2019 London Spitfire season

2019   London Spitfire season
Head coach	Kim Kwang-bok (rel. 24 July)
General manager	Lee Seung-hwan
Owner	Jack Etienne
Division	Atlantic
Results
Record	16–12 (.571)
Place	Atlantic: 3rd League: 7th
Stage 1 Playoffs	Did not qualify
Stage 2 Playoffs	Quarterfinals
Stage 3 Playoffs	Did not qualify
Season Playoffs	Lower Round 1
Total Earnings	$225,000
←  2018 London Spitfire 2020  →

The 2019 London Spitfire season was the second season of the London Spitfire's existence in the Overwatch League. The Spitfire entered the season as the defending Overwatch League champions after winning the 2018 Grand Finals.

Following a 0–3 loss to the Seoul Dynasty in Week 5 of Stage 1, the Spitfire fell to 3–4 and missed out on the Stage 1 Playoffs. London found success in Stage 2, as the team posted a 6–1 record and qualified for the Stage 2 Playoffs; however, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by the Hangzhou Spark after losing 1–3. The Spitfire parted ways with head coach Kwang-bok "Coach815" Kim in the middle of Stage 3, leaving the team without a head coach. A 0–4 loss to the Los Angeles Valiant in Stage 3 eliminated London from Stage 3 playoff contention as the team went on to post a 3–4 record for that stage. After a 4–3 win–loss record in Stage 4, London finished the regular season with a 16–12 record and qualified for the Play-In Tournament for a chance to make it to the season playoffs.

London took down the Shanghai Dragons 4–3 in an OWL record eight-map series to qualify for the season playoffs. In the first round, London was defeated by the New York Excelsior, 1–4, sending the team to the lower bracket. A 0–4 loss to the San Francisco Shock ended the Spitfire's playoff run.

Preceding offseason

Player re-signings

From 1 August to 9 September 2018, all Overwatch League teams that competed in the 2018 season could choose to extend their team's players' contracts. London was the only team to re-sign all of their players; during this time, the team also signed their new head coach, Kim "Coach815" Kwang-bok. ^[1]

Free agency

All non-expansion teams could not enter the free agency period until 8 October; they were able to sign members from their respective academy team and make trades until then. On 15 October, Spitfire transferred Wonsik "Closer" Jung to Dallas Fuel. ^[2] A day later, London made their first free agency acquisition, signing former Element Mystic and DPS player Hee "Guard" Lee-dong. ^[3] The next day, Spitfire signed Jeong "Krillin" Yung-hoon, a relatively unknown player who had most recently played in the Overwatch Open Division. ^[4]

Regular season

The London Spitfire walking to the stage for their first match of Stage 4.

London opened their season on 14 February against the Philadelphia Fusion – a rematch of the 2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals. The team went on to lose the match by a score of 1–3. ^[5] The Spitfire finished Stage 1 with a 3–4 record, failing to advance to the Stage playoffs. ^[6]

In the middle of Stage 2, London signed support player Song "Quatermain" Ji-hoon, who had previously played for Cloud9 Kongdoo. ^[7] London traveled to the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas for the Dallas Fuel Homestand Weekend in week four of Stage 2. The team first took on the Paris Eternal on 20 April; after an hour-long power outage delayed the match, London swept the Eternal 4–0, improving their undefeated stage record to 5–0. ^[8] The Spitfire's second match of the weekend was against the Chengdu Hunters a day later. The Spitfire were handed their first loss of Stage 2, losing the match by a 1–3 scoreline. ^[9] London finished Stage 2 with a 6–1 record, giving them the second seed Stage 2 Playoffs. ^[10] London faced the seventh-seeded Hangzhou Spark in the Stage 2 Quarterfinals on 9 May; the Spitfire lost the match 1–3. ^[11]

In 24 July, in the middle of Stage 3, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Kwang-bok "Coach815" Kim, leaving the team without a head coach. ^[12] The team finished Stage 3 with a 3–4 record.

