2019 Boston Uprising season

From August 1 to September 9, 2018, all Overwatch League teams that competed in the 2018 season could choose to extend their team's players' contracts. Uprising released four of their ten players – tied with Los Angeles Gladiators for the most in the league by a playoff team – in Shin "Kalios" Woo-yeol, Connor "Avast" Prince, Mikias "Snow" Yohannes, and Stanislav "Mistakes" Danilov.[1]

Boston's first offseason acquisition was on October 22, when Uprising signed DPS player Jeffrey "blasé" Tsang from Overwatch Contenders team Gladiators Legion.[2] On October 27, it was announced that flex support player Park "Neko" Seh-yeon had been signed to new expansion team Toronto Defiant.[3] The team promoted Kelsey "ColourHex" Birse and Minseob "Axxiom" Park from their academy team Toronto Esports three days later.[4] On November 4, Uprising signed main tank Cameron "Fusions" Bosworth, who had just recently competed in the 2018 Overwatch World Cup for team UK, on a two-way contract with Toronto Esports.[5][6] On December 3, Uprising transferred Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo to San Francisco Shock.[7] Two day later, the team signed Renan "alemao" Moretto, the first Brazilian player to sign to an Overwatch League roster.[8] The team's final offseason transaction occurred on February 12, two days before the beginning of the regular season, when Uprising transferred main tank Noh "Gamsu" Young-jin to Shanghai Dragons.[9]

Boston Uprising defeated Dallas Fuel on March 16 to ultimately qualify for the Stage 1 playoffs.

Boston opened their season on February 14 with a match against the New York Excelsior. Heading out of halftime 1–1, Boston tied map three and lost map four to begin their season with a 2–1 loss.[10] The Uprising's next match was against the Houston Outlaws three days later. Main tank Cameron "Fusions" Bosworth performed solidly in the match, as the team took a 3–2 victory.[11] The following week, Boston took on the Shanghai Dragons. With Fusions ineligible to play due to a two-way contract rule with Overwatch Contenders,[12] the Uprising fell to the Dragons, who were led by Boston's former main tank Gamsu, by a 1–3 score, giving the Dragon's their first ever franchise victory.[13] The Uprising's next match was against the Seoul Dynasty on February 28. With Fusions eligible to play, Boston took down Seoul 3–1 in a match that the Uprising were favored to lose.[14] Three days later, the team faced the Toronto Defiant. Contrasted to their previous match, Boston was favored to win the matchup against Toronto; however, the Uprising fell by a score of 1–3.[14] Boston's lone match of week four was against the Florida Mayhem on March 10. Needing a win to have a reasonable chance at qualifying for the Stage 1 playoffs, Boston swept Florida 4–0, led by a stellar D.Va performance by Lucas "NotE" Meissner.[15] The Uprising faced the Dallas Fuel in their final match of Stage 1, needing a victory in order to stay in playoff contention. After going down two maps, Boston was able claim the following three maps in a row to complete the reverse sweep against Dallas and win the match 3–2.[16] With the Vancouver Titans defeating the Guangzhou Charge in the final match of Stage 1, Boston clinched the sixth, and final, seed of the Stage 1 Playoffs.[17]

Boston faced the top-seeded Vancouver Titans in the Stage 1 Quarterfinals on March 21. Despite some bright spots in the match, such as a well-timed Graviton Surge-Self-Destruct combo by Colourhex as Zarya and NotE as D.va, the Uprising did not claim a single map against the Titans, losing the match 0–3.[18]

Two days prior to Boston's first match of Stage 2, the Uprising signed support player Zion "Persia" Yang, who had most recently played for Talon Epsorts of Overwatch Contenders Pacific.[19] On the same day, Boston traded flex tank Lucas "NotE" Meissner to the Dallas Fuel in exchange for flex tank Richard "rCk" Kanerva.[20] Boston began Stage 2 with a match against the Atlanta Reign on April 4. Despite losing the first two maps of the match, the Uprising completed a reverse sweep against the Reign, winning the match 3–2.[21] Two days later, the Uprising faced the Toronto Defiant. Once again, Boston lost the first two maps but was able to pick up the following three, giving the team a streak of three reverse-sweep victories in a row in the regular season.[22] The Uprising took on the Hangzhou Spark the following week. After splitting the first four maps, the match went to a fifth tiebreaker map, marking the fourth consecutive five-map match for Boston. Unlike their previous three matches, however, Boston fell in the fifth map, losing the match 2–3.[23] Boston's next match was against the London Spitfire on April 20. Despite having the same 6–4 record for the season, Boston was handed their first 0–4 loss of the season by London.[24] The team's next match was against the undefeated Vancouver Titans a day later. The Uprising, again, were unable to claim a map, losing 0–4; with the Titans win, Vancouver tied Boston's Overwatch League record of most consecutive wins (excluding playoffs) they set in their 2018 season at 14 wins.[25] After a week off of play, the Uprising faced the Los Angeles Gladiators on May 3 in a must-win game to keep their Stage 2 Playoff hopes alive. Boston took the first two maps en route to a 3–1 victory, snapping the Gladiators 8-game win streak.[26] In their final match of the stage, Boston took on the one-win Washington Justice. Boston jumped out to a quick 2–0 lead heading into halftime, but dropped three maps in a row to the Justice, losing the match 2–3 and ending their chances for a Stage 2 playoff berth.[27]

