2020 Overwatch League season | |
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League | Overwatch League |
Sport | Overwatch |
Duration | February 8 – August 23 September 3 – October 10 (Playoffs) |
Number of matches | 21 |
Number of teams | 20 |
TV partner(s) | |
Regular season | |
Top seed | Shanghai Dragons (A) Philadelphia Fusion (NA) |
Season MVP | Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun |
Midseason tournament champions | |
May Melee | Shanghai Dragons (A) San Francisco Shock (NA) |
Summer Showdown | Guangzhou Charge (A) Paris Eternal (NA) |
Countdown Cup | Shanghai Dragons (A) San Francisco Shock (NA) |
Grand Finals | |
Venue | Online |
Champions | San Francisco Shock |
Runners-up | Seoul Dynasty |
Finals MVP | Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo |
The 2020 Overwatch League season is the third season of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional esports league for the video game Overwatch . The regular season began on February 8, 2020, and concluded on August 23. It was the first season that the league implemented a city-based, home-and-away format, with teams traveling between the global home venues to play regular season matches, making the OWL the first major esports league to feature such a format. However, this format was abandoned on March 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all matches were thereafter played online, with the league introducing three midseason tournaments.
An expanded 20-team postseason began on September 3. The Grand Finals bracket began on October 8, with the Grand Finals occurring on October 10. The San Francisco Shock won the Grand Finals over the Seoul Dynasty to win their second straight OWL championship.
Prior to the 2020 season, the majority of all OWL matches took place at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California. In the 2019 season, three homestand weekends took place – the Dallas Fuel Homestand Weekend hosted by the Dallas Fuel, the Atlanta Reign Homestand Weekend hosted by the Atlanta Reign, and the Kit Kat Rivalry Weekend hosted by the Los Angeles Valiant – in efforts to test how a completely localized match schedule would work. For the 2020 season, the league adopted a "homestand" model. Every team was to host two to five homestands throughout the season. Each team would still play 28 matches and would be responsible for the selection and operation of their respective home venues. [1] In addition to homestands, every team would have been required to host at least three team events for the community in their respective home cities. [2] The season marked the first time that a major esports league featured a city-based, home-and-away format. [3]
In the 2018 and 2019 seasons, the Overwatch League equally divided teams into two divisions – the Atlantic and Pacific. With the large amount of travelling that was to take place in the homestand model, the Atlantic and Pacific Divisions were renamed to the Atlantic and Pacific Conferences, and each conference was equally subdivided into two divisions, the Pacific East and West Divisions and the Atlantic North and South Divisions. The smaller divisions were implemented in efforts to reduce the amount of time and money spent on travel. [4]
With the large amount of localized play and travel, the season was no longer split into four stages. Instead, a midseason tournament was to be held at the same time as the All-Star Weekend. The tournament would have featured the Atlantic and Pacific Conference leaders as well as the next best two teams, regardless of conference, based on the regular season standings through Week 10. [5]
In the prior seasons, the winner of each match was determined by a best-of-four map series, with a fifth tiebreaker map, if necessary. The league announced at BlizzCon that match winners would be determined by a first-to-three map series, similar to that of the 2019 playoffs. Activision Blizzard senior director of product strategy and business operations Jon Spector noted that due to the elimination of Stage Playoffs, map differential would be less important, as it is not very likely that many teams would have the same regular season record heading into the playoffs. Every match still begins with a control map followed by a rotation between assault, escort, and hybrid maps. Similar to previous seasons, should a match still be tied after four maps, a fifth tiebreaker map will be played on a control map. [5]
After the announcement of hero pools in Overwatch for the competitive season starting in February 2020, the league announced that it would adopt the hero pool system beginning in the fourth week of play in March in effort to prevent stagnant metas. Each week, the league randomly selects one tank, two damage, and one support hero from a list of the most played heroes in the OWL from the previous two weeks of play; these heroes are then considered "banned" and cannot be selected during that week. Banned heroes cannot be banned in the immediately-following week. [6] [7] The hero pool system is only used in the regular season, and will not be enforced during the midseason tournament, the play-in tournament, and the playoffs. [8]
