2020 Vancouver Titans season

2020   Vancouver Titans season
Head coach	Hwang Ji-sub (rel. April 30) Steven Coronel
Owner	Francesco Aquilini
Arena(s)	Rogers Arena
Conference	Pacific
Division	West
Region	North America
Results
Record	6–15 (.286)
Place	North America: 11th League: 18th
May Melee	Did not qualify
Summer Showdown	Quarterfinals
Countdown Cup	Knockouts
Season Playoffs	Did not qualify
Total Earnings	$0
←  2019 Vancouver Titans 2021  →

The 2020 Vancouver Titans season was the second season of Vancouver Titans's existence in the Overwatch League. The team entered the season as the defending Pacific Conference (previously titled Pacific Division) champions looking to bounce back after their 2019 Grand Finals loss to the San Francisco Shock. The Titans planned to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season at the Rogers Arena in Downtown Vancouver, ^[1] but all homestand events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 30, the Titans parted ways with head coach Hwang "paJion" Ji-sub. ^[2] Vancouver released its entire roster and coaching staff on May 6. Two days later, the Titans announced the hiring of Steven "Flubby" Coronel and revealed their new roster. The team struggled throughout the season, amassing a 6–15 regular season record. A 0–3 loss to the Washington Justice in the North America play-in tournament on September 3 ended the team's season. ^[3]

Preceding offseason

Roster changes

The Titans enter the new season with no free agents, two players which they have the option to retain for another year, and eight players under contract. ^[4] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is November 11, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on October 7. ^[5]

Acquisitions

On November 26, it was announced that main tank Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung had come out of retirement and signed with the Titans. ^[6] A day later, Vancouver announced the signing of veteran support player Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong. ^[7]

Departures

The Titan's first offseason roster change was on November 12, when the team released tank Hwang "TiZi" Jang-hyeon. ^[8] Two days later, the team announced the departure of flex support Kim "Rapel" Jung-geun. ^[9] On November 18, the team parted ways with DPS Lee "Hooreg" Dong-eun, as he looked to begin a coaching career in professional Overwatch. ^[10] The following week, Vancouver released main tank Park "Bumper" Sang-beom. ^[7]

Roster

2020 Vancouver Titans roster
Players	Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality Damage 17 Dalton Bennyhoff, Dalton United States Damage 10 Tsuna Ikram, Samir France Damage 24 sHockWave Jensen, Niclas Denmark Tank 3 ShRedLock Shirvani, Abtin Canada Tank 27 KSAA Alruwaili, Alhumaidi Saudi Arabia Support 6 CarCar First, Carson United States Support 4 Roolf Stark, Randal Canada	Head coach Steven "Flubby" Coronel
Legend: (I) Inactive (S) Suspended (2W) Two-way player Substitute Injury / Illness	Latest roster transaction: May 22, 2020.

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2020 regular season:

• On April 30, the Titans released tank Choi "JJANU" Hyeon-woo. ^[2]
• On May 6, the Titans released DPS Kim "Haksal" Hyo-jong, DPS Seo "SeoMinSoo" Min-soo, DPS Lee "Stitch" Chung-hee, tank Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung, tank Lee "Twilight" Joo-seok, support Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong, and support Kim "SLIME" Sung-jun. ^[11]
• On May 8, the Titans signed support Carson "CarCar" First, DPS Dalton "Dalton" Bennyhoff, tank Abtin "ShRedLock" Shirvani, support Randal "Roolf" Stark, DPS Samir "Tsuna" Ikram, and tank Alhumaidi "KSAA" Alruwaili. ^[12]
• On May 22, the Titans signed DPS Niclas "SHockWave" Jensen. ^[13]

Standings

Pos	Con	Team v t e	Pld	W	BW	L	PCT	MW	ML	MT	MD	Qualification
1	ATL	Philadelphia Fusion	21	19	5	2	0.905	59	19	0	+40	Advance to playoffs
2	PAC	San Francisco Shock	21	18	7	3	0.857	56	17	2	+39
3	ATL	Paris Eternal	21	15	4	6	0.714	50	31	0	+19
4	ATL	Florida Mayhem	21	14	3	7	0.667	48	30	0	+18
5	PAC	Los Angeles Valiant	21	11	1	10	0.524	41	41	0	0
6	PAC	Los Angeles Gladiators	21	11	0	10	0.524	43	39	5	+4	Advance to play-ins
7	ATL	Atlanta Reign	21	10	0	11	0.476	43	35	0	+8
8	PAC	Dallas Fuel	21	9	0	12	0.429	35	44	0	−9
9	ATL	Toronto Defiant	21	7	1	14	0.333	32	48	0	−16
10	ATL	Houston Outlaws	21	6	0	15	0.286	32	50	3	−18
11	PAC	Vancouver Titans	21	6	0	15	0.286	23	48	0	−25
12	ATL	Washington Justice	21	4	0	17	0.190	21	54	1	−33
13	ATL	Boston Uprising	21	2	0	19	0.095	14	61	4	−47

