Overwatch Summer Showdown Finals
The Overwatch League Summer Showdown Finals proved why the tournament setting works so well. Despite there being clear favorites and underdogs, upsets came in spades. Within the first two matches nearly every predicted bracket on the Overwatch League site had been broken. The Houston Outlaws upset the Florida Mayhem, the Toronto Defiant upset the Los Angeles Valiant. Even the Washington Justice delivered an upset to the Los Angeles Gladiators. But, certain Goliath’s within the league refused to stay down as the San Francisco Shock and Shanghai Dragons bulldozed their way to their respective finals.
NA Overwatch Summer Showdown Results
Friday July 3rd
Dallas Fuel 1 v 3 Paris Eternal
Houston Outlaws 3 v 1 Florida Mayhem
Toronto Defiant 3 v 1 Los Angeles Valiant
Washington Justice 3 v 1 Los Angeles Gladiators
Saturday July 4th – Quarterfinals
Paris Eternal 3 v 1 Vancouver Titans
Toronto Defiant 3 v 2 Atlanta Reign
Washington Justice 0 v 3 San Francisco Shock
Houston Outlaws 0 v 3 Philadelphia Fusion
Sunday July 5th – Semifinals
Paris Eternal 3 v 2 San Francisco Shock
Toronto Defiant 0 v 3 Philadelphia Fusion
Grand Finals: Paris Eternal 4 v 3 Philadelphia Fusion
After a huge upset over the San Francisco Shock, the Paris Eternal found themselves matched against the Philadelphia Fusion in the for NA Overwatch Summer Showdown finals. Despite Ki-hyo “Xzi” Jung and Yeong-han “SP9RK1E” Kim being responsible for the win over the Shock, Paris had them benched for the first map. Terence “SoOn” Tarlier and Nicolas “NiCOgdh” Moret were on the starting line-up for DPS, instead. Philadelphia on the other hand, start with their usual DPS duo in Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee and Josue “Eqo” Corona.
Evenly Matched
The Paris Eternal take a strong and aggressive stance right out of the gate against the Philadelphia Fusion. The Eternal elect not to run the Genji meta on first map Lijiang. Instead Paris run Symmetra and Mei into the Ashe and Genji of the Fusion. It plays out in the Eternal favor for the first round. It forces the Fusion to mirror them in round two. But thanks to clutch plays by Brice “FDGod“ Monsçavoir on Lucio they take the map 2 and 0.
Philadelphia’s attack on King’s Row goes right down to the wire but they do manage to complete the map. Paris attack proceeds just a bit slower than the Fusion’s attack, but spectacular plays by SP9RKLE nets them a finish with 1:53 left in the time bank. The Fusion take first attack in extra rounds with one minute to the Eternal’s two. The Fusion are able to take point A and then hold the Eternal from taking any progress.
All About the Genji’s
Going in Volskaya, these two teams continue to battle head to head. The Fusion are able to edge out a victory by taking a superior time bank for the extra rounds. SP9RKLE and Eqo continue to be the big play makers on their Genji’s throughout the match. On Gibraltar the Paris Eternal once again are able to tie it up as they push to map completion on their attack and hold the Fusion at point B.
The first round on Nepal, the Paris completely out-play the Fusion with a Reaper and Mei comp and superior ult usage. Going into round two, both teams run the mirror match-up with Ashe and Genji. The Eternal continue with strong momentum as they win the first team fight and grab first capture on the point. The Eternal keep the point even when they’re a man down thanks to SP9RKLE’s Dragonblade. The Fusion do swap the point at the last second off the back of Eqo’s Dragonblade. The highs and lows of this series is decided by the Genji’s. Paris manage to take it back at the last possible to put them up on match point.
