OWL 2022: 5 Reasons To Keep An Eye On Boston Uprising This Season
Happy Friday, folks. Boston Uprising is kicking off their Overwatch League 2022 season today against the Vancouver Titans. Many casual fans, like me, wondered what state we’d see the OWL in this year – especially considering the rollout of Overwatch 2 and the state of the game (and the world around us) as we emerge from a global pandemic.
It’s no secret that Boston had a rough 2021 season. To enter the season with (what many considered to be) a strong and exciting lineup of players, only to go 7-9 in the regular season, and then get swept in every knockout bracket was obviously a painful thing to watch. That being said, Uprising has made some key changes to their roster in the offseason and (I think) are going to absolutely come out swinging this year to avenge 2021. Here’s a few reasons you should keep them on your radar this year.
1.) Striker Emerges From Retirement, Returns to Boston
Following his abrupt retirement from competitive Overwatch mid-way through last season, DPS player and Tracer GOAT Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo has decided to come out of retirement and return to where his OWL career began… In Boston Uprising blue and white.
Striker was absolutely nails in the 2018 season for Uprising, and then went on to win back-to-back championships with San Francisco Shock. He now returns to his rightful home to join Valentine and Victoria on a very promising DPS lineup, and given the chatter about how huge Tracer will be in this season and Overwatch 2 as a whole… I think we’ll see Uprising’s prodigal son make some big plays this year.
2.) Contenders Demons ITSAL and Victoria Step Up to Main Roster
Boston Uprising’s former OWL Contenders players ITSAL (Tank) and Victoria (DPS) have received the tap on the shoulder to step up to the main roster this year. Uprising Academy were nearly unstoppable last year, and that was thanks in large part to the synergy between these two. Check out the clip above to watch Victoria absolutely deleting people on Hanzo.
Depth is going to be key if Boston wants to turn their perception from 2021 around, and I think these two rookies are absolutely going to make a lot of doubters look dumb this year if they perform in the bigs the way they did in Contenders.
3.) Marve1 Rounds Out Uprising’s Deep Tank Roster
After being released by Seoul Dynasty (which came as a surprise to some based on the reactions that I’ve read), Tank Marve1 and his notably great Sigma are making their way to Boston. He saw some huge success with Seoul and has yet to swap teams in OWL, but now is joining a very strong tank roster.
There won’t be as much pressure on him with Uprising’s depth at the tank position – but there are a lot of mouths to feed and for team synergy sake – only one tank will lock down the main role. My guess is that he’ll make some waves in his new city and colors, because Marve1’s gonna want to show out and be that guy.
4.) Crimzo Joins Uprising’s Elite Support Line
After going 11-5 with the Houston Outlaws last year, flex Support player William “Crimzo” Hernandez has arrived in Boston to round out on of the strongest support lines in NA.
Houston chose not to re-sign Crimzo for this season, but Boston apparently reached out in less than 24 hours to pick up the Canadian support stud. In an interview with GGRecon, Crimzo expressed his gratitude for Boston reaching out, and his desire to make “something special happen” this year.
When I talked to Huk and Mineral, we had a lengthy talk for like an hour about the team, the environment, and who they’re getting rid of. Everything they were saying lined up perfectly with what I wanted in terms of who they were keeping. Faith, Valentine, and Punk, I thought they were really good players, and I was definitely excited to get the chance to work with them.
They were a team that was resetting, and I know Boston has a bad history obviously but that didn’t really deter me too much from valuing them as a serious prospect as a team. I’ve always wanted to go to a team and make something special happen.
CRIMZO ON OVERWATCH 2 AND BOSTON UPRISING, GGRECON
5.) Boston Has the Most to Prove in OWL
Hungry dogs run faster, and there’s very few people who expect Boston Uprising to really come out swinging and boom on OWL’s inaugural Overwatch 2 season. That being said, Boston has retooled almost every position on their roster, and has one of the deepest in the league – so there’s always room to rotate and change things up if they start off with a few stumbles.
Oxygen Esports has made major waves in their second year as a professional esports organization, and it’s hard to believe that Uprising is one of their least talked-about rosters – given how high profile Overwatch League has been in the past. I truly believe that can all change this year, from their roster changes, to the mix of pedigreed veteran and hungry rookie talent, to the tweaks and overhauls that’ll come with Overwatch 2, as well as the simple fact that Uprising and Oxygen are more mature organizationally than they’ve ever been… Uprising look very promising.
Boston truly does have a huge opportunity this year to come back strong, rise up higher than anyone thought possible, and make the fans proud this year, and I can’t wait to watch them do it.
Boston Uprising kick off their 2022 OWL season against Vancouver Titans at 4:30pm ET today, and you can watch live right here.
