2021 Overwatch League playoffs

Last updated

2021 Overwatch League Playoffs
OWL 2021 Playoffs logo.png
Tournament information
Game Overwatch
DatesSeptember 21–25, 2021
Administrator Activision-Blizzard
VenueOnline
Teams8
Purse$3,200,000
Tournament statistics
Matches played14
Grand Finals
DatesSeptember 25
VenueOnline
Champion Shanghai Dragons
Runner-up Atlanta Reign
Finals MVP Lee "LIP" Jae-won
←  2020
2022  →

The 2021 Overwatch League playoffs was the postseason tournament of the 2021 Overwatch League regular season. The tournament began on September 21 and concluded with the 2021 Grand Finals, the fourth championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL) on September 25.

Contents

Eight teams contested the OWL playoffs, a double-elimination tournament, with the final two teams remaining in the tournament advancing to the Grand Finals. Each playoff match was originally planned take place at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas, aside from the final at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. However, due to increasing threat of COVID-19 and the delta variant, the matches were shifted to be played online.

The defending OWL champions were the San Francisco Shock, who won the title against the Seoul Dynasty in the 2020 OWL Grand Finals. The Shanghai Dragons swept the Atlanta Reign in the Grand Finals to win their first OWL championship.

Format

Eight teams qualified for the season playoffs. In the league's West region, five teams qualified: the top three teams based on the Western regular season standings and the top two teams from the Western play-in tournament. In the league's East region, three teams qualified: the top two teams based on the Eastern regular season standings and the top team from the Eastern play-in tournament. [1] [2] The team with the most league points between the top seed in the West and top seed in the East was the first overall seed, while the other was the second seed. The team with the most league points between the second seed in the West and second seed in the East was the third overall seed, while the other was the fourth seed. The third seeded team in the West was the fifth overall seed. The three teams that qualified for the playoffs via the play-in tournaments were seeded sixth through eight based on league points. Any ties in league points were broken by the league's tiebreaking rules. [3]

The playoffs were a double-elimination tournament. The top three seeds selected their opponent from seeds five through eight for the first round of the tournament, with the top seed selecting first and the third seed selecting last. In each match, the higher-seeded team had the choice of which map to play first from a pool of maps. Each following map was chosen by the losing team from the previous map. The winner of each match was determined by which team wins three maps first, aside from the Grand Finals, which was first-to-four. No hero pools, a system in which some heroes are unplayable, was used in the postseason. [4]

Venues

Richard Greene Linear Park (Esports Stadium Arlington) (cropped).jpg
UniversityHawaiiManoaCampusRoundtop.jpg
All matches except for the Grand Finals were originally planned to take place at Esports Stadium Arlington (left). Western teams instead travelled to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (right).

All matches were originally planned to be played at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas, aside from the Grand Finals, which was to take place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. [5] Although several live matches were held in the regular season in limited formats, the playoffs and Grand Finals were to be one of the first esports live events held in North America since the COVID-19 pandemic. [6]

On August 25, 2021, due to visa difficulties and concerns surrounding Delta variant, all in-person playoff events were cancelled. [7] [8] To minimize latency between the East and West teams, the West region playoff teams travelled to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and played at the Innovation Lab and Information Technology Center buildings, while the East region teams played in their home country. [9] The broadcasts were hosted from an outdoor stage at the Moana Hotel in Honolulu. [10]

Participants

SeedTeamRegionPointsRecordMRMD
1 Shanghai Dragons East2012–438–19–2+19
2 Dallas Fuel West1711–540–26–3+14
3 Chengdu Hunters East1511–538–22–2+16
4 Los Angeles Gladiators West1411–541–21–0+20
5 Atlanta Reign West1311–541–21–0+20
6 San Francisco Shock West1212–443–24–2+19
7 Philadelphia Fusion East1010–637–24–3+13
8 Washington Justice West99–729–26–2+3

Bracket

Upper round 1
September 21		 Upper round 2
September 22		 Upper final
September 23		 Grand Finals
September 25
1Shanghai Dragons3
6San Francisco Shock0
1Shanghai Dragons3
4Los Angeles Gladiators1
4Los Angeles Gladiators3
7Philadelphia Fusion1
1Shanghai Dragons3
2Dallas Fuel1
2Dallas Fuel3
8Washington Justice1
2Dallas Fuel3
3Chengdu Hunters0
3Chengdu Hunters3
5Atlanta Reign21Shanghai Dragons4
5Atlanta Reign0
Lower round 1
September 22		 Lower round 2
September 23		 Lower round 3
September 24		 Lower final
September 24
3Chengdu Hunters2
6San Francisco Shock36San Francisco Shock32Dallas Fuel1
7Philadelphia Fusion26San Francisco Shock15Atlanta Reign3
5Atlanta Reign3
4Los Angeles Gladiators2
5Atlanta Reign35Atlanta Reign3
8Washington Justice0