Going the Distance
The Philadelphia Fusion were able to make up some ground on Blizzard World. They were able to shut down SP9RKLE’s Genji, so his Dragonblades had less impact. Meanwhile, Eqo on his Genji, backed up by Carpe on the Ashe paved the way for a map completion with 20 seconds left on the clock. On Paris’ attack they kept pace with Philadelphia’s time as Xzi started to shine on the Mcree along side SP9RKLE’s Genji. The match goes into extra rounds with Paris having 44 seconds more in their time bank. The Fusion complete point A but immediately get shut down. The Fusion are able to perform and incredible point A full hold to tie up the series 3 to 3.
The Eternal had a great first attack on Rialto despite a few team fight losses. The Payload only stopped a few times as they were able to break through the Fusion’s high ground defenses. They make it past point B with an incredible 4 minutes in the time bank. The Fusion were able to apply more pressure and slow the Eternal’s push to map completion. Despite SP9RKLE being shut down, Xzi helps break the Fusion defense on his Mcree. Philadelphia does hold just short of map completion. Paris nearly full holds Philadelphia on point A, but a huge drag out, knock down brawl ends with only Eqo alive and keeping the payload going. Philadelphia reach point B but the Eternal shut them down and take the win.
APAC Overwatch Summer Showdown Results
Saturday July 4th – Quarterfinals
Chengdu Hunters 0 v 3 Guangzhou Charge
Seoul Dynasty 3 v 1 London Spitfire
Hangzhou Spark 0 v 3 New York excelsior
Sunday July 5th – Semifinals
Seoul Dynasty 0 v 3 Shanghai Dragons
New York Excelsior 0 v 3 Guangzhou Charge
Grand Finals: Guangzhou Charge 4 v 2 Shanghai Dragons
The Guangzhou Charge have been on a tear this month in the Overwatch Summer Showdown, earning their place in the finals. In a meta that they excel at they’ve been systematically dismantling each team they’ve come up against. It’s led them to the finals against the Shanghai Dragons. Few people would argue against the Dragons being the best in the APAC region, but they’re not with their weaknesses. In this match-up though, their greatest weakness may have been themselves.
Charging to Victory
On Illios the Dragons put themselves in a position to win accumulating 99% first on both points. But the Charge snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The Charge mount a great defense on Hollywood nearly holding the Dragons at each point. But they do manage to breakthrough only to fall short at point C. Ou “Eileen” Yiliang on the Genji served up several Dragonblade’s that helped send Shanghai back to spawn. These key blades shave precious seconds off the time bank throughout the match. The Dragons nearly take the win on Hollywood despite not completing the map. But off the back of Eileen’s Genji in overtime the Charge go up 2 to 0 in the series.
The Dragons choose Anubis’ as their next map and take a quick point A. They manage to build to 97,4% on point B before being repelled. Ultimately, the Charge are able to hold the Dragons and keep them from map completion. The Dragons keep the Charge from a fast take on point A. But once they take it they roll through point B and take the win on Anubis.
History Will Not Repeat
The Dragons find themselves in the same position they were in the May Melee. They faced the Seoul Dynasty in the May finals and were down 3 to 0 on match point. Shanghai had to run back the series in a 3 to 4 reverse sweep. That is such a difficult task to accomplish with losers picking the map. The Dragons struggled on their own map picks just to stay in pace with the Guangzhou Charge. However, on Gibraltar the Dragons do start to come out on top and take the win. They manage with a map completion while holding the Charge at point B.
On control point Busan, the Dragons again come so close to letting the Charge snatch away victory. Two of the three rounds go down to the wire. The Dragons do manage to take a second win here. But they would not repeat the same reverse sweep as they did against the Dynasty. On Blizzard World, the Charge hold the Dragons just before point B. In overtime on their own attack the Charge take the win and the Overwatch Summer Showdown finals.
For more Overwatch League recaps and analysis by Robbie Landis and Jake Lyon, make sure you check out the OWLs Nest!
Follow Checkpoint XP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
Feature Image Photo: Tonya McCahon For Activision Blizzard