OWL Power Rankings: March 19

This article is part of our OWL Power Rankings series.

1. New York Excelsior (Last Week: 1)

The Excelsior may have ended up in the top spot, but it wasn't by as wide of a margin as the last few weeks. Sure, they swept the lowly Shanghai Dragons, but at this point that matchup is basically a free win for the other team. When tasked with facing the Seoul Dynasty, however, the Excelsior looked pretty beatable. They walked away with a win, but it took five games to do it. Still, they own the best record in the league and have a one game lead with two fairly easy matchups to go. For the second stage in a row, New York should be contending for the title. -- Wyatt Donigan

2. London Spitfire (Last Week: 3)

London looks to be surging at the perfect time. It may not be at the top of the standings, but a pair of wins -- including a 4-0 drubbing of the Dynasty -- put this team in good control of the second spot in our rankings. Had they not dropped a map and looked a bit lackluster as a whole against the San Francisco Shock earlier in the week, it's likely that they could have taken the top spot. They're peaking at the right time, though, and have a good shot at the Stage 2 playoffs next weekend. -- Wyatt Donigan

3. Seoul Dynasty (Last Week: 2)

Seoul had the most difficult week possible in the Overwatch League, taking on the other two Korean powerhouses in the same week. Against New York, Seoul looked competitive, but ultimately fell apart at the end. Against London, the Dynasty got rocked, showing that it still has a ways to go. This doesn't necessarily mean that Seoul is that much worse than London, as preparation heading into this week must've been a nightmare, but the fact that both of its Stage 2 losses came to the other Korean squads means that Seoul still needs to improve if it hopes to make a splash in the postseason since any path to a title surely runs through a Korean team. --Noah Waltzer

4. Los Angeles Gladiators (Last Week: 5)

The Gladiators had trouble in both of their matches this week but showed what needed to be seen: perseverance. One of the biggest question marks about this team was its ability to hold strong in a tight match. In order to get another shot at the all-Korean teams, the Gladiators will need to get past the Philadelphia Fusion on Wednesday and hold off the Boston Uprising on Saturday. This squad has shown it has the capability to play with the best. -- Travis Elliott

5. Philadelphia Fusion (Last Week: 4)

Despite the Fusion being able to coast through this week with matchups against Shanghai and Dallas, this is a team still in the title hunt for Stage 2. Though they have been unable to topple any all-Korean rosters like the Los Angeles Gladiators have, this team looks far more consistent with their change at DPS. The showdown on Wednesday with the Gladiators will likely be the decider match for which team will be in the title race for Stage 2 and which squad can claim to be "Best in the West." -- Travis Elliott

6. Boston Uprising (Last Week: 8)

Boston looks better than it has in the last few weeks with the return of Noh "Gamsu" Young-Jin, bringing back a sense of unity to the lineup, especially his Winston play destroying the Fuel and defeating the Valiant this week. Both opponents aren't exactly at the top of the food chain right now, but the level of play was visibly cleaner. It'd be hard to say whether or not they could make a strong run in playoffs based off of these two wins alone but they need to stay on this track from now on instead of having weeks where they're on and off. -- Steven Nguyen

7. Florida Mayhem (Last Week: 10)

The past king of the bottom is now in contention for middle of the pack. Not only has the meta change helped the Florida Mayhem, but Andreas "Logix" Berghmans' Tracer seems to have finally come out to play. Meanwhile, the team as a whole finally looks to be on the same page. Dives are coordinated and thought out, and their reaction and adaption time is improving. With these new tools, the Mayhem look to be in a solid place compared to any point previously in the League. -- Liam Craffey

8. Los Angeles Valiant (Last Week: 6)

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Valiant looked like they were going to rebound this week as they lined up against Boston Uprising and Florida Mayhem, only to whiff both series. Yes, the Los Angeles Valiant, a Stage 1 playoff contender, lost to the Florida Mayhem (Editor's note: As a the resident LA fanboy, I would just like to point out that the Mayhem are actually good now. So let's not act like the Valiant lost to the Dragons. But yeah, we suck, I know). Problems run the gamut, from a lack of sustained DPS to a limp frontline to a crippled backline. These problems have only grown throughout Stage 2 as maps like Hanamura and Lijiang Tower have neutered hefty dive teams. Los Angeles need to reorganize quickly if they want to be ready for Stage 3. -- Christiaan Kutlik

9. San Francisco Shock (Last Week: 9)

As the caliber of games grew, so did the San Francisco Shock. And with Jay "sinatraa" Won primed to join them starting this week (!!!), the Shock's value will only grow. In the meantime, both Andrej "Babybay" Francisty and Dante "Danteh" Cruz have been pulling their weight. The solid DPS duo have wreaked havoc against top-tier teams like London Spitfire and the Houston Outlaws this week. While the duo haven't matched the likes of Jun-Young "Profit" Park or Jong-Ryeol "saeyeoble" Park, it shows they could be in for a promising start going into Stage 3. -- Christiaan Kutlik

10. Houston Outlaws (Last Week: 7)

It's not just the lack of a top-tier Tracer that's been hurting the Outlaws recently, though fans might insist that's the team's only problem. Support Shane "Rawkus" Flaherty has paled in comparison to other flex supports, and the only competent DPS in Houston these days seems to be Jiri "LiNkzr" Masalin. This team's weaknesses have been exposed with the changing of the meta, to the point where other OWL teams with Tracer specialists (a.k.a all of them) can create major problems for the Outlaws. With team management and players publicly disagreeing on the team's problems, though, it seems unlikely that the Outlaws get back in the saddle before the start of Stage 3. -- Noah Waltzer

11. Dallas Fuel (Last Week: 11)

Dallas is lost, plain and simple. There's no way to really sugar coat things with this team, but amidst the drama that has surrounded the team almost from the very start of the OWL, everything that made EnVyUs a top team in the world has been lost. With comms the likes you don't hear outside of solo queue, the team puts up disjointed offenses and defenses one after another along with having their players on heroes that don't suit their strengths. Timo "Taimou" Kettunen's Winston was good until he threw anything good he did with awful Primal Rages. On top of that, the decision to put Dylan "aKm" Bignet on Genji and not on hitscan heroes where his specialty lies, showed how poor the Fuel's planning is from the support staff as well. Huge overhauls must take place to fix the team instead of a series of bandages, but there's no end in sight to the turmoil. -- Steven Nguyen

12. Shanghai Dragons (Last Week: 12)

At this point, there is little hope for the Dragons for this Stage. Their new players, who will finally be arriving to the States this week, will have a long road ahead of them. While the team overall has shown improvement, Shanghai has still failed to pick up a single win. With their star DPS Chao "Undead" Fang gone, the Dragons have been attempting to adapt to such a dire situation. Despite this setback, the Dragons have been able to perform about as well as they did before Undead's departure. Hopefully the new roster additions will be able to make an impact since Shanghai is running out of time. -- Liam Craffey