Finally, the Overwatch League season for 2022 is complete. Accordingly, last weekend, Dallas Fuel were crowned your season champions. Read on for your very own OWL Playoffs 2022 recap below!
Indeed, a poor result in an international event can demotivate a team. Specifically, last year Dallas Fuel were disappointed with a third place finish at the 2021 Playoffs. Would 2022 be different?
Since then, however, they’ve been menacing this season. After winning the Summer Showdown and placing first in the Regular season, the stars were aligned. However, would they survive the pressure?
Seeded into the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals, Dallas Fuel would take down Hangzhou Spark and Seoul Dynasty with relative ease.
Then, after taking down Houston Outlaws in the Upper Bracket Final, the Grand Final was left. Indeed, it was now or never.
Accordingly, in the Grand Final they’d have to face the 2020 champions in San Francisco Shock. Boiling down to the final map, Dallas won in 4-3 fashion – the community loved it with almost 400,000 peak viewers.
Otherwise, this win continues to prove that the West region remains the dominant one in the Overwatch League.
Over the past week, the top Overwatch teams in the world have been trying to earn their spot in the history books. Accordingly, the OWL 2022 Playoffs is the final stop for the 2022 season. Read on as we preview the final stage of the competition.
November 4th 2022 – 01:30 CET – Upper Bracket Final
Dallas Fuel vs Houston Outlaws
As you can see, not many favourites remain in the competition. Accordingly, Dallas Fuel are currently favoured to take home the competition, we’ll know the World Champion by the end of the week!
Accordingly, within the esports industry, October and November are oftentimes when seasons conclude. Accordingly, the OWL Playoffs 2022 are almost here to conclude the past season of the Overwatrch League. Read on as we preview this event in the following episode of How to Watch below!
Event Background
Tickets here, get ya tickets here 🎟️
General admission tickets for the #OWL2022 Grand Finals are now ON SALE! Grab yours today!
Indeed, taking place yearly, this is only the fifth season of the Overwatch League. After multiple events this season, teams have earned their spot in the limited spaces available for this exciting event.
Specifically, the event will be running from 30th October to 4th November, with the likes of $2,550,000 on the line. Competing offline in the Anaheim Convention Center, the top 12 teams in the world will be competing to prove who’s the best at Overwatch 2 esports.
Also, jere are the qualified teams below:
West Regular Season
Dallas Fuel
San Francisco Shock
Los Angeles Gladiators
Houston Outlaws
London Spitfire
Atlanta Reign
Florida Mayhem
Toronto Defiant
East Regular Season
Seoul Dynasty
Shanghai Dragons
Philadelphia Fusion
Hangzhou Spark
CO-STREAMS ARE GOING TO BE OPEN FOR OUR 5️⃣TH PLAY-OFFS & GRAND FINALS! 🧡
Help us celebrate and co-stream the #OWL2022 Play-Offs and Grand Finals! 🎉
Apart from regular season points, some teams have also qualified by earning the final seeds at the Countdown Cup. Read on as we describe the format for this anticipated event.
Format
With regards to format, it’s a rather simple affair. Specifically, the 12 teams have been seeded into the Double elimination bracket as follows:
To elaborate above, according to the seeding of the top 4, teams will select their opponents. As an example, should London Spitfire win their opening match, Dallas Final have the option to choose to face them in their upcoming match.
Other details to bear in mind is that all matches will be BO5. In addition, for those unaware of how a double elimination bracket works, teams have two lifelines in the competition. Specifically, losing in the Winner Bracket sends you to the Loser Bracket – an additional loss in the Loser Bracket results in elimination.
It all builds up to a grand final on November 5th 2022, at 03:00 CEST.
Schedule for the OWL Playoffs 2022
Concerning how long this event is, and that multiple matches are yet to be determined, we recommend visiting the official Twitter page for the Overwatch League to stay up to date.
Regardless, let’s take a look at the schedule for the Upper Bracket Round 1:
You can also watch the event live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
As soon as next week, an entire season of competitive Overwatch will begin to conclude with one final event. Accordingly, here at esportsguide we’ve assembled our very own predictions for the Overwatch League 2022 Playoffs below for you to check out!
Overwatch League 2022 Playoffs – Painting the Picture
Hosted by Activision Blizzard, this year’s iteration of the Overwatch League Playoffs will be taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Indeed, with a live crowd and $2,550,000 up for grabs, only the best teams in the league will be in attendance. Specifically, from the total number of teams, only the top 12 from the West and East regions will be contending. Namely, eight teams from West and four teams from East.