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

Game log

Regular season

2020 game log (Regular season record: 6–15)
February–March: 2–2 1 February 08 Los Angeles Gladiators 2 – 3 Vancouver Titans Arlington, TX 2:00 pm PST     Esports Stadium Arlington Hosted by Dallas Fuel 2 Nepal 1 2 King's Row 3 0 Hanamura 2 2 Dorado 1 0 Lijiang Tower 2 2 February 09 Los Angeles Valiant 0 – 3 Vancouver Titans Arlington, TX 2:00 pm PST     Esports Stadium Arlington Hosted by Dallas Fuel 0 Lijiang Tower 2 4 Blizzard World 5 2 Temple of Anubis 3 3 April 11 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Guangzhou Charge Online 10:00 am UTC     4 April 12 Vancouver Titans 1 – 3 Chengdu Hunters Online 8:00 am UTC
May Melee qualifiers: 0–4 5 May 09 Vancouver Titans 1 – 3 Washington Justice Online 9:00 pm UTC     6 May 10 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Florida Mayhem Online 11:00 pm UTC     7 May 16 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Houston Outlaws Online 7:00 pm UTC     8 May 17 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Philadelphia Fusion Online 9:00 pm UTC
Summer Showdown qualifiers: 2–2 9 June 14 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Toronto Defiant Online 9:00 pm UTC     10 June 20 Vancouver Titans 3 – 0 Dallas Fuel Online 11:45 pm UTC     11 June 27 Vancouver Titans 3 – 0 Boston Uprising Online 11:00 pm UTC     12 June 28 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Atlanta Reign Online 9:00 pm UTC
Countdown Cup qualifiers: 0–4 13 July 17 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Paris Eternal Online 7:00 pm UTC     14 July 18 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Los Angeles Gladiators Online 7:00 pm UTC     15 July 25 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 San Francisco Shock Online 7:00 pm UTC     16 August 01 Vancouver Titans 2 – 3 Toronto Defiant Online 9:00 pm UTC
August: 2–3 17 August 14 Vancouver Titans 1 – 3 Florida Mayhem Online 7:00 pm UTC     18 August 15 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Dallas Fuel Online 9:00 pm UTC     19 August 16 Vancouver Titans 3 – 1 Atlanta Reign Online 11:00 pm UTC     20 August 21 Vancouver Titans 3 – 0 Boston Uprising Online 7:00 pm UTC     21 August 23 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Los Angeles Valiant Online 1:00 am UTC

Midseason tournaments

2020 midseason tournaments game log
May Melee: 0–1 Qualifier match May 22 Vancouver Titans 2 – 3 Toronto Defiant Online 5:00 pm UTC
Summer Showdown: 0–1 Quarterfinals July 04 Vancouver Titans 1 – 3 Paris Eternal Online 7:00 pm UTC
Countdown Cup: 1–1 Qualifier match August 02 Vancouver Titans 3 – 0 Boston Uprising Online 11:30 pm UTC     Knockouts August 07 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Atlanta Reign Online 7:00 pm UTC
Bonus wins awarded: 0

Postseason

2020 playoff game log
North America Play-ins: 0–1 Round 1 September 03 Vancouver Titans 0 – 3 Washington Justice Online 9:10 pm UTC

References

1. Plana, Vincent (August 20, 2019). "Details revealed about Rogers Arena-hosted live esports matches". Daily Hive. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
2. Richardson, Liz (April 30, 2020). "JJANU, head coach Pajion part ways with Vancouver Titans". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
3. Richardson, Liz (September 3, 2020). "Houston Outlaws, Vancouver Titans eliminated from Overwatch League playoffs". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
4. Morello, Matt (July 30, 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
5. Richardson, Liz (October 4, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
6. "Fissure comes out of retirement to join the Vancouver Titans". ESPN. Reuters. November 26, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
7. "Overwatch League's Vancouver Titans sign ryujehong, release Bumper". ESPN. Reuters. November 27, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
8. Chen, Ethan (November 12, 2019). "Vancouver Titans release TiZi into free agency". Daily Esports. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
9. Field Level Media (November 14, 2019). "Titans part with Rapel, reportedly add ryujehong". Gwinnett Prep Sports. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
10. Richardson, Liz (November 18, 2019). "Vancouver Titans part ways with Hooreg". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
11. Duwe, Scott (May 6, 2020). "Vancouver Titans release entire Overwatch League roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
12. Alford, Aaron (May 8, 2020). "Vancouver Titans Announce New Roster". Hotspawn. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
13. Alford, Aaron (May 22, 2020). "Vancouver Titans Sign SHockwave". Hotspawn. Retrieved February 3, 2021.