The Overwatch League’s current tournament may be called the Summer Showdown, but fans have been seeing nothing but ice cold eliminations in the Great North. Day one was all about seeding and advancing brackets, while today’s games sent a few teams packing from the event, held live in Toronto, Canada.
Eight West Region teams originally entered the Summer Showdown, which boasts a $75,000 first-place prize as well as the irresistible draw of additional League Points, which will determine postseason eligibility and seeding. Two teams, though, are heading home with nothing but their Tim Hortons receipts. Here’s how day two went down.
Florida Mayhem vs. Vancouver Titans (3-0)
Many fans and analysts expected the Florida Mayhem to mentally check out of the Summer Showdown after a 0-3 defeat by the Houston Outlaws on day one, but the Mayhem were able to rally back and save their tournament lives.
This match was, at its core, a showdown between Florida’s two clutch DPS players–hitscan Hydron and flex Checkmate–and Aspire of the Vancouver Titans, who has built a name for himself as one of the best hitscan players in the league despite his team’s shaky record. On first map Lijiang Tower, Florida had a dominant first round, but were sent down to the depths by Aspire in round two. Despite that scare, the Mayhem bounced back to take the map.
The rest of the relatively quick match went in the same fashion. Every time Florida’s numbers were shaved down by Aspire’s antics, especially on Escort map Paraíso, one of the Mayhem’s best would fight back for mileage. While Florida’s DPS were the stars, tank Someone is turning out to be a better Junker Queen than he appeared to be at the start of the stage.
Toronto Defiant vs. Washington Justice (3-1)
The hometown heroes may have fallen to the London Spitfire on day one, but the raucous cheers of the Toronto crowd definitely boosted the Defiant’s spirits as well as their gameplay.
In previous stages, Toronto has been inconsistent and they’ve appeared a bit chaotic; something has upgraded within their ranks just in the nick of time. Against the Washington Justice, the Defiant appeared dominant on most maps. Lijiang Tower was absolute destruction on Toronto’s side, with the team’s DPS duo of Heesu and Although shredding through the backline.
On Paraíso, fantastic aggression from the Defiant led to a fast completion, but serious hustle from Washington’s perpetual clutch master Decay nabbed Justice a similar time. When both teams ran it back for another round, though, Washington looked in disarray and Toronto steamrolled them.
Washington woke up on Circuit Royal, denying the Defiant a map completion and rolling through their attack thanks to Decay and Assassin finally looking like their usual selves. The celebration was short-lived: Toronto was back to business on final map Colosseo and outplayed the Justice, earning a 3-1 victory.
The Vancouver Titans and Washington Justice were sent packing, but the Toronto Defiant and Florida Mayhem will face new challenges tomorrow.
Day three of the Summer Showdown is a triple threat of lower bracket elimination matches. At 1pm CT, the Defiant will face the Houston Outlaws and at 2:30pm, the Mayhem will take on the London Spitfire. Two more teams will be sent back to the states after those matches.
We head back up to the winner’s bracket at 4pm, where the Dallas Fuel will battle the San Francisco Shock. One team will get a fast-track ticket to Sunday’s grand finals, but the loser will become the raid boss of the lower bracket. Another match at 5:30pm will decide their future competitors and boot another team out of the tournament.
Eliminations begin in the East Region bracket at 5am CT, when the Philadelphia Fusion and Guangzhou Charge will fight for a spot in the lower semifinals.
