Coming off of a 3-0 victory against the Vancouver Titans last week, the Florida Mayhem pushed their win streak to five games – defeating the Washington Justice 3-1. 

Going into this series, Florida had the longest map and series win streak in franchise history. They also had the longest active map win streak in the Overwatch League (OWL) this season.

The Mayhem would face off against a newly refurbished Washington Justice, who had both of their star DPS players Ethan “Stratus” Yankel and Corey “Corey” Nigra retire last week. This was the first time Florida faced the Justice since last season – the Mayhem reverse swept after going up 2-0.

In this week of the OWL, the heroes Mei, Tracer, Orisa, and Moira were banned. This forced Florida to substitute the Reinhardt in place of the Orisa in their double shield compositions.

In game one of Lijang Tower Control, the Mayhem continued their Double Shield composition trend that they’ve held all season long. Symmetra accompanied their composition, making it so they had to pick a time when they would commit and flood the point. 

The first round began with the point being flipped in both directions, ultimately leading to Florida taking control off of an overextension by Washington. The Mayhem never let up and won the first round. 

For the second round, Florida switched to a dive composition by having Sang-bum “BQB” Lee play his patented Sombra and Jun-ki “Yaki” Kim on the Echo. The round started off with two quick key picks onto the Justice’s Ana and Echo followed by three kills from Yaki. When the situation seemed dire for the Mayem after Yaki lost his Echo 1v1, Florida bounced back and dominated the remainder of the round to win game one. 

The Mayhem began on the offensive side to start Hanamura Assault, running a double shield composition once again. Florida had their first push stifled by a crucial Biotic Grenade from the Justice’s Minseok “Aimgod” Kwon on the Ana. Florida failed to gain the point even after a heavy commitment of using most of their ultimates on their next push. The trend of failing to capture the point continued until the end of their offensive side, as they never captured the first point. 

During the Mayhem’s defensive side, they had a stalwart defense but it would ultimately fall after the Justice whittled it down with repeated pushes onto the point. The Justice won game two and snapped Florida’s 13 map win streak which was the longest in the league. 

To start Junkertown Escort, Florida was on the defensive side and continued to use the double shield composition — having BQB on the Widowmaker. To start the map, BQB won all of his Widowmaker 1v1s versus Washington’s newly picked up DPS Chung-hee “Stitch” Lee who was a part of the roster that got dropped from the Vancouver Titans which forced him onto the Sombra. The Mayhem held the Justice for as long as they could, forcing them to capture the first point in overtime. Florida continued their dominance by preventing Washington from reaching the second point. 

Riding the momentum from their play on defense, the Mayhem would not let up, making quick work of the Justice on the offensive side. They swiftly took the payload past the first point and finished off the map – bouncing back from having their win streak snapped with a dominant win in game two.

In the fourth and final game of the series of King’s Row Hybrid, Florida looked nearly unstoppable having gained position quickly on the point with their spam and poke from their Sigma and Echo. The Mayhem rolled through each point, finishing the map with 2:53 remaining in the timebank. Florida kept the Justice on their back foot from the start.

To start their defensive side, Pan-seung “Fate” Koo got caught out of position and was punished on the Reinhardt. Florida delayed Washington as long as they could until the Justice were finally able to take the first point. The Justice’s momentum was short lived, as the Mayhem dominated the remainder of their push with flashy plays from the DPS duo of Yaki and BQB.

Throughout the series, the Mayhem seemed to get a lot of value from their Sigma and Reinhardt compositions apart from their game two loss on Hanamura. This victory over the Justice set them up to be a good seed on the upcoming May Melee that begins this coming weekend. 

This win pushes Florida’s win streak to five games, as well as moves them up to fifth in the standings right above the Paris Eternal who they dominated two weeks prior. Although they have faced weak opponents during their win streak, the Mayhem has made quick and dominant work over each opponent they have faced.

Florida looks to continue this win streak and momentum in their next matchup coming on Saturday, May 22, due to having a bye because of their second seed. They await their opponents that will come out of Friday’s matches.