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
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.
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
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
Otherwise, we can’t wait to be surprised!
Feel free to follow the event on esportsguide!
For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news
