By Naomi Mallam
The GOTY, esports GOTY 2016 and best ongoing esports game of 2017 also known as Overwatch has ignited the gaming community with its new esports league.
The GOTY, esports GOTY 2016 and best ongoing esports game of 2017 also known as Overwatch has ignited the gaming community with its new esports league. This diverse FPS game revolutionised the genre and was the second FPS game with selectable heroes that has been polished to a shine.
The Overwatch League was announced at Blizzcon 2016 and was immediately hyped up to finally start on the 11th of January at 00:00 GMT. It opened up with the LA Valiant vs San  Francisco Shock in the Pacific Division. The Overwatch League currently involves 12 teams from across the globe and is looking to expand even further. Here is a link to the Overwatch League website https://overwatchleague.com/en-gb/
The league is set over 4 stages: the group stage, the playoffs, the grand final and finally  all-star weekend. The 12 teams in the Overwatch league include: Shanghai Dragons, Seoul Dynasty, San Francisco Shock, LA Valiant, LA Gladiators, Dallas Fuel, Boston Uprising, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire, New York Excelsior and the Philadelphia Fusion.
After week 1 the LA Valiant, who were the only team not to drop a map, became leaders. Their biggest challenge came in week 2 with one of the Korean rosters New York Excelsior. However, closely following them were the London Spitfire who only dropped one of their eight maps against the Florida Mayhem. Despite this setback they managed to 4-0 the Philadelphia Fusion. In third place were the favourites Seoul Dynasty who have went 6-1-1.
The all Korean rosters are 3 of the best teams to ever exist and are the favourites to win it all. Seoul Dynasty house the best Ana player Ryujehong, the best Widowmaker player to hit the esports scene Fleta and the original Winston player Miro.Their main contender London Spitfire has arguably the best player in the league who has mastered two of the hardest heroes to play Tracer and Genji. Finally New York Excelsior who signed the best McCree named Pine, the 2nd most deadly Zenyatta  named Jjonak and Mano who helped South Korea to victory in the World Cup 2017 are looked promising after week 1.
After week 2 we had the new leaders Seoul Dynasty with 14-1-1, in second we had the New York Excelsior with a record of 13-1-2 and in third we have the London Spitfire with a record of 13-0-4. However, the team to lose the most places was the LA Valiant after they lost to both New York Excelsior and London Spitfire which means they went from first to fifth now behind the Houston Outlaws. Houston shocked the world with their annihilation of, the team with largest fan base, Dallas Fuel and also, the Shanghai Dragons.
After week 3 Seoul stayed in first with a record of 19-1-6 and in second stayed the New York Excelsior who shockingly beat the seemingly unbeatable Seoul Dynasty. In third was the London Spitfire who seemed unbeatable until Boston Uprising beat them in a really close 3-2 set.
After week 4 Â the London Spitfire who were able to 4-0 both of their games against Seoul Dynasty and Shanghai Dragons placed first. Then we have the New York Excelsior who went 4-0 against Shanghai Dragons and 3-1 against the Dallas Fuel. Seoul Dynasty, however, lost to London Spitfire and narrowly beat the Houston Outlaws in an amazing 3-2 set. Boston Uprising managed to beat both LA teams 4-0 and quite comfortably climbed two places and went from 7th to 5th. This means that both London Spitfire and New York were already guaranteed Stage 1 playoff positions and the third was going to go to Seoul Dynasty, the Houston Outlaws, Boston Uprising, LA Valiant and Philadelphia Fusion.
Week 5 was the most intense week yet as we started off the week with a nail-biting 3-2 set between the Dallas Fuel and the Shanghai Dragons where Dallas just beat Shanghai to the finish after every map being so close. After that we went to a somewhat close match between the San Fransisco Shock and the LA Gladiators which went 3-1 to the LA Gladiators then we went to another landslide where shockingly the LA Valiant went 3-0 against Seoul Dynasty. Everyone was expecting the Dynasty to 4-0 but the opposite happened. Next was another landslide where Boston Uprising shockingly defeated the Philadelphia Fusion 4-0. The New York Excelsior, not surprisingly, beat the Florida Mayhem 3-0. However, the Houston Outlaws went out and owned the stage by winning 3-1 against the London Spitfire. Going into day 3 of week 5 Dallas Fuel managed to carry on their win streak and their fans hope carry on in stage 2 where they once again face off against the Shanghai Dragons and LA Gladiators. The shockingly Seoul only narrowly came out on top of the Shock in a 3-2 set in which they needed to win 4-0 to make it to the Stage 1 playoffs. The next match was between the Valiant and the Dragons where, not surprisingly, the Valiant went 4-0. The next match decided who was going to enter the playoffs as first, second or third as New York and London battled it out until New York got the edge on the tiebreaker map. Another fatal match to three teams where if Houston won they would be entering the playoffs, if Boston won 3-1 or 4-0 they would be going to the playoffs or if Boston won 3-2 Valiant would go to the playoffs! Houston managed to win 3-2 after winning on Lijiang Tower Night Market where it all came down to Jake’s amazingly timed Tactical Visor on Soldier:76. To round out the normal week Florida and Philadelphia battled it out where once again it all came down to the final teamfight on Night Market.
Heading into the playoffs everyone thought London would once again lose to Houston but they managed to pull out the 3-1 victory but they now had to face off the New York Excelsior. Their game in Stage 1 came down to a map 5 final teamfight on Dorado where London just edged out New York taking the reverse sweep victory and walked away with over $100,000 showing that they are the best team in the league and that no matter what they can always turn it around.
So far the league has been an extreme success and fans can’t wait for stage 2 and the Grand final that is soon to come.
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