Dragons Will Face the Shock in the OWL Stage 3 Grand Finals

Saturday at the Blizzard Arena played host to the Overwatch League Stage 3 Semifinals where some of the most epic Overwatch of the year was played. 

On the line was a birth into the Stage 3 Grand Finals the next day (Sunday), and a shot at both the glory of an Overwatch League Stage Championship as well as the big ol’ cheque worth a whopping $200,000. The first round of the playoffs brought to us some mighty upsets as well as some expected dominance. The Semifinals, however, saw a ton of fire. 

Shanghai Dragons 

The path to the Grand Finals for the Shanghai Dragons has to be one of the most difficult paths to a championship game that any professional competitive team has ever faced. First, they had to overcome an entire inaugural season in which they did not earn a single win, which they capped off by earning their first-ever franchise post-season birth. Then, they had to face off against the number one seed in the New York Excelsior in the Quarterfinals, before pushing past--in surprisingly dominant fashion--the undisputed best team in Overwatch, the Vancouver Titans. 

Now, set to compete for their first real Overwatch League title since becoming the team with the longest losing streak in professional sport, the Dragons aren’t a team to be overlooked. Regardless of their opponent, Shanghai proved on Saturday that they can hang with the kings of the Overwatch League, and they don’t have to play their opponents game in order to win. 

San Francisco Shock

Though some may have hoped that the Grand Finals filled with underdog stories, no one managed to send that memo to the San Francisco Shock, as they completely took it to the Los Angeles Valiant in the Semifinals. Sometimes you look at a 4-0 scoreline and it doesn’t quite describe how close the series is, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday. 

Stage 3 hasn’t been kind to the Stage 1 finalists, and Stage 2 Champions in the Shock. Dropping multiple very rough looking matchups over the course of their seven games. Regardless of their slight struggles, the Shock blasted their way through the Semifinals against the recently surging Valiant. Now, they will have to play the crazily consistent and wildly varied Shanghai Dragons in the Stage 3 Grand Finals.  

Bracket

How to Watch

You can check out the Overwatch League Stage 3 Grand Finals on Sunday, July 14th, beginning at 1:00 PM Pacific Time. The show will be aired on ESPN 2 and the Overwatch League Twitch channel. 

Watch live video from OverwatchLeague on www.twitch.tv

The Overwatch League pre-show will being roughly a half-an-hour prior to the start of the Grand Finals. So, tune-up at 12:30 PM for that.