2020 Overwatch League season

The 2020 Overwatch League season is the third season of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional esports league for the video game Overwatch. The regular season began on February 8, 2020 and is scheduled to conclude on August 23. It was the first season that the league implemented a city-based, home-and-away format, with teams traveling between the global home venues to play regular season matches, making the OWL the first major esports league to feature such a format.

2020 Overwatch League season
LeagueOverwatch League
SportOverwatch
DurationFebruary 8 – August 23
Number of matches21
Number of teams20
TV partner(s)

League changes

Schedule

Prior to the 2020 season, the majority of all OWL matches took place at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California. In the 2019 season, three homestand weekends took place – the Dallas Fuel Homestand Weekend hosted by the Dallas Fuel, the Atlanta Reign Homestand Weekend hosted by the Atlanta Reign, and the Kit Kat Rivalry Weekend hosted by the Los Angeles Valiant – in efforts to test how a completely localized match schedule would work. For the 2020 season, the league adopted a "homestand" model. Every team will host two to five homestands throughout the season. Each team will still play 28 matches and are responsible for the selection and operation of their respective home venues.[1] In addition to homestands, every team is required to host at least three team events for the community in their respective home cities.[2] The season marked the first time that a major esports league featured a city-based, home-and-away format.[3]

In the 2018 and 2019 seasons, the Overwatch League equally divided teams into two divisions – the Atlantic and Pacific. With the large amount of travelling that takes place in the homestand model, the Atlantic and Pacific Divisions were renamed to the Atlantic and Pacific Conferences, and each conference was equally subdivided into two divisions, the Pacific East and West Divisions and the Atlantic North and South Divisions. The smaller divisions were implemented in efforts to reduce the amount of time and money spent on travel.[4]

With the large amount of localized play and travel, the season was no longer split into four stages. Instead, a midseason tournament is to be held at the same time as the All-Star Weekend. The tournament will feature the Atlantic and Pacific Conference leaders as well as the next best two teams, regardless of conference, based on the regular season standings through Week 10.[5]

Rules

In the prior seasons, the winner of each match was determined by a best-of-four map series, with a fifth tiebreaker map, if necessary. The league announced at BlizzCon that match winners would be determined by a first-to-three map series, similar to that of the 2019 playoffs. Activision Blizzard senior director of product strategy and business operations Jon Spector noted that due to the elimination of Stage Playoffs, map differential would be less important, as it is not very likely that many teams would have the same regular season record heading into the playoffs. Every match still begins with a control map followed by a rotation between assault, escort, and hybrid maps. Similar to previous seasons, should a match still be tied after four maps, a fifth tiebreaker map will be played on a control map.[5]

After the announcement of hero pools in Overwatch for the competitive season starting in February 2020, the league announced that it would adopt the hero pool system beginning in the fourth week of play in March in effort to prevent stagnant metas. Each week, the league randomly selects one tank, two damage, and one support hero from a list of the most played heroes in the OWL from the previous two weeks of play; these heroes are then considered "banned" and cannot be selected during that week. Banned heroes cannot be banned in the immediately-following week.[6][7] The hero pool system is only used in the regular season, and will not be enforced during the midseason tournament, the play-in tournament, and the playoffs.[8]

Prize pool

The total prize pool remained unchanged at US$5,000,000, although the allocation changed due to the discontinuation of Stage Playoffs. The Midseason Tournament champions will win $500,000, the runners-up will win $250,000, and the third and fourth place teams will earn $150,000. The All-Star event will have a prize pool for the first time, with a total pool of $250,000. For the postseason earnings, the Grand Champion team will earn $1.5 million (up from $1.1 million), second place will earn $800,000 (up from $600,000), third place will earn $500,000 (up from $450,000), fourth place will earn $300,000 (down from $350,000), fifth and sixth place will earn $200,000 (down from $300,000), and seventh and eighth place will earn $100,000 (down from $200,000).[9]

Broadcasting
Shoutcasters Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles and Erik "DoA" Lonnquist and hosts Malik Forte and Chris Puckett (left to right) left the broadcast team prior to the season.

