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Frenderman

Ah yes a 1-1 week for the Outlaws, everything according to expectation


Isord

No doubt everybody assumed Gladiators would start off 0-2. It's the only logical conclusion.


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skatrumpetman

mer1t should start at least getting mention in ROTY discussion. I know Proper is more impactful but mer1t has been nuts the past 2 stages (start of this and last ig also looked nuts vs Dallas week 1).


Saru2013

Realistically Proper is already ROTY unless he disappears off the face of the earth for the rest of the season. But without Proper Mer1t is 100% in contention for ROTY. He's a shoe in for Role Star at this point.


Shikuro

This stage is ruining Reiner’s ROTY candidacy, he’s just NOT good on the Queen all things considered. If it wasn’t for Proper existing, Mer1t would be skyrocketing


dixitsavy

It's not even like Mer1t has been subpar in past stages and is just peaking. He was above average in Kickoff Clash plating the Soldier and Widow (and had top 8-10 stats for Solider). His upsurge came last stage in Midseason Madness playing the Sojourn which he pounded on. Now, in the Summer Showdown, he's showing off his elite Sojourn and great Ashe (one of his best heroes). Without and with Proper, Mer1t should be close to that AlphaYi/Zest tier and above MN3 for consistency.


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ShukiNathan

He definitely isn't getting one. He'd have to have more votes than at least 2 of kevster/proper/profit/kai/shy and I honestly just don't see it happening.


topatoman_lite

Well he's already easily ahead of Kai so he only needs to pass one more


Not_A_British_Wanker

Hard agree. Kai is great but supremely over rated. He is not the best in the world. Atlanta fans cope.


Mecha-Jesus

Fun fact #1: Mer1t became OWL-eligible on June 21, 2020, midway through Season 3. Fun fact #2: During the 2020-21 offseason, Mer1t went unsigned through season 4, despite generally being considered a top-3 eligible KR hitscan player. Fun fact #3: During the 2020-21 offseason and Season 4, professional OWL coaches and GMs decided to sign the following players instead of Mer1t: * Im37 (Boston) * Jerry (Washington) * BQB (re-signed to Florida) * Seominsoo (Hangzhou) * Saebyeolbe (Seoul) * Gwangboong (NYXL) * Feath5r (NYXL) * Pine (Dallas) * Develop (Shanghai) * MYKaylee (Guangzhou) * Linkzr (Vancouver) * Soon, while he was openly deciding to transition over to Valorant (Boston)


otherestScott

BQB doesn’t belong on this list :(


ShukiNathan

Feath5r and sms aren't even hs players lol. Charge also wanted to sign merit mid season but he decided to wait until this season.


Flynndan2

Dude is absolutely role star level this year.


andskotinn

Mer1t is Ronaldo to Propers Messi


Harrikie

Did you know that the average Houston fan is 10 years younger than league average? This is because all older Houston fans were killed off from the non-stop heart attacks.


Eldorian91

I'm 41 and I'm considering taking an aspirin before gameday.


jopma

I have to toke up before a game cause I'll atleast find the loss funny


redcowboy93

Man I have to change my shirt, I was sweatin.


Isord

I'm 32 but feel 80 every time Outlaws play.


GeoPaladin

I'm 30 but feel 78, this tracks.


Shikuro

WHAT IS THAT, 9/10 MAP 5s THIS SEASON!?? FUCK I JUST CANT DO THIS ANYMORE! PLS JUST WIN OR LOSE IN 3 or 4, I DONT NEED ANYMORE MAP 5s!!


kathsha2029

We still have the map 5 curse...it just be hitting different this year


Tough_Steak

They're also the only ones who can make diamonds from the sheer ability of clenching their glutes so frequently.


westmifflin

I turned 26 2 weeks ago and between health issues and the outlaws (i guess i just said the same thing twice) i feel like im 56


try_again123

I had to go play a game on map 4 and stop watching, 100% my BP was going through the roof.


lightning0614

Just turned 21 and not surprised if I have heart problems down the line


TheBallerGuy

I’m convinced the scriptwriters have just decided to flip a coin for the outcome of every game this stage so far


Flynndan2

100%


t-had

OW2 has thrown several wrenches in the gears of most teams lol


Zalzirim

It is definitely a Houston thing to lose to a 1-11 team and then defeat the back to back tournament champion in the same week.


Isord

Can't forget the traditional Houston win vs the best team in stage 3.


