A packed Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York played host to the opening match of the first Overwatch League finals tonight where the Philadelphia Fusion and London Spitfire clashed to move one step closer to becoming champions.
If the players were nervous to play on the biggest stage in front of the largest crowd of their lives, they certainly didn’t show it tonight.
The two lowest-seeded teams in the playoffs reached the finals by taking advantage of a shifting metagame that allowed their superstar DPS combos to shine, playing scrappy, aggressive, and confident games that surprised the teams ranked above them in the regular season. That produced an exciting opening match—both teams traded punches by playing similar styles, but it was clear one had the advantage tonight.
The pregame show rightfully focused on the team’s two DPS combos, but they gave Philadelphia Fusion the edge thanks to Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok and the Swiss Army knife, Josue “Eqo” Corona. But today, Park “Profit” Joon-yeong dominated the biggest stage in Overwatch’s history, capping off his incredible night with a five killstreak on Tracer that secured the final map in a 3-1 win for London.
That brings London Spitfire a single series match away from becoming the first Overwatch League champions. Fusion will have one more chance to steal it from them starting tomorrow at 3pm CT—but today was all Spitfire.
The series opened on Dorado, and Fusion showed the kind of confidence and individual prowess that brought them to the finals. They methodically plowed through the first two points, and while Spitfire put together a decent defense on the final section, a clutch push by Fusion in overtime finished the map. Spitfire’s own offense was quick, giving them nearly five minutes to attack the final map segment—but just like in Fusion’s semifinal series, their Dorado last defense proved too strong.
Spitfire, though, made a statement on Oasis. Control was their worst game mode during the regular season, but today, they were everything but weak on it, tying the series. Eichenwalde came after halftime, and Spitfire were again dominant. Their defense stalled Fusion in the midsection of the map, and they comfortably finished the map on attack.
That set up an exciting finale on Volskaya.
London again opened strong, preventing Fusion from capping the last point of the map thanks to a combination of aggressive dives on defense from Hong “Gesture” Jae-hee and Profit on Genji and some incredible Hanzo play from Kim “Birdring” Ji-hyeok.
But Fusion weren’t finished. They’ve been clutch in the playoffs, and they turned it on again. Their first point defense was solid heading into the final seconds, but a lucky Self-Destruct by Spitfire’s Kim “Fury” Jun-ho somehow picked off Fusion’s Mercy, Alberto “neptuNo” González, opening the door for London. Spitfire nearly steamrolled the last point, but another clutch Self-Destruct, this time from Fusion’s Gael “Poko” Gouzerch, wiped out three players to keep Fusion alive, barely.
Then Profit swapped to Tracer—and the rest is history.
While Profit had the flashiest showing, his play was backed by the consistent performance of his main tank Gesture, who took home player of the match honors. Tank play often goes unrecognized in Overwatch, but Gesture’s consistent ability to stay alive while making aggressive plays proved the difference tonight, allowing Profit and Birdring to work their magic and outperform Fusion’s own stellar DPS duo.
After the match, Gesture said the team wasn’t nervous playing on such a big stage. He said they were determined to enjoy the experience, something Spitfire have repeatedly claimed to be a source of their strength throughout the playoffs—and they certainly did tonight, largely in part to Gesture’s own play.
While Philadelphia Fusion are now down in the series, they certainly aren’t out—and Spitfire know that best. In the quarterfinals, London lost their opening match in an embarrassing sweep to Los Angeles Gladiators, and that poor performance seemed to light a fire that’s carried them the rest of the way. Fusion have the tools to come back in this series, and we won’t have to wait long to find out if they can do it.
