The Overwatch League Final Week and Playoffs Preview

The Group Stage of the third season of The Overwatch League is coming to an end. Only one competitive week remains and the final standings will be determined based on how it goes. In turn, these standings will determine the seeding for the Playoffs Stage. The good part for the viewers and the teams is that every single competitor will qualify this year for this stage. But some teams will go directly to the Quarterfinals while others will have to compete in the Play-Ins.

OWL Current Standings

The current standings in OWL are the following:

North America

• 1^st place: Philadelphia Fusion: 24 W – 2 L
• 2^nd place: San Francisco Shock: 23 W – 3 L
• 3^rd place: Paris Eternal: 18 W – 6 L
• 4^th place: Florida Mayhem: 16 W – 7 L
• 5^th place: Los Angeles Valiant: 11 W – 9 L
• 6^th place: Atlanta Reign: 10 W – 9 L
• 7^th place: Los Angeles Gladiators: 9 W – 9 L
• 8^th place: Dallas Fuel: 8 W – 11 L
• 9^th place: Toronto Defiant: 8 W – 13 L
• 10^th place: Houston Outlaws: 6 W – 15 L
• 11^th place: Vancouver Titans: 5 W – 14 L
• 12^th place: Washington Justice: 4 W – 16 L
• 13^th place: Boston Uprising: 2 W – 18 L

Asia

• 1^st place: Shanghai Dragons: 27 W – 2 L
• 2^nd place: Guangzhou Charge: 18 W – 7 L
• 3^rd place: New York Excelsior: 15 W – 8 L
• 4^th place: Seoul Dynasty: 11 W – 11 L
• 5^th place: Hangzhou Spark: 11 W – 11 L
• 6^th place: Chengdu Hunters: 8 W – 14 L
• 7^th place: London Spitfire: 6 W – 13 L

As you can see, the situation is mostly determined even before the last round. Important changes can be achieved though, if San Francisco Shock wins both of its matches. One will be against Washington Justice (guaranteed victory based on league standings) and one will be against Atlanta Reign. This second match may prove to be a bit more difficult, but in principle it shouldn’t be a problem. If SFS wins both of these matches, they’re 1^st. Because Philadelphia Fusion does not have a single match this week.

Playoffs Seeding

This is how the teams will be seeded:

North America

The top 4 teams will start in the Quarterfinals, which is the first round of the Upper Bracket. The rest of the teams will have to survive the Play-Ins and only 4 of them will do so. The Playoffs Stage of this region will be played in a double-elimination bracket and have 8 teams at the start. All of these teams start in the Upper Bracket.

Asia

The competitive format for Asia similar to the one used in North America, but it’s adapted to a smaller number of competitors. Two teams, Shanghai Dragons and Guangzhou Charge, compete in the Playoffs. The other 5 teams will have to survive the Play-Ins. Two of them will and then join the two teams mentioned above. The competitive format will be once again, double-elimination.