Overwatch League May Melee: An Open Goal to Establish a New Order
This weekend, Overwatch League’s May Melee will take place in Hawaii, with four of the league’s also-rans in with a shot of early season glory. Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, Chengdu Hunters and Shanghai Dragons will play across twelve matches to lay down an early gauntlet, and pick up some early season silverware.
All eyes will be on the Dallas Fuel, a franchise with a tragic history in previous seasons (the Fuel were tipped to be one of OWL’s best in the pre-season predictions of the debut OWL season) who finally seem to have built a roster capable of going toe-to-toe with the league’s best. This roster revolves around the hyper-aggression of former Dragons main tank Fearless, who has undoubtedly been the strongest main tank in the opening four matches of the league. It will be an interesting test of Fuel’s playoff credentials, considering the teams they beat in the qualifiers to get to Hawaii. They swept the league champions, San Francisco Shock, in a dominant 3–0 performance that seemed to get the best out of Fearless and Sp9rkle, then proceeded to dispatch early risers Houston Outlaws, who admitted after the game they had been preparing for the Shock. Questions will be asked of the Fuel, though, after losing to the Washington Justice and the Outlaws in the regular season, and the absence of an established hitscan DPS player (Xzi, Fuel’s Korean hitscan player, retired before the season’s start to deal with health issues) may come to haunt them.
Meanwhile, Mayhem could be a genuine dark horse for the May Melee. Veteran tank player (and former Fuel player) OGE seems to finally have a roster that plays to his strengths, after bouncing around the North American teams that did not necessarily have the squads to compete at the very top. OGE has always been considered a high potential player, and at the core of this Florida team we could finally see this potential writ large in Hawaii. But they were barely challenged in the build-up to the May Melee, dispatching the lowly Vancouver Titans and the rebuilding Atlanta Reign in the opening week, then falling to a 3–0 vs the Shock and beating the Paris Eternal in week 3. While the calibre of opposition that they have beaten might not necessarily thrill fans going into the tournament, superstar DPS Yaki has proven in the past that he can out-duel any player in the league on his day, and Mayhem will be hoping he can get the better of his counterparts across the tournament.
From the Asian region, Shanghai Dragons represent the highest level of prestige in this tournament — Dragons made last year’s playoffs with consummate ease and League MVP Fleta guided them there. A disappointing playoffs performance ended the Dragons’ season, but after one of the all-time great OWL matches against Philadelphia Fusion, Dragons look to have the mental fortitude to come through any amount of adversity. Off-tank player Void is certainly in the discussion for the best at his position, and with a stacked DPS lineup with Diem, Fleta and Lip, they will not be found wanting for quality where perhaps their opponents may miss out. The match-up to watch in this tournament will be Dragons v Fuel, the latter of which has made things work without a top-tier hitscan DPS for the first few weeks, while the former has quality all over this position. Their only defeat this season came against Chengdu Hunters, who caught them flat-footed in their season opener.
Hunters share in the agony from previous seasons of many of their counterparts in this tournament. The only all-Chinese roster, they have routinely placed at the bottom of power rankings for the Asian region, but have still managed to surprise and delight OWL fans thanks to their relentless quest to beat the meta. This year, having gotten the better of Dragons and the Seoul Dynasty early on, could well be a banner year for the Hunters. But, there are still questions about this roster. Ameng has always been a phenomenon on Wrecking Ball, but with the meta being so movable and adaptible, questions will be asked about his main-tank play elsewhere. At the same time, Ga9a has stepped in to the main tank role, and could be one of the many incredibly strong rookie main tanks in the league. Across other positions, no player truly shines as a superstar, with Yveltal and Leave having been mainstays of the Hunters roster since their debut season in 2019. Rookie arrivals in Mmonk, Nisha and Jimmy are hard to get a read on with their early season performances, and with the meta still taking shape, questions will be asked of the Hunters beyond the May Melee.
The tournament will be an opportunity for any one of these four teams to bury the hatchet, and for some more than others an opportunity to lay down an early marker of their intent. All of these teams have undoubtedly earned their place at the table in the May Melee, and with the calibre of opposition that have missed out — Seoul Dynasty, San Francisco Shock, Houston Outlaws and Philadelphia Fusion particularly — this may be the only shot at glory for some of these teams. Or is it a sign that the established order of the Overwatch League has begun to change? Shanghai Dragons’ performance will surely answer this question — if they fail to beat any of these teams their championship quality will certainly be questioned, and although there’s a long season ahead, the narrative of this season will surely be defined by what happens in this May Melee.
