After hard-fought battles over many weeks, London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion were the two teams to emerge as the finalist contenders. And after two splits of edge-of-your-seat Overwatch action, we have the first team to be crowned best in the world.
After countless hours over many weeks the Overwatch League drew to close this weekend with the Season 1 Grand Final series between Philadelphia Fusion (Fusion) and London Spitfire (Spitfire). All eyes were on Fusion after its incredible display of skill and execution to dispatch the favourites, New York Excelsior, to secure its spot in the finals.
London Spitfire on the other hand, was the dark horse favourite. For most of stage 4 it struggled to find consistent form, often failing to take advantage of key moments. When it came to the playoffs though, everything started working out for the team and their cohesive teamwork was on point.
The stage was set and these two teams went head to head over two days to see who’d take home the $1,000,000 USD prize money and be the first inaugural Overwatch League, Season 1 winners!
Day 1
The first map was Dorado, and Fusion looked scary. Carpe was in fine form as per usual, often being everywhere where Spitfire thought he wasn’t. It was clear though that Spitfire made them earn every meter, forcing Fusion to perform some incredible clutch moments in order for it to reach its goal in overtime. The stress was visibly taking its toll and Boombox’s hands told the story:
Spitfire came out strong and took the first two checkpoints with ease. Fusion found their defensive form and dug their heels in tight on the final segment, flanking Spitfire well and timing their kills perfectly, eventually stopping them and taking the first map. This victory was short lived though with Spitfire taking Oasis 2-0, showing its strength and superiority in control map strategies. The first series was a level 1-1.
Eichenwalde was up next with Fusion on the attack. Using a slow and steady strategy and taking advantage of its faster respawn times until it had a player advantage, it took the first point fairly quickly. It was here that Spitfire found Fusion’s kryptonite and continued to dive aggressively, keeping Fusion staggered and stopping it just short of the overpass.
Fusions advantage in defending points with shields and snipers was readily apparent and Spitfire were clearly having a hard time finding an answer to this riddle. Thanks to a standout play from Fury using a well placed D’Va ultimate, Spitfire immediately jumped on the opportunity and stole first point. The plan from here was as plain as day, Spitfire dove the enemy and took all key positions to allow the payload to move. With no positional advantage, Carpe found it impossible to set himself up and even Sado couldn’t manage to break Spitfires backline with his Winston dives. Spitfire rolled forward and took the third map making the series 2-1 in its favour.
The fourth map was Volskaya Industries with Fusion attacking first. Struggling to find early momentum, it took a triple tank dive and a massive Poko D’Va bomb to secure the first point. Profit then switched to Mei to break up the dive tactic and found success, forcing Fusion to revert back to a standard team composition. Immediately, Spitfire started aggressive diving the battered Fusion and managed to keep it from fully capturing the final point.
Switching sides, yet again Fusion stuck to its double sniper and shield defence. Looking solid until the final push, it was Fury’s D’Va yet again that perfectly positioned an ultimate that broke the Fusion gates and allowed Spitfire the first point. It was here that Profit started unleashing his inner beast, nearly capturing the win with his Hanzo, only being stopped by the last millisecond.
Profit wasn’t finished though. Switching to his Tracer, he pulled off the following series of kills that took out nearly the entire team solo and secured not only the map, but the first set, taking Spitfire to a 1-0 lead in the Grand Finals series!
If you want to view the entire day 1 series, it’s up on the Overwatch League’s official Twitch page here:
Day 2
The next day kicked things off with Junkertown and there was a noticeable change in tactics from the Spitfire team. Carpe was being completely shut down. His Widow was getting few final blows and his deaths were relatively high. Fusion’s defence, for the first time in this series, seemed broken and Spitfire took all three checkpoints in comfortable fashion. Less confident on attack, Fusion looked shaky the moment the gates opened and struggled at every turn. Eventually it broke on the final push and Spitfire took the early lead in the second set 1-0.
Unfortunately for Fusion, it seemed just as broken on Lijiang Tower. Much like Oasis, Spitfire held a clear advantage in control maps and never allowed Fusion to formulate a winning strategy. Lost for answers, the first control point even ended on a C9 with Spitfire the victors:
The next control point wasn’t any better for the Fusion team and Spitfire wasn’t wasting any time. Staying in control, Spitfire took the second control point and secured a 2-0 lead on day 2.
The third map was King’s Row and finally Fusion had found a winning attack strategy with its shields and snipers! Carpe was looking like his old self again and this spelled trouble for anyone in his sights. With plays like these, it’s hard to argue against:
Like before, Spitfire made Fusions work hard for it, but Fusion managed to squeeze the final checkpoint in overtime.
With Spitfire attacking, it was clear that Fusion’s defence was still its strongest weapon, and it took a triple tank dive for Spitfire to take the first point in the final minute. Spitfire ran with the momentum and was now reading Fusion like a book, with Gesture picking the Zarya ultimate with a counter of his own just before the second point:
From here, nothing Fusion did could stop the runaway train that was Spitfire as it won with time on the clock and forcing a LAST ATTEMPT with just over one minute on the clock. Learning from its previous winning strategy, Spitfire went a triple tank dive with high sustain in order to slowly pick apart the Fusion defence. It worked as intended and London Spitfire won the map and secured their well-earned first place in the Overwatch League Season 1!
If you want to view the entire day 2 series, it’s up on the Overwatch League’s official Twitch page here:
That’s All For Now
And that marks the end of the first season for the Overwatch League and what has been an incredible series that has showcased many incredible moments and matches. It was obvious to everyone that Profit was the stand out player of the series and he truly deserved the MVP award. No one knows what Season 2 is going to bring us, but if it’s one thing we’re sure of, it’s that we’re all looking forward to the action!
