A Week in the Overwatch League - Stage 2 Week 2

After another few days of high octane matches, the second week of Stage 2 comes to an end. This week can only be described as polarising across the board, with very few of the games played seen as anything less than one sided. That's not to say they weren't watching though; in fact it's quite the opposite, with some truly incredible moments and players taking the spotlight. So without any further ado, let's take a look at the scores from this week!

Match Results

 

NOTE: All match dates are synced to GMT

Players of the Week

Soon - Los Angeles Valiant               

It has quickly become tradition in this series to mention a top level Tracer player by name at least once per roundup. From now on I hereby decree this section "The Tracer Awards". If this is in fact the case, then this week's Tracer Award goes to Soon of the Los Angeles Valiant. Well known by the crowds of the Overwatch League arena for being the best Tracer player on the home team, Soon brings his own unique reputation to the now essential role of playing Overwatch's cover girl. This reputation comes in the form of the hero's ultimate, Pulse Bomb, which Soon manages to land on any target he so chooses almost without fail. This is often all the Valiant need to win a teamfight, since the other team is rarely able to put up much of a fight when both Supports are dead before it starts. To the untrained ear it can sound as if half of the arena is booing whenever he makes a big play, but don't be mistaken. This is simply the Valiant fans calling out his name in reverence, and it's not hard to see why. 

Gesture - London Spitfire                

I've pointed out before how important Tanks are to a team's composition. I myself am actually a Tank player; I enjoy playing as the anchor the rest of the team builds itself around, and I like the opportunity to call out to my team when to engage or disengage, (although it's extremely rare that a team comprised of six solo players in the depths of Bronze rank will listen to one person). As a result Gesture is a player I look up to constantly, as his Winston play is some of the best in the League. He is simply a textbook top level Tank player, there's no two ways about it that he checks every box necessary to lead his team to victory. Spitfire had another great week this week with two fairly easy wins, one of which was perhaps one of the quickest games in the Overwatch League I've seen against the Shanghai Dragons. It's easy to overlook the Tank players and credit Birdring or Profit for Spitfire's dominant wins this week, and while they were certainly key to such victories I see Gesture as the driving force behind this team. 

Jjonak - New York Excelsior                

If you've been keeping up with our Overwatch League coverage so far you may have heard this name pop up a few times. Now I will tell you the legend of the only true Support/DPS player in the League. Jjonak's Zenyatta is a killing machine, (or killing Omnic, whatever you prefer), and that is apparent to any who watch him in action. He very often has elimination stats close or around equal to that of his team's DPS players - and yes I'm including even Pine, let that sink in for a moment. It's true that to possess such incredible killing power for a Support one must also sacrifice some actual supporting, so perhaps there are better "Support" Zen players on other teams. If you ask me though, if I had the choice I'd take Jjonak on my team any day. If you don't yet agree or are still confused let me reiterate; DPS stats close to that of Pine! That alone should be reason enough to see why I'm so starstruck by this man.

Standings

  

And that's the second week of Stage 2 over already, my how the time flies! This week really was all about the Korean teams, in fact all three of them, (NYXL, Seoul and Spitfire), have now taken the top three spots in the standings, really putting the Western team's consistency into the spotlight. Many argued that without the very generous Mercy meta there to revive them after their mistakes even the top Western teams like the Houston Outlaws and Los Angeles Valiant wouldn't be able to keep up with the Koreans. Despite Valiant not playing them at all this week it's an argument that's hard to overlook in light of the East performing flawlessly across the board, (with the exception of the Shanghai Dragons, who have still yet to take a game. Rooting for you Dragons!)

Be sure to catch up on last week's League coverage here! And if you need a briefing on the League's ins and outs take a look at Alex's Idiot's Guide to the Overwatch League!