OH YES, IT’S THE RETURN OF OVERWATCH ONTO ANIMATED! 🙂
Greetings Animated World!
I am so happy and excited to be talking Overwatch once again on Animated! I had my stint of being away from this game for a few months. However, after watching the Overwatch League and playing at Paradise City Comic Con, I realized I’ve missed this game a whole bunch. So welcome back Overwatch!
I’ve been watching the Overwatch League since opening day on January 10th this year. I even have a fighter in the battle in Florida Mayhem! I’ve watched pretty much every match up until this point and have decided to share my thoughts on each team with a power ranking post on the blog. I’m still deciding whether to do these every week or biweekly. I’m leaning toward biweekly to give the teams more of a data field to rank them from and for more fluctuation in the rankings than a weeks worth of data would give.
Based off their performances in Week 1 and Week 2, here are my Overwatch team Power Rankings going into Week 3!
1. Seoul Dynasty (4-0)
You’ve got to beat the best to be considered the best. Until someone takes down Goliath, Seoul Dynasty will remain atop the Power Rankings. Dallas has been the only team to put up somewhat of a fight against Seoul losing 2-1. Dynasty’s best win as of right now is against LA Gladiators, but they’ll have a big match up against NY Excelsior this week. This match-up could prove just how far in front Seoul really is or could show just how close other teams in striking distance might be. The only blueprint against Dynasty might be to go for their tanks, and even that is a tall task with Miro playing solid.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: Jan 26 vs. NY Excelsior
2. London Spitfire (4-0)
The Spitfire had an amazing match against the Los Angeles Valiant going the distance to a fifth game tie breaker. Honestly, my favorite part of that match was watching Rascal on Mei during Point B’s defense on Horizon Lunar Colony. The Spitfire were coming off a back-to-back after taking down Dallas 3-1 the day before. The Spitfire will have another back-to-back this week against the San Francisco Shock and Boston Uprising. Spitfire should win both these matches. Then the Spitfire will be treated to a nice rest until their February 1st showdown against Seoul. We’ll see if the Spitfire can become the league’s top dogs in two weeks.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: Jan 24th vs. San Fran Shock
3. New York Excelsior (4-0)
You can argue New York has the most impressive body of work going into Week 3. They’ve added early wins against both Los Angeles Valiant and Gladiators to their resume. They’re quietly making themselves known as a top team, and Pine is a big reason for it. You could argue they have a better resume than the Spitfire as of now having wins against both LA teams 3-0 and 4-0. I’m not ready to jump them over the Spitfire just yet, but they are on London’s heels. This week New York has a tremendous opportunity to make a statement against Seoul Dynasty. It’ll be a great measuring stick to see just how close they are to the number one spot. They may even solidify themselves as the number one if they can pull out a victory over Dynasty.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: Jan 26th vs. Seoul Dynasty
4. Los Angeles Valiant (2-2)
Even though they couldn’t finish out the Spitfire in a fifth game tiebreaker, the Los Angeles Valiant turned a lot of heads during Week 2. What makes me hesitate about this team is their 0-3 lost against NY. They have an opportunity this week to distance themselves a bit from the pack if they pick up a convincing win against the Gladiators. They showed a lot of promise against the Spitfire last week. We’ll see if they can continue to turn some heads.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: BATTLE FOR LA Jan 24th vs. LA Gladiators
5. Los Angeles Gladiators (2-2)
The Gladiators get the nod over Philadelphia for their head-to-head win against the Fusion, and over the Outlaws since the Fusion beat Houston in Week 1. Their two loses have come in some stiff competition against Dynasty and the Excelsior. I think this team just needs a little more depth and variety as they only have seven players on their roster currently. It could be the difference they need to push themselves into the top tier of Overwatch League teams. The Gladiators, however ,do sport a nice DPS rotation with Surefour, Asher, and Hydration. They may want to look at signing another dedicated tank player during free agency period to help sub in for some maps.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: BATTLE FOR LA Jan 24th vs. LA Valiant
6. Philadelphia Fusion (2-2)
What a pleasant surprise the Philadelphia Fusion have been so far. From withdrawing from the preseason to pulling off an opening match upset against the Houston Outlaws. Carpe has just been playing ridiculous to start off the season and Poko has made some exceptional D.Va plays as well. This team could be dangerous if they get hot and shouldn’t be taken lightly. They may be only 2-2 to start off, but don’t overlook the Fusion. They’ll have a nice matchup against the Excelsior this week to flex some muscle.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: Jan 25th vs. NY Excelsior
7. Houston Outlaws (2-2)
I think the Outlaws just got off to a slow start. Their convincing win in the Texas showdown duel against the Dallas Fuel for the lone-star state could be exactly what this team needed to jumpstart their season. I’m also not going to doubt a team with Jake on it. They have an opportunity to get a win against the Mayhem to start off week 3. This would leave them at the end of week 3 ready to face the Gladiators on a little win streak. Week 3 has the potential to be a big week for the Outlaws if they find themselves 4-2 at the end of it.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: Jan 27th vs LA Gladiators
8. San Francisco Shock (2-2)
I’m not really sure what to make of the San Francisco Shock just yet. Their last two games they put up a nice fight against the Fusion in a 1-2 lost and picked up a much needed win against Uprising 3-2. They sometimes look like a second tier team and sometimes look like a third tier team. The Shock could have some trouble this week as they matchup against the Spitfire and a Dallas Fuel team needing a win badly. This could be a bad week for the Shock, or it could be one hell of a coming out party. If sinatraa, BABYBAY, and Danteh catch some momentum, San Francisco could “shock” some teams this week.
