Overwatch League Power Rankings | Season 2 | Stage 2 | Week 2

A new Stage means a new patch and a new meta. The first week of Stage 1 saw many heroes that fans thought they would never see again; Soldier: 76, Genji, and even Symmetra saw a substantial increase in play on the battlefield. Some teams adapted to this style of play that many had forgotten. On the other hand, some squads looked clueless and lost. My name is Cole Ricke, and these are ESTNN's Power Rankings for the second week of the Overwatch League Season 2.

Spots 1-4: From The Top, Shall We?

Top Spot:  Vancouver Titans

2. San Francisco Shock

3. New York Excelsior

4. Los Angeles Gladiators

This may seem like deja vu, but the top of standings don't look much different from last week's. The #1 Vancouver Titans have yet to show weakness, taking a convincing 4-0 victory against the Hangzhou Spark. A highlight of this match was the speedrun of King’s Row, where Vancouver finished with over five minutes in the time bank. Although the Spark were able to finish with what seemed a decent time bank, the Titans demolished the Spark, rubbing salt into the wound by playing Bumper on Pharah for their second attack.

#2 San Francisco Shock continue to impress, looking like a whole different beast from Season 1. The Shock managed to take down both the Charge and the Valiant 4-0, not dropping a single map, thanks in part to their inarguably most improved player, Matthew “super” DeLisi. They show no signs of stopping, even being ranked above #3 New York Excelsior.

New York had the potential to be ranked #2 after 4-0’ing the Fusion, but a tied map against the Dragons kept them in their current spot.

Rounding out our final four is the #4 Los Angeles Gladiators. It’s official – I’m on the hype train. After dropping to 1-4 in the first stage, the Gladiators have defeated four middle- to top-tier teams to be a combined 5-4 and have a positive match score since the beginning of the season. If there’s any team that will continue to rise, it will be the Gladiators.

Spots 5-10: In The Proving Grounds

5. Seoul Dynasty

6. Boston Uprising

7. Toronto Defiant

8. Philidelphia Fusion

9. Dallas Fuel

10. London Spitfire

Dropping to #5 is the Seoul Dynasty, and for one all-too-obvious reason. Seoul’s main tank, Fissure, has time and time again made mistakes that cost his team fights. These mistakes eventually results in lost points or even entire maps. The rematch against the Titans will be important in re-establishing not just the team, but Fissure’s place within Seoul.

Our #6 spot goes to the team that always gets our hearts racing: Boston Uprising. While a win is a win and reverse sweeps are entertaining (and occasionally agonizing), Boston needs to clean up its play in order to not only secure a higher power ranking, but also a decent map score in the case of playoff tiebreakers.

With the addition of Im37, #7 Toronto Defiant seems like a scary team to play against. Despite beating the Justice and suffering one of the now-famous Uprising reverse sweeps, the Defiant are still in the stages of synergizing with their new DPS player. If history is anything to go by, Im37 will be a fantastic addition given some time to acclimate to the team. Who else is looking forward to the Widowmaker duel versus Carpe?

A Slight Divide

#8 belongs to the Philadelphia Fusion despite suffering a hearty loss to the Excelsior. The Fusion have always been a middle-to-high-tier team, and last week seemed to be a rare misstep. Losing a map to the Mayhem is a worrisome prospect, but I'm not jumping to conclusions just yet.

#9 Dallas Fuel haven’t had a chance to prove themselves yet, as they did not play in the first week of the stage. They'll stay put for now, but watch their matchs against the Paris Eternal and the Toronto Defiant this week. The results will have an impact on where they end up.

#10 London Spitfire have started to show their old Season 1 colors, and are playing extremely well. Fury’s 180-degree Graviton Surge denial with a dash of Defense Matrix is just one of the highlights in the record-breaking match of denied ultimates with his D.va play. Fury is back, baby!

Spots 11-14: In The Hunt

11. Chengdu Hunters

12. Shanghai Dragons

13. Atlanta Reign

14. Hangzhou Spark

#11 Chengdu Hunters rose six spots this week, and with good reason. Their whacky playstyle such as the Symmetra attack on Hanamura has proven to be more than just a meme. The Hunters' effective utilization of Ameng’s Wrecking Ball seems to be their strongest aspect.

Their Chinese rivals, the #12 Shanghai Dragons, have also begun to show improvement. While losing to the Gladiators and New York, they managed to take a map off of the Gladiators and tied a map with New York Excelsior. The Stage 1 Dragons could not have done this, and their improvement is clearly seen in players like Geguri and Gamsu.

The #13 Atlanta Reign do not look good. The inclusion of Frd over Daco is clearly not paying dividends, and something needs to change with the Reign if they want to retake the throne. Come on, duuuuuuude. 

#14 Hangzhou Spark haven't moved too much this week, mostly because the only match they had was against the Titans. Let's be honest, the Spark were doomed from the start in that game. Look for the game this week against Boston to get a better idea of good they can actually be.

Spots 15-20: It's Cold and Dark Down Here

15. Guangzhou Charge

16. Houston Outlaws

17. Paris Eternal

18. Washington Justice

19. Florida Mayhem

20. Los Angeles Valiant

The #15 Guangzhou Charge have been both shocked and awed by the new meta. A 4-0 loss to Paris Eternal and San Francisco Shock is a  really, really bad sign. That said, the only reason that they are ranked above the Eternal is the potential of players like KYB. If given enough time and resources to grow, they have the potential to sneak away some games against better opponents.  Soon and Shadowburn, on the other hand, are established and we know where their skills lie.

Since the #16 Houston Outlaws did not play, we're going to leave them where they are for this week.

Unfortunately, #17 Paris Eternal put on a simply disappointing performance in both matches last weekend. Even with a win over the Guangzhou Charge, they still seem completely disoriented. A loss to Florida or Fuel will confirm their new spot down here at the bottom of the barrel.

#18 Washington Justice has moved up in the rankings, not because of their own performance, but thepoor performance of the two teams below them.

#19 Florida Mayhem are done with the Misfits experiment. The Mayhem has converted themselves to an entirely Korean roster, and so far things do not look great. However, time is the biggest factor as we need to see how these players mesh.

Last, and definitely least, we have the #20 Los Angeles Valiant. Losing Coach Moon and all semblance of team structure with him, the Valiant have impressed no one. They continue on their Shanghai Dragons-esque run, batting a .000 with a winless season so far. The Battle of L.A. this Stage might be the most disappointing one yet.

Check out our Week 2 Day 4 Recap of the Overwatch League here!

Photos VIA: Robert Paul/Blizzard Entertainment