1. New York Excelsior
Record: 4-0 | Map W/L/T: 12-4-1 | Map Diff: +8 | Change: +2
It isn't a surprise a team well known for its methodical and surgical play style, along with the flexibility of its star players, is thriving in the triple tank/triple support meta (more commonly known as "GOATS"), but the Excelsior, the only team with four match wins in the league, are doing it in style. The team started the 2019 season with a bit of rust, though that seems to be completely worked off. The NYXL's dissection of the Houston Outlaws will go down as one of the biggest blowouts to ever be seen on the Blizzard Arena stage.
The scariest thing about the XL is that regardless of where the meta goes or if Blizzard attempts to modify the GOATS composition, they shouldn't miss a beat. We haven't even seen the likes of Hwang "Fl0w3R" Yeon-oh or Kim "Pine" Do-hyeon because of how well newcomer Jeong "Nenne" Yeon-kwan has fit into the lineup. Nenne was a front-runner for rookie of the year coming into 2019 (even his own teammates bought into the hype), and so far, he's performing to the level of an all-star in his only second week of major league play.
New York was embarrassed by missing out on the grand final in Brooklyn last year after dominating the regular season, and it's making sure this year won't end the same way. The best professional sports team in New York right now isn't the Yankees, it's the Excelsior.
2. Vancouver Titans
Record: 3-0 | Map W/L/T: 10-3-0 | Map Diff: +7 | Change: +2
It was a difficult decision on which team should have been first this week. While the NYXL barely edged out the rookie supernovas from Vancouver, the former RunAway squad is making a name for itself more quickly than any team in league history. Crowds are already chanting Park "Bumper" Sang-beom's name for his flashy (and sometimes reckless) style of piloting tanks, and Choi "JJANU" Hyeon-woo is giving Gael "Poko" Gouzerch a run for his money in the D.Va self-destruct department.
Overall, the Titans appear to be the cleanest team right now, maybe even edging the XL, in terms of playing the GOATS composition. RunAway was one of the first teams in the world to master the composition en route to a Contenders South Korea championship before becoming the Titans. That dominant play has transitioned over to the world of Overwatch League, and teams that don't bring something special to the table or have the firepower to match the Titans will have a difficult time taking games off the undefeated rookies.
3. Paris Eternal
Record: 2-0 | Map W/L/T: 5-2-1 | Map Diff: +3 | Change: +4
New York has a history of excellence and star power. Vancouver Titans have the flashy and energetic play. Paris, on the other hand, the third and final undefeated team in the Overwatch League, is just getting business done. The GOATS composition is the bane of the existence for teams dependent on DPS stars and promotes egoless play. Paris, built through scouting of Europe's best players in Contenders and acquiring a few European stars from the inaugural season, is becoming a standard for that egoless play, maybe becoming the biggest benefactor of how the current meta is set up.
Europe is known for its beefy tank lines, and Paris boasts a slew of top-tier tanks; Finnbjörn "Finnsi" Jónasson is second in the league when it comes to eliminations per 10 minutes. The Eternal have found massive success even without playing fellow Fin Roni "LhCloudy" Tiihonen, one of the more talked-about prospects coming into the season. Paris' success thus far has been a team effort from top to bottom, and although it has played only two matches in the first two weeks of the season, its victories over the defending champion London Spitfire and a title contender in the Los Angeles Gladiators is a good sign for the upcoming matchdays.
4. Atlanta Reign
Record: 2-1 | Map W/L/T: 9-4-0 | Map Diff: +5 | Change: +4
The third expansion team in the top four, the Atlanta Reign have shot out of the gate by taking two of their first three matches, dropping an exciting matchup with a full-strength Philadelphia Fusion.
When the team was first announced, there was some skepticism how all the parts would come together. Any team with mixed communication generally takes time to come together, but the Reign have already seemed to jel with only about a month of prep time. There were also questions on how popular streamer Daniel "Dafran" Francesca would react to playing the more structured world of the Overwatch League, and through two weeks and interviews from his teammates, he's been nothing but a pleasure to play with, his laid-back attitude becoming the personality of the Reign. Ilya "NLaaeR" Koppalov admitted in an interview with ESPN that the hot tub at the team house has become the popular spot for the rest of the team to chill and hang out.
After a big victory over a difficult Toronto Defiant team, the Reign are in a strong position to make the Stage 1 playoffs and should be considered a dark horse to make a deep run when they get there.
5. Seoul Dynasty
Record: 2-1 | Map W/L/T: 8-4-0 | Map Diff: +4 | Change: +6
Are we finally going to see Seoul in a Stage playoffs? The postseason has somehow eluded the franchise that was literally named after its goal of winning multiple championships, and the team under the Gen. G esports brand went into the offseason with a plan to do everything in its power to create a team capable of bringing home a championship. After the opening weeks of the second season, the Dynasty have shown the kind of play that kept them from the playoffs last year by dropping a series against the Dallas Fuel.
The difference between last year's Seoul and this year's iteration might be how it bounces back from tough losses, though. Where last year the Dynasty would lose a big match and spiral downward, the team came off its gut-punch loss to Dallas and made easy work of the unorthodox Chengu Hunters, whose funky tactics and all-in way of playing has befuddled every team they've played against so far except the Dynasty. Lee "Jecse" Seung-soo, one of Seoul's various big signings in the offseason, has paid off in spades through the first three matches.