The total prize pool remained unchanged at US$ 5,000,000, although the allocation changed due to the discontinuation of Stage Playoffs. The Midseason Tournament champions will win $500,000, the runners-up will win $250,000, and the third and fourth place teams will earn $150,000. The All-Star event will have a prize pool for the first time, with a total pool of $250,000. For the postseason earnings, the Grand Champion team will earn $1.5 million (up from $1.1 million), second place will earn $800,000 (up from $600,000), third place will earn $500,000 (up from $450,000), fourth place will earn $300,000 (down from $350,000), fifth and sixth place will earn $200,000 (down from $300,000), and seventh and eighth place will earn $100,000 (down from $200,000). [9]
Prior to the start of the season, several of the shoutcasters for the League, including Malik Forté, Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat, Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, Erik "DoA" Lonnquist, and Chris Puckett, left for various reasons ranging from dissatisfaction with their salaries to concerns over the new management of the league following Nate Nanzer's departure as league commissioner in 2019. [10]
YouTube has replaced Twitch as exclusive broadcaster of the league, as part of a deal covering all Activision Blizzard esports events. The company also announced a deal to make Google Cloud Platform the preferred infrastructure provider for its game servers. [11]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Blizzard cancelled all four homestand events planned in China in February and March 2020. Four of the teams in the league are based in China, where travel restrictions and quarantines from the outbreak were enacted; the restrictions affected teams that were traveling to China to play matches there. Two of the Chinese teams, Guangzhou Charge and Shanghai Dragons, announced the relocation of their teams to South Korea, while the Chengdu Hunters remained in China. [12] [13] The cancelled matches were originally planned to be rescheduled in Seoul, South Korea during two weekends in March, with some matches being played during Seoul Dynasty's homestand event the same month. [14] However, Blizzard later cancelled all South Korean events in March 2020, including the Dynasty homestand, over concerns of the outbreak. [15] In March, French Health Minister Olivier Véran announced that all public gatherings of more than 1,000 people were banned in the country until April 15; the ban effectively cancelled the Paris Eternal homestand event that was scheduled to be held April 11–12. [16] After the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic on March 11, the Overwatch League announced that it would be cancelling all remaining scheduled live events in March and April. [17]
For the March and April matches, the league abandoned the Atlantic and Pacific conferences and instead divided teams into three groups based on geography – Atlantic, Pacific, and China – where teams would only play intra-regionally in an effort to reduce latency. [18] Due to the inequity of the number of games played by each team, the All-Star Weekend was moved to the postseason, while the Midseason Tournament was canceled altogether. [19] On March 31, the Overwatch League announced that they were abandoning the Homestand model entirely in favor of moving matches for the remainder of the season online. [20]
On April 26, the league introduced the league announced a new tournament structure for the month of May called the May Melee. The league divided the 20 teams into two geographical regions, 13 in North America and 7 in Asia, where teams would only play interregionally. After three weeks of play, the top teams from each region played in their respective regional tournament. Teams earned $5000 for each win in the tournaments (with receiving a bye counting as a win) and earned a bonus win towards their regular season standings for each win after, and including, the quarterfinals. There were no hero pools for the tournaments, and winners were determined by which team won three maps, except for the finals, which were determined by which team won four maps. [21] Following the conclusion of the May Melee, the league announced two more tournaments with the same ruleset for the months of June and July – the Summer Showdown and the Countdown Cup, respectively. [22]
On July 15, the league announced its playoff format for the season. All 20 teams played in the postseason, with teams divided by the same two regions as the three midseason tournaments. The lowest seeds played in regional play-in tournaments. Twelve total teams qualified for the season playoffs split into two regional brackets. In the North America region, eight teams qualified for the North America Bracket, and in the Asia region, four teams qualified for the Asia Bracket. [23] Each playoff bracket is a double-elimination tournament. However, the winners of the upper and lower finals in each respective bracket did not face each other. Instead, they qualified for the Grand Finals bracket – another double-elimination tournament. The winners of the upper and lower bracket in the Grand Finals bracket will play in the Grand Finals match. [24]
Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) Wins plus bonus wins 2) winning percentage (excluding bonus wins); 3) map differential; 4) head-to-head record; 5) head-to-head map differential |
Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) Wins plus bonus wins 2) winning percentage (excluding bonus wins); 3) map differential; 4) head-to-head record; 5) head-to-head map differential |
Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head map differential |
Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head map differential |
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Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head map differential |
Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head map differential |
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Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head map differential |
Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head map differential |
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The play-in tournaments were two regional single-elimination tournaments that took place September 3–5. All match winners were determined by which team wins three maps. [25] The winners of each first round match advanced to the second round. The teams that qualified for a bye into the second round each selected which opponent they would face between the winners of the first round (or the Toronto Defiant or Seoul Dynasty in the North America and Asia region, respectively). The winners of the second round advanced to the playoffs. [26]
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The playoffs will be contested by twelve teams – eight from the North America region and four from the Asia region. [27] The top two teams from each region's respective playoff bracket will qualify for the Grand Finals bracket, where the final two teams in the Grand Finals bracket will play in the Grand Finals match. [28]
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Upper Round 1 October 8 | Upper Final October 9 | Grand Finals October 10 | |||||||||||
A2 | Seoul Dynasty | 2 | |||||||||||
NA1 | San Francisco Shock | 3 | |||||||||||
NA1 | San Francisco Shock | 3 | |||||||||||
A1 | Shanghai Dragons | 2 | |||||||||||
NA2 | Philadelphia Fusion | 0 | |||||||||||
A1 | Shanghai Dragons | 3 | |||||||||||
NA1 | San Francisco Shock | 4 | |||||||||||
A2 | Seoul Dynasty | 2 | |||||||||||
Lower Round 1 October 9 | Lower Final October 9 | ||||||||||||
A1 | Shanghai Dragons | 2 | |||||||||||
A2 | Seoul Dynasty | 3 | A2 | Seoul Dynasty | 3 | ||||||||
NA2 | Philadelphia Fusion | 0 | |||||||||||
Award | Recipient |
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Most Valuable Player (MVP) | Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun (Shanghai Dragons) [29] |
Dennis Hawelka Award | Caleb "McGravy" McGarvey (Los Angeles Valiant) [30] |
Rookie of the Year | Kim "Alarm" Kyeong-bo (Philadelphia Fusion) [31] |
Coach of the Year | Moon Byung-chul (Shanghai Dragons) [32] |
Grand Finals MVP | Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo (San Francisco Shock) |
Damage | Tank | Support |
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Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun (Shanghai Dragons) | Lee "Fearless" Eui-seok (Shanghai Dragons) | Kim "Alarm" Kyeong-bo (Philadelphia Fusion) |
Kim "Sp9rk1e" Yeong-han (Paris Eternal) | Kang "Void" Jun-woo (Shanghai Dragons) | Lee "Leejaegon" Jae-gon (Shanghai Dragons) |
Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok (Philadelphia Fusion) | Choi "ChoiHyoBin" Hyo-bin (San Francisco Shock) | Min-Ki "Viol2t" Park (San Francisco Shock) |
Lee "Ans" Seon-chang (San Francisco Shock) | Nam "Cr0ng" Gi-Cheol (Guangzhou Charge) | Brice "FDGod" Monsçavoir (Paris Eternal) |
Lee "Lip" Jae-won (Shanghai Dragons) | – | – |
Source: [33]
The 2020 Overwatch League All-Star Games will be the Overwatch League's third edition of an all-star game that involves the All-Star players of the league. For the first time, the All-Stars will be split into two regions – Asia and North America. The Asia All-Star Game will be played on September 26, while the North America All-Star Game will be played on October 3. Both games will be the culmination of their respective All-Star Weekend, an event that consists of the Talent Takedown, a Widowmaker 1v1 tournament, as well as other various skills challenges. [34]
Teams in the 2020 season competed for a total prize pool of US$4,775,000 across midseason tournaments and playoffs. By League rules, at least 50% of these winnings are split among the team's members, the remaining going to the team's owner.