Prior to the start of the season, several of the shoutcasters for the League, including Malik Forté, Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat, Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, Erik "DoA" Lonnquist, and Chris Puckett, left for various reasons ranging from dissatisfaction with their salaries to concerns over the new management of the league following Nate Nanzer's departure as league commissioner in 2019.[10]

YouTube has replaced Twitch as exclusive broadcaster of the league, as part of a deal covering all Activision Blizzard esports events. The company also announced a deal to make Google Cloud Platform the preferred infrastructure provider for its game servers.[11]

Regular season

Postponed matches

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Blizzard cancelled all four homestand events planned in China in February and March 2020. Four of the teams in the league are based in China, where travel restrictions and quarantines from the outbreak were enacted; the restrictions affected teams that were traveling to China to play matches there. Two of the Chinese teams, Guangzhou Charge and Shanghai Dragons, announced the relocation of their teams to South Korea, while the Chengdu Hunters remained in China.[12][13] The cancelled matches were originally planned to be rescheduled in Seoul, South Korea during two weekends in March, with some matches being played during Seoul Dynasty's homestand event the same month.[14] However, Blizzard later cancelled all South Korean events in March 2020, including the Dynasty homestand, over concerns of the outbreak.[15] In March, French Health Minister Olivier Véran announced that all public gatherings of more than 1,000 people were banned in the country until April 15; the ban effectively cancelled the Paris Eternal homestand event that was scheduled to be held April 11–12.[16]

After the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic on March 11, the Overwatch League announced that it would be cancelling all remaining scheduled live events in March and April.[17] The matches from the cancelled homestand events will be played online and broadcast live in March and April, albeit with some scheduling changes.[18] Due to the inequity of the number of games played by each team, the All-Star Weekend was moved to the postseason, while the Midseason Tournament was canceled altogether.[19] On March 31, the Overwatch League announced that they were abandoning the Homestand model entirely in favour of moving matches for the remainder of the season online.[20]

Overall standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Conference leaders
1 Shanghai Dragons PAC 26 2 .929 28 56–15–1 +41
2 Philadelphia Fusion ATL 23 2 .920 25 56–19–0 +37
Wild cards
3 San Francisco Shock PAC 22 2 .917 24 47–12–2 +35
4 Paris Eternal ATL 17 6 .739 23 44–28–0 +16
5 Guangzhou Charge PAC 18 7 .720 25 44–39–1 +5
6 Florida Mayhem ATL 15 6 .714 21 40–25–0 +15
Play-in tournament
7 New York Excelsior ATL 15 7 .682 22 47–26–2 +21
8 Atlanta Reign ATL 10 7 .588 17 37–23–0 +14
9 Los Angeles Valiant PAC 10 9 .526 19 33–36–0 -3
10 Hangzhou Spark PAC 11 11 .500 22 33–40–2 -7
11 Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 7 9 .438 16 30–33–4 -3
12 Seoul Dynasty PAC 8 11 .421 19 21–35–2 -14
In the hunt
12 Seoul Dynasty PAC 8 11 .421 19 21–35–2 -14
13 Dallas Fuel PAC 7 10 .412 17 28–37–0 -9
14 Toronto Defiant ATL 8 12 .400 20 31–42–0 -11
15 London Spitfire ATL 6 10 .375 16 24–36–0 -12
16 Chengdu Hunters PAC 8 14 .364 22 33–47–1 -14
17 Houston Outlaws ATL 6 15 .286 21 32–50–3 -18
18 Vancouver Titans PAC 4 11 .267 15 16–38–0 -22
19 Washington Justice ATL 3 16 .158 19 21–51–1 -30
20 Boston Uprising ATL 2 17 .105 19 14–55–3 -41

May Melee

On April 26, the Overwatch League announced the May Melee – two single-elimination, regional tournaments.