The Spitfire's first match of Stage 4, along with the first match with an enforced 2-2-2 role lock by the League, was against the Dallas Fuel on 26 July; the team went on to a 3–1 win. ^[13]

Postseason

Play-In Tournament

Finishing in seventh place in the regular season standings, the Spitfire qualified for the Play-In Tournament for the chance to qualify for the season playoffs. The team had a first-round bye in the tournament and faced the Shanghai Dragons on 31 August. The Spitfire looked dominant in the first two maps, completely shutting down the Dragons, to jump to an early 2–0 lead. However, the Dragon's DPS duo Yang "DDing" Jin-hyeok on Pharah and Jin "YoungJIN" Yong-jin on Doomfist came alive thereafter, helping Shanghai to claim the third map, Hanamura; with a tie on map six, King's Row, the team eventually tie the series 3–3 after seven maps. London sent the match to Ilios for the final map of the series. Both teams managed to take a point in the map, but London's coordination won out in the end, as they won 4–3 loss in an Overwatch League record 8-map series to qualify for the season playoffs. ^[14]

Playoffs

With the win in the Play-In Tournament, the Spitfire qualified as the seventh seed in the season playoffs. London began their playoff run with a match against the second-seeded New York Excelsior on 6 September. New York took the first map, Busan, to take a quick 1–0 lead in the series. For the second map, London selected Numbani. Both teams were able to complete the map on their respective attacks, but New York came out on top in overtime rounds to take a two-map lead. After a match break, the Spitfire selected Temple of Anubis for map three; again, both teams were able to complete the map on their first attacks. While London was able to take the first point on their second attack, New York's but up a solid defensive performance and prevented the Spitfire from completing the map a second time, leading to a third map win for the Excelsior. For map four, the match went to Watchpoint: Gibraltar. London took a win on the map to close the gap to 3–1. However, New York won in two rounds on Ilios to win the match. The 1–4 loss sent the Spitfire to the lower bracket. ^[15]

For the first round of the lower bracket, London took on the third-seeded San Francisco Shock the following day. Despite London DPS Park "Profit" Joon-yeong putting on a stellar performance on Pharah throughout the match, the Shock were able to overcome everything London threw at them. Shock DPS Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo and main support Grant "Moth" Espe performed extremely well throughout the match to help the Shock rebound from their previous match, as the handed London a 0–4 sweep, ending their playoff run. ^[16]

Final roster

2019 London Spitfire roster
Players	Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality Damage   10 Guard  Lee Hee-dong  South Korea  Damage   13 Profit   Park Jun-yeung  South Korea  Damage   20 birdring   Kim Ji-hyeok  South Korea  Tank   7 Gesture  Hong Jae-hee  South Korea  Tank   19 Fury  Kim Jun-ho  South Korea  Support   8 NUS  Kim Jong-seok  South Korea  Support   11 Krillin  Jeong Yung-hoon  South Korea  Support   22 Bdosin  Choi Seung-tae  South Korea  Support   27 Quatermain  Song Ji-hoon  South Korea	Head coach Vacant
Legend: (I) Inactive (S) Suspended (2W) Two-way player Substitute Injury / Illness	Latest roster transaction: 26 April 2019.

Transactions

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

• On 26 April, Spitfire signed Song "Quatermain" Ji-hoon. ^[7]

Standings

Record by stage

Stage	Pld	W	L	Pct	MW	ML	MT	MD	Pos
1	7	3	4	.429	12	16	2	-4	13
2	7	6	1	.857	21	5	2	+16	3
3	7	3	4	.429	11	17	1	-6	14
4 [lower-alpha 1]	7	4	3	.571	14	14	1	±0	9
Overall	28	16	12	.571	58	52	6	+6	7
Qualified for playoffs •  Qualified for play-in tournament

