2018 Overwatch League playoffs

Last updated

2018 Overwatch League Playoffs
OWL 2018 Playoffs logo.svg
Tournament information
Game Overwatch
DatesJuly 11–July 28
Administrator Activision-Blizzard
Venue Blizzard Arena,
Burbank, California
Teams6
Purse$1,700,000
Tournament statistics
Matches played12
Grand Finals
Location Brooklyn, New York
Venue Barclays Center
Champion London Spitfire
Runner-up Philadelphia Fusion
Finals MVP Park "Profit" Jun-young
2019  →

The 2018 Overwatch League playoffs began on July 11, after the 2018 Overwatch League regular season ended, and concluded on July 28 with the 2018 Grand Finals, the first championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL). Six teams competed in the OWL Playoffs.

Contents

The winner of each round of the Playoffs was determined by a best-of-three match series, with match determined by best-of-five maps. The Quarterfinals had the third-seeded team playing the sixth-seeded team, while the fourth-seeded team played the fifth-seeded team. In the Semifinals, the top-seed team played the lowest remaining seed, while the second-seeded team played the next-lowest. The winners advanced to the Grand Finals, which took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on July 27–28. [1] [2] [3]

London Spitfire defeated Philadelphia Fusion in the Grand Finals to become the first Overwatch League Champions.

Map pool and rotation

The postseason map pool consisted of eight maps, with a ninth map as the tie-breaking map (if necessary), and was decided by a lottery system on June 19. [4]

Map 1Map 2Map 3Map 4Map 5
Type EscortControlAssaultHybridControl
PoolEichenwaldeHanamuraLijiang TowerDoradoNepal
King's RowVolskaya IndustriesOasisJunkertown

Participants

Six teams qualified for the Season Playoffs based on their season overall records. The two division leaders were awarded the top two seeds, and the following top four teams, regardless of division, were awarded seeds three through six. [1]

SeedTeamDivisionRecordMRMD
1 New York Excelsior ATL34–6126–43–4+83
2 Los Angeles Valiant PAC27–13100–64–7+36
3 Boston Uprising ATL26–1499–71–3+28
4 Los Angeles Gladiators PAC25–1596–72–3+24
5 London Spitfire ATL24–16102–69–3+33
6 Philadelphia Fusion ATL24–1693–80–2+13

Bracket

Quarterfinals
July 11–14, 2018		 Semifinals
July 18–21, 2018		 Grand Finals
July 27–28, 2018
1 New York Excelsior 02–0
3 Boston Uprising 13116 Philadelphia Fusion 33–2
6 Philadelphia Fusion 31326 Philadelphia Fusion 10–0
5 London Spitfire 33–2
2 Los Angeles Valiant 10–0
4 Los Angeles Gladiators 30015 London Spitfire 33–2
5 London Spitfire 0332

Quarterfinals

(3) Boston Uprising vs. (6) Philadelphia Fusion

The Fusion pulled off a 2–1 victory in their first match against the Uprising, who had been high in the standings early in the regular season but had lost momentum in the latter half. Fusion used a tank-heavy roster, including Reinhardt played by Sado, which forced the Uprising to move away from their sniper-based strategy. Fusion's Eqo and Carpe also showed skill across several heroes to help with the victory. [5]

Quarterfinals Match 1July 11 Philadelphia Fusion 3–1 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA
5:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
3 Dorado 1
1 Oasis 2
5 Eichenwalde 4
2 Volskaya Industries 0
Quarterfinals Match 2July 13 Philadelphia Fusion 1–3 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA
5:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
4 Junkertown 5
0 Lijang Tower 2
3 King's Row 2
2 Hanamura 3
Quarterfinals Match 3July 13 Philadelphia Fusion 3–1 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA
7:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
2 Junkertown 3
2 Lijang Tower 0
3 Eichenwalde 1
2 Hanamura 1
Philadelphia won series 2–1