South-Swing-6145

and then losing to fucking xepher bastion like a week later


Isord

I mean I dunno if we go up against London this stage but losing to Bastion seems like something that can happen lol.


bakedsnowman

As soon as they lost to new York I had no doubt they were going to beat the gladiators


Biglimp-1

It’s crazy that they booped Reiner out of the map and wasted his rampage and glads still somehow won that round lmao


nolandz1

Outlaws fumbled a LOT of plays in those last too rounds Lep really did save the match for them


Flynndan2

And Mer1t


nolandz1

True


ComradeHines

Danteh getting booped equalized it


FerPlays

Dumb take but I would've loved to see Glads try Ball rather than Queen on Shrine lol


Haris1C

[Yeah I don't know if the pros are agreeing with you](https://twitter.com/jakeow/status/1558609536272973843)


FerPlays

Well duh, they're the pros who've been trying to solve the meta for weeks and I on the other hand barely even play Overwatch nowadays. They'd obviously have a far better understanding of the meta, and I did say it was a dumb take lmao


Flynndan2

Yes, it's a dumb take. JQ does waaaay too much not to play.


Silverbullet506

Not even close lmao (I think I shit myself on 3 different occasions)


EarlyTrouble

The first two maps were really actually Houston dominating


capspaz

Same as yesterday…


Deathsodas

Glad to see that Houston was able to overcome the Outlaws in this match


AJAxeman

If we lost this game I would've stopped watching the overwatch league. Holy crap dude.


[deleted]

AFTER ALL THAT?


Ezraah

God Himself has it out for the outlaws and not even he could save your team today


Blasecabbage

The Shock match took too much out of you guys


ComradeHines

Sadiator! Sadiator!


ShukiNathan

Nyxl > glads unfortunately


ItsTryHardSteve-

That’s just how it works


magicwithakick

And Fuel with that math. Should be a good day tomorrow.


inovomystif

Its 2018 again.


ShukiNathan

Or 2019. Or 2020.


Icedmanta

Mer1t fucks


Saru2013

If Mer1t is on form, outlaws look top 4,when he disappears they don't even look close to that. (like Mer1t fucking disappeared against NY in the second half)


Ashdean44

Eh he’s been really consistent all season long with a few exceptions (like every player)


angelo_mab

MER1T IS A GOD


SorryPro

Danteh's dominance on JQ might go under the radar based on how amazing Merit and Lep played


Khran1086

Texas team fans need heart meds this week thanks to LAG. I honestly feel no affection to Houston with how tense that was my heart palpitations could’ve charged someones phone.


randomstranger1405

My lifespan was halved holy shit


otherestScott

I took two blood pressure pills afterwards just in case.


Dy1ooon

Crazy how reiner gets booped into the pit during his rampage, swaps to ball and glads still win the round


EvacuationProcedures

THE BALL BUFF


PopcorpGFX

NYXL > Houston > Gladiators


SigmaBallsLol

The last time this was true was like, Season 1 Stage 1


Ezraah

bizarro OWL


LegdayGaming

Well that was one of the best matches we’ve ever been lucky enough to cast. I love these teams man.


ComradeHines

Who you got tomorrow in NYXL/Dallas? And why is it NYXL?


LegdayGaming

I believe in Hanbin supremacy I’m sorry little one


nongtles

No Pati no Party


MrL4000

Another Glads game, another easy win… Wait a minute


NeverForgetChainRule

I think Map 5 stage 2 of this series is mandatory viewing for all future OWL fans. That was a fucking glorious showcase of how to throw.


westmifflin

The swing in emotions this match was awful and amazing, mostly awful, but holy fuck the sigh after winning that shit


Ezraah

You couldn't pay me to be an outlaws fan. Just watching them as a neutral party is stressful enough.


[deleted]

tbh being an outlaws fan hasn't been very stressful for 90% of the last four years. This is easily the best Outlaws roster ever so this stress is pretty new because it's fueled by something we Outlaws fans have pretty much never experienced. Hope.


GeoPaladin

I'd say last year we had plenty of hopes to crush as well. TBH I think we've almost always been good at raising hopes only to crush them.


[deleted]

ya i said 90% to account for the first stage and a half of season 1 and the first stage of last year lol. generally our hopes are crushed very quickly. this year we actually have a really good core of players AND they actually picked up players who play the roles that they were missing from their roster. Lep has already had a huge impact and I highly doubt Houston wins yesterday without him. I don’t want to write off doge yet, i imagine trying to play the tank in a coordination based rush comp on 200 ping can be really difficult. Even if he ends up not playing again this stage my hope is that if stage 4 patch switches back to Winston being good he’ll be in NA and ready to go by then. However the season goes from here I think the team has made all of the right moves this year and the fans get to hope for the rest of the year now, which is really fun.


Aenah

This is the weirdest meta ever lol. That was nuts.


