OWL Teams Experiment For Playoffs
The Overwatch League playoffs are just around the corner, after a season that saw several exciting midseason tournaments. Now teams turn their focus on to the real prize - becoming the League Champion. Every team will have the chance to compete in the playoffs this season, although the Overwatch League explains that higher seeds will benefit from opponent and map selection. So even if everyone's favourite teams are playing, it will still be a long road to the finals for some of the underdogs - but the stage is set for an exciting postseason.
With over $4 million in the prize pool, several teams have been experimenting in order to give themselves the best chance at putting their name on the trophy. In the end, there will only be one winner, so it is time to discuss a few teams who have recently boosted their chances.
The Seoul Dynasty have been a talking point all season long. Their stacked roster failed to deliver on countless occasions, and they looked inconsistent and scrappy even in their wins. But now that they have sparked a nice winning streak, the conversation seems to have died down. Hyeon Woo "Toyou" Lim was brought in as a two-player just before the signing deadline, and his debut performance was in Seoul's close defeat to the eventual Countdown Cup finalists in the Hangzhou Spark. Although his debut performance didn't go as well as the Dynasty would have liked, there were promising signs from the new player.
Over the next three games, the Dynasty won out in 3-0 sweeps. One of these was over the New York Excelsior, another team with playoff aspirations. Although the Excel haven't been as dominant as expected either, they are undoubtedly a quality team that the Dynasty will be thrilled to take in a 3-0 sweep. The addition of Toyou could have been the final piece to put together a very talented roster that seemed incapable of consistently putting out their best work.
There is currently some doubt in the community about the state of the meta with the recent patch, so it isn't easy to speculate how the team will perform once they are playing against the likes of the New York Excelsior without any limits on their hero choices. Nonetheless, these encouraging results should be taken as a sign of things to come from this roster.
Toyou has played on a wide variety of tanks over the past few weeks, so his flexibility will be a critical factor in determining the outlook of Seoul's playoff run. His ability to flex should allow Seoul to find a strong starting tank line with the three other tanks they have on the roster, as they look to adapt to a new meta. With rematches against the Hangzhou Spark and London Spitfire coming up, fans should keep a close eye on them to see if they are the real deal, or if the debut brilliance from Toyou will wear off before playoffs.
Click to enlargeDiving into the North America region, even the top teams have been switching things around to discover the lineup that gives them the best chance at a deep playoff run. Most notably, the experiments of the Philadelphia Fusion have brought encouraging results. The Fusion have always been a great team but have so far failed to take home a trophy.
They look to change that after another disappointing 2-4 loss to the Shock in the Countdown Cup. The combination of DPS players that the Fusion put forward will decide the outcome of their matches against other top teams in the playoffs. Their 2-4 loss caught many fans by surprise, as JaeHyeok "Carpe" Lee was on the bench for the entire series. The Fusion adapted once again, and in their next match, a rematch against the Shock, Carpe played two of the three maps in their sweep over San Francisco.
This is where things get interesting for the Fusion. If they have figured out the proper way to mix and match their DPS line, the rest of the roster seems set. In what is expected to be a scrappy meta for the playoffs, top-tier DPS play will be essential. The Fusion seem to have figured out the rest of their lineup by keeping Daniel "Funnyastro" Hathaway in the support lineup consistently next to KyeongBo "Alarm" Kim.
The 3-0 result over the Shock could be slightly misrepresentative as the hero pool impacted the Shock's favoured playstyle, but the result shouldn't be discarded. The Fusion have shown the ability to adapt to a team like the Shock, and prove to fans and themselves they can take down the Shock. Despite the Shock being touted as the best in North America, the Fusion locked in the first place seed for the region.
Playoffs are always a heartbreaking and joyful time depending on how a team performs, so it is exciting to see teams adapt from the beginning to the end of the season to give their players the best chance possible. Some risky moves like bringing in a new player just before the signing deadline, and experimenting without one of the biggest names in the league show teams are going all-in to win the league championship. There are a lot of teams that look capable of taking home the trophy for themselves, and that should make fans excited for some thrilling Overwatch gameplay.
Images via OWL