Boston began Stage 3 with a match against London Spitfire on June 7. The match saw the debut of Zion "Persia" Yang and Renan "alemao" Moretto; despite the roster change, the result was similar to their previous match in Stage 2, as Boston was swept 0–4.[28] Their second match of the week, against the Paris Eternal two days later, did not end with much better results, as Boston fell by a score of 1–3.[29] For their third match of the stage, the Uprising took on the Houston Outlaws. Outplayed and unable to adapt as the match went on, Boston was swept 0–4.[30] Two days later, the team faced the Philadelphia Fusion. Despite going into halftime with a 1–0 lead, Boston dropped the final two maps, losing the match by a 1–2 scoreline.[31] For their first match of week three, Boston faced the San Francisco Shock on June 20. The Uprising's struggles continued through the match; between rCk's poor Sombra play and the uncoordinated play from the support line, Boston was swept 0–4.[32] Now on a season-high 6-game losing streak, Uprising faced the Paris Eternal in their sixth match of the stage on June 23. While Boston dropped the first two maps of the match, they were able to pull off a reverse sweep to win 3–2 and claim their first victory of Stage 3.[33] Boston's final match of the stage was against the Philadelphia Fusion on June 29. The match went to a tiebreaker map, the eighth one of the season for Boston, but Fusion was able to take the final map, ending Boston's Stage 3 with a 1–6 record.[34]

Prior to the start of Stage 4, which would debut the League's enforcement of a 2-2-2 role lock, the Uprising acquired DPS Lee "Stellar" Do-hyung, who had retired earlier in the season, from the Toronto Defiant.[35] The Uprising's first match of Stage 4 was against the Guangzhou Charge on July 27; Boston was unable to secure a map, getting swept 0–4.[36] The team took on the Chengdu Hunters a day later. The match went the distance, but a game MVP performance from the Hunter's support player Xianyao "Yveltal" Li on Mercy led Chengdu to a 3–2 win over Boston.[37] With a week off to prepare for their sole matchup of week three, Boston took on the Washington Justice on August 9. However, fueled by the stellar play from Washington's DPS player Corey "Corey" Nigra, the red-hot Justice proved too much to handle, as Boston fell 1–3.[38] The following week, the Uprising faced another team dramatically improved since the 2-2-2 role lock in the Florida Mayhem on August 15. Boston failed to win a map in the series and was full-held on two of them, falling to the Mayhem 0–4.[39] The team's next match was two days later against the Los Angeles Valiant. After dropping the first two maps, the Uprising took map three. Map four, Havana, went to overtime rounds after both teams completed the map on their first attack, but Boston was unable to hold the Valiant on their second attack to fall 1–3 in the match.[40] In the final week of the regular season, Boston head to The Novo in Los Angeles for the Kit Kat Rivalry Weekend, hosted by the Los Angeles Valiant. Their first match was against the New York Excelsior on August 24. While the Uprising were able to take a map in the match, they ultimately fell 1–3.[41] Looking to avoid a winless stage, the Uprisings's final regular season match was against the Atlanta Reign a day later. After losing both points on Lijiang Tower and only one of three on Volskaya Industries, the Uprising entered halftime down 0–2. The team failed to hold Atlanta from completing both King's Row and Junkertown after halftime and were unable to complete the maps themselves, as they were swept 0–4.[42]

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2019 regular season:

• On April 2, Uprising signed Yang "Persia" Zi-on.[43]
• On April 2, Uprising traded Richard "rCk" Kanerva to Dallas Fuel in exchange for Lucas "NotE" Meissner.[43]
• On July 15, Uprising acquired Lee "Stellar" Do-hyung from Toronto Defiant.[35]