Animated’s Week 3 Key Match-up: Jan 24th vs. London Spitfire
9. Boston Uprising (1-3)
Another team like the Shock I’m just not too sure about yet. Coincidentally, they have quite a week ahead of them that mirrors the Shock’s Week 3 schedule. Starting off the week against the Spitfire and ending with the Fuel. In fairness to the Boston Uprising, two of their losses are against top 3 teams in Seoul and Excelsior. However, it’s going to be a tough week with opening up Week 3 against the London Spitfire. If Dallas loses against the Shock they may sneak out of the week 1-1. However, if Dallas catches a break against the Shock to notch their first win, this could be a bad week for Uprising.
Animated’s Key Match-up: Jan 25th vs. London Spitfire
10. Florida Mayhem (1-3)
Although these are my boys in the fight, I can’t rank them any higher than 10th. However, they showed positivity and composure against the Shanghai Dragons where they finally notched their first victory of the season. This team is talented! Despite a 4-0 sweep by Dynasty, the Florida boys showed fight and almost managed to take a map on Seoul. I think the win against Shanghai was the spark this team needed headed into a quality matchup this week against the Outlaw. This team does desperately need some depth though as they are the only team with a six-man roster. Meaning no substitutions. Meaning a limit to the variety of playstyle they can bring to each map in each series. The Mayhem look composed though despite sporting a 1-3 record, and they have a lot of room to grow (literally and figuratively). If they can somehow take the matchup against the Houston Outlaws, they’ll be hot going into their late week game against the Los Angeles Valiant.
Animated’s Key Match-up: Jan 25th vs Houston Outlaws
11. Dallas Fuel (0-4)
Dallas, both you and I know, you’re way better than this. No pun intended, hopefully this low ranking fuels some much needed motivation for this team. This should be a top team in the Overwatch League. However, the slow start and the recent suspension of xQc are really making this first stage tough for this team. Thus resulting in such a low ranking. Remember Dallas fans though, the Fuel are the only team as of now to take a map in a series against Seoul Dynasty. That says how good this team can be. With talent like Mickie, xQc, EFFECT, Seagull, and Taimou (just to name a few) this team can contend. But they need to start figuring some stuff out. It’s still very early, which is the silver lining for this team. Get the growing pains out of the way with early. A win against the Shock and Uprising this week could grant the momentum this team needs. If Dallas comes out of this week 2-0, the rest of the Overwatch League better be on alert.
Animated’s Key Match-up: Jan 26th vs. San Francisco Shock
12. Shanghai Dragons (0-4)
I truly do feel for Shanghai, but they literally had announcers screaming at them to “rush in” when they chose to regroup after picking Florida Mayhem’s Mercy while attacking on Temple of Anubis. They just have not executed or not taken advantages of their positive play. I think I speak for most who have watched Shanghai with the following: The talent is no doubt there for this team, but they have to improve in executing and just general situational awareness. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like things are going to get any easier this week for the Dragons. They’ll match-up against Seoul Dynasty and Philadelphia Fusion this week. Shanghai needs to focus on small wins this week. Good team play, good coordination, take advantage when some one on the team makes a play, and maybe win a map or two this week against some quality competition.
Animated’s Key Match-up: Jan 24th vs Seoul Dynasty
That’s all for Overwatch League Power Rankings this week! I’m super excited to watch the games this week, especially the Battle for Los Angeles and Seoul vs. Excelsior. I’ve enjoyed writing about and watching the Overwatch League a whole bunch. I’m really excited to start writing more Overwatch League and Overwatch content once again on the blog!
Let me know what you think about my rankings! Someone too high? too low? Let me know!
See ya in the arena! 🙂
-Animated
animated 