Fusion victories open playoff series with Boston Uprising

The Philadelphia Fusion has won their first set of matches against the Boston Uprising in the Overwatch League Playoffs.

Philadelphia came away from Day 1 of the series with a 3-1 victory, though the team will not advance to the semifinals unless they manage to secure a second win against Boston when the playoffs resume.

The Fusion got off to a strong start on the first map, relentless in their attack against Boston. It culminated in a team kill after a well-timed graviton surge by Hong-joon “HOTBA” Choi. On defense, the Fusion’s tactics focused on separating the Uprising supports from the rest of the team and leaving them without the ability to heal. The weakened Uprising defense allowed the Fusion to stall the payload and end the match just shy of the second checkpoint.

The second map in the series was Oasis, and Boston was determined to fight back. They were first to the control point objective and held it all the way to 100%.  Boston was quick to the pointin the game’s second round as well, but this time the Fusion successfully fought back to take control. The Uprising would win the map in the third round with another clean hold to 100%.

The series’ third map was the hybrid Eichenwalde. Once again, Philadelphia showed the strength of their attack in pushing the payload with little resistance. When it was Boston’s turn to attack, Nam-joo “Striker” Kwon of the Uprising helped his team to secure the payload as Tracer and they too completed their push. On the replay however, Philadelphia proved the stronger team and took the map.

The final game was held on Volskaya, with Philadelphia managing to quickly capture both points. Boston wasn’t able to do the same, giving Philadelphia a 3-1 win on the day.

The teams will face each other once more on Day 2 of their playoff series. If Boston manage to win the next series, the teams will take a short break before playing again to decide a victor.