The first half of the Overwatch League season has come to an end. With All-Stars now out of the way, teams have a few choice weeks to reflect on their past successes and defeats and come up with their game plan going into the second half. For some teams like the LA Valiant and Florida Mayhem, this means massive roster changes and a complete change to their formula. For others, this means a simple fine-tuning of existing strategies to shore up any weaknesses. Virtually every team has a different roadmap for how they can make it to playoffs, but for our boys over at the Fusion house, the stakes just got a little higher.
On May 8, the Overwatch League announced that the Grand Finals would be headed to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. This news provides a much more tantalizing carrot at the end of the rope for the Fusion players. If the Fusion are able to make it to Grand Finals a second year in a row, they will be met with home-field advantage as well as a chance to create hype around their return to the city for Season 3. As the team is currently sitting just behind the front-runners, there’s a lot of work still to be done, but it would hardly be the first time Philadelphia defied expectations.
During the time at the All-Stars event just before the mid-season break, I had the chance to talk to Gael “Poko” Gouzerch about the prospect of playing in Philly and the future of the Fusion.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Adam: What are your thoughts on the announcement that Grand Finals will be held in Philadelphia?
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
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Poko: I've been in Philly a couple of times, and I feel like the people are amazing. When they cheer for a team, they are going to cheer all the way. They aren't going to be like, 'Eh, maybe we'll cheer for New York today.' No, they will always cheer for Philadelphia, so Grand Finals will probably be one of the best events Overwatch has ever seen. We are definitely going to make it, so the crowd is going to be extra nutty, so it's going to so cool to finally play in front of them.
Adam: Is there any additional pressure or motivation to get to Grand Finals now that it's being held in your team's home city?
Poko: Additional pressure? I don't think so. But the additional motivation, yeah. I mean we are going to work a lot harder, for sure. We are already working a lot, but now we will play every skrim like a final because we know where we want to be. We really want to be there and play in front of a home crowd.
Adam: Philadelphia is very different than L.A. What are you most looking forward to about spending the majority of your time there come Season 3?
Poko: Well, I've heard Philly is really compact compared to L.A. In L.A., there's a lot of traffic and you can't bike where you want. So that aspect, for sure, is something I'm looking forward to. I also hear that the food was really good, and it’s also closer to France, which helps with the time zone difference. The weather is also pretty different, but I'm a gamer so I spend a lot of time in the house, so that doesn't really bother me. It's nice for it to be sunny all the time, but if I'm inside, I don't mind having a bit of rain from time to time.
Adam: What are you most looking forward to, in terms of finally having your own home team, and not playing in some other team's arena all year?
Poko: When we play in L.A., there's a lot of people who are always there, and they always cheer for a lot of teams. I think when we play in front of the Philly crowd, there will only be Philly fans. They will end up being the seventh player on our team, cheering for us when we lose, and trying to mess with the other teams. It's going to be great having our own crowd but also traveling around the world next year.
Adam: In order to get to the Grand Finals stage in Philly you will have to conquer the teams that got the better of you this stage. What were your takeaways from the first half of the season, and how will you apply them going forward?
Poko: I think we played very well Stage 1, we had some great matches and we adapted pretty well to the GOATS meta. Stage 2, we had a really tough schedule, so we didn't make it to the final. Still, I think we did well because we were improved with every match. Even though we ended up 3-4, I feel like we did really good at the end. Stage 3 and 4, we have easier schedules, so honestly, I think we should be good going forward.
Adam: When I spoke to Eqo last, he insisted that your team was much more focused on long-term incremental improvement, rather than short-term victories. Do you agree, and if so do you think that your team is on track to accomplish your long-term goals?
Credit: Stewart Volland for Blizzard Entertainment
Poko: Yeah, definitely. We obviously want to be in the top six, we always want to qualify for playoffs, so top six is our main goal. As people have said, the Overwatch League is a marathon, not a sprint. So winning a match is always good, but there's so many of them that losing one here or there is not that big a deal. We rather have long-term improvement.
Adam: Now that we have this long break, what's on the docket for you — rest and relaxation or right back to practice?
Poko: I think just rest for now. I'm not planning to go back to France because I lost a bit of time with All-Stars. So I'll probably just chill out, go to the gym, and spend some time with friends in L.A. I'll probably go to Six Flags, hang out with the other Frenchies, go over to some of their houses and play games. There's so much to do in L.A., it can be hard to decide.