Either by qualifying through regular season points or the Countdown Cup, here are the 12 teams listed:
West
Dallas Fuel
San Francisco Shock
Los Angeles Gladiators
Houston Outlaws
London Spitfire
Atlanta Reign
Countdown Cup (TBDx2 – later today 22nd October)
East
Seoul Dynasty
Shanghai Dragons
Philadelphia Fusion
Hangzhou Spark – Countdown Cup
Taking place betwene 30th October and 4th November, this is indeed the last dance for the 21/22 season.
All teams will be competing through a double elimination bracket to try and earn the Championship, all teams starting in the Upper Bracket.
Looking Back at the Past Season
Credits: Overwatch League
Starting our predictions discussion, let’s look back through the entire season. While we could easily go through each and every event, instead, we’ll simply be looking at the regular season standings:
West Standings:
#1 – Dallas Fuel – 26 points
#1 – San Francisco Shock – 26 points
#3 – Los Angeles Gladiators – 25 points
#4 – Houston Outlaws – 19 points
#5 – Atlanta Reign – 16 points
#5 – London Spitfire – 16 points
East Standings:
#1 – Seoul Dynasty – 25 points
#2 – Shanghai Dragons – 23 points
#3 – Philadelphia Fusion – 15 points
Now, another thing we can try to understand from the past season is how West and East teams match up against one another.
Credits: Overwatch League
Let’s look at the standings from the Midseason Madness tournament being the only opportunity for international competition earlier this year:
#1 – Los Angeles Gladiators – West
#2 – San Francisco Shock – West
#3 – Atlanta Reign – West
#4 – Philadelphia – East
#5-6 – Shanghai Dragons, Hanzghou Spark – East, East
Well, it’s clear as daylight that earlier this season, West teams have had the edge over East.
Will History Repeat Itself?
While we may look at the past season, the history of the OWL Playoffs extends beyond one single season. Bearing this in mind, let’s take a quick look at the past few seasons to see which teams walked away as champion:
2021 Playoffs:
#1 – Shanghai Dragons – East
#2 – Atlanta Reign – West
#3 – Dallas Fuel – West
2020 Playoffs:
#1 – San Francisco Shock – West
#2 – Seoul Dynasty – East
#3 – Shanghai Dragons – East
Credits: Activision Blizzard
2019 Playoffs:
#1 – San Francisco Shock – West
#2 – Vancouver Titans – West
#3 – New York Excelsior – West
Naturally, the question to ask here is whether San Francisco Shock can make this a third time or whether Shanghai Dragons can defend the throne.
Overwatch League 2022 Playoffs – Final Predictions
Everything considered, there are certain final predictions we can make.
Firstly, the winner this year will very likely come from the West region. Furthermore, from the West, we’d rank the competition as follows:
#1 – San Francisco Shock – undeniable legacy and strong performance this season
#2 – Los Angeles Gladiators – surprisingly consistent from last year, winners of mid-season
#3 – Dallas Fuel – although a strong regular season, failed to show up at mid-season
It’s been an interesting time for fans of Overwatch. Accordingly, with the release of the sequel, the community has been working with a flurry of multiple small changes and tweaks. Bearing this in mind, we’ll be discussing a new change in an upcoming Overwatch 2 Update!
Overwatch 2 Update – Multiple Other Changes
Credits: Activision Blizzard
Apart from multiple changes down the pipeline, the community is incredibly curious regarding Champions. Accordingly, at launch Overwatch 2 featured 3 new champions, there have been multiple changes to previous changes.
Specifically, the likes of Bastion and Torbjorn were also featured, but they’ve been out of the game since October 10th. Currently, undergoing reworks, the community didn’t know when they’d return.
Howevere, thanks to a Tweet by Jon Spector, the Commercial Lead at Overwatch, we know when they’ll be back:
Good news, everyone. Bastion and Torbjorn have been located in Junkertown, and we are arranging for them to rejoin the other agents of Overwatch on 10/25.
Considering that the Overwatch League 2022 season started later than usual, the season is yet to wrap up. Accordingly, the community is enjoying the anticipation for the final events of the year. Bearing this in mind, the Countdown Cup 2022 is incredibly exciting – read on to learn how to watch the event below!
Event Background
Not one, but TWO #OWL2022 homestands last weekend 🤩
This year, the Countdown Cup serves a special purpose. Indeed, the name ‘Countdown’ refers to it being the final event before the OWL Playoffs which crown the world champion.