(4) Los Angeles Gladiators vs. (5) London Spitfire

The Spitfire had been underdogs in their match against the Gladiators, having never won a regular season match against them. The Gladiators took the first match, 3–0, including a trick play that involved Surefour staying in the spawn room as a different hero until well into the match before changing to his regular Widowmaker hero and readily picking off the open Spitfire players. This was later known as "THE GREAT BAMBOOZLE". The Spitfire responded in the following matches with adaptive changes in their team composition that prevented the Gladiators from maintaining their defense lines. [5] Notably, the Gladiators chose to bench their primary main tank player Fissure, who came second place for Season MVP, for the playoffs, opting instead to replace him with the team's other main tank player, iRemiix. [6] The official reason given for this decision was that "the Gladiators believe that the most effective practice and preparation is necessary in order to perform well in playoffs." [6]

Quarterfinals Match 1July 11 London Spitfire 0–3 Los Angeles Gladiators Burbank, CA
7:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
2 Junkertown 3
1 Lijang Tower 2
1 King's Row 2
Quarterfinals Match 2July 14 London Spitfire 3–0 Los Angeles Gladiators Burbank, CA
1:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
2 Dorado 1
2 Oasis 0
3 Eichenwalde 0
Quarterfinals Match 3July 14 London Spitfire 3–0 Los Angeles Gladiators Burbank, CA
2:50 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
3 Junkertown 2
2 Lijang Tower 0
5 King's Row 4
London won series 2–1

Semifinals

After each quarterfinal series, the sixth-seeded Fusion, being the lowest seed of the two quarterfinals winners, faced the top-seeded Excelsior, whereas the fifth-seeded Spitfire played against the second-seeded Los Angeles Valiant. The semi-final saw upsets in both brackets with the lower-seed Fusion and Spitfire winning over the top seeds Excelsior and Valiant.

(1) New York Excelsior vs. (6) Philadelphia Fusion

Fusion had taken the first series 3–0 over Excelsior. While the second set ran for all five maps, Fusion won the series and the spot in the Grand Finals. [5]

Semifinals Match 1July 18 Philadelphia Fusion 3–0 New York Excelsior Burbank, CA
5:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
3 Dorado 2
2 Oasis 1
3 Eichenwalde 1
Semifinals Match 2July 21 Philadelphia Fusion 3–2 New York Excelsior Burbank, CA
4:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
3 Junkertown 2
1 Lijang Tower 2
3 King's Row 0
1 Hanamura 2
3 Dorado 2
Philadelphia won series 2–0

(2) Los Angeles Valiant vs. (5) London Spitfire

The Spitfire had kept their traction from the victory over the Gladiators in the previous round, and took their spot in the finals after two matches, winning each 3–1 and 3–0. [5]

Semifinals Match 1July 18 London Spitfire 3–1 Los Angeles Valiant Burbank, CA
6:45 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
3 Junkertown 1
2 Lijang Tower 1
0 King's Row 1
1 Hanamura 1
3 Dorado 2
Semifinals Match 2July 20 London Spitfire 3–0 Los Angeles Valiant Burbank, CA
4:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena
3 Dorado 2
2 Oasis 0
5 Eichenwalde 4
London won series 2–0

Grand Finals

The London Spitfire defeated the Philadelphia Fusion in the Grand Finals series in 2 sets. The Spitfire's Jun-Young "Profit" Park was named the Grand Finals Most Valuable Player; Profit was observed to be a key offensive player in the series, in one match using Hanzo's ultimate ability to eliminate five of the six Fusion players. [7] [8]

Grand Finals Match 1July 27 Philadelphia Fusion 1–3 London Spitfire Brooklyn, NY
7:00 pm EST     Details Barclays Center
3 Dorado 2
0 Oasis 2
1 Eichenwalde 2
1 Volskaya Industries 2
Grand Finals Match 2July 28 Philadelphia Fusion 0–3 London Spitfire Brooklyn, NY
4:00 pm EST     Details Barclays Center
2 Junkertown 3
0 Lijang Tower 2
3 King's Row 4
London won series 2–0