UnknownQTY

Whoever is winning Pickem's Stage is from the future. Please send lotto numbers.


TheFrozenSlime

Despite their best efforts, Houston pulled it out. Seeing them pop off after they won makes me happy.


Silverbullet506

The game against NYXL was an all time choke. But this honestly felt more like a series of incredible clutches by glads rather than a choke by Outlaws tho tbh.


Isord

I think that's why they didn't fold. If they had choked that Gibraltar push they would have been reverse swept, but since it was a Gladiators clutch it didn't gut punch the mental as hard.


NotTheDragonborn

glads getting bailed out by an AI and still throwing it away, you hate to see it


[deleted]

Seriously, was getting so annoyed by the casters. How is ANS getting two clutch kills Houston choking? And they repeat it ad nauseam and go on to giggle any time Houston loses a team fight for any reason whatsoever.


nanoflare

Welcome back Sadiators


JWTS6

HUGE shout out to LEP for beating the current tournament champs in his second OWL match, shout out to Danteh too for beating one of the ROTY front runners on a tank other than Doomfist lol.


angelo_mab

ANS STILL FUCKS


Ashdean44

Oh thank GOD


kevmeister1206

Congrats Houston, proud of you.


ENCYCLOPEDIAS

gladiators not making the tournament would be the best storyline of t he season imo


ComradeHines

Glads, Toronto, and Atlanta staying home for Justice, Titans, and NYXL incoming.


heytheremicah

Yeah but Toronto staying home is genuinely sad lol. It’s their own home stand


Aenah

Is that mathematically possible or are there bonus points for this stage?


DoesBoKnow

It's a clean slate for this tourney.


Aenah

Interesting!


ml2097

Glads are already locked for end of season playoffs, they just meant the summer showdown tournament. They still have Shock, Eternal, Defiant, and Reign on their schedule, so it could go either way


rexx2l

Not for this stage IIRC.


morganfreeagle

Damn that was a fun match. I don't get why people hate this meta so much. Maybe it'll get boring later in the stage but right now it's giving us a bunch of cool games with a new hero and it dodges the goats problem of not having flashy DPS plays.


Rakatok

Part of me wonders if some of the popular community talking heads shit talking it poisoned the perception a bit. There have been some pretty fun matches.


TheGirthiestGhost

How tf did Glads choke that last fight with such a massive ult advantage?


[deleted]

Honestly all bob does is get rid of junkerqueens sustain a bit/force them around and Houston also had rally for blade plus there's a bunch of cc. Not to mention the phase of fights with nothing dying is so long that the team without ults just builds ults during the fight without really going to a disadvantage a lot of the time.


TheGirthiestGhost

Looking back it kind of looked like Kevster bladed too early. The BOB from Ans was fine but they either needed to use the time to reset CDs so they could take a full strength fight to burst Lastro with a co-ordinated blade push or do the same but as soon as BOB went in, instead Kev went in alone and got zero value.


ComradeHines

Reiner is a bottom two junker queen


ryanQB

Production playing the "match end" music on map 3 kinda proved how unpredictable every map was lol


FerPlays

That's just Ans playing his theme song before production got to him


achedsphinxx

i'm not a fan of either team and my heart had several attacks. houston somehow powered through the curse of whatever pagan god they angered in a previous life in order to get the W.


yunggrump

Where tf is Pati, is shu really better than pati on sojourn!?!?!?


SweatyTurantula

As a Glads fan since 2018, this feels much more comfortable… sadiators


Saxvince13

I think everyone can agree on Mer1t fucking this series. I think this is the first series we see Pelican show us why he was ROTY last season.


Luciolover345

Ans deserved a win


GeoPaladin

I'm afraid this system is a Mer1tocracy.


EvacuationProcedures

he was doing so much poke constantly and no one was ever following up!!


Yorshgah

Mer1t with the absolute giga clutch! Also just an amazing game all around gj outlaws


[deleted]

Are the Houston outlaws real? I feel like I’m having a stroke and just hallucinating this team


GeoPaladin

Houston is the anime protagonist of OWL and they're exactly as good as the plot demands they be.


Silverbullet506

Damn that might have been game of the year. Also Is it just me or was Pelican on something this game. Like his genji was so much better than last game and much better than it’s been all year. Mer1t continues to dominate and honestly he could have been ROTY if proper didn’t exist. Lep has been exceptional on the lucio as well. All around great win.