North America Region

Standings
2020 Overwatch League North America May Melee standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Advance to quarterfinals
1[lower-alpha 1] San Francisco Shock PAC 3 0 1.000 3 9–1–1 +8 W3
2[lower-alpha 1] Florida Mayhem ATL 3 0 1.000 3 9–1–0 +8 W3
3[lower-alpha 1] Philadelphia Fusion ATL 3 0 1.000 3 9–3–0 +6 W3
4[lower-alpha 1] Los Angeles Valiant PAC 3 0 1.000 3 9–4–0 +5 W3
Advance to knockouts
5 Paris Eternal ATL 2 1 .667 3 8–4–0 +4 W2
6[lower-alpha 2] Atlanta Reign ATL 1 2 .333 3 5–6–0 -1 L1
7[lower-alpha 2] Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 1 2 .333 3 6–7–1 -1 L2
8[lower-alpha 2] Dallas Fuel PAC 1 2 .333 3 4–6–0 -2 L2
9[lower-alpha 2] Houston Outlaws ATL 1 2 .333 3 3–6–1 -3 W1
10[lower-alpha 2] Washington Justice ATL 1 2 .333 3 4–7–0 -3 W1
11[lower-alpha 2] Boston Uprising ATL 1 2 .333 3 3–8–1 -5 W1
Advance to qualifying match
12[lower-alpha 3] Toronto Defiant ATL 0 3 .000 3 4–9–0 -5 L3
13[lower-alpha 3] Vancouver Titans PAC 0 3 .000 3 1–9–0 -8 L3
Tiebreakers

  1. San Francisco placed ahead of Florida based on regular season record.
    Florida placed ahead of Philadelphia based on map differential.
    Philadelphia placed ahead of Los Angeles based on map differential.

  2. Atlanta placed ahead of Los Angeles based on regular season record.
    Los Angeles placed ahead of Dallas based on map differential.
    Dallas placed ahead of Houston based on map differential.
    Houston placed ahead of Washing based on regular season record.
    Washington placed ahead of Boston based on map differential.

  3. Toronto placed ahead of Vancouver based on map differential.

Bracket
Knockouts Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
           
 San Francisco Shock  3
 Paris Eternal  3
   Dallas Fuel  1  
 Boston Uprising  2    San Francisco Shock  3
 
   Los Angeles Valiant  0  
 Los Angeles Valiant  3
 Atlanta Reign  3
   Paris Eternal  2  
 Toronto Defiant  0    San Francisco Shock  4
 
   Florida Mayhem  2
 Philadelphia Fusion  3
 Los Angeles Gladiators  3
   Los Angeles Gladiators  1  
 Washington Justice  0    Philadelphia Fusion  1
 
   Florida Mayhem  3  
 Florida Mayhem  3
 Dallas Fuel  3
   Atlanta Reign  1  
 Houston Outlaws  1  

Asia Region

Standings
2020 Overwatch League Asia May Melee standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Advance to semifinals
1 Guangzhou Charge PAC 4 0 1.000 4 12–4–0 +8 W4
Advance to quarterfinals
2 Shanghai Dragons PAC 3 1 .750 4 11–5–0 +6 W2
3[lower-alpha 1] New York Excelsior ATL 2 2 .500 4 9–8–1 +1 W1
4[lower-alpha 1] Hangzhou Spark PAC 2 2 .500 4 7–6–0 +1 W1
5[lower-alpha 2] Chengdu Hunters PAC 1 3 .250 4 6–9–1 -3 L1
6[lower-alpha 2] London Spitfire ATL 1 3 .250 4 4–9–0 -5 L3
7[lower-alpha 2] Seoul Dynasty PAC 1 3 .250 4 3–11–0 -8 L1
Tiebreakers

  1. New York placed ahead of Hangzhou based on head-to-head matches.

  2. Chengdu placed ahead of London based on map differential.
    London placed ahead of Seoul based on map differential.

Bracket
  Quarterfinals     Semifinals     Finals
                           
  4 Hangzhou Spark 0    
  7 Seoul Dynasty 3    
        1 Guangzhou Charge 2  
            7 Seoul Dynasty 3    
               
      7 Seoul Dynasty 3
  3 New York Excelsior 3               2 Shanghai Dragons 4
  5 Chengdu Hunters 2              
        3 New York Excelsior 0    
        2 Shanghai Dragons 3  
  2 Shanghai Dragons 3    
  6 London Spitfire 2  

Summer Showdown

On June 10, the Overwatch League announced the Summer Showdown – two single-elimination, regional tournaments.