Matches

Upper round 1

Upper round 1September 21 Washington Justice 1–3 Dallas Fuel Online
4:00 pm PDT     Details
2 Lijiang Tower 1
1 Volskaya Industries 2
2 King's Row 3
3 Havana 4
Upper round 1September 21 Philadelphia Fusion 1–3 Los Angeles Gladiators Online
5:30 pm PDT     Details
0 Ilios 2
2 Temple of Anubis 1
2 King's Row 3
1 Havana 3
Upper round 1September 21 San Francisco Shock 0–3 Shanghai Dragons Online
7:00 pm PDT     Details
1 Ilios 2
0 Hanamura 1
2 King's Row 3
Upper round 1September 21 Atlanta Reign 2–3 Chengdu Hunters Online
8:30 pm PDT     Details
2 Nepal 0
3 Temple of Anubis 4
4 King's Row 3
2 Dorado 3
0 Oasis 2

Lower round 1

Lower round 1September 22 Washington Justice 0–3 Atlanta Reign Online
4:00 pm PDT     Details
0 Nepal 2
0 Temple of Anubis 2
1 King's Row 3
Lower round 1September 22 Philadelphia Fusion 2–3 San Francisco Shock Online
5:30 pm PDT     Details
1 Nepal 2
3 Volskaya Industries 2
3 King's Row 4
3 Route 66 2
0 Ilios 2

Upper round 2

Upper round 2September 22 Chengdu Hunters 0–3 Dallas Fuel Online
7:00 pm PDT     Details
0 Lijiang Tower 2
2 Volskaya Industries 3
0 Eichenwalde 3
Upper round 2September 22 Los Angeles Gladiators 1–3 Shanghai Dragons Online
8:30 pm PDT     Details
0 Ilios 2
2 Hanamura 0
0 Numbani 1
0 Havana 1

Lower round 2

Lower round 2September 23 Atlanta Reign 3–2 Los Angeles Gladiators Online
4:00 pm PDT     Details
0 Ilios 2
3 Hanamura 2
5 King's Row 4
1 Dorado 2
2 Nepal 0
Lower round 2September 23 San Francisco Shock 3–2 Chengdu Hunters Online
6:00 pm PDT     Details
2 Lijiang Tower 0
3 Temple of Anubis 3
4 King's Row 3
2 Dorado 3
0 Ilios 2
2 Havana 0

Upper final

Upper finalSeptember 23 Dallas Fuel 1–3 Shanghai Dragons Online
7:30 pm PDT     Details
0 Ilios 2
3 Volskaya Industries 2
2 Numbani 3
1 Dorado 3

Lower round 3

Lower round 3September 24 San Francisco Shock 1–3 Atlanta Reign Online
6:00 pm PDT     Details
2 Nepal 2
2 Hanamura 3
1 King's Row 3
2 Havana 3

Lower final

Lower finalSeptember 24 Atlanta Reign 3–1 Dallas Fuel Online
7:30 pm PDT     Details
1 Lijiang Tower 2
2 Hanamura 1
4 King's Row 3
3 Dorado 2

Grand Finals

Grand FinalsSeptember 25 Atlanta Reign 0–4 Shanghai Dragons Online
6:00 pm PDT     Details
0 Ilios 2
2 Hanamura 3
5 King's Row 6
2 Havana 3

Winnings

Teams in the season playoffs competed for a total prize pool of US$3.2 million, with the payout division detailed below. [11]

PosTeamBonus
1Shanghai Dragons$1,500,000
2Atlanta Reign$700,000
3Dallas Fuel$350,000
4San Francisco Shock$250,000
5Chengdu Hunters$150,000
6Los Angeles Gladiators$150,000
7Philadelphia Fusion$50,000
8Washington Justice$50,000

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References

  1. ↑ Wen, Alan (July 21, 2021). "'Overwatch' League live events will return this September". NME. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Overwatch League Post Season Heads to Texas and California - The Quick Fix: Esports". IGN. July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Countdown Cup Details: Playoff Information, Hero Pool, and More". The Overwatch League. July 21, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  4. ↑ Richardson, Liz (August 26, 2021). "How the Overwatch League 2021 postseason and playoffs will work". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  5. ↑ Chalk, Andy (July 20, 2021). "Overwatch League is bringing back live events in September". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  6. ↑ Qu, Bonnie (July 20, 2021). "Overwatch League 2021 playoffs to be held live in Texas and Los Angeles". Upcomer. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  7. ↑ Collins, Sean (August 25, 2021). "Overwatch League playoffs no longer in North Texas, moving back to online". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  8. ↑ Parrish, Ash (August 26, 2021). "Overwatch League cancels its in-person playoff events". The Verge. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  9. ↑ McInnis, Brian (August 26, 2021). "Overwatch League returning to Hawaii for esports championship". Pacific Business News. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  10. ↑ Dachman, Jason (September 24, 2021). "Overwatch League Grand Finals: Project Aloha, Cloud Workflows Are Key to Transcontinental Production". Sports Video Group. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  11. ↑ "What is the Overwatch League". The Overwatch League. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
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