Team | May Melee | Summer Showdown | Countdown Cup | Season playoffs | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atlanta Reign | $5,000 | – | $5,000 | $75,000 | $85,000 |
Boston Uprising | – | – | – | – | $0 |
Chengdu Hunters | – | – | $15,000 | – | $15,000 |
Dallas Fuel | $5,000 | – | $5,000 | – | $10,000 |
Florida Mayhem | $30,000 | – | $15,000 | $75,000 | $120,000 |
Guangzhou Charge | $5,000 | $65,000 | – | $75,000 | $145,000 |
Hangzhou Spark | – | – | $35,000 | – | $35,000 |
Houston Outlaws | – | $5,000 | – | – | $5,000 |
London Spitfire | – | – | – | – | $0 |
Los Angeles Gladiators | $5,000 | – | $5,000 | $75,000 | $85,000 |
Los Angeles Valiant | $10,000 | – | $5,000 | $75,000 | $90,000 |
New York Excelsior | $10,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 | $250,000 | $290,000 |
Paris Eternal | $5,000 | $70,000 | $15,000 | $75,000 | $165,000 |
Philadelphia Fusion | $10,000 | $35,000 | $35,000 | $350,000 | $430,000 |
San Francisco Shock | $55,000 | $15,000 | $65,000 | $1,500,000 | $2,850,000 |
Seoul Dynasty | $30,000 | $15,000 | – | $750,000 | $795,000 |
Shanghai Dragons | $55,000 | $30,000 | $60,000 | $450,000 | $595,000 |
Toronto Defiant | – | $20,000 | – | – | $20,000 |
Vancouver Titans | – | – | – | – | $0 |
Washington Justice | – | $5,000 | – | $250,000 | $255,000 |
Total | $225,000 | $275,000 | $275,000 | $4,000,000 | $4,775,000 |
The Overwatch League (OWL) was a professional esports league for the video game Overwatch, produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. From 2018 to 2023, the Overwatch League followed the model of other traditional North American professional sporting leagues by using a set of permanent, city-based teams backed by separate ownership groups. The league used the regular season and playoffs format rather than promotion and relegation used commonly in other esports and non-North American leagues, with players on the roster being assured a minimum annual salary, benefits, and a portion of winnings and revenue-sharing based on team performance.
Dallas Fuel is an American professional Overwatch team based in Dallas, Texas. The Fuel compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region.
The Shanghai Dragons are a professional Overwatch esports team based in Shanghai, China. The Dragons compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. Founded in 2017, Shanghai Dragons are one of the league's twelve founding members and are one of four professional Overwatch teams based in China. The team is owned by Chinese internet technology company NetEase, who also own Team CC, an academy team for the Dragons that compete in Overwatch Contenders.
The Los Angeles Gladiators are an American professional Overwatch esports team based in Los Angeles, California. The Gladiators compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, the Los Angeles Gladiators are one of twelve founding members of the OWL and are one of two professional Overwatch teams based in Los Angeles. The team is owned by Stan Kroenke and Josh Kroenke of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, who also owns Gladiators Legion, an academy team for Los Angeles that competed in Overwatch Contenders.
The San Francisco Shock are an American professional Overwatch esports team based in San Francisco, California. The Shock competed in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, the San Francisco Shock was one of the twelve founding members of the OWL and was one of three professional Overwatch teams in California. The team is owned by Andy Miller, co-owner of the Sacramento Kings and NRG Esports. In their time with the OWL, the Shock won three midseason tournament titles, qualified for four season playoffs, reached the Grand Finals three times, and won back-to-back Grand Finals, making them one of the most accomplished franchise in Overwatch League history.
Overwatch Contenders (OWC) was an international esports league for the video game Overwatch that is organized by Blizzard Entertainment. The series acts as the development league for aspiring Overwatch League (OWL) professionals. Founded in 2017, Contenders was created in part to consolidate existing regional tournaments into a structure to support the Overwatch League, including the Overwatch Apex tournament, Overwatch Premier Series, and Overwatch Pacific Championship.
Seoul Dynasty is a South Korean professional Overwatch esports team based in Seoul, South Korea. The Dynasty compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. Founded in 2017, Seoul Dynasty is one of the league's twelve founding members and one of two professional Overwatch teams based in South Korea. The team is owned by Kevin Chou of Generation Gaming, who also own and operate an academy team for the Dynasty that compete in Overwatch Contenders (OWC) under the moniker Gen.G Esports.
London Spitfire is a professional Overwatch team representing the city of London, United Kingdom. The Spitfire compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, London Spitfire is one of the league's twelve founding members and is the only professional Overwatch team representing a European city. The team is owned by Jack Etienne and the esports organization Cloud9, who also own British Hurricane, an academy team for the Spitfire that competed in Overwatch Contenders (OWC).
The Atlanta Reign were an American professional Overwatch esports team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2018 by Atlanta Esports Ventures, a joint venture between Cox Enterprises and Province, Inc., Atlanta Reign was established as one of the expansion teams for the OWL's 2019 season. They became the first esports team to officially represent the city of Atlanta. The team's ownership also extended to ATL Academy, a former academy team that competed in Overwatch Contenders, the developmental league for the Overwatch League.
