2018 Boston Uprising season

The 2018 Boston Uprising season was the first season of Boston Uprising's existence in the Overwatch League. In Stage 3, Boston became the first team to go undefeated in a stage, posting a perfect 10–0 record; however, the team lost in the Stage 3 semifinals to New York Excelsior. The team finished with a regular season record of 26–14 — the third best of all teams in the 2018 Overwatch League season. Boston lost to Philadelphia Fusion in the quarterfinals of the season playoffs.

2018 Boston Uprising season
Head coach	Park "Crusty" Dae-hee (Released May 7)
Owner	Robert Kraft
Division	Atlantic
Results
Record	26–14 (.650)
Place	Atlantic: 2nd League: 3rd
Stage 1 Playoffs	Did not qualify
Stage 2 Playoffs	Did not qualify
Stage 3 Playoffs	Finals
Stage 4 Playoffs	Did not qualify
Season Playoffs	Quarterfinals
Total Earnings	$225,000
Boston Uprising 2019 →

Preceding offseason

On October 26, 2017, Boston Uprising announced their initial inaugural season roster, consisting of the following players:^[1]

• Lucas "NotE" Meissner
• Kristian "Kellex" Keller
• Noh "Gamsu" Young-jin
• Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo
• Stanislav "Mistakes" Danilov
• Shin "Kalios" Woo-yeol
• Mikias "Snow" Yohannes
• Jonathan "DreamKazper" Sanchez

The team went on to sign Park "Neko" Se-hyeon and Connor "Avast" Prince on November 7.^[2]

Regular season

Boston Uprising's first-ever regular season OWL match was a 1–3 loss to the New York Excelsior on January 11, 2018.^[3] Boston found their franchise's first-ever regular season win a day later, after defeating the Florida Mayhem, 4–0.^[4] The Uprising needed a win over the Houston Outlaws in their final regular season match of Stage 1 to qualify for the Stage 1 playoffs; however, they lost the match, 2–3, and did not make the playoffs.^[5]

Through the first half of the season, Boston had a 12–8 record.^[6] On April 3, prior to the start of Stage 3, Boston picked up support player Kwon "AimGod" Min-seok, although he would not be able to play until Stage 4, once his visa process had completed.^[7] A few days later, Uprising player Jonathan "DreamKazper" Sanchez was indefinitely suspended from the Overwatch League following allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor. Shortly after, on April 9, Boston Uprising terminated his contract.^[8] Following, Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo took over DreamKazper's starting position – a move that ultimately benefited the team. Throughout Stage 3 of the season, the Striker-led Uprising did not lose a single match, going 10–0, to become the first team to go undefeated in a stage.^[9] Boston reached the Stage 3 finals; however, they lost the finals match against the New York Excelsior.^[10] The team advanced to the Stage 3 playoff finals, but they lost to the New York Excelsior.^[6]

Prior to the start of Stage 4, Overwatch underwent a balancing update, as well as the introduction of a new hero, which would significantly reduced Striker's effectiveness. Additionally, head coach Park "Crusty" Dae-hee left the team to join the San Francisco Shock.^[9] The team went 0–6 through the first six matches of Stage 4.^[6] The Uprising finished the regular season in third place with a 26–14 record.^[11]

Postseason

As the third seed in the season playoffs, Boston faced the Philadelphia Fusion in the quarterfinals in a best-of-three series. The Fusion won the first match, 3–1 on July 11, closing it out by defeating Boston on the map Volskaya Industries — a map that Boston had never lost on before.^[12] Boston evened the series the following day with a 3–1 win,^[13] but their season ended on July 13, after the Fusion took the final match, 3–1.^[14]

Final roster

2018 Boston Uprising roster
Players	Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality Damage 2 Mistakes Danilov, Stanislav Russia Damage 7 Striker Kwon Nam-joo South Korea Tank 1 Gamsu Noh Young-jin South Korea Tank 3 NotE Meissner, Lucas Canada Tank 18 Kalios Shin Woo-yeol South Korea Support 8 Neko Park Se-hyeon South Korea Support 9 Kellex Keller, Kristian Denmark Support 10 Snow Yohannes, Mikias Ethiopia Support 18 Avast Prince, Connor United States Support 31 AimGod Kwon Min-Seok South Korea	Head coach Vacant
Legend: (I) Inactive (S) Suspended (2W) Two-way player Substitute Injury / Illness	Latest roster transaction: April 9, 2018.