North America Region

Standings
2020 Overwatch League North America Summer Showdown standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Advance to quarterfinals
1 San Francisco Shock PAC 3 0 1.000 3 9–0–0 +9 W3
2[lower-alpha 1] Atlanta Reign ATL 2 1 .667 3 7–3–0 +4 W2
3[lower-alpha 1] Philadelphia Fusion ATL 2 1 .667 3 6–3–0 +3 L1
4[lower-alpha 1] Vancouver Titans PAC 2 1 .667 3 6–3–0 +3 W2
Advance to knockouts
5[lower-alpha 1] Los Angeles Valiant PAC 2 1 .667 3 7–4–0 +3 L1
6[lower-alpha 1] Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 2 1 .667 3 7–5–1 +2 W1
7[lower-alpha 1] Florida Mayhem ATL 2 1 .667 3 7–6–0 +1 W1
8[lower-alpha 1] Paris Eternal ATL 2 1 .667 3 6–6–0 ±0 W1
9[lower-alpha 2] Dallas Fuel PAC 1 2 .333 3 4–6–0 -2 W1
10[lower-alpha 2] Houston Outlaws ATL 1 2 .333 3 5–7–0 -2 L1
11[lower-alpha 2] Toronto Defiant ATL 1 2 .333 3 3–6–0 -3 L2
Advance to qualifying match
12[lower-alpha 3] Boston Uprising ATL 0 3 .000 3 2–9–0 -7 L3
13[lower-alpha 3] Washington Justice ATL 0 3 .000 3 1–9–1 -8 L3
Tiebreakers

  1. Atlanta placed ahead of Philadelphia based on map differential.
    Philadelphia placed ahead of Vancouver based on head-to-head matches.
    Vancouver placed ahead of Los Angeles based on head-to-head matches.
    Los Angeles placed ahead of Los Angeles based on map differential.
    Los Angeles placed ahead of Florida based on map differential.
    Florida placed ahead of Paris based on map differential.

  2. Dallas placed ahead of Houston based on head-to-head matches.
    Houston placed ahead of Toronto based on map differential.

  3. Boston placed ahead of Washington based on map differential.

Bracket
Knockouts Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
           
 San Francisco Shock  3
 Los Angeles Valiant  1
   Washington Justice  0  
 Toronto Defiant  3    San Francisco Shock  2
 
   Paris Eternal  3  
 Vancouver Titans  1
 Los Angeles Gladiators  1
   Paris Eternal  3  
 Washington Justice  3    Paris Eternal  4
 
   Philadelphia Fusion  3
 Philadelphia Fusion  3
 Florida Mayhem  1
   Houston Outlaws  0  
 Houston Outlaws  3    Philadelphia Fusion  3
 
   Toronto Defiant  0  
 Atlanta Reign  2
 Paris Eternal  3
   Toronto Defiant  3  
 Dallas Fuel  1  

Asia Region

Standings
2020 Overwatch League Asia Summer Showdown standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Advance to semifinals
1[lower-alpha 1] Shanghai Dragons PAC 4 0 1.000 4 12–3–0 +9 W4
Advance to quarterfinals
2[lower-alpha 1] Guangzhou Charge PAC 4 0 1.000 4 12–7–0 +5 W4
3[lower-alpha 2] New York Excelsior ATL 2 2 .500 4 10–7–1 +3 L1
4[lower-alpha 2] London Spitfire ATL 2 2 .500 4 7–6–0 +1 W1
5[lower-alpha 3] Seoul Dynasty PAC 1 3 .250 4 6–9–0 -3 W1
6[lower-alpha 3] Hangzhou Spark PAC 1 3 .250 4 5–12–1 -7 L3
7 Chengdu Hunters PAC 0 4 .000 4 3–12–0 -9 L4
Tiebreakers

  1. Shanghai placed ahead of Guangzhou based on map differential.

  2. New York placed ahead of London based on map differential.

  3. Seoul placed ahead of Hangzhou based on map differential.

Bracket
  Quarterfinals     Semifinals     Finals
                           
  4 London Spitfire 1    
  5 Seoul Dynasty 3    
        1 Shanghai Dragons 3  
            5 Seoul Dynasty 0    
               
      1 Shanghai Dragons 2
  2 Guangzhou Charge 3               2 Guangzhou Charge 4
  7 Chengdu Hunters 0              
        2 Guangzhou Charge 3    
        3 New York Excelsior 0  
  3 New York Excelsior 3    
  6 Hangzhou Spark 0  

Countdown Cup

On July 2, the Overwatch League announced the Countdown Cup – two single-elimination, regional tournaments.

