Overwatch League 2022 - Playoffs Preview

The Overwatch League is nearing the end of the season. Only the Playoffs Stage is left to be played and the tournament is scheduled to take place between October 30th – November 4th. A total of 12 teams will compete in it and the game they’ll be playing is Overwatch 2, which got released just a few weeks ago.

Arguably, the two games are extremely similar, so the teams shouldn’t have any problems adapting to the newest version. However, this need to adapt may impact the results because some teams will inevitably adapt faster than others.

OWL 2022 Playoffs Details

The Playoffs Stage of the 2022 edition of the Overwatch League offers $2.55 million in prize money. The amount will be divided among the 12 participants in the following way:

• 1st place: $1.000.000
• 2nd place: $500.000
• 3rd place: $350.000
• 4th place: $250.000
• 5th-6th place: $100.000
• 7th-8th place: $55.000
• 9th-12th place: $35.000

This will be a LAN event and its location is Anaheim, US.

The 12 teams are selected based on their OWL results and other qualifiers. The top six teams from the West and the top three teams from the East receive direct invites. Two more Western teams and one more Eastern competitor qualify via the Countdown Cup.

In the Eastern event, Hangzhou Spark has already qualified. In the Western event, the battle is scheduled to start in less than one week and will consist of a double-elimination tournament. The four teams it features are listed below:

• Florida Mayhem
• Boston Uprising
• Toronto Defiant
• Washington Justice

Participants

The teams that will take part in the Overwatch League Playoffs 2022 are these:

• Dallas Fuel
• San Francisco Shock
• Los Angeles Gladiators
• Houston Outlaws
• London Spitfire
• Atlanta Reign
• Seoul Dynasty
• Shanghai Dragons
• Philadelphia Fusion
• Hangzhou Spark
• TBD
• TBD

All of these teams proved to be strong throughout the regular season. But among them, around five have a real chance of claiming the trophy. These favorites are:

• San Francisco Shock
• Dallas Fuel
• Los Angeles Gladiators
• Seoul Dynasty
• Shanghai Dragons

In the previous two years, Shanghai Dragons and San Francisco Shock were the winners. This time, both of these teams are regarded as two of the big favorites. But there are others as well who could potentially claim the title.

No doubt, the battle will be fiercer than usual even though the prize pool is smaller, because the team who wins this trophy will go down as the first Overwatch 2 champion. If you want to watch the tournament, the battle starts on October 30th.

Header: Blizzard Entertainment

Image source: Blizzard Entertainment