The Spitfire Have Broken The Overwatch League Wide Open
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again; the 2021 Overwatch League season is set to be the most competitive we’ve ever seen. The offseason has given the vast majority of teams measurable upgrades to their starting rosters, but to think that a team opting for a full rebuild would perform is optimistic, to say the least. Well, here we are, and we’d all be dead wrong.
The London Spitfire not only look promising, but they are competing against what is projected to be one of the top teams in North America. After their preseason debut at the Steel Series Invitational, the London Spitfire have broken the 2021 Overwatch League season wide open.
Reflecting on the 2020 season, it is safe to say that the year was not kind to the London Spitfire. They attempted to field a frankly green roster, with notable exceptions, yet stalled the moment they got off the ground. Even after moving to Asia amid the COVID-19 global pandemic, London fared as well as you might expect in such a densely talented region. They were competitive in individual matches, but they, unfortunately, were relegated as a dent team, someone who frankly never punctured the regular season or any of the monthly tournaments. Even expectations going into the 2020 season were low.
Jumpcut to 2021, and things couldn’t be more different.
From the ground up, the 2021 London Spitfire field a brand new roster, pulling talent from one of Overwatch’s most under-represented regions. Headed up by the newly appointed general manager and competitive Overwatch veteran, Ysabel "Noukky" Müller, not only have London returned to their roots in Europe, but they’ve called up their wildly successful academy team, the British Hurricane, to compete on the main stage. While they’ve been ranked fairly low this time around, London is on track to quickly exceed expectations.
Click to enlargeLet’s take into consideration where exactly the community, thus far, ranks London against the league. To preface this, this is not a “point and laugh” session where we judge Overwatch expert’s pre-season power rankings or a contest or right-ness. We’re using this as evidence to support how London’s rebuild has been perceived by prominent members of the Overwatch community and contrasting that with what they’ve shown us thus far. Caster, expert and former Overwatch League player, Connor "Avast" Prince, has the Spitfire ranked tenth out of the twelve teams in North America. Even GGRecon’s own Sascha “Yiska” Heinisch positioned the Spitfire between eighth and thirteenth in his Overwatch League Christmas power ranking snapshot. Inversely, Avast has the Gladiators ranked as the second-best team in North America, and Yiska has them clocked in at number three.
This gives us a good starting point to begin to compare the perception against their first few competitive outings. With this in mind, we have—what experts and pundits are ranking as a bottom tier team, a team that also just fresh from the ground up, taking on a team that is within striking distance of an Overwatch League stage tournament and, at the very least, houses the potential to lead North America at points through the regular season.
Click to enlargeAgain, this isn’t to point out that the criteria or rankings are somehow wrong or worth ridicule, but this snapshot shows us just how deep the competitive waters can be in North America. There needs to also be the caveat of metagames and practice time among a litany of other things. Is there a ton of stock in their performance? No, of course not, but this does foreshadow that perhaps North America’s “middle-of-the-pack iceberg” is far deeper than we’re giving credit to.
Yes, it was one game.
Yes, it was effectively a preseason exhibition.
And you be correct at pointing out, they still didn’t win.
However, you don’t see such teams with such a difference in perceived rankings have such a close match.
When we look at their performance, we can immediately tell the coaching staff had a clear vision for the metagame and the team executed on that vision extremely well against what looks to be a top team. This came to a head specifically on Blizzard World, where the Los Angeles Gladiators began to show a deeper champion pool. This reliance on their Reinhardt and D.Va composition was a crucial factor in the Spitfire being able to take the Gladiators to a game five. That kind of decisive and confident call touches on some serious hidden value, especially once we get into hero pools later in the 2021 season.
To that point, no one is calling for London to immediately jump into playoff territory. This performance is something we cannot ignore and should judge for what it is—a solid showing from a team we thought to be less than. If this is starting to sound familiar, it should.
The head coach for London’s 2021 rebuild is none other than Justin "reprize" Hand, whom you might remember from his time with the Los Angeles Valiant and previous to that the Mayhem Academy roster that performed extremely well during Overwatch Contenders 2019 Season 1. Alongside him are British Hurricane’s veteran coaches, Xavier "CommanderX" Hardy and Mads "fischer" Jehg.
This not only is a team that is utilising the successful talent pipeline they’ve created for themselves, but they’re attracting talent that is both undervalued and punchy. This team feels like the 2019-2020 Los Angeles Valiant for a reason. Even on of Europe’s forgotten gems, hitscan ace Johannes "Shax" Nielsen, has landed with the Spitfire for 2021. It should be no surprise this team gives off an air of being well managed and well-coached, all the while flying well under the radar.
Again, to be fair to those who have given their opinions and written early power projections, it is understandable why London would be so low, but this performance at the Steel Series Invitational should have us all, at the very least, considering a course correction. They are a young team, that is being rebuilt, in one of the most competitive seasons ever, and in spite of all of those hurdles, they still took the Gladiators close. This all underpins this feeling that the 2021 season is going to be the most ruthless and chaotic showing we’ve seen from the Overwatch League—in the best way possible. That being said, there are knock-on effects to such a performance.
London’s strong showing also hints at, albeit by way of omission, is the possibility that other teams might be just as competitive. If we were wrong about the Spitfire, perhaps the Paris Eternal isn’t too far off, and maybe a team like the Outlaws should be given a fair shake. Look at the 2021 Boston Uprising and their performance at the Steel Series Invitational.
Now, add on top of that the fact that the hero pool model is returning for select tournaments. Go back and review last season and count how many upsets were accentuated simply by the format itself. Add that to these underrated teams who not only look competitive but have everything to prove and nothing to lose. The competition is real, and it might be far deeper than anyone could have expected, and the Spitfire’s recent performance is a crystalline example of what we’re just months away from.
Big Ben has struck twelve and is smiling. London’s preseason showing is a wake-up call for the Overwatch League and its fanbase.
The 2021 season is going to be wild.
Images via Blizzard Entertainment
