Only four teams remain in the Overwatch League semifinals—and just two can move on to the grand finals event in Brooklyn, New York next week. Philadelphia Fusion vs. New York Excelsior will kick off the semifinals tonight, but London Spitfire vs. Los Angeles Valiant will round out the night.
London made an impressive comeback during the quarterfinals, losing their first match to a Baek “Fissure” Chan-Hyung–less Los Angeles Gladiators. But the team struck back with ferociousness, handily taking out the Gladiators in the next two matches. The comeback cost the Gladiators their tournament life, and London moved on to the semifinals. They’ll face Los Angeles tonight at 9pm CT, one of the top two teams seeded straight into the semifinals.
Related: The Overwatch League will be broadcast on ESPN and ABC
The matchup
Los Angeles Valiant vs. London Spitfire
Like New York Excelsior, Los Angeles Valiant have yet to strut their stuff on the new Overwatch League patch, which welcomes a reworked Hanzo to the mix. Symmetra is disabled, however, due to her recent rework. London showed a mastering of the new patch during the games against Gladiators, but that could work against them. Los Angeles has something to study, whereas London does not.
Los Angeles had a strong finish for the Overwatch League regular season, but that was a different meta. Preparation for this match-up is key—they may have a slight advantage over London, but they’re going to need to exploit that to win. London felt like a different team in their second-half matches against Gladiators, however. If they can keep that strength up, then Los Angeles will have to put up a serious fight.
London started out big and continued to falter, but Los Angeles had an opposite trajectory.
Players to watch
Snipes are important in this meta, so watch out for Kim “birdring” Ji-Hyeok’s Widowmaker. Jun-Young “Profit” Park, too, proved impressive on Hanzo, which bodes well for London. Los Angeles’ DPS players are no joke, either: Terence “SoOn” Tarlier and Brady “Agilities” Girardi are close in skill.
How to watch
Games will be played live at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles in Burbank, California on July 18 and 20. The first match begins at 9pm CT on July 18, with the series closed out on July 20 at 6pm CT.
For those unable to attend live, games will be streamed on the Overwatch League Twitch channel.
The stakes
London Spitfire and Los Angeles Valiant are up against a best-of-three series; the first team to two wins will move on. The team that makes it out of the semifinals will move on to the Overwatch League grand finals event on July 27 and 28 in Brooklyn, New York.
There’s not just the championship title on the line, but money, too. The Overwatch League’s world champion will get $1 million, with the second-place team taking home $400,000. Third and fourth place get $100,000, while fifth and sixth gets $50,000.
