The Battle of Brotherly Love took place over the weekend, with Gritty and the Philadelphia Fusion showing that their homestand could be just as energetic as the New York one. This week, we only saw 4 teams play: Washington Justice, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, and of course the Philadelphia Fusion. How’d things turn out in week 2? Probably exactly how you imagined it.

The first match up was the Florida Mayhem against the Houston Outlaws. These are two teams that are known for chronic under-performance and I still can’t get over when they pulled out the Bastion on Gibraltar last year when they went up against the Outlaws, mowing down the green team handily and winning that match in the completely wrong way. When you pull out the Bastion in that move, you know you’re desperate and played terrible. Who wants to win that way normally?

The match was an easy 3-0 victory for the Mayhem. This team seems significantly better than last year, but the versatility was supposed to be so great on the Outlaws. Only it wasn’t and Meko could really only carry so hard. I was a big fan of blasé last year on the Boston Uprising and was a little disappointed in his departure. I felt like if he could just play “his characters”, he’d be great. But he was always put in a different role. I’m surprised at some point he wasn’t on Lucio over Kellex. His first performance in green wasn’t impressive, granted McCree isn’t “one of his characters”. Why not have Linkzr or Danteh out there instead of the DPS duo that obviously wasn’t working? Maybe they’d learn their lesson before their next match against Washington…?

…Only, they didn’t. They stuck with practically the same set up, except they put Rapel in over Rawkus for some maps. As if you didn’t think Hydration and blasé could do any worse… they did. Later on, the coaching staff put the blame on the flu and later took the blame for the loss. It seems very plausible that they had the flu, so maybe next week we’ll see a different team. They can’t disappoint their fans for a 3rd season in a row. (At least as an Uprising fan, I might only be disappointed for a 2nd season in a row.)

All the other teams seem to be very impressive. Philadelphia went 2-0 in their matches. Though I am disappointed I didn’t get to see my off-tank role model out there. I imagine with Fury over Poko, the Fusion would have reigned even more destruction upon their enemies. Carpe is still showing off why he’s one of the best DPS in the league, destroying everyone in his path. It’s really impressive to watch.

As for next week? The Uprising are facing the Houston Outlaws in their one match next week. Which means they are going to have a very easy win or a very heartbreaking loss. Remember that time that Shanghai got their first win over the Uprising? Granted, the team was significantly better than the past, but it still stung being the first. Let’s not repeat that.