verdict:
The Fusion were fantastic over the entire weekend but the scary thing about watching the games, was the fact I was thinking to myself; this team can be so much better. They were making some silly plays here and there. The Ark back capture was one that was so stupid and could have cost us that map, it slightly reminded me of us last season, where we would fail to properly finish and opponent off and allow them to come back into the game. However, this season, when that happened, we came back stronger than ever on the next point. It was a great way to start the season and thankfully, the hype behind the team seems valid at this point.
My player of the weekend was a tough choice. Carpe was fantastic during the entire weekend, he came in so clutch during so many crucial parts of the games. Alarm had a great debut in the OWL, the hype behind him as a prospect is certainly valid and the sky’s the limit with this kid. FunnyAstro did well on Lucio and worked really well with Alarm. Ivy did the things that fans didn’t really notice, Carpe’s name was coming up in the kill feed a lot but it was all down to Ivy making the right calls at when the right time was to engage in a fight.
However, there was one guy that stood out for me over the weekend and that was Sado. This guy had so much hate towards him after the last season ending, everyone was calling for the Fusion to sign another main tank but the Fusion stuck with their man and boy did it work out this weekend. I was one of those that doubted Sado after last season, however, I’m so glad he proved us all wrong during the weekend and hopefully he can keep this up for the entirety of the season, because if he does, we’re going to win our first title!
I’ll see you again this weekend as the Fusion are in action again, this time the games take place in Washington, as we look to keep our unbeaten streak alive with games against New York Excelsior and the Toronto Defiant!
