All Shock, No Surprises in Day 2 of the OWL Stage 1 Playoffs
By Wyatt Fossett ·
The second day of the Overwatch League Stage 1 Playoffs has just concluded and brought with it a predictable outcome.
Yesterday might have been the crazy wild kick-off to the Overwatch League Stage 1 Playoffs that we didn’t deserve, but day 2 played out exactly in the way it was supposed to. With both the San Francisco Shock, and the Philadelphia Fusion moving on to the second round.
Day 1 saw the most dramatic upset in Overwatch League history as the Seoul Dynasty knocked out heavy favorites in the New York Excelsior. It also played host to a display of pure dominance from the top-seeded Vancouver Titans over darling underdogs the Boston Uprising.
The second day of the Overwatch League Stage 1 Playoffs, however, held no wildcards in its hand. It was filled with great match play by all four teams involved, but the better teams won, and without much drama.
Reign is Over
He may be the league’s most beloved DPS player ever, but Dafran and his Atlanta Reign just couldn’t put together an extra stellar performance against the far more synchronized Philadelphia Fusion.
After another incredibly intense series @Fusion dashes our playoff hopes, 3-1.
— Atlanta Reign (@ATLReign) March 23, 2019
Thank you to all of our fans for your support throughout Stage 1 - we’ll be back even stronger in Stage 2
Gg’s all around and best of luck to Fusion moving forward in Stage 1 playoffs. #LetItReign pic.twitter.com/MnBOXu5qfE
In their first-ever appearance during any Overwatch League post-stage playoffs, the Reign came out strong with a win on control map Ilios. However, the Fusion has too many balanced talents on their roster and stormed back to a 3-1 series victory. The Philadelphia Fusion move on to the second round and look forward to playing the winner of the San Francisco Shock versus Toronto Defiant matchup.
No Shock Here
The Toronto Defiant have a lot to reflect on from their performance in Stage 1 of the 2019 Overwatch League season, and a ton of it is positive. In their first-ever stage in the league, they wound up landing in the #3 seed of the entire league with 5 wins and 2 losses. Other than the Vancouver Titans (who have years of experience playing together behind them) the Defiant is by far the most impressive of the season two expansion teams.
HUGE SHATTER from @super_OW closes out the map & series for the Shock! #OWL2019https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/0mN1kw4lQ9
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) March 23, 2019
The San Francisco Shock, on the back of another reliable performance by young-gun main-tank Super, dominated the Defiant. They won their series 3-0 in a fashion that anyone could have predicted. The Defiant may have landed above them in the standings, but the Shock had a far harder Stage 1 schedule, and they boast a far more talented team.
Round Two, Fight!
After today’s matches, we finally have a solid picture of what the next round of the Overwatch League Stage 1 Playoffs will look like heading into round two.
Matches in round two will take place on Saturday, March 23rd, beginning with the Vancouver Titans facing off against the Seoul Dynasty at 12:00 PM PST. Following that head-to-head, the San Francisco Shock will take on the Philadelphia Fusion in a pretty even matchup. The winners of tomorrows matches will move on to face one another in the Stage 1 Playoff Finals, which will air on Sunday at Noon (PST).
You can catch the round two matches live on the Overwatch League Twitch channel, on the Overwatch League website, or on ESPN.