1. No stage playoffs were held for Stage 4.

League

2019 Overwatch League standings v t e
#	Team	Division	W	L	PCT	P	MR	MD
Division leaders
1	Vancouver Titans	PAC	25	3	.893	28	89–28–0	+61
2	New York Excelsior	ATL	22	6	.786	28	78–38–3	+40
Wild cards
3	San Francisco Shock	PAC	23	5	.821	28	92–26–0	+66
4	Hangzhou Spark	PAC	18	10	.643	28	64–52–4	+12
5	Los Angeles Gladiators	PAC	17	11	.607	28	67–48–3	+19
6	Atlanta Reign	ATL	16	12	.571	28	69–50–1	+19
Play-in tournament
7	London Spitfire	ATL	16	12	.571	28	58–52–6	+6
8	Seoul Dynasty	PAC	15	13	.536	28	64–50–3	+14
9	Guangzhou Charge	PAC	15	13	.536	28	61–57–1	+4
10	Philadelphia Fusion	ATL	15	13	.536	28	57–60–3	-3
11	Shanghai Dragons	PAC	13	15	.464	28	51–61–3	-10
12	Chengdu Hunters	PAC	13	15	.464	28	55–66–1	-11
Did not qualify for playoffs
13	Los Angeles Valiant	PAC	12	16	.429	28	56–61–4	-5
14	Paris Eternal	ATL	11	17	.393	28	46–67–3	-21
15	Dallas Fuel	PAC	10	18	.357	28	43–70–3	-27
16	Houston Outlaws	ATL	9	19	.321	28	47–69–3	-22
17	Toronto Defiant	ATL	8	20	.286	28	39–72–4	-33
17	Washington Justice	ATL	8	20	.286	28	39–72–6	-33
19	Boston Uprising	ATL	8	20	.286	28	41–78–2	-37
20	Florida Mayhem	ATL	6	22	.214	28	36–75–5	-39
Tiebreakers [lower-alpha 1]
The first tiebreaker for teams of the same record is map differential.

