David vs Goliath, the Giants fall

After the first 2 weeks of the inaugural Overwatch League, there has been a worrying narrative that the league was dominated by Koreans and no Western team stood a chance against them. Dallas put up a fight against Seoul by taking the 1st map but then they seem to crumble after losing a highly contested 2nd map. The other all Korean teams, New York and London, were rolling over most of their opponents without even losing a map. When matches become too predictable, there is little incentive to watch as there is no threat to the dominant team. There are many examples of this in traditional sports: Barcelona / Real Madrid in La Liga, Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, or Golden State Warriors / Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have other leagues such as the English Premier League, which is considered the best football league in the world because every team has the ability to upset the favourites. The top of the league is made up of the big spenders: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham, They are usually the favourites is the majority of the matches, but if they don't show up and perform on that week, they can easily lose to the other teams.

Week 3 of the Overwatch League brought the biggest surprise of the year, when Boston Uprising took the London Spitfire to another 5 game set. This time London could not clutch the tiebreaker map and Boston became the 1st team to defeat an all Korean team. Not to be outdone, the Philadelphia Fusion went up against the New York Excelsior, who may have been looking ahead to their heavyweight match against the Seoul Dynasty. It was a back and forth match going to another 5 games, where Philadelphia defeated New York. The 2nd all Korean team fell and the excitement of the Overwatch League was back.

After the Week 1 Day 1 match-up of Dallas vs Seoul, the next big match-up that everyone was looking forward to was the first all Korean match-up of New York vs Seoul. Both teams looked super strong finishing 4-0 after Week 2, but most people would have ranked Seoul #1 as they are made up of the former Lunatic Hai roster. The history behind these players have made them clear cut favourites of the 1st season of the Overwatch League. New York came out swinging taking the 1st map on Eichenwalde. They were well positioned to take the 2nd map as well on Horizon Lunar Colony, but Seoul were able to clutch out a 5-4 win even though they had less time to complete their subsequent runs. The 3rd map was a KOTH map, where everyone expected "The God" Pine to be subbed in, but New York stuck to the same line-up and took Oasis 2-1. The map pool for Stage 1 of the Overwatch League was shuffled, so that the last map would not end in a tie. The 4th map was Junkertown, where the popular pirate ship strategy has become somewhat of a meta, but Seoul were able to full hold and take the map with a 1-0 scoreline. After being spoiled with two 5 game sets the day before, this match was going to another 5th map on Lijiang Tower. New York felt they had Seoul figured out and stuck with the same line up and strategies they have been using throughout the match. This match seemed to mean a lot to them and New York definitely showed up with one of their best performances. With New York beating Seoul, there are no more undefeated teams. Let the games begin!