The 2020 Atlanta Reign season was the second season of the Atlanta Reign's existence in the Overwatch League and the team's second under head coach Brad "Sephy" Rajani. Atlanta planned to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season, with the first at the Coca-Cola Roxy in late March and the second at a different, undetermined location in mid-June, but all homestand matches were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 Florida Mayhem season was the third season of the Florida Mayhem's existence in the Overwatch League and the team's first season under head coach Kim "KuKi" Dae-kuk. The Mayhem planned to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season at the Watsco Center at the University of Miami and the Full Sail Live Venue at Full Sail University, but all homestand matches were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 San Francisco Shock season was the third season of the San Francisco Shock's existence in the Overwatch League and their second under head coach Park "Crusty" Dae-hee. The team entered the season as the defending Overwatch League champions, after winning the 2019 Grand Finals. The Shock planned to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley and the San Jose Civic in downtown San Jose, but both were cancelled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 Overwatch League Grand Finals was the third championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL), which took place on October 10, 2020. The series was the conclusion of the 2020 Overwatch League playoffs and was played between the San Francisco Shock and Seoul Dynasty.
The 2021 Overwatch League season was the fourth season of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional esports league for the video game Overwatch. The regular season began on April 16, 2021, and concluded on August 21. The season featured four midseason tournaments throughout the regular season along with a new point system for season playoff seeding. Similar to the 2020 season, teams are split into two geographical regions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most matches were played online, with the exception of several live events throughout the season. The season marks the second year of the Overwatch League's broadcast partnership with YouTube, their third with Sport1, and their first with Bilibili.
Kim Byung-sun, better known by his online alias Fleta, is a South Korean Overwatch coach and former professional player. He began his esports career with Flash Lux and had a brief stint playing for Lunatic-Hai. Kim signed with the Seoul Dynasty of the Overwatch League (OWL) in its inaugural season. After two years with the Dynasty, he signed with the Shanghai Dragons. In the middle of the 2023, Kim transitioned to a coaching role.
Kim Ji-hyeok (Korean: 김지혁), better known by his online alias Birdring, is a South Korean professional Overwatch player who played for several teams in the Overwatch League (OWL). He is best known for playing hitscan damage heroes, such as the sniper Widowmaker and highly-mobile Tracer. Prior to the OWL's inception, he played for KongDoo Uncia, KongDoo Panthera, and Cloud9 KongDoo. Birdring signed with the London Spitfire of the OWL in the league's inaugural season wherein he was selected to play in the All-Star Game and won the league's first Grand Finals, after the Spitfire defeated the Philadelphia Fusion. After two seasons with the Spitfire, Birdring signed with the Los Angeles Gladiators. After two seasons with the Gladiators, Birdring retired from professional Overwatch. He came out of retirement a year later and joined the Boston Uprising.
The 2021 Overwatch League Grand Finals was the fourth championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL), taking place on September 25, 2021. The series was the conclusion of the 2021 Overwatch League playoffs and was played between the Shanghai Dragons and the Atlanta Reign. The final was originally planned to be played at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California; however, due to the increasing threat of COVID-19 and the delta variant, the match was shifted to be played online.
The 2022 Overwatch League season was the fifth season of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional esports league. Contrasted to the first four seasons, which was played on the video game Overwatch, the season was played on an early build of Overwatch 2. The regular season began on May 5, 2022, and ended on October 22. The playoffs were played at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, beginning on October 30, and concluded with the Grand Finals on November 4. The Dallas Fuel won the Grand Finals over the San Francisco Shock to win their first OWL championship.
The 2022 Overwatch League Grand Finals was the fifth championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL), taking place on November 4, 2022. The series was the conclusion of the 2022 Overwatch League playoffs and was played between the Dallas Fuel and the San Francisco Shock at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
The 2023 Overwatch League season was the sixth season of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional esports league for the video game Overwatch 2. The teams were split between two regions: the East and the West. The season commenced with a preseason pro-am tournament held in the West Region, where Overwatch Contenders teams competed against Overwatch League teams. In the East Region, Overwatch Contenders teams joined the regular season alongside the established Overwatch League teams. The regular season was divided into two stages: Spring and Summer. The Spring stage, which began on April 27, concluded with the Midseason Madness, an interregional midseason tournament hosted in Seoul, South Korea. The Summer stage concluded with play-ins, season playoffs, and the Grand Finals. The playoffs were scheduled to take place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Canada.