Game log

Regular season

2019 game log (Regular season record: 16–12)
Stage 1 (3–4) 1 14 February Philadelphia Fusion 3 – 1 London Spitfire Burbank, CA     Recap Blizzard Arena 2 Ilios 1 3 Hollywood 2 4 Volskaya Industries 5 1 Rialto 0 2 16 February London Spitfire 1 – 3 Paris Eternal Burbank, CA     Recap Blizzard Arena 0 Ilios 2 2 King's Row 1 2 Volskaya Industries 3 0 Route 66 3 3 21 February Washington Justice 2 – 3 London Spitfire Burbank, CA     Recap Blizzard Arena 2 Busan 1 3 Numbani 2 2 Horizon Lunar Colony 4 2 Rialto 3 0 Nepal 2 4 24 February Hangzhou Spark 1 – 3 London Spitfire Burbank, CA     Recap Blizzard Arena 0 Ilios 2 1 Numbani 2 0 Horizon Lunar Colony 2 3 Dorado 2 5 1 March Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 2 London Spitfire Burbank, CA     Recap Blizzard Arena 1 Busan 2 3 Numbani 3 3 Volskaya Industries 2 1 Dorado 2 6 10 March London Spitfire 2 – 3 Shanghai Dragons Burbank, CA     Recap Blizzard Arena 2 Nepal 0 0 King's Row 3 1 Temple of Anubis 0 0 Route 66 3 1 Ilios 2 7 16 March London Spitfire 0 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Burbank, CA     Recap Blizzard Arena 1 Nepal 2 2 Hollywood 3 2 Temple of Anubis 2 2 Route 66 3
Stage 2 (6–1) 8 5 April London Spitfire 2 – 1 Florida Mayhem Burbank, CA 4:00 pm PST     Recap Blizzard Arena 2 Lijang Tower 0 2 Hanamura 3 3 Eichenwalde 3 1 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 0 9 7 April Atlanta Reign 0 – 4 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 1:45 pm PST     Recap Blizzard Arena 0 Oasis 2 1 Temple of Anubis 2 3 Blizzard World 4 3 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 4 10 13 April London Spitfire 2 – 1 Philadelphia Fusion Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Recap Blizzard Arena 2 Lijiang Tower 1 2 Hanamura 2 3 Blizzard World 4 3 Rialto 2 11 20 April London Spitfire 4 – 0 Boston Uprising Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Recap Blizzard Arena 2 Busan 0 3 Paris 2 6 King's Row 5 2 Junkertown 0 12 27 April Paris Eternal 0 – 4 London Spitfire Allen, TX 9:00 am PST     Recap Allen Event Center 0 Busan 2 1 Temple of Anubis 2 4 King's Row 5 1 Junkertown 3 13 28 April Chengdu Hunters 3 – 1 London Spitfire Allen, TX 11:45 am PST     Recap Allen Event Center 2 Oasis 1 4 Paris 5 3 Eichenwalde 0 2 Rialto 1 14 4 May London Spitfire 4 – 0 Houston Outlaws Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Recap Blizzard Arena 2 Lijiang Tower 0 2 Hanamura 0 3 King's Row 2 2 Junkertown 0
Stage 2 Playoffs Quarterfinals 9 May Hangzhou Spark 3 – 1 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 8:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 1 Oasis 2 3 Blizzard World 0 1 Hanamura 0 1 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 0
Stage 3 (3–4) 15 7 June Boston Uprising 0 – 4 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 5:45 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 0 Oasis 2 0 Horizon Lunar Colony 1 1 Eichenwalde 2 1 Dorado 2 16 9 June New York Excelsior 4 – 0 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Details Blizzard Arena 2 Ilios 0 1 Horizon Lunar Colony 0 4 Hollywood 3 3 Havana 0 17 14 June Toronto Defiant 1 – 3 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 5:45 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 2 Ilios 1 0 Volskaya Industries 1 3 Hollywood 4 2 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 3 18 21 June London Spitfire 2 – 3 New York Excelsior Burbank, CA 4:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 1 Nepal 2 4 Paris 3 2 Eichenwalde 3 5 Dorado 4 0 Ilios 2 19 22 June London Spitfire 2 – 1 Washington Justice Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Details Blizzard Arena 1 Nepal 2 2 Paris 2 4 Numbani 3 4 Dorado 3 20 28 June London Spitfire 0 – 4 Los Angeles Valiant Burbank, CA 5:30 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 1 Nepal 2 3 Volskaya Industries 4 0 Hollywood 3 0 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 3 21 30 June London Spitfire 0 – 4 San Francisco Shock Burbank, CA 1:45 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 0 Oasis 2 5 Horizon Lunar Colony 6 0 Numbani 1 4 Havana 5
Stage 4 (4–3) 22 26 July Dallas Fuel 1 – 3 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 5:45 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 2 Ilios 1 1 Hanamura 2 2 King's Row 3 1 Route 66 2 23 28 July London Spitfire 3 – 1 Toronto Defiant Burbank, CA 1:45 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 0 Ilios 2 1 Temple of Anubis 0 3 Hollywood 0 3 Junkertown 2 24 1 August Guangzhou Charge 1 – 3 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 4:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 1 Lijiang Tower 2 3 Hanamura 4 1 Blizzard World 3 2 Havana 1 25 3 August Florida Mayhem 3 – 0 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 1:45 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 2 Lijiang Tower 0 1 Volskaya Industries 0 3 Blizzard World 3 3 Junkertown 2 26 8 August London Spitfire 2 – 3 Vancouver Titans Burbank, CA 4:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 2 Busan 0 1 Temple of Anubis 2 1 Hollywood 0 4 Route 66 5 1 Ilios 2 27 10 August Houston Outlaws 1 – 3 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Details Blizzard Arena 0 Lijiang Tower 2 3 Volskaya Industries 4 2 King's Row 3 1 Route 66 0 28 18 August London Spitfire 0 – 4 Atlanta Reign Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Details Blizzard Arena 0 Busan 2 0 Hanamura 2 0 Blizzard World 3 2 Havana 3

