The second week of the June Joust qualifiers was a quieter one, most of the matches this week were fairly straightforward 3-0s or 3-1s. Lots of one sided matches. But there are a couple things worth talking about, so let’s get right into it.
The Narratives
Since most of the matches this week were uninteresting to me I want to talk about a couple of the interesting events that happened in this week of OWL instead.
Straight Outta Contenders: Aspire
News broke earlier this week that the Toronto Defiant were dealing with three positive cases of COVID-19 organization:
I hope everybody affected recovers quickly.
The Defiant then signed Aspire from NA Contenders team American Tornado on a 30 day contract to have a hitscan DPS to fill in Logix’s spot on the roster.
Aspire played in both of Toronto’s matches this week and suffice to say he performed excellently. Specifically I would like to highlight this incredible jump shot:
His performance on the McCree, Ashe and Hanzo throughout the matches this week were extraordinary as well. I think every Toronto fan will agree with me when I say this: extend this man’s contract.
Dallas Fuel vs San Francisco Shock: A Rivalry Strengthens
This week’s only interesting match was the last one in the week, a match between the Dallas Fuel and the San Francisco Shock. After the Shock’s 3-0 loss to the Dallas Fuel in the May Melee qualifiers, the narrative became one of a rivalry and revenge. Therefore this week’s match between the two was an exciting one.
Both teams were quite equally matched and this is one of those close 3-1s. The Shock took the first two maps and just when it looked like it was going to be a 3-0, the Fuel pull off a stellar defence on Anubis B to bring the map to a draw.
The momentum started shifted in favour of the Fuel as they took Eichenwalde in dominant fashion. However when it came to the fifth map of Ilios, the SF Shock slowly started to regain momentum and were able to close out the series in a 3-1 victory.
I am looking forward to seeing where this rivalry is headed throughout the season.
Conclusions
Overall, a fairly weak week of Overwatch League filled with more disappointing performances than anything else (looking at ya, London Spitfire).
Here’s hoping the next week is a better one as the qualifiers come to an end.
See y’all next week!