Overwatch League Playoffs: Stage 1

Welcome to the Overwatch League Stage 1 Playoffs Day 2 Recap! Mirrored results took place last night during the second day of the Overwatch League Stage 1 Playoffs, with another 3-1 victory and a second clean sweep. From an unfortunate C9 moment to deadly Zenyatta plays, here’s what happened in the most recent Overwatch League matches.

Atlanta Reign versus Philadelphia Fusion

This was a tough one to predict. Both Philadelphia and Atlanta had a good first stage, with Philadelphia finishing with a 5-2 match record and Atlanta with a 4-3 record. It was anybody’s game coming into this matchup, but the Philadelphia Fusion took the win over the Reign with a final score of 3-1. Philadelphia is now moving onto the semifinals match against the San Francisco Shock.

Boombox

Flex support Boombox proved he’s still one of the better Zenyatta’s in the league, and to confirm this, here are some of his statistics. In this match alone, he achieved 44,384 hero damage dealt, 58,897 healing onto his teammates, 1,054 healing per transcendence ultimate, 112 eliminations, 31 final blows, and only 24 deaths. Boombox plays a hero that is predominantly supposed to heal instead of deal damage and landing kills. Boombox is one of the players that is redefining how flex support should be played.

Not only did Boombox play well, but the entire team capitalized on the mistakes of the Reign, hence why main support Neptuno was able to capture the point on Volskaya Industries easily. It might not have been so bad for the Reign if it did not cost the team a map victory. However, credit should be given to Neptuno for spotting that Atlanta was chasing his team down for kills instead of focusing on the objective.

Atlanta Reign

Atlanta did manage to take a map off of the Fusion at the start of the match, as they took the win on Ilios with a final score of 2-1. There was nothing too spectacular from the side of Atlanta. However, the C9 during Volskaya Industries was something that definitely could’ve been avoided if they hadn’t decided to chase down for kills. The Reign now need to use the break between the stages to identify the issues they have been making during the season with their coordination and their communication to avoid making those mistakes again, and they can continue to be a force to be reckoned with during the league.

San Francisco Shock versus Toronto Defiant

The last quarterfinals were between the San Francisco Shock and the Toronto Defiant, and while fans were hoping for it to be a close one, it was far from it. The San Francisco Shock brought their A-game to the match and took down the Defiant very convincingly. The final match score was a clean 3-0 sweep in favor of the Shock.

San Francisco Shock

Throughout the match, the San Francisco Shock demonstrated effective coordination and communication that enabled them to work as a team to take down the Defiant during several team-fights that they were able to win. The Defiant gave them a run for their money, but the Shock came prepared and capitalized on the Defiant's mistakes when it mattered most. The Shock now have a rough road ahead of them in the semi-finals, as they take on the Philadelphia Fusion to try and lock up a grand finals spot.

Toronto Defiant

Toronto lost the match, but they did make it close for the Shock during Busan and Horizon Lunar Colony, winning team fights that were able to allow them to win one round on Busan and two points on Horizon Lunar Colony. It wasn’t that Toronto played poorly, it’s more that the Shock simply outplayed them during this match. Even with Aid switching in for Roky on Horizon Lunar Colony, it wasn’t enough for the Defiant to swing the momentum back into their favor. The Defiant can now spend the offseason fixing the mistakes they made during the match and come back stronger for Stage 2.

Check out our Day 1 recap of the Overwatch League Playoffs.