This article is part of our OWL Power Rankings series.
How about that Boston Uprising squad, eh? After unseating the New York Excelsior last week, the Uprising managed to hold onto their spot at the top of the rankings for the second week in a row. With wins against London and Seoul in Week 3, the proof is in the pudding. This team is the real deal and is on the path to a Stage 3 Title Match in a couple weeks.
1. Boston Uprising (Last Week: 1)
After last week's upset, the Boston Uprising continued to show that they deserve the top spot: taking down the London Spitfire and Seoul Dynasty. Even if these teams aren't as clean as they've been in the past, being able to claw out a win is no easy feat. Boston showed that the power of Dive is still insane featuring: Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo's insane Tracer, Lucas "NotE" Meissner's pinpoint D.Va, and Noh "Gamsu" Young-jin's tenacious Winston. The Uprising has managed to dominate the League through their tight coordination, and quick decision making. Now, the Boston Uprising stands tall at the top of the leaderboard. -- Liam Craffey
2. New York Excelsior (Last Week: 2)
The NYXL are no longer the de facto best team in the league, but still sit at the top of the table thanks to some key role players stepping up. Primarily, DPS Kim "Pine" Do-hyeon stepping up in a double-hitscan dominated meta has allowed New York to field a veritable all-star lineup in vogue with the current team comp trends, while main tanks Song "Janus" Joong-hwa and Kim "Mano" Dong-gyu have been solid in the frontline, changing in and out depending on which playstyle the NYXL wants to run, without much dip in quality. Finally, new main support Jung "ANAMO" Tae-sung is adjusting to life in the OWL well, and provides versatility at his role in terms of defensive vs aggressive tendencies. This team might not be the best right now, but has the potential to catch fire heading into the postseason, where it looks to remind the league why it was the Stage 2 champion. -- Noah Waltzer
3. Los Angeles Valiant (Last Week: 3)
It was quite the week for the Valiant, as it went the distance against both the Los Angeles Gladiators and the London Spitfire. They only managed to take out the Gladiators, as the Spitfire finally showed up to Stage 3 with a solid showing on Saturday. Despite the 1-1 record, however, this is still a team that has to be looked at as one of the best that Stage 3 has to offer. Time will tell if this ends up being the new normal, but for now, the Valiant continue stand up to every opponent that has come its way thus far this Stage. -- Wyatt Donigan
4. Philadelphia Fusion (Last Week: 4)
The Philadelphia Fusion surely suffered severe flashbacks this week as they once again went up against the New York Excelsior and were reverse-swept. This was likely one of the toughest series the Fusion had to take on because not only was it a revenge match against one of the best teams, it was also an important match for Stage 3 seeding. While DPS Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok played exceedingly well, they couldn't lock down New York's DPS in the second half. It was similar situation in their loss against the San Francisco Shock-- a match they had to take on almost directly behind their New York defeat. The Fusion can be one of the best teams, but they just need to close out series when it matters, as they have now been involved in four five-game sets in six games during Stage 3. -- Christiaan Kutlik
5. London Spitfire (Last Week: 9)
The London Spitfire find themselves back in the top five after a quality win over the Los Angeles Valiant. The Spitfire are still a top-tier team, even though their record might indicate otherwise. However, closer inspection of the team's schedule reveals that, with the exception of the Houston Outlaws, the Spitfire have yet to play a team outside the top half of the table. It's unlikely London finds its way to the title matches for this stage, but it will likely stay in the top half of the standings, pending any unfortunate upsets. -- Travis Elliott
6. San Francisco Shock (Last Week: 8)
Surprisingly, DPS Jay "sinatraa" Won hasn't even been the most impactful DPS for the successful Shock squad this stage, despite the massive hype surrounding him coming into the OWL. Sure, he's certainly good and one of the best aggressive Tracer players in the game today, but newly recruited DPS Park "Architect" Min-ho has grown into the biggest threat on the roster. From being ostensibly a Genji one-trick to adding a lethal Widowmaker to his arsenal, Architect has been a veritable powerhouse for San Fran, while the other new additions continue to gel around him. Looking ahead, the Shock still have to prove that it can close out a stage on a high note, but are in good shape to lock up a postseason position. -- Noah Waltzer
