The 2020 Overwatch League playoffs was the postseason tournament of the 2020 Overwatch League regular season, which began on September 3 and concluded with the 2020 Grand Finals, the third championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL), on October 10.
 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Game | Overwatch |
| Dates | September 3–October 10 |
| Administrator | Activision-Blizzard |
| Teams | 12 |
| Purse | $4,000,000 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 24 |
| Grand Finals | |
| Location | Online |
| Champion | San Francisco Shock |
| Runner-up | Seoul Dynasty |
| Finals MVP | Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo |
Twelve teams competed in the OWL Playoffs, which was broken down into two double-elimination regional tournaments, the North America Bracket and Asia Bracket, that culminated into the double-elimination Grand Finals Bracket. The winner of each round of the playoffs was determined by a single-match. The final two teams remaining in the tournament advanced to the Grand Finals.
The defending OWL champions were the San Francisco Shock, who won the title against the Vancouver Titans in the 2019 OWL Grand Finals. The Shock defeated the Seoul Dynasty in the Grand Finals to claim their second consecutive Overwatch League title.
Format
editTwelve 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. The top five teams from the regular season were awarded the top five seeds and the top three teams from the play-in tournament were awarded seeds six through eight. In the Asia region, four teams qualified for the Asia Bracket. The top two teams from the regular season were awarded the top two seeds and the top two teams from the play-in tournament were awarded three and four.[1]
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 both qualified for the Grand Finals bracket – another double-elimination tournament. The winners of the upper and lower bracket in the Grand Finals bracket played in the Grand Finals match.[2]
Participants
editNorth America
edit| Seed | Team | Conference | Record | MR | MD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philadelphia Fusion | ATL | 24–2 | 59–19–0 | +40 |
| 2 | San Francisco Shock | PAC | 25–3 | 56–17–2 | +39 |
| 3 | Paris Eternal | ATL | 18–6 | 47–30–0 | +17 |
| 4 | Florida Mayhem | ATL | 17–7 | 48–30–0 | +18 |
| 5 | Los Angeles Valiant | PAC | 12–10 | 41–41–0 | ±0 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Gladiators | PAC | 11–10 | 43–39–5 | +4 |
| 7 | Atlanta Reign | ATL | 10–11 | 43–35–0 | +8 |
| 8 | Washington Justice | ATL | 4–17 | 21–54–1 | -33 |
Asia
edit| Seed | Team | Conference | Record | MR | MD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shanghai Dragons | PAC | 27–2 | 59–15–1 | +44 |
| 2 | Guangzhou Charge | PAC | 18–7 | 44–39–1 | +5 |
| 3 | New York Excelsior | ATL | 16–8 | 50–30–2 | +20 |
| 4 | Seoul Dynasty | PAC | 12–12 | 33–47–1 | -14 |
Brackets
editTeams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in the bracket, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of maps the team won in that match.
North Americaedit
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Asiaedit
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Grand Finals
editThe Grand Finals Bracket will take place from October 8 to 10 in Asia.[3]
| 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 | |||||||||||
Source:[4]
Winnings
editTeams in the playoffs competed for a total prize pool of US$4 million, with the payout division detailed below.[5]
| Pos | Team | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco Shock | $1,500,000 |
| 2 | Seoul Dynasty | $750,000 |
| 3 | Shanghai Dragons | $450,000 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Fusion | $350,000 |
| 5 | New York Excelsior | $250,000 |
| Washington Justice | ||
| 7 | Atlanta Reign | $75,000 |
| Florida Mayhem | ||
| Guangzhou Charge | ||
| Los Angeles Gladiators | ||
| Los Angeles Valiant | ||
| Paris Eternal |
Broadcast and viewership
editAll matches of the playoffs were live-streamed and on-demand on YouTube.[5]
References
edit- ^ Rand, Emily (July 15, 2020). "Overwatch League announces 2020 playoff format". ESPN. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ Richardson, Liz (September 2, 2020). "How do the 2020 Overwatch League playoffs work?". Dot Esports. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
- ^ Richardson, Liz (August 13, 2020). "Overwatch League's 2020 Grand Finals to be held in October". Dot Esports. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ "2020 Playoffs". Overwatch League. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ a b Holt, Kris (September 3, 2020). "How To Watch Overwatch League Playoffs: Everything You Need To Know For Week 1". Forbes. Retrieved September 8, 2020.