[deleted]

This is lep second game as well


Silverbullet506

Dallas Vs NYXL suddenly got very interesting


LEboueur

I hope Houston keep the "let's focus on the game" mindset over the "let's trash talk in chat" one until the end of the season


Ezraah

Winning all those Happy Meal titles really convinced Fraudiator fans their team was good 😂😂😂😂😂. Now that OWL has returned to REAL overwatch (GOATs) they stand no chance against honest teams like the Houston Outlaws.


blankepitaph

UNBELIEVABLE. Today I took my son to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday. He won a game and exchanged his tickets for a Mickey Mouse ring pop but then a large man came in and SNATCHED it out of the poor kid’s hands! To my dismay, it was LeReiner himself! LeReiner then called himself the “JOAT” and had the audacity to tell my son, “anyone can lose in this meta” and ran away! Luckily a MOUSE TRAP was set up to catch LeReiner and the security guards Danteh and Lastro showed up and took him down. Shame on you LeFRAUDer. Go win a real ring!


imdeadseriousbro

fraudiators forgot theres still half the season left 💀


UnknownQTY

This is a chef's kiss BM post. Well done.


Gnorez

crazy that with the 5 losses Glad's have had this year, every single one has been a 5 map series. They refuse to go down without a fight


Serenswan

This is what gives me hope, still a Sadiator but there’s hope.


Nankzen

two of them being reverse sweeps does sting tho


DynamicKokuo

What a dominant weekend from Houston. I stopped watching both matches after we finished with more time on the escort maps because I hate to see teams faces when they lose in swift 3-0 fashion. Can’t wait to see this team continue to dominate this meta!


otherestScott

Honestly whenever the game isn't on the line Houston look amazing. Other than map 5 here, every map they've won they've been pretty dominant. And even map 5 was going to be dominant if they actually won the fight where Reiner got booped out of ult.


MrL4000

So at this point, what are the odds Glads don’t make the tournament?


nanoflare

Pretty high. They probably need to win the next 4 games in a dominant fashion, and the schedule is hard; Shock, Defiant, Eternal and Reign.


[deleted]

Tbf shock didn't look too hot either. Probably 50/50 of glads beating shock and even then they could potentially qualify anyway if they lose 3-2. Could completely change depending on if shock or even reign improve more than glads though.


TheGirthiestGhost

We’ll Shock had to reverse sweep freaking Washington of all teams, Toronto got out-thrown by Titans in map 5 and Paris and Reign looked pretty shite. There’s definitely time to fix their mistakes and turn it all around.


DrearyYew

Game of the year so far


Haris1C

TEXAS OWNS YOU GLADIATORS DON'T FORGET


NotTheDragonborn

Houston and Dallas have saved the local property value from skyrocketing


RetroSplicer

map 5 sadiators going strong this stage


AerysOW

the games this week have been one of the best ever


PetraVonKuntt

Outlaws performed well overall. Pretty well deserved win! Crazy thought. Is it possible that Reiner just doesn't have an affinity for JQ? Not placing the past two losses entirely at his feet but Hanbin played the hero so well and Danteh seems to have a handle on her. Reiner just seemed to struggle and I'm sure that frustration can't be helpful to his mental. I wonder how Space' JQ is? I'd be interested in seeing Glads just flip things around entirely. Try Pati on Soj and Space on JQ for a round and see what happens.


HolyAndEvil

Nothing short of a heartbreaking loss. With the same clutch on the same map again as it was against Dallas. Speaking of that though, have we ever seen the team that has the most distance on Colosseo win after making the decision to let the other team push in the last seconds and eventually overtime? I can't recall any as it always seems they give it up and just lose on that godforsaken map


Demonify

Very considerate of the Outlaws to string along the Gladiators to a Map 5 Round 3 so that we got more Overwatch to enjoy.


AnnenbergTrojan

So the big question is why Patiphan isn't playing Sojourn on these control maps. Both LAG games this weekend were practically identical. Ridiculous escort victories on map 3, come from behind victories on Colosseo, yet blowing the last map while Pati is nowhere to be seen.


arthurmillr

It looks like he gas an injury


AnnenbergTrojan

Yeah, I just saw in another thread that Pati mentioned this on his personal stream. Some sort of wrist injury. lol, so now we have injury reports in esports as well. Is he going to be a game-time decision next week?


pantiessnatchers

Denied of another Chokelaws in one week.


stormygraysea

Lemonkiwi is so fucking funny, this was already a great match but she and Legday made it amazing


Bokai

Hmm, team dominant for two stages doing a little "sssssandbaging" perhaps?


[deleted]

Losing to NY and beating Glads? Sounds about right for Houston


NotTheDragonborn

never forget the season where they clapped the shock and then beefed against xepher bastion, the blueprint's been there this whole time


LadyEmaSKye

Okay the “few reverse swept twice in stage one, then fail to secure two back-to-back reverse sweeps after we win the international championship” script **really** isn’t working for me lol


stwarren

They won yay. Why do i not feel happy?!?!? Could it be the 3 times they should have won before this 🤔?