Winnings

Teams in the Season Playoffs competed for a total prize pool of US$1.7 million, with the payout division detailed below. [9]

PosTeamsBonus
1 London Spitfire $1,000,000
2 Philadelphia Fusion $400,000
3 New York Excelsior $100,000
4 Los Angeles Valiant $100,000
5 Boston Uprising $50,000
6 Los Angeles Gladiators $50,000

Broadcast and viewership

On the first day of the season playoffs, Disney and Blizzard announced a multi-year partnership that would bring the league and other professional Overwatch competitive events to ESPN, Disney XD, and ABC, starting with the playoffs and throughout all of the following season. [10] The partnership marked the time that a live esports competition had aired on ESPN in prime time and the first time that an esports competition had aired on ABC. [11] Nielsen ratings for the Grand Finals include a 0.18 rating (approximately 218,000 households) for the Friday match airing on ESPN, while the recap of the series airing on ABC on the Sunday after the event had a 0.3 rating (approximately 359,000 households). [12] Blizzard estimated that over a million people were watching the Grand Finals at any time, between broadcast and streaming formats, with a total viewership of over 10.8 million. [13] [14]

Telecast schedule

DateTime (EDT)EventNetwork(s)
Wed, July 118:00 p.m.Day 1 of Quarterfinals Disney XD, ESPN3
Fri, July 138:00 p.m.Day 2 of QuarterfinalsDisney XD, ESPN3
Sat, July 144:00 p.m.Day 3 of QuarterfinalsDisney XD, ESPN3
Wed, July 188:00 p.m.Day 1 of SemifinalsDisney XD, ESPN3
Fri, July 207:00 p.m.Day 2 of Semifinals ESPNEWS
Sat, July 217:00 p.m.Day 3 of Semifinals ESPN2
Fri, July 277:00 p.m.Day 1 of Grand Finals ESPN
Sat, July 284:30 p.m.Day 2 of Grand FinalsDisney XD, ESPN3
Sat, July 289:00 p.m.Day 2 of Grand FinalsESPN2 (re-air)
Sun, July 293:00 p.m.Highlights Recap ABC, ESPN3

[15]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Rules of Competition Summary 2018 Season" (PDF). The Overwatch League. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ Duggan, James (May 9, 2018). "Overwatch League Grand Finals To Be Held At New York's Barclays Center". IGN . Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  3. ↑ Goslin, Austin (May 9, 2018). "The first Overwatch League Grand Finals will be held in New York". Heroes Never Die . Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  4. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (June 20, 2018). "Map pool decided for Overwatch League playoffs". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Alanzo, Damien (July 23, 2018). "Huge upsets send underdog teams into the Overwatch League Grand Finals". PC Gamer . Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Fissure will not be starting in tonight's playoff match against London Spitfire". Overwatch Wire. 2018-07-11. Archived from the original on 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  7. ↑ Kelion, Leo (July 30, 2018). "Overwatch League: London Spitfire triumph in first final". BBC . Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  8. ↑ Waltzer, Noah (July 28, 2018). "London Spitfire wins inaugural Overwatch League title". ESPN . Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  9. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (May 11, 2018). "Here's what you need to know about the Overwatch League". Dot Esports. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Overwatch League comes to ESPN, Disney and ABC". ESPN . July 11, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  11. ↑ Crook, Jordan (July 11, 2018). "Overwatch League strikes a milestone deal with Disney and ESPN". Tech Crunch. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  12. ↑ Grayson, Nathan (July 30, 2018). "Overwatch League's TV Ratings Were Low, But It Doesn't Matter". Kotaku . Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  13. ↑ Feldman, Jacob (August 1, 2018). "What is the Future of the Overwatch League as a Media Property?". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  14. ↑ Goslin, Austen (August 8, 2018). "Blizzard reports 10.8 million viewers for the Overwatch League Finals". Heroes Never Die . Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  15. ↑ "ESPN, Disney XC and Blizzard Entertainment Announce Multiyear Exclusive Telecast Agreement for Overwatch League". Business Wire. July 11, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
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