7. Los Angeles Gladiators (Last Week: 5)
The Los Angeles Gladiators just can't break out from the middle of the pack. Granted, as the competition has become more fierce, they have been able to keep up. While they lost both of their games this week, it was to the New York Excelsior and the Los Angeles Valiant, some of the best teams in the league. Even then, the Gladiators were able to keep both series at a close 3-2 scoreline. Main tank Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung continues to be the X-Factor of the team, that little extra spice that keeps from dipping to low. His coordination continues to be spot on, but as the rest of the league continues to add stronger and heavier slayers, Fissure will need to step up. -- Christiaan Kutlik
8. Seoul Dynasty (Last Week: 6)
Seoul continues to fumble around. While dropping a map to the Shanghai Dragons is almost a ritual by now, their players don't look on top of things as they usually would have in previous stages. On top of that, they haven't even fielded Ryu "ryujehong" Je-Hong this week. While this might not have been a huge deal normally, the rest of the roster looks like they're just being carried by Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun, and occasionally someone else will step up to the plate. But this is definitely a low point for the team and they need to figure out what they're doing with their roster fielding decisions before it's too late. -- Steven Nguyen
9. Houston Outlaws (Last Week: 7)
Poor Houston. The team goes 2-0 in Week 3, but manages to drop two spots in the rankings. Oh, what's that? They played against Florida and Dallas? Okay, that makes sense then. Beating two teams at the bottom of the rankings is nothing at all to write home about. It seems as though they're now at the stage of simply experimenting with lineups, as it opted in starting Russell "FCTFCTN" Campbell over Austin "Muma" Wilmot, which seemed to work out given their pair of 3-1 wins. With the Valiant and Gladiators on deck in Week 4, however, things will likely get much worse before they get any better. -- Wyatt Donigan
10. Florida Mayhem (Last Week: 11)
It may seem like it's a small achievement for a team to advance over the Fuel but given how long Florida's been cruising toward the bottom of the rankings, advancing even a little is a worthy achievement for a team of its calibur. It should take more time but the Mayhem has made the necessary roster moves to become a potential threat, especially with how good DPS Ha "Sayaplayer" Jeong-woo can be, and how well tank Kim "aWesomeGuy" Sung-hoon has played on occasion since his debut. -- Steven Nguyen
11. Dallas Fuel (Last Week: 10)
Dallas was always one slip up away from sinking below the Florida Mayhem, and now the team is only one game away from being below Shanghai, if the Dragons can ever snag that elusive first win. We always say there is no way for things to get worse for Dallas, but bless their hearts they just keep finding a way to make it worse. After making the San Francisco Shock look like they were the New York Excelsior in disguise last Wednesday, the team was then walloped by Houston so bad that Hyeon "EFFECT" Hwang got a hug from the Outlaws during the post game handshakes before leaving on sabbatical to South Korea. In the meantime, Timo "Taimou" Kettunen was admitted to the ER with stroke like symptoms and was then discharged after the physicians determined that his symptoms were likely stress related. With that being said, Dallas will ostensibly be starting Dylan "aKm" Bignet and Brandon "Seagull" Larned at DPS this week and possibly for the rest of the stage. Yikes! -- Travis Elliott
12. Shanghai Dragons (Last Week: 12)
After three weeks with their new roster additions, the Shanghai Dragons continue to struggle with themselves. Their tanks and backline are heavily disconnected, even if they've shown improvement. The main problem: everyone else is striving to improve as well, so catching up is exceedingly difficult. While Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon and Chon "Ado" Gi-hyeon have standout moments, neither seem to be able to do so consistently enough to have an impact on the outcome of a match. Things look dire in this inaugural season for this team from China, and hopefully they start making headway soon. -- Liam Craffey