Playoffs

2019 playoff game log
Play-In Tournament (1–0) Quarterfinals   First-round bye   Semifinals 31 August Shanghai Dragons 3 – 4 London Spitfire Burbank, CA 12:00 noon PST     Details Blizzard Arena 0 Busan 2 0 Numbani 1 1 Hanamura 0 4 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 5 2 Lijiang Tower 1 3 King's Row 3 3 Dorado 1 1 Ilios 2
Season Playoffs (0–2) First round 6 September London Spitfire 1 – 4 New York Excelsior Burbank, CA 4:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 0 Busan 2 3 Numbani 4 3 Temple of Anubis 4 2 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 1 0 Ilios 2 Losers Round 1 7 September London Spitfire 0 – 4 San Francisco Shock Burbank, CA 9:00 pm PST     Details Blizzard Arena 1 Busan 2 2 Numbani 3 1 Horizon Lunar Colony 2 1 Watchpoint: Gibraltar 2

Awards

On 8 May, Kim "Fury" Jun-Ho, Hong "Gesture" Jae-Hui, and Park "Profit" Jun-Young were named as a reserves for the 2019 Overwatch League All-Star Game. ^[17]

References

1. Hangen, Christopher (14 September 2019). "ESPN Stats & Info: OWL signing window analysis". ESPN. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
2. Binkowski, Justin (15 October 2018). "Dallas Fuel acquire Closer from London Spitfire for Overwatch League season 2". Dot Esports. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
3. O'Brien, Joe (16 October 2018). "Overwatch League Champions London Spitfire announce first new addition for Season Two". Dexerto. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
4. Rodriguez, Veronika (17 October 2018). "London Spitfire Signs Newcomer Krillin Ahead of Overwatch League Season 2". DBLTAP. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
5. Richardson, Liz (14 February 2019). "Philadelphia Fusion take down London Spitfire in Overwatch League grand finals rematch". Dot Esports. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
6. August, Charlotte (17 March 2019). "Overwatch League Recap | Stage 1 | Week 5 | Day 1". ESTNN. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
7. Richardson, Liz (26 April 2019). "London Spitfire signs Quatermain". Dot Esports. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
8. Geracie, Nick (27 April 2019). "London Spitfire shakes off power outage delay, sweeps Paris Eternal". Inven Global. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
9. Rand, Emily; Torres, Xander; Qu, Bonnie (30 April 2019). "Overwatch League power rankings through Stage 2, Week 4". ESPN. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
10. Bower, Steven (4 May 2019). "Overwatch League Recap: London Spitfire vs. Houston Outlaws". The Game Haus. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
11. Cooney, Bill (10 May 2019). "Unfortunate C9 leads to London suffering tragic upset in Overwatch League playoff match". Dexerto. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
12. Heinisch, Sascha (24 July 2019). "London Spitfire releases Coach815". Upcomer. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
13. Katherine, Tory (29 July 2019). "Exciting Recap of Stage 4 Week 1". Overklass. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
14. Richardson, Liz (31 August 2019). "London Spitfire and Seoul Dynasty advance to Overwatch League 2019 season playoffs". Dot Esports. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
15. "Reign upset Shock to advance in Overwatch League playoffs". ESPN. Reuters. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
16. Richardson, Liz (7 September 2019). "Seoul Dynasty and London Spitfire eliminated from Overwatch League playoffs". Dot Esports. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
17. Chillerón, Lucas (8 May 2019). "OWL All-Star event lineup finally complete with reserve players announced". Daily Esports. Retrieved 12 June 2019.