Written by: Bryce L. Jackson

Los Angeles Gladiators vs London Spitfire

The Los Angeles Gladiators came into this match needing to win convincingly. The London Spitfire came in looking to play spoiler. What we got was a fantastic and entertaining match. The set began with the Gladiators rolling through the first 2 maps due to some C9 moments from the Spitfire that have characterized their Stage 3. The Spitfire came out of the half a new team and won the next 2 maps to force Map 5 behind great play from Hooreg who has replaced Birdring who has had some struggles in Stage 3. The match went to the down to the wire with Fissure and Hydration showing up to push the Gladiators over the edge to win the match.

Shanghai Dragons vs Philadelphia Fusion

With lowered expectations, the Fusion tried to get their team cohesion back after looking disjointed for most of the stage. They almost paid dearly for letting their guard down.The Fusion cut it close at Temple of Anubis then were outclassed at Blizzard World where though they forced OT, eventually lost because the Dragons had more time because they masterfully executed their offensive push and had plenty of time to execute their OT attack. After the Fusion cut it close again at Nepal, they were completely shut down at Junkertown as the Dragons forced a 5th map behind great play by Ado, Peel Queen Geguri, and Altering. The Fusion finally fully woke up at the threat of becoming the first to lose to the Dragons became a frightening possibility and shut down the Dragons to win the game 3-2.

League Notes

Dallas DPS player Effect has asked for and received permission to leave the team and returned to South Korea and will be unavailable for the remainder of the stage. Rumored to be “Burned Out”, this is the second time that he has needed to return home for to tend to his personal well being. It calls into question how the league can effectively make sure that players will feel fully supported in the future.

Here’s where everyone stands heading into Week 5.

San Francisco lost both of their matches to tough opponents and managed to only win 1 map which may end up keeping them out of the Stage Playoffs. Seoul has Houston and London in Week 5. All of these teams have been so up and down all stage so these games can go either way, but I don’t expect Seoul to make it. The Fusion will play the Fuel (they can 4-0 that) then the Valiant who will be more of a challenge. Their performance against the Fuel and winning at least 2 maps could get them in if things fall into place. Houston’s remaining schedule feels unfavorable for them to make the playoffs as they play teams that can play them to full 5 map sets and a minimum of a +3 advantage won't be enough to get them in.

Gladiators cannot allow themselves to be lulled into a “soft” matchup vs the Mayhem and convincingly win that match before they have to play Boston who are seemingly immune to losing. Out of all the the teams currently in the playoffs, the Valiant have the hardest schedule with Boston and Philadelphia as their remaining opponents. They should be fine in terms of making the playoffs but they can shuffle their seeding. The NYXL have the Fuel and the Dragons… they're fine. Boston ends Stage 3 with both LA teams on the schedule. They cannot lose either match else they will lose their number 1 seeding as they are currently behind the 2nd place NYXL in map differential.

Best Performers

Nevix (Flex, San Francisco Shock)

Poko (Flex, Philadelphia Fusion)

Sayaplayer (DPS, Florida Mayhem)

Striker (DPS, Boston Uprising)

Fissure (Tank, Los Angeles Gladiators)

NotE (Tank, Boston Uprising)

Ark (Support, New York Excelsior)

Neptuno (Support, Philadephia Fusion)