After the success of the May Melee tournament last month, the Overwatch League has decided to give fans another taste of a fast-paced tournament model. The “Summer Showdown” will begin June 13 and last until mid-July with the same basic idea as previous tournaments. Hero Pools, a hot topic in the Overwatch League community, will be adjusted during the Summer Showdown based on community and player feedback.
The Summer Showdown will follow the same regional model as the May Melee tournament with all 20 teams in the Overwatch League participating in two brackets, Asia and North America. Seven teams will participate in the Asia bracket and the remaining 13 squads will face off in the North American region.
Three weeks of qualifier matches will begin on June 13. As teams rack up wins in regular play, they’ll be seeded into the final tournament bracket for their region. All teams in the Asia bracket will qualify for the Summer Showdown, but higher-seeded teams will either get a bye into the quarterfinals or have the chance to choose their opponents. North American teams will fight to avoid the 12th and 13th seeds, who will face off for the final spot in the 12-team bracket.
Final tournaments in the Summer Showdown take place July 3 to 5 in North America and July 4 to 5 in Asia. Teams are competing for a large monetary prize pool that also includes bonus wins added to a team’s season record. First-place teams in both regions earn $50,000 and three bonus wins, with prizes scaling down from there.
Last month, the Shanghai Dragons won the Asia bracket and the San Francisco Shock took home the North American prize.
Hero Pools
Hero Pools will receive yet another update in the Summer Showdown. After consulting with players and staff, Hero Pools will be extended to a multi-week format for the Overwatch League. The first set of Hero Pools will last through weeks 19 and 20 in the league, or the first two weeks of the Summer Showdown. For the final two weeks of the tournament, Hero Pools won’t be in play whatsoever.
The Hero Pools for weeks 19 and 20 have already been drawn, according to the Overwatch League’s news release. Tank D.Va and support hero Brigitte will be hitting the bench for the first two weeks of the Summer Showdown. Aerial damage hero Echo and sneaky hacker Sombra will join them.
Teams will play without Hero Pools in both week 21, which is a regular qualification week, and week 22, which is the final tournament weekend of the Summer Showdown. This will allow squads to get a bit more wild with team compositions and learn from the restrictions of Hero Pools in the previous two weeks.
Future tournaments
The league has confirmed that another tournament will happen after the Summer Showdown is concluded. After that, a handful of matches will be played to ensure that teams have played a minimum of 21 regular season matches before the season playoffs begin. The Overwatch League will release more information about the postseason at a later date.
The Summer Showdown kicks off on June 13 when the London Spitfire take on the Shanghai Dragons at 3am CT in the Asia region. North American games begin at 2pm CT with the Paris Eternal facing off against the Boston Uprising.
