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The Overwatch League Season 3 Review

The 3rd season of The Overwatch League is finally over and we can now take a brief look at... Radu M. | 13. October 2020

The 3rd season of The Overwatch League is finally over and we can now take a brief look at what happened in 2020 in one of the world’s biggest esports. Although, given the recent audience numbers and the fact that Blizzard seems to be having huge internal problems, my expectation is that OWL will probably shrink significantly next year or the year after that.

OWL 2020 Regular Season

The regular season of OWL 2020 was divided into two regions: North America and Asia. In North America, the competition had 2 big contenders and 2 more that were far behind them but still significantly ahead of the pack. These 4 teams were Philadelphia Fusion, San Francisco Shock, Paris Eternal, and Florida Mayhem, in this order.

In Asia there were only 7 participants (of the 20) and Shanghai Dragons had no rival. SD finished the regular season in 1st place with 27 wins and just 2 losses. Overall, they were the number 1 team in OWL.

Playoffs Stage

In the Playoffs Stage of the third season of The Overwatch League, the competition once again took place in two different regions.

North America

In the North American region, San Francisco Shock and Philadelphia Fusion were the teams that qualified for the next and final stage. Even from this mini-tournament, it was clear that San Francisco Shock was in great shape. And that’s because they had a flawless run until the Winners’ Finals, where they encountered the other big team in the region, Philadelphia Fusion. People expected PF to win or to at least pose serious challenges to SFS. But SFS went on to win with a score of 3 – 1.

Asia

In the Asian region, Shanghai Dragons had a lot more trouble than people thought they would. In their first match against New York Excelsior they won with a score of 3 – 1. But in the second one they struggled against Seoul Dynasty (3 – 2). To be fair, SD ultimately went on to qualify as well for the final stage, so in a way it’s understandable.

Grand Finals

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The Grand Finals featured 4 teams that fought for a massive prize pool: $3.05 million. The competitive format was double-elimination, so the tournament was 100% fair and balanced. San Francisco Shock won its match against Soul Dynasty (3 – 2) while Shanghai Dragons won versus Philadelphia Fusion (3 – 0). In the Winners’ Finals, SFS won again against SD (3 – 2) and qualified for the Grand Finals.

In the Lower Bracket, Seoul Dynasty proved to be in great shape. They first won 3 – 0 against Philadelphia Fusion and then they managed to beat Shanghai Dragons, but only barely (3 – 2).

In the Grand Finals, San Francisco Shock won the Bo7 with a score of 4 – 2. It was a thrilling ride though: 2 – 0 for SFS, then 2 – 2, and the 4 – 2. The whole season was interesting to watch, but unfortunately for Blizzard, their mistakes and unwillingness to listen to their community are starting to catch up with them. And the future is looking grim.