The Overwatch League Playoffs format of Best of 3 matches with each match being a Best of 5 maps has created a lot of excitement in Week 1 of the Playoffs. We saw both series go to 3 matches with Philadelphia Fusion advancing 3-1, 1-3, 3-1 and joining them in the semifinals is London Spitfire as they performed a modified reverse sweep winning 0-3, 3-0, 3-0.
The 6th seed Philadelphia Fusion got past the 3rd seed Boston Uprising and being the lowest seed out of the remaining teams, they are pitted against 1st seed New York Excelsior. In Stage 1 when New York looked unbeatable, Philadelphia was the 1st team to take a win off of them, edging them out 3-2. New York got their revenge twice in the next stage as they beat them 3-1 in a regular season match and then again in the Stage Finals 3-2. New York never forgot about their 1st defeat as they went on to beat Philadelphia another 2 times, 3-2 in Stage 3 and 4-0 in Stage 4, with New York took the season series 3-1. In Stage 4, New York went 7-3 while Philadelphia went 6-4, which doesn't seem like a big difference but this doesn't tell the whole story. Their map differential was +15 and +4 respectively, which shows a bigger difference in recent performance than just 1 win. My prediction is that New York will comfortably win this series 2-0, winning 3-1, 3-1.
The 5th seed London Spitfire surprised many by coming back from a Match 1 sweep to reverse sweep the series (0-3, 3-0, 3-0) and eliminate the 4th seed Los Angeles Gladiators. They are the higher of the two teams that advanced from the Wild Card round, so they will face off against the 2nd seed Los Angeles Valiant. London were thought of as the 2nd best team early in the season, but they slowly dropped off and Los Angeles has risen. In Stage 1, London defeated Los Angeles 3-2. They did not play in Stage 2 and in Stage 3, it was the same result, another close 3-2 loss. Finally in Stage 4, Los Angeles got their victory 2-1 with one of the maps being a draw. Los Angeles also finished 2nd in Stage 4 with a 9-1 record and went on to win the Stage Title, while London struggled with the new meta going 4-6. Things didn't really change in the Wild Card Playoffs until London went back to their strengths and the old meta, which stumped the Los Angeles Gladiators. I can't see the Los Angeles Valiant making the same mistake as their cross town rivals, so I am predicting that the Valiant will advance in a closer series 2-1, winning 3-1, 2-3, 3-1.
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