North America Region

Standings

Template:2020 Overwatch League North America Countdown Cup standings

Bracket
Knockouts Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
           
 Dallas Fuel  0
 Vancouver Titans  0
   San Francisco Shock  3  
 Atlanta Reign  3    San Francisco Shock  3
 
   Florida Mayhem  1  
 Atlanta Reign  0
 Houston Outlaws  0
   Florida Mayhem  3  
 Los Angeles Valiant  3    San Francisco Shock  4
 
   Philadelphia Fusion  2
 Los Angeles Gladiators  0
 Washington Justice  2
   Philadelphia Fusion  3  
 Dallas Fuel  3    Philadelphia Fusion  3
 
   Paris Eternal  1  
 Los Angeles Valiant  1
 Los Angeles Gladiators  3
   Paris Eternal  3  
 Toronto Defiant  2  

Asia Region

Standings

Template:2020 Overwatch League Asia Countdown Cup standings

Bracket
  Quarterfinals     Semifinals     Finals
                           
  4 Guangzhou Charge 2    
  5 New York Excelsior 3    
        1 Shanghai Dragons 3  
            5 New York Excelsior 0    
               
      1 Shanghai Dragons 4
  3 Hangzhou Spark 3               3 Hangzhou Spark 0
  7 Seoul Dynasty 2              
        3 Hangzhou Spark 3    
        2 Chengdu Hunters 1  
  2 Chengdu Hunters 3    
  6 London Spitfire 0  

References
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  2. Xu, Rui Yang (July 16, 2019). "2020 Overwatch League format and structure announced". NBC Sports Philadelphia. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  3. Hume, Mike (March 15, 2019). "Overwatch League announces city-based, home-and-away matches will start in 2020". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  4. Richardson, Liz (July 16, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals new division structure, home game plans for 2020 season". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  5. Yim, Miles (November 4, 2019). "Overwatch League to feature midseason tournament, new match format in 2020". ESPN. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  6. Blizzard Entertainment (January 30, 2020). "Announcing Hero Pools and Updates to Overwatch League Patching". Overwatch League. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  7. Erzberger, Tyler (January 30, 2020). "How weekly hero pools will affect Overwatch and the Overwatch League". ESPN. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  8. Collins, Sean (January 30, 2020). "Overwatch League announces big change with 'Hero Pools;' what that means for the Dallas Fuel". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  9. Blizzard Entertainment (November 5, 2019). "New 2020 Season Details". The Overwatch League. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  10. Sinclair, Brendan (January 15, 2020). "Overwatch League addresses on-air talent departures". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  11. Spangler, Todd (January 24, 2020). "YouTube Scores Exclusive Streaming for Activision Blizzard's E-Sports, Including Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues". Variety. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  12. Hume, Mike; Amenabar, Teddy (January 29, 2020). "Coronavirus threatens to upend Overwatch League's plans for international debut". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  13. Makuch, Eddie (January 29, 2020). "Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Events In China After Coronavirus Outbreak". GameSpot. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  14. Webster, Andrew (February 14, 2020). "Blizzard moves previously canceled Overwatch League games from China to Korea". The Verge. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  15. Webster, Andrew (February 24, 2020). "Overwatch League games in South Korea canceled amid coronavirus concerns". The Verge.
  16. Samples, Rachel (March 10, 2020). "Paris Eternal homestand venue cancels all events through April 15". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  17. Amenabar, Teddy (March 11, 2020). "Overwatch League cancels live events for March and April, plans to broadcast matches". The Washinngton Post. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  18. Webster, Andrew (March 13, 2020). "Call of Duty League and Overwatch League are shifting to online-only games". The Verge. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  19. Blizzard Entertainment (March 13, 2020). "Overwatch League Matches Moving Online". Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  20. Sprung, Shlomo (March 11, 2020). "Overwatch League Shifts Remainder Of Schedule To Online Format, Abandoning Homestands". Forbes. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
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