The London Spitfire and the Philadelphia Fusion... who would have predicted this grand finals match up. They came into the playoffs at the #5 and #6 seeds, while season long favourites stood in front of them as obstacles. And that's all they were, obstacles on the path to their appearance in the Overwatch League Grand Finals, which will take place in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center. At the beginning of the season, everyone saw the Seoul Dynasty as the favourites, but they always fell just a little short. They failed to make any of the Stage Playoffs and finished 8th in the overall Season Standings. Then during the season, New York looked favoured as they made every Stage Playoffs, won 2 Stage Titles, and took the 1st seed easily in the Season Standings. You also had both Los Angeles teams, which slowly built up momentum and rose above the likes of Philadelphia and London. A few mid-season trades helped both Los Angeles squads sure up their weaknesses and you would have probably bet that at least one of them would be in the finals. But no we have the Philadelphia Fusion and the London Spitfire.
London came out hot out of the gate and were challenging New York for top spot in the league. They finished 7-3 in Stage 1 and made the Stage Playoffs and ended up winning the Title beating New York 3-2 in the Stage Finals. In the first 2 match ups between Philadelphia and London, it was not even close as London swept both matches 4-0. Stage 2 saw them face off against each other in the Stage Playoffs where Philadelphia finally found their edge as they beat London to advance to the Stage Finals. They eventually lost to New York 3-2, but it was a great run by Philadelphia. Stage 3 saw both teams struggle at 5-5, but Philadelphia took through match up 3-2. Stage 4 wasn't the greatest either, but Philadelphia was still stronger winning 3-1. The overall season series is 2-2 with an overall map score of 11 to 6 in favour of London.
London struggled mightily in Stage 4 finishing with a sub .500 record at 4-6, while Philadelphia were middle of the pack at 6-4. In the playoffs, Philadelphia have looked pretty consistent in their matches against Boston and New York. Their only match loss came against Boston in Match 2, but they bounced back right away and took Match 3 to close out the Wild Card match. London on the other hand looked super shaky at first losing 0-3 to the Gladiators, but after some adjustments and realizing that they just have to play their style, they have been unstoppable. They clean swept the Gladiators in Match 2 and 3, 3-0 3-0, and then only lost 1 map and drew another against the Valiant, 3-1-1 3-0, in the Semifinals. Both teams field deadly DPS duo in Carpe and EQO vs birdring and Profit, which will be the primary focus during these Finals. The Fusion looked strong and decisive against the top seeded New York Excelsior and I think they can take the title against London. I predict that the series will be 3-1 Philly, 2-3 London, and 3-1 Philly in an epic 3 match Finals.
Commentaires