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Today we saw the last matchup in the playoffs for the Overwatch League finals which pitted Philadelphia Fusion up against New York Excelsior for their last set of games.
Whichever team managed to secure the win would be going on to the finals round to face off against London Spitfire and Philadelphia went in with an advantage having won the first series against New York.
The first map was Junkertown which should have by all rights gone to the Excelsior if you look at map history.
Pine (Do-hyeon Kim) started the match ready to prove himself and was in fine form making crazy picks as Widowmaker on the first point.
Unfortunately For New York, it seemed Carpe (Jae-heyok Lee) was better especially towards the end of the map with some crazy Tracer play which secured his team the win.
Junkertown was well fought by both teams but the Fusion came out on top with enough superiority that had me ready to expect a railroad victory like what we saw in their last series against the Exelsior but New York were determined not to hand them the easy win.
Going into Lijiang tower the NYXL tank combination was just too strong using their ults in tandem to secure with another great round from Pine on Hanzo, winning them the first map.
This trend looked like it would continue on map 2 where Philadelphia made some weird choices. Carpe started the round on Doomfist, sneaking around the side to surprise New York on the point but he was quickly pushed off the map to his death, ending the push.
The Fusions’s saving grace was EQO’s (Josue Corona) Pharah, who took to the skies and managed to help his team flip the point and win them this round.
By Map 3 on Lijiang, both teams seemed to have found their feet and the matchup was feeling very even. Ultimately some more weird play from the Fusion lost them the round when they pretty much gave the point to New York after holding it til 57 per cent.
The team seemed unfussed about reclaiming it until it came down to the wire leaving both teams on 99 per cent pushing the game into overtime.
The Excelsior clutched out the win giving them their first victory in the playoffs with some impressive Zenyatta play by crowned league MVP Jjonak (Seong-hyun Bang).
It finally felt like New York were back to their form of being the best team in the league but Kings Row proved otherwise.
The Fusion totally dominated on this map taking the point quickly after Excelsior’s main tank Janus (Jun-hwa Song) was caught out of position and punished for it by EQO’s incredible Hanzo.
They easily pushed the payload all the way to the second point where it looked like they might be stalled but again Carpe came up with some clutch kills and kept them rolling.
The Fusion won this map with ease, taking the last point in what the casters thought could have been a record time and when the Excelsior tried to attack, they couldn’t even take the first point despite trying multiple strategies.
Hanamura saw the map flip again this time seeing New York come out on top and tie it out after Philadelphia couldn’t manage to secure a single tick on point B.
Jjonak definitely helped secure this New York victory once more but this time with some well-timed sleep darts on Ana.
It wasn’t quite the definitive win that King’s Row was for Philadelphia but it meant that they were still in it with a chance at the finals.
The deciding map would be Dorado which didn’t bode well for New York after losing it in their first game against Philadelphia in the playoffs. Philadelphia attacked first and it was close fought.
The Excelsior managed to hold them off from the final point just meters away with an excellent Valkyrie from Ark (Yeon-jun Hong) and we finally saw a great Doomfist out of main take Mano (Dong-gyu Kim).
When New York attacked it looked like they were in for an easy victory. Pine and Mano both stayed ahead of their team taking out members of the Fusion before they could even make it to the payload to defend.
The Excelsior had heaps of time on the clock as they approached the final point but suddenly, Philadelphia decided they weren’t going to roll over that easily.
EQO on Pharah once more denied New York the win and none of the changes the Excelsior were making could help them. They were defeated handily after looking so good on the first two points and the Philadelphia Fusion secured their place in the finals.
Looking at the way these maps played out this win makes a lot of sense. Despite being a close score, when New York won it was always hard fought.
The Excelsior had moments of greatness where you could see how they were previously thought of as the best team in the league but they were few and fleeting.
The maps won by the Fusion tended to be decisive. This team was simply better and watching the matches proves it.
When interviewed after the games, EQO put his teams’ win down to a whole team effort in training and never underestimating their opponents, no matter who they might be.
After plays like this Philadelphia are looking very good to take down London in the finals. Sure, the Spitfire won against LA Valiant after being a bit of a let down in the final stage of the league but it wasn’t as impressive to me as Philadelphia’s performance.
The Fusion are so strong in this meta and are crushing anyone who stands in their way and I think they can win it all next week at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.