Overwatch League 2020: Road to the Grand Finals
The OWLs Nest is CheckpointXP’s official podcast for the Overwatch League. Every episode Robbie Landis is joined by Jake Lyon to discuss the latest league moves, matches, and more. In this episode, Robbie and Jake examine the final weekend of the Overwatch League 2020 playoffs as four teams continue on to the grand finals.
NA Region
The North American playoffs had some surprising upsets and wild storylines. The Washington Justice, 19th out of 20 in the regular season went on a tear through the lower bracket. But in the end, there were two teams who were destined to make it out. The first, of course, are the 2019 defending champions the San Francisco Shock. They have a roster of pure talent. Every single one of them all-stars. Even after losing the 2019 MVP Jay “Sinatraa” Won, they are nigh unstoppable. Despite being 2nd seed in the playoffs, they emerged as the number one contender for North America in the playoffs.
The second was the number one seed from the regular season, the Philadelphia Fusion. They were runner-ups to the inaugural 2018 grand finals. Despite having a bit of a slower 2019, they’ve come back this year as strong and fierce as ever. They were the ones to finally put a stop to the Washington Justice’s Roadhog and Zarya combo in the lower brackets. And with that they earned the North American 2nd seed going into the grand finals.
APAC Reagion
Over in the APAC region, there were a few more surprises in the playoff brackets. Of course, the one thing that didn’t surprise anyone was the Shanghai Dragons. Two years ago in the inaugural season they went 0-40. In 2019 they stepped up their game and landed somewhere in the middle. This year, with 2020 MVP Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun, they weren’t just the top seed in the APAC region, they are the number on team from the regular season in both regions. They tore their way through the playoffs and are also the number one seed for the APAC playoffs.
The number two seed was a bit more of a surprise. The Seoul Dynasty have had a very shaky season. All teams in the APAC region have had their runs of the meta and their moments to shine. But 3 months ago, anyone would have put names like New York Excelsior or Guangzhou Charge above the Dynasty. Yet, it was the Dynasty that defeated the Excelsior in a clean sweep to earn that number two seed going into the Overwatch League grand finals.
Remember to subscribe to the CheckpointXP Channel on YouTube so you never miss an episode of the OWLs Nest. You can also find it in podcast form on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your podcasts.
Follow Checkpoint XP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! You can also follow Robbie and Jake on Twitter.