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2018 regular season:

• On April 3, Uprising signed Minseok "AimGod" Kwon.^[7]
• On April 9, Uprising released Jonathan "DreamKazper" Sanchez.^[8]

Standings

Record by stage

Stage	Pld	W	L	Pct	MW	ML	MT	MD	Pos
1	10	6	4	.600	27	17	0	+10	6
2	10	6	4	.600	21	22	0	-1	6
3	10	10	0	1.000	31	13	1	+18	1
4	10	4	6	.400	20	19	2	+1	8
Overall	40	26	14	.650	99	71	3	+28	3
Qualified for playoffs

League

Pos	Div	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PCT	MW	ML	MT	MD	Qualification
1	ATL	New York Excelsior	40	34	6	0.850	126	43	4	+83	Advance to season playoffs semifinals
2	PAC	Los Angeles Valiant	40	27	13	0.675	100	64	7	+36
3	ATL	Boston Uprising	40	26	14	0.650	99	71	3	+28	Advance to season playoffs quarterfinals
4	PAC	Los Angeles Gladiators	40	25	15	0.625	96	72	3	+24
5	ATL	London Spitfire	40	24	16	0.600	102	69	3	+33
6	ATL	Philadelphia Fusion	40	24	16	0.600	93	80	2	+13
7	ATL	Houston Outlaws	40	22	18	0.550	94	77	2	+17
8	PAC	Seoul Dynasty	40	22	18	0.550	91	78	3	+13
9	PAC	San Francisco Shock	40	17	23	0.425	77	84	5	−7
10	PAC	Dallas Fuel	40	12	28	0.300	58	100	7	−42
11	ATL	Florida Mayhem	40	7	33	0.175	42	120	5	−78
12	PAC	Shanghai Dragons	40	0	40	0.000	21	141	2	−120

Source: The Overwatch League
Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head map differential; 4) head-to-head record

Game log

Preseason

2018 preseason game log
Preseason (1–1) 1 December 07 New York Excelsior 3 – 1 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 2 December 08 Shanghai Dragons 2 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA

Regular season

2018 game log (Regular season record: 26–14)
Stage 1 (6–4) 1 January 11 Boston Uprising 1 – 3 New York Excelsior Burbank, CA 2 January 12 Florida Mayhem 0 – 4 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 3 January 19 Seoul Dynasty 4 – 0 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 4 January 20 Boston Uprising 2 – 3 San Francisco Shock Burbank, CA 5 January 25 Boston Uprising 3 – 2 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 6 January 27 Dallas Fuel 2 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 7 February 02 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 4 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 8 February 03 Boston Uprising 4 – 0 Los Angeles Valiant Burbank, CA 9 February 08 Philadelphia Fusion 0 – 4 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 10 February 10 Houston Outlaws 3 – 2 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA
Stage 2 (6–4) 11 February 22 Boston Uprising 0 – 4 Philadelphia Fusion Burbank, CA 12 February 24 Boston Uprising 0 – 4 Houston Outlaws Burbank, CA 13 March 01 New York Excelsior 4 – 0 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 14 March 02 Boston Uprising 4 – 0 Florida Mayhem Burbank, CA 15 March 08 Boston Uprising 4 – 0 Shanghai Dragons Burbank, CA 16 March 09 London Spitfire 4 – 0 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 17 March 14 Boston Uprising 4 – 0 Dallas Fuel Burbank, CA 18 March 16 Los Angeles Valiant 2 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 19 March 22 San Francisco Shock 2 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 20 March 24 Boston Uprising 3 – 2 Los Angeles Gladiators Burbank, CA
Stage 3 (10–0) 21 April 05 Philadelphia Fusion 2 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 22 April 07 Houston Outlaws 0 – 4 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 23 April 12 Boston Uprising 3 – 2 New York Excelsior Burbank, CA 24 April 14 Florida Mayhem 2 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 25 April 19 Boston Uprising 3 – 2 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 26 April 20 Boston Uprising 2 – 1 Seoul Dynasty Burbank, CA 27 April 25 Shanghai Dragons 1 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 28 April 27 Dallas Fuel 0 – 4 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 29 May 03 Boston Uprising 3 – 2 Los Angeles Valiant Burbank, CA 30 May 04 Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA Semifinals May 06 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA Finals May 06 New York Excelsior 3 – 0 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA
Stage 4 (4–6) 31 May 17 Boston Uprising 1 – 3 Philadelphia Fusion Burbank, CA 32 May 18 Boston Uprising 1 – 3 Houston Outlaws Burbank, CA 33 May 23 Boston Uprising 0 – 3 Dallas Fuel Burbank, CA 34 May 25 Los Angeles Valiant 3 – 2 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 35 May 31 London Spitfire 2 – 1 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 36 June 01 Boston Uprising 1 – 3 San Francisco Shock Burbank, CA 37 June 06 Seoul Dynasty 1 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 38 June 08 Boston Uprising 4 – 0 Shanghai Dragons Burbank, CA 39 June 14 New York Excelsior 1 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 40 June 16 Boston Uprising 4 – 0 Florida Mayhem Burbank, CA

Postseason

2018 playoff game log
Season Playoffs (1–2) Quarterfinals Match 1 July 11 Philadelphia Fusion 3 – 1 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA Quarterfinals Match 2 July 12 Philadelphia Fusion 1 – 3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA Quarterfinals Match 3 July 13 Philadelphia Fusion 3 – 1 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA