Esports News
It is time for the Atlantic Division Pre Season Preview Part two. With the Overwatch League pre season games on our doorstep, let’s take a look at the remaining three teams in the division.
In this preview we will be looking at the following teams in the Atlantic Division:
For the other teams check out part 1 here!
The first game we will be looking at is the cross-division clash between London Spitfires and LA Gladiators. For more information check out our Pacific Division previews.
Representing London, Spitfire was the eighth team announced back in August. The team is owned by Cloud9.
Whilst they may be based out of London, that’s about all the ties this roster has to the UK … or Europe … or the West …
The Korean London Spitfires probably have the strongest roster out of the box. The decision to merge the rosters of GC Busan and Cloud9 KongDoo is ingenious. With this roster there are so many upsides; there is no language barrier, the players are familiar with each other, o and you have two of the best teams from APEX … what could go wrong!
London comes into this game heavy favourites, as they will be throughout season one of the OWL. Spitfires have basically put together a team that can win out of the box. They have played together, won together and understand each other. Is it too early to make a prediction? Well here is one for you … Spitfires are going to go undefeated this year!
This match against Gladiators will give London the chance to flex their muscles before the hard work starts in January. The only real stumbling block for Spitfires could be overconfidence. If they can respect Gladiators, and in general the rest of the league, there is no real reason that this roster shouldn’t dominate their division and the league during stage one.
Game two of our preview is NYXL v Boston Uprising. If you want to check out the Boston side of this clash, check out part 1 above!
The New York Excelsior (NYXL) will be representing New York and are owned by the New York Mets.
NYXL are a team of polar opposites, they probably have one of the worst names and logos in the league. But on the other hand, they have the best roster video and one of the most promising sides in the league.
NYXL have followed pretty much the same set-up as Spitfires have. NYXL have made the not-so-surprising decision to create an all Korean roster. They have picked up all of Luxury Watch Blue, which should have fans chomping at the bit to see this team play. They have also filled the rest of the roster with some immense talent.
However, arguably their best player is currently on the inactive list and will remain there until he turns 18. That’s right, teenage prodigy, Overwatch World Cup winner and arguably the best player in the game, Hwang “Fl0w3R” Yeon-oh will not be available due to his age. Once he does join up with his team, NYXL will be able to compete with Seoul and London.
Things could not get much easier for NYXL as they face-off against what many consider the weakest team in the league. Whilst they should win this match-up with relative ease, NYXL will need to make sure they take this seriously. Winning this game in emphatic fashion will put the rest of the league on notice.
So … this is the part where I was going to write about the game between Philadelphia and Miami … or not I guess.
Philadelphia Fusion is the team responsible for representing Philadelphia and is owned by sports and entertainment company Comcast.
Fusion has a really exciting roster, that we here at Rivalry are excited to see play. They have some really talented players all over the team, including Russian superstar George “ShaDowBurn” Guscha.
The main stumbling block for this roster will likely be communication. They have a total of nine different nationalities in the squad, so getting them all on the same page might be difficult. Assuming the opt for English as the team language, some of the non-native English speakers may struggle to communicate.
Philadelphia has had a tough couple weeks leading up to pre-season, firstly Tank Su-min “SADO” Kim was suspended for account boosting. Now they are unable to attend the preseason games. Philadelphia fans should be hoping that they are getting all of the issues out before the season starts.
Fusion now has a month to overcome whatever “Logistical Issues” have kept them out of preseason. We here at Rivalry are hoping they can sort out the issues and show up for week one, otherwise, this much-anticipated OWL season may fall at the first hurdle.
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Think you know who is going to prevail during preseason?
Let us know on Social Media (links below). We hope everyone is excited for the start of OWL as we are here at Rivalry. The preseason games will serve as both a litmus test for most teams and also a chance to hype up fans ahead of the big kick-off in January.
We hope you enjoyed, and as always keep it Rivalry for more awesome esports content.