Accordingly, this year, Blizzard Entertainment is shaking things up by making the Countdown Cup serve a greater purpose. Specifically, the tournament will function as a form of ‘play-in’ for the 2022 Overwatch League Playoffs.
For those unaware, the qualifiers building up to this event offered the final chance for teams to qualify to the Playoffs through seasonal points.
Bearing this in mind, the following teams will be invited to the Countdown Cup:
Over in the East, it’s confirmed that the likes of Hanzghou Spark, Guangzhou Charge and Chengdu Hunters will attend the event. Meanwhile, West is still in contention with only Boston Uprising Confirmed.
Anyways, for West, two spots to the Playoffs are up for grabs, while one is available for East as explained below.
Format
Earning these coveted seeds is a simple process.
Overall, both regions will play separately in two slightly different formats.
Starting with the West, the four teams here will compete through a double elimination bracket. For those unaware, this means that the four teams will start things off in the Upper Bracket Semifinals.
From here, a loss results in demotion to the Lower Bracket, where a further loss results in elimination.
To qualify, a team must either win the Upper Bracket Final or the Lower Bracket Final.
Over in the east, the single spot will be fought for through a single elimination bracket – one loss results in elimination. Kicking off with the match involving Guangzhou Charge and Chengdu Hunters, the winner will fight for qualification against Hangzhou Spark.
Naturally, both events will be taking place simultaneously.
Schedule for the Countdown Cup 2022
Considering that both tournaments will be taking place side by side, the schedule may be somewhat confusing. Accordingly, we recommend visiting the official Twitter page to pick and choose your preferred region schedule.
Watch the Countdown Cup 2022 on esportsguide
It's the final week of #OWL2022 Countdown Cup Qualifiers 🤩
Some teams are already locked in for Play-Offs, others are vying for their spot in Play-Ins, and others will end their 2022 season here. pic.twitter.com/ohZkCpSj6x
You can also watch the Countdown Cup 2022 live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
With regards to predictions, it’s a difficult event to predict for. Indeed, Blizzard intends for a tight competition, hence pooling closely ranked teams.
Anyways, let’s discuss East first, as we know who’ll be competing. Here, the narrative is rather clear.
Credits: Blizzard Entertainment
While Hangzhou has outperformed the other two teams for the majority of the year, Guangzhou Charge managed to overcome them at the most recent event – the Summer Showdown.
Likely, the East seed will boil down to a match between Guangzhou and Hangzhou.
Moving over to the west, apart from Boston Uprising who aren’t favourites, it’s likely that the likes of Florida Mayhem, Washington Justice and Toronto Defiant will join them.
From this collection of teams, it’s difficult to not favour the likes of Toronto and Washington, but it’ll be incredibly tight.
Across franchised leagues, it’s quite common for organizations to sign content creators. Accordingly, apart from building a brand and attracting fans, it helps to build a foundation. Indeed, that’s what the Atlanta Reign OWL 2022 organization have done and undone – read on to learn more!
Atlanta Reign OWL 2022 – A Controversial Situation?
Specifically, with the official commercial release of Overwatch 2, now is the perfect time to make content.
Bearing this in mind, Atlanta Reign had signed Daniel “dafran” Francesca less than a few days ago. A former competitor on Reign’s roster, he parted ways a few years ago to pursue streaming and non-esports employment.
However, while writing this article, an update has appeared. Specifically, Atlanta Reign have parted ways with the signed content creator. This is due to immense backlash from the community due to comments the personality has passed in the past.
Accordingly, the following Tweet surfaced:
We have officially parted ways with Dafran.
We apologize for not being more considerate in our partnership. Going forward, we will do better for our team, fans and the Overwatch Community.
Accordingly, it’s been strange for Overwatch esports – usually this would be the off-season. However, instead the season is in full swing and the season will conclude in October. Bearing this in mind, we have news regarding the venue for the OWL 2022 Grand Finals as viewable below!
Year after year, the Playoffs have crowned a World Champion for competitive Overwatch. Indeed, hosted by Blizzard Entertainment, it’s the climax of an entire season.
Accordingly, the venue has been announced and we’re heading to the Anaheim Convention Center. Here are some other facts to bear in mind:
Prize Pool: $2,550,000
Dates: 30th October to 4th November
Participants: 12 teams from East and West
Venue: Anaheim Convention Center
Overwatch League 2020 Season 2020-03-07 / Photo: Joshua Roberts For Activision Blizzard
This is good news for two reasons. Firstly, ensuring the event is offline is always great news. Secondly, the Anaheim Convention Center is a historic venue which looks to attract a huge local crowd.
