This week in the Overwatch League may have been the league's most unpredictable to date. Instead of looking at one individual team or match this week, we're going to take a look at some key items from notable occurrences in the league.
Houston, we have a map streak
The Houston Outlaws have won 16 consecutive maps dating to the start of last week, sweeping Shanghai, Dallas, Florida and the Los Angeles Gladiators in that time. During the season, the Outlaws have the same point differential as the Seoul Dynasty (point differential is the difference in possible points gained by a team through objectives and checkpoints compared to opponents).
One key thing: According to Winston's Lab, Houston's Matt "coolmatt" Iorio and Austin "Muma" Wilmot have had the two best tanks in the league. coolmatt's D.Va has the highest player rating (1,240) and kill/death ratio (3.8) among tanks (minimum three hours played).
Seoul loses season's first major matchup
Entering the week, ESPN's Tyler Erzberger had Seoul, New York and London (the league's three all-Korean teams) as the top three teams in the league. The season's first meeting between two of those three was a 3-2 win for the Excelsior over the Dynasty.
One key thing: Seoul collectively struggled against New York, even though the match went to a tiebreaker. The top four players in player rating, according to Winston's Lab, were members of the Excelsior, with Je-hong "ryujehong" Ryu pulling the only 1,000 player rating or better for Seoul.
Wait, London lost too?!
Another top three team, the Spitfire lost to the 10th-ranked team in Erzberger's rankings, the Uprising. London had to take a 3-2 win on Junkertown just to force a tiebreaker, where Boston won 2-0.
One key thing: London has an Oasis problem. After taking a 2-0 win on the map in their first match against the Mayhem, the Spitfire have dropped three straight on the map, including a pair of 2-0 losses. That map didn't factor into London's loss this week (it lost 2-1 on Ilios), but having a clear weak spot is a concern.
Oh yeah, New York also lost
There are no unbeaten teams in the Overwatch League.
New York blew a 2-1 map lead against the Fusion and lost 2-0 in the tiebreaker. All three all-Korean teams entered the week unbeaten, all three lost one match and all three took that match to a tiebreaking fifth set where they lost 2-0.
One key thing: Tae Hong "MekO" Kim had a rough go against the Fusion, posting a season-worst 884 player rating on D.Va, according to Winston's Lab. MekO posted season-worsts in kill/death ratio (1.33) and first-kill percentage (4.6) with the character.
The week ahead
Houston starts its week against a struggling San Francisco squad that lost its two matches by a combined 6-1 score in Week 3. On Friday, Houston will take on Seoul and put its recent hot streak to the test. Houston and Seoul are tied for the best point differential in the Overwatch League (plus-19).