It still isn't too late for the old Dynasty to rear its ugly head and somehow, someway drop out of the playoff race with four matches remaining in the stage, but for now, with how they rebounded versus Chengdu, Seoul fans should be cautiously optimistic.
6. San Francisco Shock
Record: 1-2 | Map W/L/T: 7-6-0 | Map Diff: +1 | Change: +2
The hardest team to rank in the Overwatch League right now is San Francisco. If you're just looking at the standings, there is no way San Francisco, a team that didn't make the playoffs once last year and sits at an overall record of 1-2, should be in the upper half of the standings. But when you actually watch the Shock play, especially their most recent match with the Vancouver Titans, when they played at full strength with the debut of highly touted flex support prospect Park "Viol2t" Min-ki, there is an argument they should be the highest-rated team outside of the trio of undefeated clubs.
Although the Shock dropped the series to the Titans by a score of 1-3, like everything with San Francisco, what shows on paper doesn't tell the whole story. That series could have gone in a completely different direction outside of a few key plays by Bumper and JJANU, and the Shock will be kicking themselves for letting a winnable series get away against possibly their top rival for securing the Pacific Division crown.
Right now, the Shock might be out of the playoffs; give them time. This team has more talent on it than maybe any other roster in the league aside from London and New York, and when Viol2t gets assimilated into the main roster and everything starts clicking, San Francisco will be a top-five club in the competition.
7. Los Angeles Gladiators
Record: 1-2 | Map W/L/T: 5-7-1 | Map Diff: -2 | Change: -1
Like the Shock, the Gladiators should be a team on the rise in the coming weeks. Jang "Decay" Gui-un, LAG's headline-grabbing offseason signing, is about to turn 18 years old, and that means he can finally play on the main stage. They're also sitting at a 1-2 standing, but they've played three teams above them in our Power Ranking in the Shock, Eternal and the Dynasty. All three matches have been relatively close, and this has all been without Decay in the lineup and Aaron "Bischu" Kim sidelined with personal health issues.
Even though the DPS and tank lines have been hamstrung, the reason why the Gladiators are ranked so high, outside of just their potential, is the team's prolific support duo. The Finnish pair, Benjamin "BigGoose" Isohanni and Jonas "Shaz" Suovaara, like they did all last season, has been the backbone of the team when other areas of the lineup have been up in the air. As long as BigGoose and Shaz are playing at their current level while their DPS and tank lines settle themselves out, this team will always have a chance to win versus anyone in the league.
8. Toronto Defiant
Record: 2-2 | Map W/L/T: 6-6-1 | Map Diff: +0| Change: +5
On media day, the Toronto Defiant knew their role in the league. When asked what their personality was coming into the year, the players, led by head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon, answered that they were the underdogs. The outsiders. The anti-heroes. When comparing expansion teams, the Defiant went for an all-South Korean lineup like many other teams in the league, but they didn't go for home runs. They grabbed players from O2 Ardeont, a team, like Toronto, that prided itself on upsets and being a dark horse.
Through its first matches, Toronto has been one of the more positive revelations. Lee "Ivy" Seung-hyun's Zarya has maybe been the best in the league early on in the season, and all of this success has been without the team's most established player, Park "Neko" Se-hyeon. The team's supposed starting flex support, Neko was suspended for the first three games of the season for selling an account and obstructing league office investigation. With Neko back on board and the rest of the team playing well together -- the Defiant's only loss coming to a strong Atlanta team -- don't be too surprised if we see the self-proclaimed "dark horse" rise up the ranking sooner rather than later.
9. Philadelphia Fusion
Record: 2-2 | Map W/L/T: 8-8-1 | Map Diff: +0 | Change: -8
Spoiler: Isaac "Boombox" Charles is important to the Fusion's success.
Philadelphia sits at 2-2, and although it feels like Boombox will be back in the lineup come next week, the return of one of the team's integral pieces doesn't mean everything is going to be completely fixed. Last year, when dive was heavy and aggressive, an offensive-oriented play was the bread and butter of the league, where superstar players could carry teams better than LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia Fusion was the second best team in the league. They had one of the top picks for MVP, Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok, and his stylings on Widowmaker and other sharpshooters made him one of the faces of the league's inaugural season.
That isn't the world we live in anymore. An egoless play style is the name of the game, GOATS is on the menu, and outside of a few select scenarios, Widowmaker is nothing more than a flimsy paperweight for tank-heavy teams sped up by Lucio and Brigette to mow over.
Still, it would be shortsighted to say that one of the more talented teams in the league in Philadelphia can't survive in this new world. Another league final, however, that might be a difficult proposition.
10. London Spitfire
Record: 2-2 | Map W/L/T: 8-9-0 | Map Diff: -1 | Change: +2
All right, take what I said about London, change Carpe's name to Kim "Birdring" Ji-hyeok, and we pretty much have the same story. Fusion and Spitfire were the top two teams in 2018 for their aim, mechanical skill and overall great play. These were two teams where any game those players could be the player of the match and star of the highlight package.
London at least stabilized itself following a stumble to begin the season. A big win over Hangzhou is exactly what the Spitfire needed to feel good about themselves heading into the next stretch of games. Right now, the Spitfire are a long shot to make the top four in the Stage 1 playoffs, but this is also the team that looked lifeless at parts in 2018 before it shed half the roster, started playing with reckless abandon and found itself as the first-ever Overwatch League world champions.
For Fusion and Spitfire, they're going to be crossing their fingers that new support hero Baptise has an ultimate ability that can rewind back the clock to when Widowmaker's bullets and Genji's blade flew around the map.