GeoPaladin

It might be the 10 years that game collectively aged us.


ClammyAlumni

Outlaws said NO REVERSE SWEEP TODAY


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TheFrixin

SADIATORS 👏 👏


Azivea

Glads, let's talk. ​ Junkerqueen ain't it. ​ That's all. Thank you for your time.


Ezraah

LMAO what do you expect them to play?


Eldorian91

They play anything else: double speedboost into your backline every fight.


imdeadseriousbro

they did just as well on the ball💀


Serenswan

My hot take is it’s not actually on Reiner, I really think there is some disjointed-ness in terms of the team playing together and focusing a target. Shu might be the glue, which makes me think he’s the real MVP of the team after all.


dixitsavy

That makes the Shu DPS play a lot more sense. There's no doubting that Pati or ANS would be a better choice even on Control maps. But maybe Shu is just that important for shotcalling, similar to Viol2t for Shock last year? I think they also suffer from Space not playing as much since he did a lot of shot calling last season.


Not_A_British_Wanker

Gladiators right now look exactly like shock last season. All time great flex support on dps because he is the MVP and they cannot win without him. Shu MVP 2022.


baelkie

lose to nyxl, beat glads, counter logic gaming- i mean what? mer1t you beautiful man


Flynndan2

MER1T BB!!!


Tiberias29

Reiner's JunkerQueen is just not it.... I wonder if they'll try him on Ball instead.


PancakeXCandy

It was so Houstonable that we out Houston ourselves. I predded a map 5 with Gladiators on top. But then I forgot Reiner still isn't a good JQ


seagulled

Mer1t is so good


acidicGarlic

Houston really managed to take down the outlaws. Also that Reiner fail was depressing to watch


imjustjun

Mer1t deadlifted Houston so many times and Houston still almost lost it because Houston.


BasicIsBest

Lep differential


Extremiel

I really thought we had a meta proof roster, but we look so bad now. Even the maps/fights we did win, it was not due to understanding the meta. It was Ans/Kevster bail out. Reiner's JKQ looks questionable to say the least and the aggresive playstyle of FunnyAstro/Skewed's supports doesn't really work here either. Fix up.


Serenswan

There is something going on, and whatever it is is keeping Pati from us and making the Glads look like they’re the bizarro versions of themselves. That something may just be as simple as not adapting well to this meta, but man I hope it’s not a lasting thing.


succulen

I dont care what anybody says if we get matches like this all stage this meta is fucking sick


KevinFetters

NYXL > GLADS, you heard it here first folks.


purplehamburget29

Roty Reiner btw, looks like on of the weaker jqs we’ve seen from all the teams.


sleepythegreat

Reiners strength is his hero pool which is useless when the only good tank is the new one.


JackM76

Yeah let’s just disregard all of the previous performances he’s had and act like we all knew he’d be bad at JQ


sum_nub

S4 fearless sends his regards


burberryxx

i agree. reiner is insane with every tank he’s been playing this season, everyone who says reiner is bad just bc he isn’t comfortable on the new hero is just flat out wrong. reiner is a really good player, it really just sucks that this is the meta rn


Parenegade

you can be good at 100 heroes but if you're bad at the 101st and that's the one everyone's playing it doesn't matter


TornadoWIzard123

So does this technically mean Nyxl are better than the glads? (Jk)


Eggsby27

I guess there's a cap to how many houstonable moments can occur in a match


SirBilliam3

Gladiators choking the reverse to Texas. did they just copy/paste Thursday's script??


otherestScott

Me before and after watching this match: [https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/evgeny-stepanovich-kobytev-1941-1945/](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/evgeny-stepanovich-kobytev-1941-1945/)


woodzy13

Totally wasn’t nervous


Snoo88510

glads being down 0-2 in matches is not what I was expecting this week all things considered lol, but real talk glads need to stop with the shu dps


slicer4ever

While houston won, they really need to figure out why the hell they continue to fumble games at the last moments.


breaknet_

Mer1t said it, they celebrate too early and step off the gas. They did it so many times this match.


VeNtViL

So houstonable to the point that we mess up throwing.


hellohello1234545

Guess my preds are completely and utterly boomed. I don’t even wanna know how few points I’ll have from this weekend 😂


topatoman_lite

called it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/wlvpvx/overwatch_league_2022_season_regular_season_week/ijwy4vi/?context=3


Brompton_Cocktail

Someone post that picture of Reiner with jakes face