Two of the Overwatch League’s top four regular-season teams dropped their playoff openers on Monday, falling into the lower bracket in the double-elimination tournament.
The Houston Outlaws outlasted the second-seeded San Francisco Shock 3-2 in the upper-bracket quarterfinals, and the London Spitfire downed the third-seeded Los Angeles Gladiators 3-1.
The Outlaws and the Spitfire will square off in an upper-bracket semifinal on Wednesday, while the other upper-bracket semifinal will feature two seeded teams. The top-seeded Dallas Fuel dumped the Hangzhou Spark 3-1, and the fourth-seeded Seoul Dynasty swept the Florida Mayhem 3-0.
Lower-bracket action gets underway on Tuesday with four matches: Philadelphia Fusion vs. Gladiators, Shanghai Dragons vs. Shock, Atlanta Reign vs. Mayhem, Toronto Defiant vs. Spark.
The $2.5 million season-ending playoffs feature 12 of the 20 Overwatch League teams. The last two days, including the final on Friday, will be played in front of a crowd in Anaheim, Calif., the OWL’s first in-person playoffs in three years. The championship side will earn $1 million, and the runner-up will pocket $500,000.
On Monday, Houston won Ilios 2-0 before San Francisco grabbed King’s Row 5-4. The Outlaws took Route 66 3-0, but the Shock again pulled level, this time with a 1-0 decision on Esperanca. On the decisive fifth map, Busan, Houston claimed a 2-1 victory.
The Gladiators opened with a 2-1 win on Lijiang Tower before the Spitfire took the next three maps: 3-2 on Eichenwalde, 3-2 on Dorado and 1-0 on Colosseo.
The Fuel jumped on top with a 2-1 victory on Lijiang Tower. The Spark took Paraiso 4-3 before Dallas captured Dorado 3-1 and Esperanca 1-0.
The Dynasty downed the Mayhem 2-1 on Ilios, 2-1 on Eichenwalde and 3-2 on Junkertown.
Overwatch League playoffs prize pool
1. $1 million
2. $500,000
3. $350,000
4. $250,000
5-6. $100,000
7-8. $55,000
9-12. $35,000
–Field Level Media
