Account
Overwatch League 2019 Stage 4, Week 3: Top Plays, Prize Money and Highlights
August 12, 2019
Just eight teams will get a chance to compete for the Overwatch League's $3.5 million playoff prize pool. And, with just two weeks of regular-season play left, no team on the bubble wants to get stuck with a matchup against the Washington Justice.
After going 2-19 to start the season, the Justice have rattled off five straight wins and are undefeated under the 2-2-2 role lock as they play spoiler to playoff hopefuls. This week, the Boston Uprising and Houston Outlaws were the poor souls subjected to Washington's wrath.
As for the rest of the league—the Vancouver Titans regained their form, the San Francisco Shock cemented their go-to lineup and the Los Angeles Gladiators underwent the greatest, albeit quickest, branding transformation in the history of team sports.
Thursday, August 8
London Spitfire 2-3 Vancouver Titans
Paris Eternal 3-2 Philadelphia Fusion
Toronto Defiant 1-3 Florida Mayhem
Guangzhou Charge 3-2 Seoul Dynasty
Friday, August 9
Boston Uprising 1-3 Washington Justice
Dallas Fuel 2-3 Los Angeles Gladiators
San Francisco Shock 3-1 Shanghai Dragons
Hangzhou Spark 2-3 New York Excelsior
Saturday, August 10
Houston Outlaws 1-3 London Spitfire
Seoul Dynasty 2-1 Toronto Defiant
Florida Mayhem 1-2 Los Angeles Valiant
Chengdu Hunters 1-3 Hangzhou Spark
Sunday, August 11
Philadelphia Fusion 0-4 Vancouver Titans
Washington Justice 3-2 Houston Outlaws
San Francisco Shock 4-0 Dallas Fuel
Guangzhou Charge 4-0 New York Excelsior
Thursday
The Titans stopped messing with their DPS rotation by granting Stitch 100 percent of the playtime over Hooreg this week. While the Spitfire made things competitive, they gambled by substituting Guard in for Birdring and ended up losing in five.
The Eternal and Charge each stayed in the thick of the playoff hunt by reverse-sweeping the Fusion and Dynasty, respectively. Impressively, the Charge's Eileen subbed in for just one map—Map 5—and clutched the game out for Guangzhou with some Doomfist dominance.
Friday
With the roles locked and Gido getting the majority of flex-support minutes, the Justice can do no wrong. Conversely, the Uprising's bizarre lineup choices included starting new acquisition Stellar alongside Colourhex on DPS, transferring former DPS blase to flex tank and stubbornly refusing to let AimGod play. So Corey hit them with the Symmetra and a fat 3-1 loss.
In honor of everyone's favorite Finnish main support, BigGoose, the Gladiators rebranded as the Los Angeles BigGeese for one game and were rewarded with their first successful reverse sweep of the season. BigGeese DPS Hydration poetically summarized their turnaround on Twitter afterward: "geese are very timid animals but once they get angered, that is when ur in trouble."
Saturday
On Saturday, the Mayhem's Sayaplayer broke records for final blows while his team broke Floridian hearts by nullifying the hard carry and losing to the Valiant.
In a testament to lineup stability, the Valiant and Spark each stopped messing around with their rotations and earned relatively comfortable wins.
Sunday
Fortunately for Washington, the role lock is finally here. Unfortunately for Houston, the role lock is finally here. Fortunately for fans, that means montages of Justice DPS Stratus rocking sunglasses and clicking heads.
Elsewhere, the Shock have their eyes set on the playoffs and are experimenting with a dominant DPS duo of Rascal and Architect. The Excelsior, having clinched their playoff spot, are also looking forward—but they seem to prefer experimenting with sandbagging (again).