For Stage 3, the top four teams duked it out to for the playoffs.   Since Boston was leading in the standings, they had the advantage of selecting their first opponent.

Per HuK, they decided on the “easier opponent”, L.A. Gladiators.

Coming into the match, it seemed like Surefour would be the better Widowmaker.

But as Boston took the first map, it became clear that Mistakes was playing on top.

Striker also pulled his weight as he had only 2 deaths across two maps with a 75% pulse bomb stick rate.

Whether he is playing Tracer or Junkrat, he had no problems eliminating L.A.’s support line.

Boston takes the 3-0 over L.A. Gladiators.

Semifinals: L.A. Valiant vs. New York Excelsior

Valiant seemed confident as they revealed that NYXL was their main scrim partner for Stage 3.  But it may have been for this reason that New York played different compositions that threw Valiant off their game.

L.A. Valiant had a strong start with the Bastion pirate ship, but found themselves stalled at the final area.  New York felt confident enough to intentionally stall Orisa’s death to slow their push even further.

When it was New York’s turn on attack, L.A. was blindsided by their double sniper composition as it pushed all the way through.

Given how well Pine played on Junkertown, it seemed like an odd move to sub him out for Libero when Ilios is known for Widowmaker and McCree play.  But it seemed that the coaching staff was two steps ahead.

Libero’s style of Pharah doesn’t demand a pocket Mercy, which allowed NYXL’s Mercy to stay with their tanks and Jjonak’s formidable Zenyatta.

By Temple of Anubis, Valiant seems completely fallen to NYXL’s strategies.  They attempt to dive Jjonak, but he seems to be bait as the rest of the team collapses on Valiant’s tanks and cleans up the rest of the team.

NYXL takes the 3-0 win over L.A. Valiant.

Grand Finals: Boston Uprising vs. New York Excelsior

Boston came into this match on a 15-game win streak and it was not unreasonable to believe that their famous dive team could beat NYXL’s defensive formation.  However, this series would become memorable due to NYXL’s three Widowmaker and how they were utilized.

Although Pine’s Widowmaker stats weren’t too far ahead of Mistakes’s, it was enough to make the difference.

NYXL opened the next map on Nepal with Libero on Bastion and Jjonak on Ana which appeared to work at first.

They took the point, but Boston rotated and took the point back soon after.  Realizing the gimmick was up, NYXL switched back to their standard dive comp to win the map.  

They would also take the second map on Nepal: Sanctum with Saebyeolbe’s Widowmaker leading the way.

With NYXL now at a 2-0 lead, they continued their excellent play on Volskaya (where Boston is undefeated).  Many were hoping this would be Boston’s reverse sweep. Instead, it was time for Boston to meet Libero on Widowmaker.

Highlighting this clip isn't implying the rest of NYXL didn’t pop off.  Let’s not forget Saebyeolbe’s 5k, Mano’s Primal Rage 3k, and Jjonak’s Transcendence body-blocking a High Noon to protect Ark’s Mercy. Even with all this, Volskaya is Boston’s best map and Mistakes didn’t slouch on Widowmaker, either. The map ultimately ended in a tie.

On Numbani, Mistakes was underperforming on Widow compared to Pine.  But Boston is still able to stall enough so that NYXL could only complete the map in Overtime.

But NYXL was able to outplay Boston by denying them map completion.  Janus made the final play as his Winston body blocks Mistakes from touching the cart.

Boston lost 0-3 to NYXL, but it’s important to note why.  We already know that Jjonak’s Zenyatta with a pocket Mercy is deadly.  We know that NYXL’s tank line can peel for their supports. We know that Pine’s Widowmaker and Libero’s DPS flex options are incredible.  And we know Saebyeolbe is the best Tracer in the world.

But from this match, we saw something new.  We saw a deliberate decision from NYXL’s coaching staff to exhaust Boston’s only Widow player by swapping in three different Widow styles.

After winning Stage 2, Coach WizardHyeong said he didn’t believe there were any gaps between Korean teams and Western teams, but there is a gap between Excelsior and everyone else.

With their Stage 3 victory, it still rings true.