Decided by League Points, teams will have to fight through the Countdown Cup as the final chance to earn some points. Notably, this will celebrate the first season ending for Overwatch 2.
After the conclusion of the Summer Showdown, competitive Overwatch is shortly returning. Specifically, the next event is the Countdown Cup. However, first we have the OWL Countdown Cup Qualifiers – read on for a short preview below!
OWL Countdown Cup Qualifiers Preview – Seeds For Grabs
Credits: Activision Blizzard
With regards to the format, the qualifiers here are similar to previous events.
Accordingly, teams split into West and East regions will compete online across set BO3 matches as according to the pre-arranged season schedule.
Roughly, all teams will play 6-7 matches across 4 weeks of matches. Each match will contribute to the earning of points in the separate West and East standings. Specifically, teams will seed based on the overall season standings accordingly:
The Overwatch League 2022 season has been underway for a few months now. Accordingly, passing the halfway mark, we’re drawing nearer to the next major event. Specifically, in this featured article we’re learning how to watch the OWL Summer Showdown 2022!
Event Background
We go ✈️ Toronto 🇨🇦#OWL2022 Summer Showdown is almost here! Grab your tickets and get ready to cheer on your fave qualified team at LAN! https://t.co/txbsSqUIX6
For those unaware, the Overwatch League is the franchised league and highest form of competitive for Overwatch. Inviting the top teams from both West and East regions through qualifiers, Blizzard is inviting the best 12.
The third event of the season will kick off in the coming week, running from the weekend between 8th and 11th September.
With $330,000 of prize on the line, the competition will take place online and offline across the Mattamy Athletic Centre. When we refer to online, it’s due to the fact that East Matches will be taking place online.
Credits: OWL
And yes, the West and East regions will be competing separately and simultaneously.
With regards to the competition, the following will be attending the event from each region:
West Top 8 Teams:
San Francisco Shock
Dallas Fuel
Toronto Defiant
Houston Outlaws
London Spitfire
Vancouver Titans
Washington Justice
Florida Mayhem
East Top 4 Teams:
Shanghai Dragons
Seoul Dynasty
Guangzhou Charge
Philadelphia
Note that the qualifiers are ongoing, ending 4th September – the above list will be updated accordingly when the complete standings have been decided. (Note, list has been updated 5th September).
Besides prize pool, teams are competing for League Points which will be essential to seed for events later on in the season.
Format
Credits: Activision Blizzard
Concerning the format, it’s a very simple double elimination bracket with teams seeding based on placings. As we’ll reiterate, there will be a separate bracket for West and East.
For the West, with more teams, all 8 will start in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals. Fighting through BO3 matches, note that any loss in the Upper Bracket sends a team to the Lower Bracket.
Once eliminated in the Lower Bracket, the tournament is over for that team.
On the other hand, East teams will all start in the Upper Bracket Semifinals. Despite fewer matches, it’s exactly the same concept and teams will be fighting to reach a BO5 Grand Final to earn that regional crown.
Overwatch League 2020 Season 2020-03-07 / Photo: Joshua Roberts For Activision Blizzard
Overall, with regards to map pool, the following maps and modes will be played:
Note that we’re pointing out the map pool here as Overwatch 2 is constantly experimenting.
Schedule for the OWL Summer Showdown
With two separate brackets , there are a tonne of matches to keep up with. Suitably, we’ve listed the schedule for the opening matches for both brackets below:
West Upper Bracket Quarterfinals – 8th September
21:00 CET – Match 1
22:30 CET – Match 2
00:00 CET – Match 3
01:30 CET – Match 4 (9th September)
Credits: Activision Blizzard
East Upper Bracket Quarterfinals – 9th September
12:00 CET – Match 1
13:30 CET – Match 2
Feel free to learn more about the schedule at the official page for Overwatch esports.
Watch the OWL Summer Showdown on esportsguide
You can also watch the OWL Summer Showdown 2022 live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
As always, predictions should always consider the past. However, the last time the competition met up was at the Midsummer Madness, with West and East competing with one another.
Credits; Activision Blizzard
At this event, here are how the standings stood:
#1 – Los Angeles Gladiators
#2 – San Francisco Shock
#3 – Atlanta Reign
#4 – Philadelphia Fusion
#5-6 – Shanghai Dragons, Hangzhou Spark
There we have an idea who the favourites are. However, following a month of qualifiers, perhaps the standings have shaken up a little.
Specifically for West, the likes of Dallas Fuel and Toronto Defiant have looked very strong recently. For East, Seoul Dynasty are hoping to climb too.
